I believe that forums are still very much on a ground floor level. Well maybe not in domain names and webmaster arena in general but I think the mainstream web surfer hasnt quite discovered the power of forums - yet.
2) choose forum software
3) set up software
4) figure out what you can do to make your forum unique
5) offer incentives to people to join and post on your forum
6) a month later, mass email everyone with another promotion to get the people who just signed up for the original promotion to come back
7) advertise you are looking for mods
8) let the board run itself, while you advertise the heck out of it.
2. Find a place to host the forum. Do you want to get a domain? If so, register one and point it.
3. Select which forum software to use, or will you write your own?
4. A good skin/theme is essential to the readability and use of your new forums. Be sure to select one that is clear, easy to read, and not too complicated. You could alternatively create your own. Be sure it fits its purpose. Get a good logo too. And don't forget a good pack of emoticons!
5. Create plenty of boards to post in. Don't exceed 20, but no less than 5. And make sure they are in the proper board categories.
6. Install any mods to the boards that you will find useful.
7. At this point, if you want to develop a site, be sure to do it AROUND the forum, as NamePros has done, for example. Use their database to store what you need to, etc. The site's design/colors should match that of the forum's.
8. Establish some rules and be sure they are clearly posted. Create the FAQ and make sure that the registration/login links are clear and easy to notice. Make sure that proper user group permissions are set and board permissions as well. You don't want a banned member posting in the admin only board
9. Provide an incentive for the first 100 members or so to register, to get started (if not all members!). This could be a special feature on your site, or if your forum has an economy as NamePros does, offer a boost at registration.
10. Now go out there and advertise! Be sure to stay active (as an admin) in your forum and keep posting - keep it alive. When a forum first starts, it can be hard to keep it going as people like busy forums the best. Keep it alive is your goal! Adverise advertise advertise!
After that, your forum will hopefully grow and grow and grow.
Now some tips:
- Make sure the forum stays moderated. 1/50 or 1/100 of your users should be moderators, and 1/500 or 1/1,000 of your members should be administrators. There should only be 1 or 2 super admins which have access to actual files, and the server.
- Maintain! Maintain! Maintain!
- Use any warning system effectively for moderation.
- Make sure members feel comfortable offering you their email address. NEVER EVER send them spam! NEVER! However, an email activation is usually a good idea to make sure they won't sign up with spam accounts. And, a dynamically-created activation code for the form (as an image, you've seen those) is a good idea as well.
well for me the critical thing in this subject is to choose the perfect forum software...you don't want to waste your time and effort in adding mods and stuff after you realized the forum software does not fit your needs.
my advise is to have time to test everything including the forums software to use. this way you'll know which one is suitable for you and your would-be-members. have friends test it for you, too! create test accounts for members and moderators...this'll make a difference i tell you
Makes it easier to see the steps since It can be overwhelming justto think about.
About the software. As I understand it those can be had for free...
Didnt see much talk about hosting. Shouldnt the hosting be a major issue. I take it that you would need huge capacity if you succeed.
or does the forum software companies offer hosting as well.
Can anybody give a little more info on costs and also how difficult that software is to operate -- setting all those rules and operational funtions, emoticons, currency sytems...
sorry - quite a few follow up questions but this was excellent info.
Note to R.J. NP should have a room for forum pros. This way they wouldnt have to look for another community that focuses on forums. I have had a few forum questions and each I find it difficult to decide where the question belongs.
IBP offers hosting, but you have to mess with ads. Get your own hosting.
I'd recommend www.PolurNet.com - get one of their starter plans, and when your forum grows, just upgrade! ^_^
Not sure about costs, but IPB is still the way to go. Setting the rules is just a matter of editing them in the admin panel and/or posting a pinned topic in a particular board.
Operational Functions... just mess around with the admin panel - and emoticons - you can download packs of them that come with install instructions.
You can do both - join and start forums. I own several forums right now, and their traffic, with a little bit of income, can pay for the hosting fees. Just find a way to make money! Start a store at CafePress and encourage your members to buy from it...
The bigger your forum, the more webspace you need so the more it costs. Your not going to buy 2000mb of capacity when you start up are you. Youre more likely to start with maybe 500mb until you need more.
Yes, there's several free forum software available on-line. You'll find some that offer an all in one package, forum and hosting both included (ie proboards). SimpleMachines, phpbb, are two forum software packages that are free. (Note - there are also others besides the two I've just mentioned.) You'll need to do your research on all the available forum software packages out there to find the one that suits your needs best.
If you chose to buy your own hosting package for your forum, I'd suggest that you start by buying a small package with the option of upgrading your hosting package at any time, just in case your forum takes off and you find yourself in need of more bandwith/space and so on. A great place to do a search on various hosting companies is webhostingtalk.
The start off cost if you choose to go with a free forum software will be minimal. If you get one hosted for free then it will be even cheaper but if you buy your own hosting you should be able to find a reliable host to meet your needs at a relatively low cost (ie under $10.00 a month)
In regards to how difficult will it be at first to administor your forum software, it will all depend on which software you choose. Some are a little easier to get the hang of then others are, but on the whole they are relatively simple to figure out.
Another option is to run an remotely hosted forum, such as an ezboard ( http://www.ezboard.com ) which you pay, I think like 30 bucks every six months so about 5 bucks a mo. If you start getting insane traffic, they have an automatic system the analyzes how much more you should have to pay, but even then I don't think it's much more. You really don't have too much control over the software end of things (other than some custom html/javascript), but for someone who knows nothing about PHP and doesn't want to learn, it would be a good choice.
We are making a LIVING here. For some its a side thing for now (as it is for me) but its not just to fuel a hobby. Sure we all join forums for stuff we enjoy as well but thats not the issue here. Thanks all for incredible info. You all deserve some rep...
i had never liked forum softwares. There are alot of cool free ones online, but I think they are too restricting. I thought it would be cool to make my own ^^
Exactly, that was the main reason i started my forum so i could have 100% control because other similar forums had inactive admins/mods & many problems & i knew i could do better...
Starting a forum is HARD mine took about 1-2 years to get quite active now my forum is never empty there are always members online with about 50 guests or so, but if your hearts in it, it is worth it, otherwise just stick to site building i believe...
Tip: Grow your site with your community. Don't look at an established forum like NamePros and assume you also need to have 40 different sections for discussion. That just makes your board look empty and encourages people not to signup.
Starting NamePros, I only setup 6 individual forums. As the activity dictated, more forums were added and existing posts for those specific topic were moved into the new boards. That way there was never empty forums.
- and emoticons - you can download packs of them that come with install instructions.
