Opinion on Managing a Forum

Hi everyone,

I am looking into starting a website, that will be in the freelance writer's niche. With that being said, I am asking to those who manage forums:

1.) What are your monthly budgets for your forum?
2.) How soon did you start seeing profit?

Again, I would like input from those who have owned or managed a forum before (or still manages ). Thanks everyone!

 

1. it depends on how much you want to spend.. use phpbb or mybb and do it all for free, or use a paid script like vBulletin or IPB
2. it varies on how hard you work on it.

 

To start a forum, it takes a lot of work, and a lot of good posts, posted by yourself. Then you will need to promote like crazy.
I agree use phpbb. Its easy and lots of nice mods..
Good Luck

 

I have modded forums and have a couple of my own.

Regardless of the choice you make in software, your main expense will be in labor to build the community. The key is to recruit some good folks to help you... ( no money needed). Profit wise, that depends on a lot of things...

Are you looking to monetize with ads or a service you sell, or??

Best

Eric

 

1.) What are your monthly budgets for your forum?
I use to spent around $500+/month for my money making niche forum.

2.) How soon did you start seeing profit?
It take me 2 month to get profit and finally can cover the expand for dedicated server and misc fee.

 

@ Loco.M: thanks for the help, I am looking for exact numbers... I 99% likely looking into phpbb/vBulletin.
@ bestserviceforyou: thanks as well for the mods aspect... I got a ton of potential volunteers, so the hardest part will be organization and scheduling

@ EricBlackwell: I want to monetize the forum in the most effective and efficient way possible (I know that there are nth degree of threads on D about 'ways to monetize forums', so I won't focus on that). I would say adsense, private banners/ads, possible premium memberships, etc. *If you would happen to know of best ways to monetize AND when it's best to start doing that, let me know

@ mentos: This is exactly what I was looking for! I really appreciate it.

 

If you have a limited budget, it is better to start your forum with phpbb and with potential volunteers, it will grow. Allot the resources for advertising and if required, to refresh and infuse new contents. If you are lucky, you will find yourself on the positive side (profit!) from the fourth month onwards...
Good Luck.

 

It is depend, it can be from $50 ~ $1000 per month. It is depend on your budget.
Basically, you might need to spend about 3 months before you can reach the marginal profit.
Of course, you need to spend time and work on it too

 

Thanks, I calculated my budget to be about $500... I could elaborate more, if anyone is interested haha. As well, I know to not expect profit to cover costs just yet.

Again, I appreciate your insight... this is helping my planning and strategy.

 

Thanks Dairyman... I accidentally overlooked your reply, sorry! Thank you so much for your advice!

does anyone know of the best place to get RELIABLE mods/volunteers?
Thanks again everyone, the business plans are coming together very well

 

Well surely the people at your forum would be quality and reliable, after all they are volunteering their time at your forum. Plus you know they are interested in the topic.

 

Thanks, and this makes tons of sense ...I'm going to avoid hiring foum commenter/posters at all costs. Plus, my forum will focus on writing/freelance writing... so I'll certainly find some helpful hands.

 

I avoid it too as when you stop paying they stop so if they start a great thread and people ask them questions it just dies and ruins a good thread. They usually write minimum lenth posts rather than long ones trying to contribute to the topic or add value for other members.

 

You should be able to start out with a $15 shared hosting package. But, it also depends on how many graphics and videos you have on your site. For a basic forum with a header image, and the home page is less then 100kb, start off with a $15 hosting package. Do not go with free hosting or those $5 packages, you might out grow them very quickly.

Expect to spend at least a year before your site gets any traffic. So expect 12 - 16 months before your site starts making any money.

But,,, I have seen forums that have been online for 2+ years and have very little traffic. Your forums success depends directly on your marketing ability. If you do a sorry job of promotion, link building and seo, never expect to have any traffic. And as a result, never expect to make any money.

 

you need to understand something critical towards operating a forum. Most of the people open forums and it eventually (maybe) starts to grow, or even dies.

The trick towards making a forum work, is actually getting everyone at the forum at the same time. Use a press release site to advertise and get everyone to your site all at once. Advertise before the site opens, so once it does open, everyone is registered and already posting topics.

No one! wants to join a dead forum or participate in one either.

 

None, I don't not spend money on it. I bought a vbulletin, made the graphics and design myself, and do freely seo type stuff.

Forums don't typically make that much money. They have to be huge to do that. If you are into getting a forum for money then you got it wrong. A Forum is generally used to support something that makes money.

 

After setting up! forums announce any contest so that many members can join in the same process quality posting can be made possible

 

Wow, I appreciate everyone's help! Alot of valuable info here
@GrAveTzT : I am not into making a forum for money, I am actually tired of looking around for information and professionals... so I'd figured there is potential for profit, but I know not to be naive in the process.

Thanks again everyone, and please do keep the input coming!

 

Hi again everyone, I am currently in the process of working on my Terms of Service... but I am wondering if anyone has good sites/resources that will be of assistance during this ToS process?

...are there any basic templates available?

 

I'm not sure about ToS, though feel free to use my forum rules (change them a bit). Link: http://atomicfps.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1605#post1605

Hope it helps.