Forums do make money but CTR is not high. Anyway, if there is traffic like DP, then you can make some good money
What is the best way to attract private advertisers. Contacting them or just letting them come to your forum and then they come to you?
Depends on the site. If it's a really large forum which specializes in a certain niche which has a lot of advertisers (think gaming, computers, movies, etc), then you could try pitching your site to some big names. But you have to really have a brand and a presence online. As in XX,XXX+ uniques a day.
one thing ive thought is that if the forum gets big enough Ill add a store to the site. I believe that over time regular forum users just become leeches(never click on ads) so the best way to maximize a bustling forum is with a store. Of course you have to actually have a niche forum in the first place where a store would well.
You need original threads/members. If you have what every other forum has, what's the point? Think up a topic that you think would be less common, it might surprise you!
True. I been talking to myself in my forum for almost a year now. Its amazing some of the funny stuff I created in it though, but I do get hits to my forum even if 99.99% never register.
Nowadays the forum market is extremely bunched up. However, there is a way to make your forum stand out more than the others. The ones that have been up and going for a year or two had a huge advantage over you. They do you usually have the same simple layout just with different colors and logos. This is because most people that build forms use some sort of web site to help them do it and they all look the same. So if you have the money to pay a web site developer to create a good-looking forum for you that I would do it. Of coarse you should question if you have the time to market your forum. The best way to do this would be to have your signature on other forums include the name of your forum and a link to it. Make sure you are posting on forums that would actually grab those people's interests. For example: don't go posting on a web site that is about makeup products and then your forum be about sports. Because obviously you probably won't get very many people to come to your web site. I know those two are extreme differences but I was just trying to make an example.
forums need traffic to make money. even the CTR is low but it will compensate with high traffic you got. if you promote it correctly and in good niche sure you can make money off it.
IMO the forum market is highly saturated. It was saturated even 2 years ago. I think one reason why its so saturated is because people are lazy and want to just make a forum and expect people to automatically come. A directory or blog you have to spend time writing. Well the truth is you have to write and work a lot on a forum too, in some ways moreso than with a blog cause you have to talk to yourself, create drama, etc.
yes because you have other people adding content to your site everyday for free. Plus, those people will come back and write again. I am on this forum everyday because it lets me leave links to my site. Thus, the reason for this answer
There are forums with over 1.000.000 posts that can't sell $200 a month banner ad on top of the page. p.s. Your forum may seem more interesting to visitors by having more categories, you could also get more post with it.
So the only reason you replied to this topic or even visit this forum is to throw your links around? Nice. @OP: Forums can make money, but it's not a simple matter of making one and then letting it go. Yours is, I would expect, an especially difficult niche to reach out into because 1) its saturation level is likely higher than most, 2) there are already massive, established forums like DP that meet our needs, and 3) the people you are trying to attract lack the naivete that results in clicks and actions elsewhere. We enter your site (indeed, any site) knowing what are and are not ads and are especially adept at avoiding them. Webmasters are the worst when it comes to ad blindness. Even DP, with its massive amount of traffic "only" makes about $100-150 per day from AdSense, last I checked. I'm not saying you can't turn your forum into one of the great webmaster forums, but it's going to be an uphill climb this late in the game.
that is not only good advice, it is also representative of all niches on the net not just forums. like anything in life though, you just have to work at it! MOG
hi guys, i have an idea for a niche forum. after som research i can see that there isn't a good forum on this particular theme. The reason for that might be that no-one wants to discuss the topic. So my question is 'are there any free hosted forums that I could test out this topis on, then get a propper hosted site if it's a success?'