so, if I did create a forum, and it did become as popular as the above forum (thousands of threads). Which hostgator hosting package do you think I would have to use? Regular, Reseller, or dedicated. thanks, all the info so far has been very helpfull. and for the niche of my forum, I am thinking weight loss. I know its really competitive, but I think I am pretty good at promoting...
Vbulletin is easy to install. I had a little problem though and I went on Live chat with hostgator, they fixed it for free.
I was in google listings within 24 hours without vBseo. A complete waste of money as you can do the majority of things vBseo does by using free hacks.
I have started with the swamp package. Its performing very well so far. But again once you get several thousand members you have to move to VPS. If you have lot more members afterwards dedicated of course. I always try to put less money from my pocket; so you have to think of monetizing the forum as well covering the hosting and few other marketing expenses.
If you don't like vBulletin, you can always go with IPB. It's Admin Panel is much more professional then vBulletin and it has thousands of mods just like vB. Only difference is some of the way the features work, it's also a lot easier to mod with it's built in file editor imo... Put it this way with the hosting though: Baby Plan - Less then 1,000 VPS Plan - 1,000-5,000 Dedicated Server - 5,000+
i think u guys r leaving out a very importan element users u need users to make it if u have that everything elce is simple .... do u agree guys > ?
You'll be fine with a shared ("regular") hosting plan if you were to use VBulletin. I've had up to 200 guests on my forum at once using Hostgator's shared plan and I wasn't close to using up server resources.
I'd like to recommend Simple Machines. It's the best forum software out there... and free. I've used a lot through the years with my sites.
Check my signatures for hosting if u like it I use them and recommend them as well they have a very useful option in the c panel for your case being a newbie One click on the control panel and it install the forum for you on the path u want So u can play with all the scripts install and uninstall until u r happy with what u want They cover 50 major scripts for forums content etc … Hope that helps But before u go on spending money make sure u have the marketing covered It’s the must have that no host will help with
Here is a PLAN for you, Go with HG baby package Then USE Fluxbb/Mybb only, Grow your forum, be a community guy then spend money on adwords in the start. In the start a lot, (Really A Lot) Advertising Really works, When your forum grow up move to the dedicated server or VPS hosting. Remember: Care your members on your forum.