Best way to make money off of a forum

I am thinking of starting a few new forums ( webmaster and math related ) and I am wondering what the best way to monetize it is.

Thanks!

 

cpm ads, since regular forum visitors have "ad blindness"
So if you use Adsense, you will need to have huge traffic to make any money

 

I have a forum that gives a 0.5% CTR and with 600,000 visits a month you can make $200 if you fill your page with ads.

 

u sure you dont want the visitor to read and enjoy the site ?

 

Those inline ads are annoying i.e. the ones that come after every post. However, if they are at the bottom of a page, thats fine.

 

link ads
banner ads
newsletter ads
private message ads
forum signatures

 

private message ads
This thing can spoil your reputation

 

well i meant admin of the forum can do that
ive seen in few boards, few announcements being made in private messages, so spots can be sold for links in private messages

 

going wih the flow , someone will soon start ads inside your own post .... think of it , you yourself will not be sure what you posted or what was an ad henceforth

 

now i think of it , i have actually seen it on a site i wopuld not like to mention

 

Maybe try offering a little membership for money.

 

why will the members pay you for membership?
They need something first in return.

 

paid membership should be after u hav 50k members or a 100k
a new forum it will be straigh no

 

i have been using my forum for 2 years

but still have not earned that much

anyways cheers

 

Subscribers and member donations. I have twice as much off subscribers as I do with Adsense. The key is to have a loyal following on your site which attracts other members. I even have members that buy other members subscriptions.

 

Look good by not using huge adsense ads all over the place.
Nothing looks bad than to go to a forum and the top third of the page is a crappy adsense ad.

 

member donations are good , but as someone also mentioned that you need to have content on your site which they wont get elsewhere , or with as much ease .

 

please say some CPM ads fo forums

 

The type of ads you get from CPM networks (smilies and stuff) will scare your members away. I'd rather go with adsense than using CPM on the forums. Also, not many cpm advertisers work with forums and those who do, pay pennies in return.

 

Why not provide paid download.