Is a forum necessary?

Say I have a site on a topic, skiing for example. I plan on having the site loaded with information about the sport, how to get into it and all of the good places to go.

Do you think I should have a forum for people to get together and chat about it, share experiences and stories or should I stay away from it?

Thanks

Richard

 

Yeah, you want to introduce as much interaction with all of the sites visitors as possible. It will form a better community and keep bringing people back. It would be a good idea to let people chat.

 

That's what I thought to be honest. I think I will buy vbulletin or something and see how that goes.

I suppose the best way to market a forum is to get some paid posts or something so that it looks like it's active?

 

It is not essential or must have to have a forum on your site, however as you would have noticed, and already suggested, a forum adds to user experience where like minded folks can exchange views. As a web master you would like folks to keep coming back to your site and thus a big bonus. So while your content may get unique visitors everyday, things like forum help to get you repeat visitors.

Cheers

 

Think you hit the nail on the head I am wanting to try and get a big community in the chosen sport/activity

 

Yeah, you will probably need to pay some people to help you build up the amount of posts and to make the forum look busy. Then more people will get envolved. You might want to register yourself as a few names as well to make different posts under. Remember no one will signup to a forum where no one posts!

Good Luck
Web-Master

 

I also started a forum www.theSenorita.com/forums for my site www.theSenorita.com

I am suing phpbb. Lets see how this goes on. Please do visit it and possible be a part of the community too..

thnx

 

Yeah I agree, I'll look into that service when I get all of the pages finished.

 

This is why you need a forum

 

Forums help always getting visitors to your site.

 

Of course! But to grow and tame a forum you need both money and effort, as well as a decent amount of time.

 

I think I've decided to make one in the near future. I'm prepared to put the time and effort it - just hope it doesn't flop

 

The community loves to be involved and have their opinions heard, of course

 

Yes, a forum for people to share ideas, discuss, and so forth is very valuable. Communities are very powerful as you can see with this forum for instance.

 

Very well-said actually. Forums help build a community as well as a brand. And branding eventually establish the online presence.

 

yeah.. and just hire some few people to start posting on your website to make it looks busy.. others will join eventually

 

Cheers for all the info, I'll look into getting one once the site's finished off.

Thanks

 

if you have an extablished site with traffic, once the site has been established, its not a bad idea to add a forum to it. its not needed to begin with but once you have some traffic coming, its always a good idea. by providing a forum to your visitors, you are allowing them to share info as well as allow some to contribute to the community. you will get some return visitors.

to test it, you can start with phpBB which is free. once your forum becomes popular, you can migrate to vbulletin which will give your forum a professional look. if you do decide to start a forum, then you can buy some forum posts which is about 10 cents a post as going rate to make it look live, till real members starts joining

 

Exactly, the point is having already a good amount of traffic that will want to use the forum to discuss their opinions, questions, etc. Otherwise, it might really just make your site look dead.

 

Forums can be wonderful for attracting even more visitors, and if you have the site monetized with ads, it'll bring in more money. Is it necessary? No, but it's certainly a good idea if your site has enough visitors to it and is marketed properly.