I have $2700 to spend on a new forum.

I am starting a new webhosting forum and have a budget of $2700.

I want to hit the ground running,any Ideas would be most welcome on the best way to use my budget.


I am prepaired to spend 3 months full time on this project,what would be the best use of my time ?

So far on my list is:

Paid posting
Post in others blogs
Competitions ?
Paid Referals
Buy Articles

 

>Paid posting choice has decreased these days as many forum owners complain of crap posts...
>Competitions would be a bit good option with rules like bad posts would not be counted.
>Paid referrals and posts in other blogs are also one of the best options in my view.
>Buying articles, i have no idea of...

 

Buy one-way links...that's all I'd spend my money on man...

 

I'd pay for posts and use a competition at the same time to push people into posting.

Submitting to paid directories/one-way links are needed for SERPS to drive traffic.

 

in my opinion you need to have some content before going for the traffic as i think i will not become a member of fourm that has very little action.
you will be wasting money if you dont ahve some good forum to present.

 

I think that paid posting is a must if you want your forum to grow up.

p.l.u.r.

 

Create a competition for most posts
another for most referrals and
another for the best articles,
Then advertise your Forum on PPC once its off the ground

 

You could try paid posting just untill it gets busier and then stop it.

I know from experience it is very hard to build a busy forum

 

I think big contests are the way to go spend half 1/3 of the money on prizes and 2/3 on getting tons of hype around the contest by advertising via blog posts, banner ads, etc. and just posting about it in other forums.

Might also want to spend a little money on paid posting.

 

Interesting thread... haven't heard of "paid" forumn posts before... if you pay for "the most" posts, do you clutter it up with low-quality crap? or maybe that doesn't matter so much, just getting some good numbers... thoughts?

Any good threads you can point me to on paid forumn posts?

Thanks!
Charlie

 

organize contests and announce them with one month before, for a 1st proze of 500, 2nd of 300 and 3rd of 100 dollars i bet you'll have some good competitors and you spend only 900 $

good luck!

 

What do you guys think would be good as prizes ?

Would cash be better ?

I thought maybe offer free hosting but that would appeal to less people ?

Maybe I could ofer something that would get a bit viral ? any ideas.

 

A year of hosting on a good host would be a great prize. Or maybe some package that'd help them start their own hosting company (server, advertising, Press releases, etc)

But cash does appeal to everyone, so that may be the best.

 

Well as far as paid posting goes ( some believe its crap ) but there are over 45 services. So there is a need. If you want to browse a Paid Posting List here is one. Paid Posting needs to be a supplement and does not make a forum. It should only be used on a temporary basis.

From my experience as a previous paid posting owner and a freelance paid poster I have written an article that may help you - maybe. These are some of the things I noticed while doing paid posting that I would like to pass on to forum owners. It's What kind of forum owner are you?

As far as your questions go.
1. Prizes are great if you have something that is up on on current taste.
2. Cash is great
3. Hosting is great as well
4. Domain name giveaway.(you can buy it for them or if you have any on hand you do not use)
5. Scripts, Templates, Logo, banners are always a welcome idea as well

**********You can mix and match the things mentioned above

 

I'd try:

Having 2 competitions of the type drhyperlaur said = 1800
Buy some good links on several pages= 450
Hire a writer for some private label articles = 300
Buy a couple blog posts = 150
Total : 2700

 

A referral and reward system, you really need that.

 

You might could purchase some other existing forums and merge them into one.

 

Offer something that your competition isn't - be unique - tons of forums out there, all trying to get active members. Competitions are a good idea, and don't forget your going to be relying on people joining the forum from other forums, via your signature and MSN / Yahoo.

You'll get next to no traffic from Google for competitive keywords for up to 12 months, so think about also paying out for PPC campaign.

 

Or place a competition in this way :
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=126097

And hope u get the same support like Al got there...

 

don't pay to post, but hire some good mods who will post and mod for you to kick it off.