Hello all, I am trying to make a comprehensive list of legitimate and practical methods of operating a forum with emphasis on monetization. A. Potential monetization (income) A1. Affiliate Programs A2. Google Adsense A3. Sell Links A4. Use it to promote other things. (But what other things???) A5. Paid subscriptions (Does this really work? Do people pay to go to forums?) B. Expenses B1. Hosting B2. Paid posters B3. Setting up B4. Time to maintain B5. Software purchase B6. Electricity from your computer B7. Your computer if you don't have one already B8. Internet access if you don't have it already, but I bet you do since you are on DP forums. B9. Advertising/Marketing C. Trades you can do. C1. Link trade (win-win, you get advertising, they get advertising). C2. Posting trade (not really monetizing, but adds to the forum posting and life to the forum, so it is overall a good thing). What else? Please feel free to add to the lists. Thanks!
Thanks, this info is useful. Me too planning to start a forum soon. Under 'Potential monetization (income)' you can also have weekly/monthly newsletter and provide an ad space in each newsletter.
Premium memberships or Donations. These things really work but you have to market your forum by a proper channel. Secondary income should earn by providing high quality service or software’s. Like Webmaster forum providing a SEO software.
Nope, unless you give smth of small value or noone is interested. Contests are great for: - value posting - community building - getting more posts/registered users - loyality building - generating traffic - generating revenue - forums promotion - forums promotions by referrals - helping grow forums in many other ways.
Generally, Yes. I should look at how many stay and become loyal rather than how many leave - It's natural some of them will leave. Then, if you know how many stay/leave, try to find out why are they staying/leaving. Is it becouse of good/bad design, atmosphere, quality of content, other thing? Make a survey for those who registered during the contest (or all members) and ask them about it. After the contest is over, do something to keep them coming back. Give a reason to come back.
Spam prevention. That one is also important in some aspects whether it be spam bots or people spamming links etc.
I think you forgot to mention work of moderators and administrators. It's not so easy to find people who will care for your forum for free and help you with that. But a very nice list, indeed.
Installing updates can cost money if you cannot do it yourself. I can do some simple mods, but I have to pay a certified webmaster to install some of the more difficult mods. If your forum gets really busy then you may need to upgrade your hosting, possibly to a dedicated server, which can be expensive!