Hi I've always been interested in started a community site. like using a phpfox script. but i would need a dedicated server which is 150~ / month easy. so with a site thats a few hundred to a few thousand members [small community site] do you think adsense could cover that 100-150 dollar a month cost?
Will you get to thousands of users overnight? Definitely not. You should just start with shared hosting and move up when the needs will actually require it. By that time money won't be an issue if the time monetizes well. On the other hand, community sites and forums pay very low in terms of Adsense. You will need to diversify your income stream, adding alternatives such as affiliate marketing etc.
i see. community sites are extremely resource intensive, shared wouldn't be a good idea i don't think. cheap vps i think would be better to start. as for low paying w/ adsense, isn't the content user-generated. i stick an advert in a blog, and whatever that blog is about the ads will be about, right?
I used proboards for my community........I pay $7 for every 50,000 impressions.....for their AD-free service......then, I host my own...... I just started it last month, and have gained over 350 quality members.....it makes between $1-$5 a day using adsense and other advertisements....
a forum and a commnity site are quite different, i mean a community site has a forum built into it, along with blogs [which many use for adsense] profiles, etc. 350 members of a forum and 350 on a community site is quite different i think..right? with 350 members id hope to make minimum 5 a day, that would definetly cover server costs for a white, and thats quite low i believe.