The forum business is getting more & more liked by webmasters. Opening a forum these days is very easy. You can even hire somebody to do the necesary installs and then do the rest your own. First of all I strongly recommend not to open your forum alone. You must have at least 1 partner so you can divide the works and work togethers so you'll have a more efficient and professional forum that was built with accuracy and not hurrying up so you can finish as soon as you can. Here are some tipps that you should know. It includes everything about starting a forum. 1. Buy a good domain & good web hosting. You need a short domain that can easily be remembered and expresses the forum niche. You must choose hosting with MySql db and at least 1 email account. You won't need much disk space or bandwith as a start. You can easily upgrade later. 2. Use VBulletin or phpbb3. Of course you need modded phpbb because unmodded is not what you'll need to start a decent forum. I recomment using vB but if you don't have the necessary funds then you can use phpBB3 or SMF. 3. Make the forum look good by choosing a good skin and a good header/logo. Also write the forum names/descriptions and good and easy undestanable English. 4. Start ardertsing, promoting & marketing. Spread the word everywhere about your new forum ( not by spamming or pissing people off. ) At the mean time your must post new discussions so that new members will have where to post when they register. Don't forget to invite your Online & Offline friends. They're good as a start. 5. As you're the admin of the forum you must be more active than anyone. Check out latest posts and answer, create new threads, answer to new threads, keep working on the forum. This system must be done at least for the first month. 6. Don't put advertising in your forum as soon as you open it. Wait till at least will be 500 active members. 7. Put strict rules so users won't spam or advertise. Rules must not scare new members or make the forum seems complicated. 8. If you see that your forum is not going good and there aren't many new posts then you can hire several paid posters to start up some discussions. I personally don't recommend that because I'm sure nobody wants members that come to the forum only for the money and don't come as dedicated members. 9. Start attractive contests and promote everywhere. You'll get new members that are interested in the contest prizes. You'll also get many spammers that's why you must be online to delete spam posts and ban spammers. You can also get some good moderators for that. 10. Don't give up easily. If you see that certain things aren't going good DON'T GIVE UP! Continue your work and you'll get rewarded with the passage of the time Well, I wrote most of things I know about starting a new forum. I hope you liked the post and doesn't seem boring to you. Thank you for your time, ArLinD
You are welcomed and thank you for the greenie You are welcomed. I'll be making more threads like this soon. Hey, If you're looking for a partner I might be interested. I have a designing blog: ( gfxer.net ) and we can do something together. If you're interested PM me your MSN and we'll talk. Thank you for your answers folks. Waiting for more. Best regards, ArLinD
This is fantastic writing. I had peviously failed a forum and I know what you meant by the writing here
Excellent post -- good, solid advice. The only point I might quibble with is: The only problem with this is that adding adverts to a previously ad-free forum can be contentious. Whereas, if the ads are 'part of the furniture' from day one, people aren't going to suddenly get ticked off by them. Even if the Adsense earnings to start with are next to non-existent, it still establishes the principle that it is an ad-supported forum.
You've got a point there I haven't thought about. But that said, I am almost always turned off by new forums with too many ads. Maybe there is a compromise somewhere, like starting with, say, just 1 ad until the members start coming in.
I object partially. It depends. Some forum concepts are stupid and/or not sustainable. No point in working extra hard on a failing forum that is inherently flawed. Better to give up, stop wasting time on it and move onto something better. But if a forum has potential and a good foundation, then the principle holds.
You are welcomed ! I'll be making more threads like this very soon. Waiting for more suggestions & opinions
wow i just love your tips, it really gives me an idea now because i have a plan to make a forum 2-3 months from now.