Creating Forum

[Lyte]

Hello hello!

Hope I'm posting this in the right section!

I'm thinking about creating a dicussion forum and it's something I've never done before! So...

1. I see some forums that look "pre-package" (diff. forums with exact same style/layout), where do you sign up for these? Who offers the best style, layout, services, cost... etc...etc... for forums??

2. Can one make money (ppc??) via a forum?? If yes, how so??

3. For those who own/manage forums, how many hours a week to spend on it??

4. Anything else I need to know before I get hip deep???

Many thanks in advance for your time and response! :tu:

Lyte

 

[WebForging]

It takes a ton

I'm into a Wisconsin portal, theBubbler.com, and it has been a multi-year effort to get 2,800 registered members and the forums are just beginning to hit critical mass, with the emphasis on beginning. I'm totally impressed by this forum at NP - not only is it fairly easy to use and uncluttered (especially for the size) but the user community is devoted and varied yet focused.

The thing is, I'd be devoting the time I devote to theBubbler.com to something similar if I weren't there, so I might just as well do it on my own site.

 

[Redleg]

If you're looking for a good free one, I'd recommend www.phpbb.com
It's really easy to set up and customize, and there are tonnes of free modifications out there..
Check on the phpbb site and www.phpbbhacks.com to find some examples..

If you're looking for the best forum script (IMO), the you should go for vBulletin (used here at NP).
But it will costs you $160 www.vbulletin.com

You can use adsense etc. with both of those forum scripts.

and to question #3: Too much!

 

[Veolus]

1) Free- www.phpbb.com
Paid- www.vbulletin.com

2) You can make money through Pay Per Click (PPC) programs like:
Bidvertiser- www.bidvertiser.com (Pay's through PayPal)
Google Adsense- www.google.com/adsense (Pay's through Cheque)

3) You should spend at least 3 days a week for managing your forum's, If it get's really popular and the member's get really active you will need to extend that to about 4-5 days a week.

4) You should know that most of the time you won't be able to get members and active posters until after a few week's or month's. You have to advertise in the right place's and also make sure you submit your website/forum to Popular search engine's such as Google, Yahoo, AskJeeves, etc. You have to be really patient when it come's to forum's you can't expect to have 10 or more member's in your first day, it is a slow process..

Hope i was of help

 

[kaliboy2g]

Looking for people who run forum avator sites

edit sorry