Since there are quite a few conversations about starting a forum over at WesiteBabble.com, I thought I’d blog about it.
Owning a forum can be a great addition to your online business. You can monetize it, use it to promote your existing site or blog and build credibility for yourself as the owner.
A forum can also help keep your inbox manageable. I get quite a few emails so I encourage people to post their questions on my forum.
Many times people get an answer faster than they would from email, and the whole community can benefit from the discussion.
If you’re just starting out, it can be tempting to launch a forum. After all, how cool would it be to own a popular community website where people can interact, right?
On the other hand, if your forum has no activity, it can be more of a headache than a compliment to your cyberlife.
Build Traffic First
Any kind of online community needs a traffic base. Unless you already have a large group to market to, it’s not a good idea to begin with a forum.
I always tell people that it’s easier to launch a forum if you already have a website or blog getting steady traffic. Then you can use that site to promote it.
I waited until 2 Create a Website had at least 2,000 visitors per day before I launched WebsiteBabble.com. The first 3 times I tried to launch a forum, I didn’t have enough traffic and it was very difficult to build up enough activity.
People don’t want to participate in communities that look vacant. Not to mention, a vacant forum makes your site seem smallish and unimportant.
Link Weaving
Once you do have enough traffic and you’re ready to launch your forum, start using your site or blog to begin building participation.
I helped WebsiteBabble.com grow by weaving links into my content on 2CreateAWebsite.com.
For example, at the very bottom of my Website Creation Options page where I talk about Site Build It!, I invite people to post questions about the product on my forum.
Instead of linking them to the main page of the forum, I send them right to the Site Build It! section. Sending people to relevant areas of your forum often encourages them to participate.
Start Small
When you first launch a forum, don’t create a lot of sub categories. It takes a while for forum activity to pick-up, and if you have a lot of sub categories, it really emphasizes the low number of posts on your forum.
I started off with 4 categories, and when the activity picked up I added more.
Create Fake Conversations
You’re going to feel silly doing this, but it really works. When I first launched Website Babble I created some fake usernames and posted some starter questions and answers.
This will keep your forum from looking so bare and will encourage others to participate.
Tip: Just make sure you turn off the “View IP Address” option or your members might get suspicious when they see 10 people posting with the same IP address. 🙂
Use a Good Script
There are some decent free forum scripts out there (phpbb, mybb, etc.), but you get the best support and most flexibility with a paid solution like vBulletin.
I’ve tried many different forum scripts over the years and nothing beats vBulletin. The customization options are endless and the Admin panel is easy to use. If you can afford the $160 then it’s definitely worth the purchase.
Also, since many forums use vBulletin, people are often more familiar with the script and there’s less of a learning curve for the average user.
Are You Ready for a Forum?
A well-run, active forum can be a nice addition to your online portfolio. Just remember there’s work involved with maintaining it.
You can appoint moderators to help you, but ultimately you are responsible for the maintenance and upkeep.
Take your time with the launch. Build your traffic base first, then consider setting up your online community.
what about forum hosting on free website like 000webhost
or forums created on createaforum(dot)com
The biggest concern of mine is content moderation..So much spam these days and I have a bunch of websites getting a good number of traffic in the same niche, so getting the forum going will be no issue. Your encouraged me to start now..!
That is an issue let me tell you. I have 3 moderators and we have to work hard to fight spam. Plugins help but spammers always get through.
Lisa,
Wonderful article. All my questions on starting a forum got answered here. Planning to set upa forum for our website soon.
Excellent advice that makes ample sense.
Hey lisa i have a blog with 500 visitors per day could i add the forum to my blog now or add after some time..please tell me..
I just started my new forum and I am already faced against the big task of populating the forums with content. I did used to use the fake accounts trick but after a while it was just ghastly to keep up with.
I just really love the idea of building up a community of like minded people and making something huge! 😀
It is not easy to create a new forum, even with a established website. The main problem is zero/empty posts.
What worked for me, is to create fake accounts. 40-50 of them and try to post and reply. Not easy to do since at some point gets complicated but definitelly works.
Forums need a lot of work and time and monetize poorly but … needed for a portal or a community.
I have a fairly new travel website and am still building traffic. I’ve created a forum but I don’t have a link to it yet nor have I submitted it to Google. For now, its invisible to folks.
My question is should we setup a new URL for the forum? Lisa did for her’s. For now, I’ve created my within my website and planned to provide a menu button to the forum. Is this the wrong way to go?
Bill Cooper
I hired some fake forum posters from freelance sites. It help to kickstart new discussion board.
I’m newbie here, I hope to get friends at this forum
I know this is an old post, but I have a question related to the way you setup you forum. I was wondering if you could discuss the merits or pros and cons of starting a forum on a separate domain. I am thinking about launching a site that has content and community features (articles, guides, groups, friends, events, messaging, forums, etc). I have been thinking about having separate domains for the content portion and a different one for the social networking portion.
If I were to try and integrate everything into one site, I would use drupal. Drupal is a good platform for building a social network and for building a content site and I have module recipes or blueprints for setting up the site.
Another option is to have the social network and content site integrated, and then have the forum on a stand alone domain. I would use vbulletin or phpbb for the forum.
The last option is to have the content site and then have the social network and forum together on a separate domain. Everything would be done in drupal to facilitate the social networking and forum functionality.
The audience for the social network has slightly different needs than the audience for the content site.
Do you have a recommendations on how to approach this?
Hey Guys,
I am a student (limited budget) and have seen a few offers for free ipods and iphones. Does anyone Know if any if the free IPhone or Ipod offers are actually legit? I don’t want to waste my time filling out a hundred surveys and was hoping to hear from someone who may have had some success with this.
Thanks
yes, you should fill in those surveys….they are legit. I have won many prizes this way. Hope this helps.
This info is great. Your reply to Tips4pc about posting a question on the forum can fire up any forum. I think the best way to launch a forum is by allowing a question-answer format to the forum at the initial stages much like support forums I see in other websites. Forums can even replace the FAQ sections.
P.S: I am thinking of starting one when I get enough traffic to my website but the Moderating work just puts me off. How do you handle it on Websitebabble?
Thanks for the tips Lisa. I will try the newsletter thing, it sounds great.
I hope my sites can be as successful as yours are.
Hi Tips4pc,
Actually traffic picked up fairly quickly. I would say it took about 2-4 months to get it going. I was getting between 2K and 4K visits per day to my main site I believe (it’s been awhile so that number may not be exactly right). Of course that number will vary for everyone depending on your niche, kind of traffic, etc.
Have you ever tried posting a question in your forum and then inviting people to answer it by promoting that thread in your newsletter?
Hi Lisa
I have a great website with traffic and added a forum for the same reasons you did. I couldn’t answer all the emails I was getting, however my forum does not get the same in posts. We might have two to five posts a day if lucky.
I am putting links throughout the website and mentioning the forum in my newsletter but they still do not join. And if they do join, rarely do they post.
How long do I have to wait until things pickup? And how much traffic do you need on your main site to support a forum?
Hi Lisa,
Just wanted to say how great and helpful you are. All the information you have on all your websites and blogs is amazing. It really helps everyone learns so much more about websites and blogs, and how everything works. I am new in all this, just bought a hosting plan and a domain name with websitepalace yesterday. However, I am really excited now because I can start writing about what I really like. Thank you a lot for being always helpful,
Gigi
Hahaha. Lisa, you crack me up! You really used the fake conversations technique? Lol There really is a method to your madness, huh?
Seldom I write comments but resource really cool
good site. Continue also
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hey lisa.
your blog as well as website babble helped me understand a lot about foruming. Actually, i have been an active member of different forums for the past 5 ot 6 years and have been a moderator on a few as well. But ultimately as you put in this blog that is cool to own a place of your own where you have the freedom of controlling.
I dont have any idea where to start from. As a user i am into it, but coming on the other side of the road is something totally new for me. I intend to start a forum (associated with website for business purpose) but I do not have a domain name as of yet. I work at a company in the sales department and was interested to initiate some online work to make some extra bucks.
I was wondering if you could be a mentor in learning how to manage things on the cyber world and make some extra cash along side:).
I live in Japan by the way and am a full time worker with a company:).
Thank you
Regards
Thanks for the tips, man this sounds like work. Haha.
Don’t give up Chris. Just keep building great content and promoting your site and your forum can still grow.
Great article Lisa,
I with I’d read this sooner. I made the mistake of adding forums to two of my sites too soon. To this day the sites don’t get a whole lot of traffic and so posts to my forum are scarce.
I didn’t want to remove the forum because I do have a few users, plus search engines have indexed it.
I don’t have much monetization on my forum. I just added Google ads last week and the performance is pretty dismal, which I expected since the forum targets Webmasters. (Most people ignore the ads because they know they are ads) My forum’s main goal is to promote my site, blog and build personal credibility. Since the PageRank is up to a 4, it’s turning into a nice backlink to my main site.
Lisa, I was thinking about launching a forum, as my traffic reached 2000 visitors per day. I am afraid that this will involve lots of work by me and I don’t know much about forum monetization. On the other hand I receive many questions and probably a forum will benefit my site visitors, which is a good motivation for me.
If you can reveal how you monetize your forum (if you monetize) and how much time it takes to maintain forum.
Thanks 🙂
Create a forum page is ready a good idea. My blog site is new, so I have to concentrate writing blogs and increase readership.
I would consider set up forum page in the near future.
Thanks for the good tips.
wish you have a nice weekend.