How to earn from Forum Sites

i think , the way to earn money from forum site is to charge people if they want to become a member of your forum, but you have to give them something back in return for their $.
i think build the forum site first, and invite as many members for free and see how it goes.
what would be the forum all about?

You need to learn about how to make money with continuity
program or membership.

It needs a lot to learn.

Through membership and ads on your forum.

Charging for membership is hard unless your forum becomes very popular, and that can take awhile. I have a popular drum forum and we sell advertising on it.

Vbulletin can be a little intimidating at first but it's not really that hard to learn. It's cms is structured nice and like anything, you get better at it the more you use it.

I think, there are many ways...

1. An affiliate network
2. A publisher network
3. Selling text links
4. Selling banner advertisements
5. Selling "sticky" threads

etc.

Quoted from my notes.. I forgot what's the source I get it. Here are some tips for forum owners

Offer Paid Subscriptions

Examples of paid subscription models includes offering premium features and services, materials, content for members who are willing to pay monthly or one-time fees.

SEOBlackHat Forum has been very successful with this format. Uniqueness of content and user loyalty are two important factors which determine how well subscriptions will work for you.


Use Relevant Affiliate programs.


Web Hosting Ads work well with Webmaster forums. Dating website ads such as Mate1.com are compatible with lifestyle forums. The trick is to find a affiliate program that fits perfectly with your target audience.


Make Private Advertising arrangements.


From what I've heard, this is one of the best earners for forum owners. Your ad selling power will depend on the strength of your traffic and user community. Be pro-active in approaching advertisers and businesses.


Seek Donations from members.


Success in seeking donations will depend on community loyalty, forum age and quality of interaction/resources offered. Offer permanent links on a donor page to encourage donations.


An example: Digital Point will give you a permanent PR 7 link when you donate $500 or more to offset their server costs. Being a fan of the forum, I'll willingly donate even if I didn't get a link back. User loyalty and interest in the community is most important here.


Use Forums for Cross-promotional marketing


Forum traffic is very useful when you have your own affiliate program or a main money site. Forum members are potential customers. Don't neglect them and focus on placing on-site ads alone.


Set up a Fee-based marketplace


This allows members to buy, sell or trade products and services. SitePoint and Earners Forum offer marketplaces which charge you a small fee in order to make a listing to sell any websites.


Sell Sponsored "Sticky" Threads.


Every forum owner knows that sticky threads are the most viewed item in every forum. Getting a monthly sponsor for them is easy because you've have a lot of traffic leverage to negotiate pricing.


Find Sponsors for Forum sub-sections.


If you have dozens of subsections with different topics, this will allow you to offer relevant advertising opportunities for potential sponsors. E.G. Car Insurance ads for a subsection on Automobiles/Import Tuning.


Sell Sponsored Text links or Messages


This allows for a lot of flexibility and offers advertisers maximum SEO benefit by allowing them to have keywords within content. These are usually placed under the first post of each thread. Footer links can also apply if your forum has many indexed pages, each with internal PR.


Develop and Promote a Forum newsletter


A newsletter can be used to update members and promote affiliate products personally. Great for niche forums who offer troubleshooting on specific products/topics. Remember to include opt-in options during the registration process.


Create a Blog for Your Forum


A blog on the same domain as the forum is useful if your forum has a large user base or sees a lot of traffic. It also allows you to sell paid reviews while offering another ad option for advertisers who want more exposure and personal recommendations.


Pick up some Adsense Optimization Tips


Learning how to optimize Adsense for forums is fairly important when you've never used contextual advertising for forums before.


The learning process also involves continual tweaking and experimentation once you have enough traffic to allow for accurate ad placement testing.


Search Optimize your Forum


To continuously increase the number of forum members requires you to develop strong organic or search traffic. Developing some basic understanding of Forum SEO can be very helpful.


Create an Online Store


This allows you to sell affiliate products or your own products/tools. This can be digital or physical products, tools and can include relevant feeds from affiliate websites.


Create an Affiliate program to Attract Advertisers


An affiliate program rewards users for bringing in advertisers. This is a good way to give back to your readers while making full use of your community to develop monetization opportunities. One of my favorite tactics.