Starting a Forum - worthwhile?

Discussion in 'General Business' started by GrantDraper, Nov 27, 2008.

  1. #1
    Hey all,

    I've got a website that gets an average of 10,000 uniques and 30,000 pageviews per month.

    I get asked questions on a daily basis.

    Is it worth setting up a forum and promoting it to try and retain some traffic to the site and therefore, get some more earnings?

    What are the best ways to promote a forum, as i take it 10,000 uniques a month won't get me the coverage i need.

    Thanks!
     
    GrantDraper, Nov 27, 2008 IP
  2. altyfc

    altyfc Peon

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    #2
    Forums don't tend to earn much money unless they are very high traffic. With these kinds of numbers you might get a trickle of activity but more likely than not you would end up with a fairly inactive place unless you did a lot of work on it.
     
    altyfc, Nov 27, 2008 IP
  3. GrantDraper

    GrantDraper Active Member

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    #3
    I'd plan to promote, but its more to get some backlinks, regular users and boost traffic up to the actual domain which is www.poultrypages.com
     
    GrantDraper, Nov 27, 2008 IP
  4. dcristo

    dcristo Illustrious Member

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    #4
    Forums are great because it's user generated content. It's worthwhile if it becomes popular ;)
     
    dcristo, Nov 27, 2008 IP
  5. altyfc

    altyfc Peon

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    #5
    Is there all that much for people to talk about when it comes to poultry?
     
    altyfc, Nov 27, 2008 IP
  6. Mega B

    Mega B Well-Known Member

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    #6
    To actually add a Forum to your site would only take a small amount of time to install but as you have mentioned that people are asking about one gives a good indication that it could work for you and because you have such a niche site people could well keep coming back more often and just by adding a few extra adsense ads on it could well bring a small amount of extra revenue.

    I would say what have you to loose not alot and if it does not take off just delete it.
     
    Mega B, Nov 27, 2008 IP
  7. GrantDraper

    GrantDraper Active Member

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    #7
    Yeh for sure, i suppose these things need time, so 12 months of promoting and organic traffic will sort of determine whether its worthwhile.

    Theres plenty to talk about and theres 18,000 searches for 'chicken breeds' alone every month
     
    GrantDraper, Nov 27, 2008 IP
  8. mentos

    mentos Prominent Member

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    #8
    Yes it always a good ideal to earn more from a single site especially during recession time.
    So you mean you need more than 10K unique/month?
    Then it will be pretty hard consider your main page only received 30K unique/month.
    Anyway,you can do is link exchange with other niche related site.Using adword.Social bookmark
     
    mentos, Nov 27, 2008 IP
  9. GrantDraper

    GrantDraper Active Member

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    #9
    Hello,

    Thanks for all the input.

    Anyone thats actually launched a successful forum feel free to contact me - i could do with some pointers.

    Nope i mean i recieve 10,000 uniques a month to www.poultrypages.com, so hopefully this will drive a good amount to the forum
     
    GrantDraper, Nov 28, 2008 IP
  10. steven123

    steven123 Peon

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    #10
    As others have mentioned I do not really see what you would have to loose. Although moderation of a forum can be quite time consuming if it gets real busy however based on your subject I would not forsee this being a big issue. I would not imagine that you would make a create deal of direct income from the forum, but overall your whole site will benefit.

    Good Luck.
     
    steven123, Nov 28, 2008 IP
  11. thefandango

    thefandango Active Member

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    #11
    If a forum is used, it will always be a pull for your site. You can also put ads on it or affiliate offers to boost income. If you slap phpbb or another free forum script on then it wont even cost you anything.
     
    thefandango, Nov 28, 2008 IP
  12. gr8webseller

    gr8webseller Peon

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    #12
    Most of the website visitors won't join forums. First u want some good posts. Ask peoples from DP to post in ur forum.By this ur posts increases so that ur forum members too get increased. Note that it is difficult to earn more with forums.
     
    gr8webseller, Nov 28, 2008 IP
  13. GrantDraper

    GrantDraper Active Member

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    #13
    I dont want to earn more, and please i do realise that i know what a forum is and know what traffic it will bring, hence why i want one.

    I just want to use it to generate and sustain traffic
     
    GrantDraper, Nov 28, 2008 IP
  14. joebert

    joebert Well-Known Member

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    #14
    That sounds like reason enough to start the forum to me, if nothing else you will not need to repeat yourself as often.
     
    joebert, Nov 28, 2008 IP
  15. banks1

    banks1 Peon

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    #15
    You know, you will never know until you try. I know a lot of people will say its not worth your time, but you might as well try. I mean, your getting a good number of page views. Give it a shot!
     
    banks1, Nov 29, 2008 IP
  16. dairyman

    dairyman Notable Member

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    #16
    The success of your forum depends on your ability to convert the unique and repeated visitors to be active members. If you do that, your forum will be very active churning out the extra dollars. :)
     
    dairyman, Nov 29, 2008 IP
  17. tradester

    tradester Well-Known Member

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    #17
    well, anything food -related niche has big potential so while I can sense some giggling in the background, niche poultry is not "chicken feed" :D
     
    tradester, Nov 29, 2008 IP
  18. Tearabite

    Tearabite Prominent Member

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    #18
    That's exactly what i did.. I started getting a lot of questions emailed and posted as comments on pages, so i added a forum to the site which eventually morphed into a 'community' (that has generated over $200,000 in the last 2.5 years).. I wrote about the how's/whys in my free ebook, but if you have questions just contact me or post them here..
     
    Tearabite, Nov 29, 2008 IP
    buffalo likes this.
  19. forestfc10

    forestfc10 Peon

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    #19
    It's difficult to set up a successful one, especially as yours has a small target audience.
     
    forestfc10, Nov 29, 2008 IP
  20. JREAM

    JREAM Member

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    #20
    What about a Knowledge Base? Is this frowned upon?
     
    JREAM, Nov 29, 2008 IP