We are running SMF on one of our sites right now, it's a nice forum but I keep getting told about the wonders of VBulletin. So I have a questiob for you guys, where do I put the next U$160? Buying a lifetime VB licence ofr the forum or buying a few well placed backlinks? Or maybe give some guy U$160 for some SEO work on the site, this option seems the least attractive at the moment.
What are your short and long term goals? Do you want to provide a service to your user base or do you want to make money? Personally I would spend it on Vb and keep your user base happy and active. Once you can generate your expenses back for Vb then take it and reinvest on SEO. BTW Vb has all sorts of mods and instructions on how to make Vb SE friendly which will help in your SEO initiatives. Good Luck!
Why would you spend so much money on forum software. Personally I dont see any difference when posting on phpbb, punbb, smf, mybboard, vbulletin, ipb or any other forum software. And if you are using some other forum software than vbulletin that doesnt mean you are not serious or proffesional about it.....I really dont know where are you getting that thing Spend money on other thongs if you are satisfied with current smf solution
The main goal is to build a big user base and at a later stage to use the site as a launching platform for other projects. It already has the obligatory adesnese. To play devils advocate here, SMF also has tons of mods and SEO friendly items.
If I look very deep inside, I can see breakfest... But SEO it is then, we'll go with some link buying and move to VB if SMF really lets us down.