Hello DP: I've started a new forum at http://www.startupstalk.com - focusing on online startups and startups in general. I have been getting people to the forum slowly. I am going to promote it on my blog and few other sites which is technology related. What is next? How do you monetize a forum? How do you keep the people that come to your forum at your forum - repeat visitors? Thanks, CM
i'm struggling too. forums are probably the hardest thing to start, why would people post on a new forum? so far my two have made $0 but i am hoping to bring some worthy traffic and try get the money coming. perhaps try a similar system to here? where the ads show between posts?
Forums are great depending on the Topics. I would never even attempt to start a forum in IM, website stuff etc. It would take years to even come close to competing with DP, Webmasters, etc. Again, keywords, what people are looking for, makes all the difference. You best be an Expert in your field or have someone managing it that is. If not, don't waste your time. Part of my keyword research deals with forums. If I go to a site that has a dead forum, I simply close the tab and go on. Zeek
you will not make much or any cash from a forum, why? because you get a high returning traffic but not a really high new traffic. The best point of a forum is it gather traffic, then use that traffic for your other sites. Again this is just based on my views.
Forums are SO difficult to get off the ground. One thing that was helpful was to purchase forum boosting--pay for posting... Use this in conjunction with your other marketing so that your forum will have traffic and recent posts. Then, you'll have a better chance of getting more members from your marketing efforts. Good luck.
Put some useful content on your forum. And for monetize part,you can use adsense or adbrite To make people keep visiting your site is doing some contest such as who posted the most hottest topic will be rewarded with $1000
You need to post unique and valuable content so that your visitors will stay. Networking is a big part of it. Get your friends in the online world to participate as well.
Don't focus on monetizing yet just frequently post and keep activity going on the forums. One common tactic new forum admins use is to create multiple accounts and then create and reply to their own topics. People will feel more comfortable if other people are involved in discussions.
You could offer revenue sharing. As David said, try making multiple accounts to give a look that there is discussion going around. Hire paid forum posters. Organise a contest. I personally prefer contests with several small prizes instead of one big one, but that is up to the owner. Do some marketing. Make a good logo and invent a catchy slogan, and promote it on other forums.
you need to add a lot more content on that site, I was checking it out thinking I would see a few "Start up" articles.. I found very few, and I also see empty forums.. register under 2 or 3 usernames if you need to, but you should have more content and give ppl a reason to sign up and post..
Initial repeat visitors in your case is going to depend on people not finding everything they need in a single thread. Once their start-up is off the ground, they're going to want a place they can trust to get things their business needs, like office supplies and personnel.
Thank you guys for all of your kind suggestions. One thing that caught my attention is the "hold contests". I am interested and per that I have posted an announcement on my site. Now the question is, what sort of contests will work and what kind of prizes (low budget)? Does anyone have any suggestion on what kind of contests works for forums? and where can I promote those contests?
forums can be quite difficult to start, it would be wise to link it to some other service or website. For example... ive seen blogs that get a lot of hits and return visitors start forums... this way they have a loyal group.
The key to prizes being successfull is that they are significantly greater in value than the effort required to win them. Your only realistic options are waiting untill there's an existing audience to make the cost of the prize worth it, or crappy prizes which provoke half-assed efforts.