Making Money with Forums

by Ewan1998 Banned
14 replies
I'm going to create a forum soon, and I'm hoping also to make some money with it. I don't know about AdSense as I don't want ads ruining the site.

I was thinking about paid subscriptions but I realize that the members must be in the thousands before I offer this.

Any other idea?

Thanks.
#forums #making #money
  • Profile picture of the author Ross Cohen
    Before trying to make any money from it, I'd find a way to differentiate and offer high quality. You can't charge people until that exists. Step one: building a regular user base. Have it be in a niche that's relatively large and may not have forums of high-quality like it.
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  • Profile picture of the author tryinhere
    Originally Posted by Ewan1998 View Post

    I'm going to create a forum soon, and I'm hoping also to make some money with it. I don't know about AdSense as I don't want ads ruining the site.

    I was thinking about paid subscriptions but I realize that the members must be in the thousands before I offer this.

    Any other idea?

    Thanks.
    Is it the forum in your sig ?
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    | > Choosing to go off the grid for a while to focus on family, work and life in general. Have a great 2020 < |
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    • Profile picture of the author Ewan1998
      Banned
      Originally Posted by tryinhere View Post

      Is it the forum in your sig ?
      No, that's another forum I'm part of where I'm staff.
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      • Profile picture of the author tryinhere
        Originally Posted by Ewan1998 View Post

        No, that's another forum I'm part of where I'm staff.
        ok ideas first like any site i suppose is there money in your niche ?

        If your a war room member look up this guy called - David Bynon and his e book Triad Manifesto and give that a quiet read.

        edit, see your not a member so pop in there at a latter date if you do upgrade, but there is affiliate banners and products related to your forum as first port of call, sell advertising space or even create your own products, but developing a forum will be the hardest thing you could possibly try online, ( well according to some / so take a read on the topic first ) before diving in head first.
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        | > Choosing to go off the grid for a while to focus on family, work and life in general. Have a great 2020 < |
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  • Profile picture of the author biffula
    Originally Posted by Ewan1998 View Post

    I'm going to create a forum soon, and I'm hoping also to make some money with it. I don't know about AdSense as I don't want ads ruining the site.

    I was thinking about paid subscriptions but I realize that the members must be in the thousands before I offer this.

    Any other idea?

    Thanks.
    Ads won't necessarily ruin the site. In fact, that's the way they get people to pay for a subscription. Offer it free with ads, tell the followers that if they don't like the ads, subscribe and the ads go away. You get the best of both worlds.
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    • Profile picture of the author Ewan1998
      Banned
      Originally Posted by biffula View Post

      Ads won't necessarily ruin the site. In fact, that's the way they get people to pay for a subscription. Offer it free with ads, tell the followers that if they don't like the ads, subscribe and the ads go away. You get the best of both worlds.
      MyBB supports paid subscriptions with a plug-in I believe?
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  • Profile picture of the author HarrieB
    You can always try and run test ads as headers and see which converts.

    Basically you have to find a niche wherein you actually get many ppl registering to ur website regularly.

    The whole part of monetizing is when u get traffics and the members interact!!
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  • Profile picture of the author YasirYar
    This is a nice idea and it has worked for a lot of people, but you have to be patient and persistent to get any results. Adsense is not a good option for forums but you can always have a banner or two placed on the top.
    Good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author talfighel
    I personally don't think that people are going to pay a subscription to come and participate in your forum.

    I think you should allow your members to participate in some sort of a PAID banner advertising option on your forum. This is the way to go.
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  • Profile picture of the author dbarnum
    Here are some things that come to mind with forum marketing, from experience:

    - I recommend taking time to research forums, or see if anyone has research available that you could check out, before jumping in. Forums are a long term commitment.

    - This forum's script: https://www.vbulletin.com (no affil). obviously allows multiple means of generating income. Check it out more since it's a super model.

    - I also recommend adding this site to your research: Online Advertising Marketplace | BuySellAds.com (no affil). Check out forums that host ads there, maybe sign up and post ads to test stats / ROI, etc. and get your feet wet, if you want, but check out forums that are doing well for ideas on how they are run.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Meaney
    Why not model the Warrior Forum?

    It might not work in every niche, but I'm struggling to think of one where it wouldn't.
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  • Profile picture of the author David Sneen
    You are right that you must get a lot of members before you can charge membership fees, Ewan. The best way to start a forum is to look around and see what the big sites did. They invested thousands in free sites before they monetized it.

    You don't have to do that much. It would seem appear that you could set up a free forum and, after a while, slowly start monetizing it by charging, like this forum does, for special signatures and starting threads. You should be able to do this, long before a paid membership becomes feasible.
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    David Sneen
    It's what you do when no one is watching
    that determines what you will be able to
    do when everyone is watching.
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    • Profile picture of the author John Marshall
      Monetising a forum can be tough. Why have people come to your site, what were they searching for? They might not be in purchase mode if they just want to be socail and have a chat about their hobby, but might be more so inclined if the forum deals with problems related to a particular issue.

      Kind regards,

      John
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  • Profile picture of the author ryanmilligan
    Banned
    Look at this forum! War room memberships, WSO section, WFH section, images in your signature.

    You can monetize a forum so well if you can make a decent one!
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