is phpbb alright

Hello, i've started a forum and i've set it up on phpbb and i am hoping to move to vbulletin once the forum picks up hopefully in the future. the default phpbb is not very good in terms of seo but i was wondering if it atleast capable of bringing a basic amount of traffic from google or would i have to optimize it a bit? once the forum starts to get a decent amount of traffic per day i'll probably switch to vbulletin and mayb use vbseo which would pretty much sum up the seo. Would it be hard to pick traffic using the default phpbb for now? any one who's experienced it? your opinions?


also the root of the domain is a blog which is seo'd pretty well and has a pr of 3 ,does that help?

thanks.

 

FYI, vBulletin DOESN'T make your forum successful.

 

phpbb is nice to start, but i prefer vbulletin on huge forums...

 

You took the right decision to start with phpbb and once the forum grows you can upgrade it to VBulletin, this is what people usually do.

Regarding SEO, I think you need to install a Phpbb SEO mod, also if your forum is new you need to wait until your forum gets indexed by major search engines.

 

yeah i've been waiting, how long does it usually take? in the first or second day i created the forum the main index page was indexed but now its gone.

 

yeah, phpbb is pretty cool to start out with, you gain forum experience and in the future maybe upgrade to IPB or vBulletin.

 

Don't worry too much about indexing... Because search engines will automatically find you.

You just work on the content, forum categories, rules... and stuff like that.. so that when search engines will start crawling your site they should have some good content to crawl.

Edit: I wrote some tips for forum owners, I am sure if you read them and follow your forum will go good

 

thanks i'll check them out.

i tried using the mod on phpbb-seo but its still beta and users seem to be having problems with it so i reinstalled the original phpbb. would it be ok to use phpbb's default settings for now. Would it be hard to make the forum popular if i keep it as the default without any seo optimization?

 

phpBB does more then enough to create a popular forum. It's the forum content and traffic which is most important. You can always migrate to vBulletin later down the track.

 

Naw Mate VBulletin Is the Best!

 

thanks for the info i guess i'll leave my forum as it is for now and work on content and traffic then, any other tips are always welcome.

 

There are plenty of BIG forums that run on phpbb. You do not nessecarily need to change to vBulliten

 

I really hated phpBB3. Mods were so difficult to apply, that it's a waste of time.

 

thats true.. it takes like 10-30 min to install simple mods :S

 

yeah it was the same for me too..exactly why i feel i should move to vbulletin once my forum becomes bigger hopefully in the future.

 

need service set up phpbb+design+mods+SEO i'm live on MSN


please check my thread and come to msn please

http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1092310

 

Its okay but, has the hugest database for modifications and styles ^_^!

 

phpbb is a great starting point. I won't ever switch from it, seeing that it's highly customizable. lol, and free

If you want to get indexed it'll be less than 1 week after you've created your site. And the blog will bring all the visitors you need well with the right tweaking.

 

PHPBB is a favorite target for hackers, and phpbb has a history of being insecure. A few years ago there were a couple of forums that I visited on a regular basis - and both of these forums ran phpbb.

Site one - finally switched over to SMF after being hacked every 2 or 3 days, for a month. Whoever hacked this site did so for a whole month. The owner would fix the site, a day or two later - hacked again. A lot of the members left and went to other sites while this was going on.

Site two - was closed forever. This site, I know the owner personally. When I asked him why he closed his site, he said he was tired of getting hacked. Lynn, my buddy that owned the site told me that he got hacked about once a week, sometimes once a month. He would fix the site, then it would be hacked again.

Ever since I saw both of these sites get hacked, defaced and shutdown, I have not recommended or used phpbb.

There is more to the phpbb or vb comparison then just SEO, there are a lot of security and tech support issues. With VB you get real support from a real technician, if you pay a little extra you can even get phone support. With phpbb, you post in their forums and pray that someone answers you. And then you pray again that the answer will fix the problem.

PHPBB is ok, but I would NOT use it on a public site, and certainly NOT a professional or commercial site. There are just too many security and support issues that will have to be dealt with sooner or later.

 

well its not allways have to be like that.
i much prever phpbb for big or small forum XP
example gaia online.