forum vs content rich site

which is better??
to have a content rich site or a niche forum??
which pays more...
i am talking about forum and sites where visitors doesnt know what is adsense ,ypn and all these thing

 

This has been discussed many times at DP. It's a no-brainer, (quality) content wins every time.

 

"every" needed to be edited

 

If you are asking this question from earning point of view.Then no doubt it completely depends on the attitude of your niche visitors towards helpful links (ads).

 

I don't know of any visitors that actually want to see ads on the forums, not matter how targeted the ads are...maybe some niches are different than mine though.

Brandon

 

Forums can certainly be profitable, but it's a much more involved process. It takes a ton of time and effort to get a forum going. If you succeed, and your niche is good, you'll probably make some good $ if you have good ad placement.

For the same amount of time invested, content is probably more lucrative over time.

 

thanks for all your advice guys

 

The only chance you might have of getting clicks from a forum is putting them at the end of the thread (after the last post). Nobody wants to click on ads as while they are halfway through reading the discussion that's going on in the thread.

 

I've noticed that on my forum, my 2 top performing ads is the 468x60 banner on the top of all pages, and the two 300x250 ads I have at the bottom of every thread. So far I haven't tried having adsense automatically show up as the last post in every thread because i felt that was a little too much, but I may give it a try soon. The two 300x250 ads i have at the bottom of threads are performing MUCH better than the leaderboard I used to have in the same area.

 

content is king
with a good forum, members ign0re the adds any way
you get one bite with each member

 

I think you need to look ar yourself and do whatever is your strength. If you like to write, then maybe you should have your own pages and not waste time with a forum. If you have constant writer's block, see if you can start a forum and inspire others to conversate around the topic that you choose.

 

Not true in all cases. My forum is doing extremely well with adsense

 

mostly content sites doing 90% better than forums. this is my personal experience.

 

In the beginning of a forums life, probably the first 200,000 posts your really not going to be making very much via adsense. This is caused mainly by the amount of return visitors knowing where the ads are and just not clicking on them.

But once you break a certain threshold content is being added a very high rate giving you lots and lots of great content. And it turns into a snowball effect.

In the end there are many many ways a forum can generate a profit.

 

forums can be great, but only if you can find some forum trolls to start the fire!!!! (ooo that reminds me of a song)

 

Having a site is always better, so start with a site and when it gets some traffic start a forum..

 

I'm with everyone else. Forums take a backseat!

 

well im still going through the pain barrier with my skooldays nostalgic site
over 3000 pages and a 6 month old forum.
i find the forum gets 3 or 4 good posting members and then dies and then restarts all over again.
forums are tough

 

You can really start out with your domain name redirected to a folder where the forum sits if you have absolutely no idea on what to do with your site. And on your new forum you can start one thread and talk about whatever. I don't think that you should really make decisions without looking at your site and trying to come up with a long term plan. if you don't want to have a forum, then don't have one, if you don't like blogging, get someone else to do it for you or don't have one. Whatever your style is and whatever you're comfortable with should set the tone of your site.

Mike

 

I know a lot ofguys say content>forum, but I disgree because forums make you ALOT more money in the long term than content. With a forum you get constant traffic. If you have 40 members each posting that something like 500 pageviews or so and 40 uniques. Content sites stuggle to retain readership, but have higher CTR. Ultimately, tthe forum site WILL win. ALso, forum members recruit other people creating a chain reaction that a content site wont have. As an added bonus your forum members are posting content everyday which gets indexed. People find the indexed posts and possibly join the forum, which creates a feedback loop.

Building a community is the best thing you can do. I havn't been able to get one to work, but it pays off HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE when you get it running.