What types of forums make the best money?

What types of forums would you say make the best money?

And I'm not talking about vBulletin forums, phpBB forums, MyBB forums, etc.

I'm talking about the niche.

Do gaming forums make more money than webmaster forums, Do poker forums make more money than general chat forums, etc.

What's your say on this?

 

I have seen many forums for sale on SitePoint and other places over the years and it seems that forums in the automobile niche (motorcycle, cars, 4-wheelers etc.) have always a) had significant proven income and b) sold for a good sum.

Not sure general forums make good money. I would stay with a specialised niche if you are looking to maximise ad revenue.

 

Anything in a good field. If it's computers/marketing, promote things other than just ads - most people on those are either also using adblock or are ad blind.

Find some good affiliate programs you can add to them & hedge your bets instead of just relying on adsense like most. You'd do a lot better that way

 

I would say the subject that attacts a wider audience. Technology or Sports.

 

I don't say this to be rude or anything, but, if your sole purpose is to make money online, then forums are probably not the best way to go. If you compare the amount of time required to set up and run a forum compared to its payoff, 9 times out of 10, it's not worth it. Forums should be run more as a hobby than anything else - any income that you get on the side is just icing on the cake.

If you're in the business of making money online, there are much better ventures

Having said that, a general rule of thumb to follow when thinking about "what forums make the most money" is - target older audiences.

 

I agree running a forum should be a labor of love because it will drain you big time!
I have a very successful forum and i do very well by way of paid memberships
only because i am one of only two forums that deal with our topic but it is literally overwhelming sometimes and honestly like was said above there are other avenues that are much less draining.

 

verticalscope.com

 

Like what others have said, running and developing a forum site is overwhelming, draining, and time-consuming. I am speaking from experience. I thought it was that easy. There are many aspects in the forum site that you don't want to deal with once your site grows big.

I don't advise people to make money out of forum sites. Yes, it should be a labor of love. Forum sites should be about knowledge-sharing, establishing friendships and finding the right connection with same-minded people.

 

I didn't say it's impossible to make money running forums, I said there are much more promising ventures out there

It's also possible to make a whole lot of money as a professional athlete or a musician, but that doesn't mean that we should all go out and do it in hopes of making it big.

 

Could someone give me some advice on a good forum type for a car niche? Specifically Citroen? Thanks. Would like easy and good looking forum. Thanks,
Carol

 

don't get too specific, because your members will run out of things to talk about.

 

Every forum can make handsome money if

1. If the admin knows much about the niche of the forum.
2. If it is advertised and maintained properly.

No matter if there are already xxx no. of forums but if you do things properly you surely get attention.

 

The wider the audience and the more expensive the item the better.

So I would start somewhere with automobiles and motorcycles. Then possibly computers since the internet audience is basically everyone. The topic of course also has to have something to discuss...so things like jewelry make a poor forum niche. But something like pets does well.

Gaming is popular for forums but unfortunately too competitive and realistically low-paying keywords.

Webmaster forums can do well (DP duh) as the market for advertising is there.

Poker is decent I guess but it's not my thing so not sure really.

General chats imho don't take off well since they have no focus.