Word of mouth, in all forms of marketing, is generally the best method, and the best for both good and bad (especially bad). Make a mistake and people will tell ten others, compared with only tell one person about the things you do right. It is not, and has never been a goal of mine to make money...at least off the forum part of my site. I tried ads to make ends meet and have actually removed them because I didn't want Google to dictate what my members could or could not say, lol. Altruistic? I don't think so... but I am in it for the community, not my wallet. My hat comes off to those of like mind as well. I'll raise my glass to that! *cheers*
We have a forum that is two years old. There were several other forums in our niche we were competing against. We killed one in 6 months. The second is almost dead now. The third is run by a much more savvy guy who is a semi-pro internet marketer who won't roll over easily. We are now busier than him, we have better moderation and a more honest reputation. He has been running over 6 years; us two. We are just 80k posts behind him now and will most likely overtake him later next year. We will then be the biggest forum on the net in our niche. But yes, it has taken oodles of time, effort, some money, associated products, favours, reputation building, etc. to get to where we are. You need an intimate knowledge of your subject matter, preferably be an expert in your field, a whole heap of time, good mature moderators, good techs, and especially good reliable hosting. (Not to mention a revenue stream.) It cannot be done for $2, in two days, from a laptop in a goat field in Turkmenistan like some members here imagine. It takes real hard work and genuine, organic growth. We have a book (on paper - not "e") to help, I have guested on 50+ radio shows, assisted the media and university studies on the subject matter, been mentioned in national papers, etc. Your forum must become a force to be reckoned with in your field. But yes, it can be done.
of course yes and It might be easier than you think take example this forum : DP the most known competitor is webmaster world : it is free of ads and much more experts there however DP is still on top however they may get on top if -god forbid - dp is hacked or down for a while as happened b4