Have a vision - need advice and help! (Forums)

Hey guys, my friend and I have a big vision to make an awesome art forum as big as newgrounds or something. We both come from an animation related background, and are both pretty arty, and are very passionate in expanding our time and energy onto a project where we can bring people together through Art+Animation.

The problem is, I've never ran my own forums before. We are both planning on buying a forum that is dying (Started last year by a few online friends of ours). The owners basically don't care about the forum anymore and have given up because no one is posting and they are gaining no new traffic. Me and my friend both have a strong vision to buy it off them and turning the site around into something BIG!
Before we go on though, I came to this site because I've browsed lots of threads here before and everyone here seems really helpful and awesome and knowledgable.

So please, let me be brief. How on earth would we generate money+traffic off it? I know money won't come straight away and we will have to get a very big fan base. I've got a couple ideas on the traffic situation, but what's the best way to monetize it?
Google ads? Banner ads? How would we do this. Basically if you were to put yourself in our shoes right now, after buying the site what would be your first step in making a profit from it. Any advice here would be SUPER helpful. I know it's a long shot, but I have the drive.

Please go in-depth with your answers and tell me exactly how to set up the google ads or whatever it is. Thanks so much!

-Will

 

Hey Will

Running a huge forum is really hard. Been there, done that.

Regarding Traffic

Getting traffic shouldn't be really that hard. I would start with doing Search Engine Optimization so I can rank good for some competitive keywords and get traffic in a long run. This is probably the best method because Google will keep sending you visitors over and over again and will make you rich eventually. But in order to gain more traffic, you need to start somewhere. No one will sign up to a new forum if there is no established communication with some interesting topics and threads.

My next move after that would be to hire a couple of forum posters. They are going really cheap and for a few bucks you would be able to get hundreds of posts on a daily basis. Pretty good, because visitors who are not sure if they should sign up, need to see some interaction going on the forum. They need to be convinced.

After that, I'd start focusing on building an audience on Facebook and Twitter. There are couple of interesting methods you can use to gain more traffic over there very quickly. Trying out ads on Twitter and Facebook is also good if you have something popular that people really need. However, PPC requires an in-depth research because in most cases, it's a waste of money.
And as you are into Art and Animation, social media websites like Instagram, Pinterest and other image and video based websites would be awesome way to build traffic.

Another good method I'd explore is professional reviews on popular websites in your niche. But that's a whole another story. All you need to know is where your audience is spending their time.

Regarding monetization:

You may have problems, as monetizing forums can be hard. If your forum, for example, start getting an enormous traffic, than Adsense would be good solution for the start. But you won't earn millions with it. Couple of hundred bucks on a monthly basis and that's it. Selling banners is also good if you have targeted traffic.

If I were in your shoes, I'd explore the niche more. Find out what my audience like, what they shop and so on.. You may have opportunity to make products and sell them. Maybe direct them to CPA offers or sell other people's products (Affiliate Marketing). There is a whole bunch of these..

I could probably write for days about methods I'd use and explore. But if you are looking for a professional help, you could always send me a personal message. I'd be happy to help.

 

Getting quality traffic that will participate on your forum will be a big challenge, as your friends found out. I would start by marketing to other endeavors that attract artists, both online and offline. As artists, yourselves, you should be aware of many of these groups.

For monetizing, I would be thinking of joining an affiliate program that offers tools, supplies, services, etc., that artists might use. Artists are not known for having a lot of money to throw around, so make sure that these products are cheap and effective. You would do well to become expert in them because having support sections on your forum for such products will offer a synergistic was to encourage participation and to make sales.

 

I'm sure you have a pretty big network and circle in that niche. I think it'd be good for you to use your influence, and friendships, to get them to participate in your forum.

 

Thanks a lot for the input so far guys <3

Quick question, since I'm a complete noob to ad terminology, what does it mean when adcast costs $20.00 per 1000 clicks. Does that mean when the ad reaches 1000 clicks then it will be taken down, all for 20 bucks?
Sorry if this question is dumb, but like I said ads are new to me. Also I'll be sure to PM one of you if I need to for future help!

 

Just think that you need a lot of content to attract your niche at first. This can take or not time depending on how much you are able to work. I guess that a big board will take at least 2 years to be well implemented and well set up on the market. Take a look at DP, WF and many other forums. It takes time..

Some important things:
1. Have good enough content to keep your audience attracted and interested by the phenomenon
2. Offer something for free if you can. E-books
3. Add for start daily content. Open new threads - posts. Buy this service from someone qualified.
4. Invest in branding. Is not enough or wise to build links.
5. After you are established you can sell advertise, paid memberships..you can make auctions..

Good Luck!

 

Our of curiosity, how much roughly would running a Vbulletin forum cost on a regular basis?
The reason I'm asking these nooby questions is because I have years of experience administrating the community side of forums, but none what-so-ever as a site Owner. Does it all depend on traffic? Basically what i'm asking is how much a domain + server space would cost.

 

I would definitely focus on the traffic first. Traffic is the lifeblood of a forum, if you don't have people there creating threads and asking questions, there's not a lot of reasons for other people to come to that forum. Once you have consistent traffic you can start looking into monetizing.

I would possibly start with some ads when your traffic is a little lower but as that traffic volume starts to increase I would think about more creative ways to earn money. Look at some other forums in your niche, or take ideas from forums like this one. Here at Digital Point you can sell items on a Marketplace. You can do something similar and charge a fee for completed sales.

If you look at Warrior Forum they have a premium section (war room) that you have to pay to have access to. You can post Warrior Special Offers for a fee. Some forums charge a small fee to be able to add graphics to signatures, or have an expanded inbox. Additionally they charge a premium for banner ads on their forum, and it's mainly WF members that buy these.

I hope this helps to get your ideas flowing!

 

Can't really tell you about the vBulletin license as I hadn't checked it for quite some time. But you can also take a look at XenForo, this is the application used to build this forum too. I personally find it more modern, more easy-on-the-idea and with great customization options. Again, not sure about the price but you can compare with vBulletin and decide which one would work better for you.

As for domain and hosting, as you will be practically starting from scratch, you don't really need a very complicated setup - a shared environment would give you enough to start with a room to grow, and as you get more popular you can go for an upgrade on VPS and so on... Now, many hosts have nice discounts this time of year, so you can find a good host for around $3-$7/mo. And the majority of hosts do have a free domain coming with a new package, so you can spare on that expense too. Just don't rush into it, as there are a ton of host that might seem ok, but are generally crap. Make sure to do your research before you start and definitely try their Support over chat/phone before you start - ask them some questions specific to your project, see how they respond, how knowledgeable and efficient they are. Customer Service is a factor that very much show the weaknesses of many hosts so its something to keep an eye on.

If you have more questions about the hosting side of things, I would be glad to help

 

Thanks, that helped ^

Can someone please answer my question above about the Ads? Cheers, much appreciated.

 

I guess the short answer as to how to monetize it once you have significant traffic is to use all of these approaches:

1. Google AdSense
2. Banner Ads Direct Sales
3. Premium Membership Fees
4. Related Product Sales / Affiliate Sales

Don't put all of your eggs in one basket with marketing or revenue generation. Test as many different ideas as you cam afford.