[UneekTT]

It cost me about $50 to start my forum.

$10 domain (or less if you have a code - lol) GoDaddy.com
$40 Hosting from HostGator.com

Staff came in the way of the users on the site, and they usually do a great job because they want to stay there and keep the place clean.

It was cheap, easy, and now I have sold it - lol

[MH-Andy]

It would cost you very little to start your own forum.
Hosting from us is $1 per month and we provide forum software for free with instant install. All you would need is a domain name and the price changes on that depending if you get .com, .info etc...

[tech4]

I bought softwares, (4 different softwares, for the site, cost about 1k)
Ended up using only 2 softwares.
Had a script custom made.
Had installations and mod by programmers costing .5k
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/business-development/520259-how-much-does-cost-start-forum.html
site hosting=$10
domain name 1K+
time invested months.

Return=? nothing....zero zip. Its now almost 2 months since. Originally in august 08 but then didn't work out, open the site again in Fed 09.

2 months now...No return yet.
Hired like 10+ people to post...nothing...so I cut back..still have like 3-4 people posting (paid posting)
Almost nothing.

tried adsense, nothing, just clicks.
tried on a pr 5 site banner advertising, nothing.
press release helps.

Other than that.
Traffic is growing but not many people are signing up or staying.
300 forum members so far (2 months) operation about 1/3 of them are paid members
the rest are probably bots. that spam the forum. I have to remove spam every week, like almost every day.

I am not sure what to do next.

[mgstudent]

Everyone's given great advice so far in terms of the price of everything. One thng that people always think about after the fact is the amount of time you need to invest.

I have a few forums and without thinking 2 hours can pass with me just doing the basics on a forum like deleting the spam, welcoming newbies, replying to PMs and forum emails and doing general cleaning and starting a few new posts.

It can be extremely rewarding - but especially at the start you'll need to put in a lot of time.

Good luck

[buttsb]

u need a complete staff such like moderators admin etc that manage ur forum and keep it up to date and also keep it save from spamming or disturbance and u also have to concern with other who have there own forum.

[angilina]

For hosting, I suggest to choose hostgator.

For domain name, choose Godaddy.

For free forum script, choose MyBB.

For paid forum script, choose vBulletin.

[InternetMoney]

Originally Posted by jdenwar

So how much would be the forum script?? What is the good alternative for vBulletin or PhpBB??

yabb is good. Its free. It does many things.

---------- Post added at 07:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:31 PM ----------

Originally Posted by mgstudent

Everyone's given great advice so far in terms of the price of everything. One thng that people always think about after the fact is the amount of time you need to invest. ????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=520259 I have a few forums and without thinking 2 hours can pass with me just doing the basics on a forum like deleting the spam, welcoming newbies, replying to PMs and forum emails and doing general cleaning and starting a few new posts. It can be extremely rewarding - but especially at the start you'll need to put in a lot of time. Good luck

Thats all true. Also, its hard to make money with it. If someone knows a better way to make money with forums let me know. Other than running ads.

[JaneBY]

Hi, everyone! I think you guys forget about a good designer! It also costs money!

[dotker]

Im planning to launch a forum as well.. and ive realized the thing with forum is unlike blog it needs more maintenance it needs MUCH more time.

[Zaano.com]

I have started a new forum and all I paid for was the domain and hosting which came up to about $20. I haven't paid for anything else and I am finding it hard to get new members and to fill the forums with content.

[cashmaster]

if you go for open source softwares......... all you need to bother about is the hosting and the domain registration part.

[kimkiroo]

You can start with Phbb don't start any software that cost you a lot. After all. If you got enough flow in your forums then you can start converting another software. Startup forum usually cost you aroun $30-50.

[OMGretards]

Making a forum is tough right now because there are so many out there. There are even ones that pay there members to post!

[newviewit]

domain $10 at Godaddy and 5.99/month for hosting at Dreamhost

software and time are free if you do them yourself.

[DGillard]

to start your own forum actually will not cost to much, but you must pay much more money to advertise it, to make it popular between your target audience is a hard job

[owenn]

hi i say what i have done , only pay for domain thats it .. and the site 000webhost provide enought place to host sites which have forums , i have 2 of my forums running with this hosting site from last 1 year and i have never faced any problem with connection and time out ..

[Lulu]

dude you will need to get a vps i think cos a torrent forum will attract a lot of bandwidth.
but for starting, get a simple hosting from somewhere like hostgator.com and then a perfect domain which sounds torrents and then some money for advertising. i think a $200 will give it a good kick