Hi I am thinking of making up a forum or possibly more and as I am new to doing this I would like to ask you some general questions. 1 - When making up a forum do you have to moderate it ? 2 - if you do, how do you go about getting moderators ? 3 - For a beginner, making up a forum what are some of the “things†that you should have in place and do in order to succeed ? 4 - What types of forums the most popular and successful ? 5 - This question may be a hard one to answer, but I'll ask it anyway. What is the average length of time it may take in order for an individual to start reaping the benefits from a forum even though they may be small at first ? Thank you Craig
To be honest, it is a lot of hard work and most forums fail. 1 - When making up a forum do you have to moderate it ? YES 2 - if you do, how do you go about getting moderators ? You can advertise for someone willing to help out or you can look at loyal members of the forum. Do not waste your time or theirs unless you really need a moderator. 3 - For a beginner, making up a forum what are some of the “things†that you should have in place and do in order to succeed ? You need a money and lots of it. Be prepared to spend time and money advertising, paying people to post on the forum, and for upgrading hosting if it grows beyond your current plan. 4 - What types of forums the most popular and successful ? There are many, just find one that you have an interest in because you may be the only one posting till you get people there. 5 - This question may be a hard one to answer, but I'll ask it anyway. What is the average length of time it may take in order for an individual to start reaping the benefits from a forum even though they may be small at first ? If you get enough members, you can reap some money from ads and selling links. Overall, the first year or longer, it is normally a money pit. If you can build for cheap and fill the forum with little cost, you can make some money reselling it fast. If you do not have money to invest, lots of time, and a true desire, I would not recommend a forum.
It requires alot of time and money. Forum are not easy to run, it requires alot of dedicated time. It will be a problem at first getting visitors to your site at first, but then it will start to grow. Try spending money on advertisements.
Making a forum and getting it heard is a lot of work and you really need to contribute to the forum. You'll always need to be there and provide some unique content that other forums don't have. 1 - When making up a forum do you have to moderate it ? Yes you do, unless you hire a real trustworthy person who'll contribute most of their time and money to the site. 2 - if you do, how do you go about getting moderators ? For the first 100 members I don't really think you should be worrying about staff. But if you really need help just go ask around dp, post some offers on other forums and only pick people you find trustworthy because THEY will have the power to shut your whole forum down. 3 - For a beginner, making up a forum what are some of the “things†that you should have in place and do in order to succeed ? You will need lots of money Lots of patients, you'll need to contribute and keep upgrading your server. 4 - What types of forums the most popular and successful ? You never pick a topic you are not familiar with. Pick something that interests you, contribute some content and advertise. That's all I can tell you. 5 - This question may be a hard one to answer, but I'll ask it anyway. What is the average length of time it may take in order for an individual to start reaping the benefits from a forum even though they may be small at first? If you save up a little on the making process etc. You can probably buy some advertisements and just watch the member come. You'll need some unique content to attract them. Usually it take around a year before you start making some real money of a forum if you really have interest in it.
1 - When making up a forum do you have to moderate it ? Yes, you will have to show the greatest amount of dedication. The members will be looking up to you, and if you don't spend time cleaning and maintaining the forum, then it will effect your members and your forum's success. You can obviously have others moderating for you, but as an administrator, you have the greatest responsibilities. 2 - if you do, how do you go about getting moderators ? You can find some here, my asking for people wishing to moderate. You can also ask friends, or people you know, who may be interested in helping you out. There are various other places, like http://www.adminfuel.com (my forum), where you can find people wanting to moderate. 3 - For a beginner, making up a forum what are some of the “things†that you should have in place and do in order to succeed ? There is no definite way to succeed. It depends on what your forum is about and what your members demand. It could be a photography forum; in this case you will be looking at a gallery etc. You must market your forum correctly and also be dedicated to updating content. If you don't update the content then no one will be interested. The obvious starter is to select a forum software. A comparison can be found here: http://www.adminfuel.com/picking_the_right_forum_software-p4.html . That compares the main software used. You have both free and paid that you can look at. 4 - What types of forums the most popular and successful ? It doesn't matter, or it shouldn't matter. As said before, pick something you are interested in and build on that. Picking something you are not interested in will result in a dead forum with little content, as you will not be able to talk about it. However, if what you are interested in, is already a popular forum niche (topic) on the internet, then you MUST provide something unique with your forum. If you don't, then no one will want to visit your forum as there is nothing new, and it will have less content than the bigger ones. More info: http://www.adminfuel.com/picking_a_successful_niche_for_your_forum-p5.html 5 - This question may be a hard one to answer, but I'll ask it anyway. What is the average length of time it may take in order for an individual to start reaping the benefits from a forum even though they may be small at first ? It depends how well you market and progress your forum. It also depends on how popular your topic is among others. Sometimes forums can take a while to catch on, other times they burn up. You will need to attract members and update content so that traffic increases. Else you will have little chance of succeeding. You can find more help and support here: http://www.adminfuel.com/ Good luck