Hi, I am planning to start a webmaster forum just like digital point. What should I start with? And what does it take to make a successful online forum?? I appreciate all replies ! Thanks
1. Purchase a good forum script (probably, vBulletin.com is the best choice). ~$160. I'd also recommend vBSEO.com plugin for vBulletin ($149) for better SEO. Join vBulletin.org community. 2. I strongly recommend to get a dedicated ($100-200/month) hosting plan. 3. Buy a skin for your forum ($20-$60 for a stock skin, $400-$2000 for a custom forum skin). 4. Hire some paid posters (this will cost you $xxx per month). 5. Keep creating content and focus on your visitors needs.
The most important factor for your success would be how much are you willing to spend? To create a successful webmaster forum you will need some serious budget. Good luck!
Hire paid posters not just to POPULATE your forum but to viralize it to other forums. Also ask that they build a TON of links back to your forum. Also, run a few contests and post CONTROVERSIAL STUFF or UNIQUE stuff on your forum. A generic "run of the mill" webmaster forum will die out quickly.
It all depends on your budget, if you have a large budget, advertise and hire paid posters to populate and ad content to your forum, then try to get people to sign up
Thanks for the usefull tips !! I bought a Vbulletin License, A skin and I made a frontpage using VBadvanced. I have 2 paid posters active now. And starting to promote it.
Get a professional vBulletin board license, have a great template and look professional both through visuals and text. I am selling a vBulletin Owned license with a year left of free updates. It's probably the best thing you can get right now for a non-full price. I'm selling it for 10$ USD to 15$ USD Cheaper than retail, as its update expiration date is almost brand new. Also, you are going to want some nice mods on there, like here at DP there is iTrader. A forum I have running has that installed also and side banner ad spaces. If you want to take the forum itself too, just ask me. I can sell that too. www.capricasix.com I haven't touched it in awhile, but it's still functioning quite well. PM me for more info on the items if you want to buy em. GL on your forum!
Just to add, lot of time to promote and moderate. Get some good forum software which can control spam. Thanks
VB is not the only paid script. And sometimes IPB seems a better choice. VB seo is not necessary. Read some topics in here, there;s a huge debate over it. Zoints seo can do most of the things for free. I recommend him to use the money for something else. After 3 years my webmaster forums are still using a 200 MB hosting plan. Let's not rush into spending money on something we might need in 10 years time I recomment the last option: UNIQUE skin for the forums. Using a stock theme is just like using a template for your site. If you want to be mocked at, it's the best way. A unique look is mandatory, especially if you really want to do something with that forum SOme use this method and they claim it's OK. It's not the only way. you can hire posters, make post exchanges, and create new topics constantly while also promoting. The 5th tip is indeed invaluble: keep on working on the content (UNIQUE as much as you can, don't just copy same articles we're tired of) and try see what people need from the site. A forum takes a lot of wor, but you can make it
Let's see from what users think, they will be likely close the browser window if they found a forum with less people online, or a forum with a few topics or posts, and when they're asking a question or want to discuss a topic, they hope they will get good answers or replies. If you have a big budget, some contests will boost the start better.
Ok, I just started a little $ 200 contest on it to the link is www.9mb.com It is online for 3 days now. What do you guys think???? Any suggestions?
Looks nice. By the way, does the Vbulletin license allow unlimited forums, or is it 1 license for a single forum?
It is only for 1 forum !! Need to buy new ones for another forum at another domain. I hope it will grow quick kingofbigmac I see you joined, thanks
The big thing left out is patience! I think a lot of new forum owners expect quick results and when they don't get them, they give up. There are so many forums now that it is hard to compete but not impossible. The key is to keep the members coming back. Lots of work and lots of time and lots of money and you can be successful. Good Luck, it looks like you are a good start.
I agree allout, I already had some other forums in the past, so I know the biz a little bit. As for now it looks good, 300 posts in just 3 days.. I think the contest is also alot helping. But thats good.