Forums

Really sorry if this is in the wrong section (please link to right section?)

I was interested in how one would go about starting a forum? I read a little bit on phpbb, but what would be the first steps to start one?

thanks! x

 

Buying or signing up for the forum software is a start. If budget isn't a problem IPB offer the best, or vBullet...

After you've got the forum you need to get a suitable amount of content on it, and then members... expand the amount of content you have, with the more members you get.

 

Find a topic or niche to be discussed. Find some hosting. Install your software. Start getting members.

 

First step would be to decide / pick a niche for which you want to have a forum. Running a forum is easy but making it popular is not a easy task.

As mentioned by others you phpbb could be good place to start with , once you see that the project is turning out to be beneficial, you can invest funds into it and upgrade to IPB or vbulletin.

Best Regards,
MM

 

phpBB is a good start,
try vbulletin is if you budget.

 

sounds easy enough, hehe

thanks!

 

Starting a forum is easy... Yes!

Turning into a success is the tough part

Read up on feverbee.com and communityspark.com to get into the know...

 

Okay so you're looking at starting a forum. To start with you're best off using a free host and free software such as phpBB or myBB, why? - because if it doesn't work out you won't lose anything. Starting off like this means once (if) your forum grows and becomes a success you'll be able to buy paid hosting (free hosts aren't hugely reliable, especially when you run a big site).

Once you've got your host and software installed you need to decide which niche you want to go for. Actually rather than running a forum just for the sake of "having a forum", you really ought to start a forum about something you're passionate about - for example it could be horse riding, girls with big noses, Web Design, Cheesy Feet, Teddy Bears etc etc...

Once you've got your forum set up and presentable (custom banner / custom skin), with all the categories & forums created, all usergroups made and permissions assigned you need to market your forum. Nowadays starting a forum is harder than ever, simply because there are so many people doing it. You need to make your forum unique and give it a real selling point. In addition to that you need to be out there every day building awareness, posting about your sites on Promotion Forums. More importantly you need to be an active member on sites in a similar niche displaying a clear link to your site in your signature.

Finally, here are three tips I regularly give out to members on my forum. 1) Give members a reason to come back to your site. 2) When starting up / advertising your site make it look active, whether you ask your friends and family to join up and help out or multiple-account and effectively talk to yourself...it's important to remember that nobody will join a dead forum. Finally, 3) be a part of the community. There's nothing members love more than an admin who regularly gets involved.

Be prepared for rule breakers, trolling, spammers, multiple accounters, whiney users, flame wars, 13 year old kids, and everything else that regularly annoys forum admins.

 

get a free on for now like a invisionfree or zetaboard, intill u get a hosting and a domain

 

The same thread I was also thinking to start but I got my answer here,

Thanks for starting it, hope you got your answer as I got mine.

-kmamaji-

 

First of all, as many have said you need to consider what your forum will actually be about. What interests you? What do you like to talk about? Now, once you have decided this, a major thing is to have a search with Google to see if there are any forums that cover your 'niche'. If there are, how big are they? How much competition will they be? You don't want to waste time making something that wont be popular. One major aspect is that how will you make the forum unique from competition - THIS is the reason people will visit and stay loyal.

Once you have overcome all of this, it is time to choose your forum software. You can go for free ones like phpBB, SMF and MyBB or you can decide to pay for ones like vBulletin and IPB.

It depends on your situation and how much you wish to commit to a project. It is ALWAYS an option to move from one forum software to another, be it slightly difficult when you have developed your forum a lot.

I have done a nice article on The A-Z of Forum Construction and Management. You may want to visit AdminFuel for some specific support