Want To Start A Forum

Starting forum isn't an easy task. You have to compete with Giants in these niches. First of all you have to provide something unique with your forum.

To start up a forum in the SEO/IM space, you are going to require years of dedication to the task as you need to offer something different and compelling to the established forums.

Personally, I wouldn't bother chasing such a dream, as I don't think it would be possible to be anything more than a tiny blip on the radar.

Actually it is not an easy task. Of course it is a gigantic task. You need spend many times to prepare a forum. There are so many template online, by which one web coder can edit & make a forum. It is easy to make, but hard to run for ever.

Vbulletin is the best forum software out there. Ths is also the script WF is using. I better suggest you create a forum about embarrassing illnesses and promote clickbank remedy products instead of competing with WF and DP.

I agree with Adie. Vbulletin is one of the the best forum solutions. I had used once InvisionPower, i liked it. You may also consider InvisonPower forum.
IP.Board Discussion Forum Software for the IPS Community Suite

Creating part is very easy, but to add new content and find new members are not very easy. It make take times.

I actually released a video in my member site on how to create a forum with WP and free software. PM me if you would benefit from the info

When creating a forum, especially when competing with Warrior Forum, Digital Point, and others...You need to be sure that your forum provides something completely unique to your users which they cant get from this site or somewhere else. Also, it takes more than one person. Get a group of friends together who are willing to help contribute information that drives others to register to your forum.

I think it be a little easier creating a blog on the topics you want than trying start a forum

It will take lots of forum savvy to set everything up, choose proper categories, offer the right paid services, and all the rest.

It will take lots of money to do targeted paid advertising in order to drive enough traffic to the forum to make it worth people's while to be there.

It will take lots of time as forums don't begin with very high levels of activity. You will have to grow the forum over weeks and months, probably without much income generated in the beginning.

There are much easier and faster ways to make money.

Steve

Starting a forum is probably one of the most difficult things to do actually. But hey if you want to get started who is stopping you?

But in the IM niche i don't see how you can compete with the huge forums that already exist, except if you are a millionaire.

You are competing with a lot of forums out there.

I personally don't think that you should start one at this point. I think it is a waste your time.

It's going to take tons of effort. May I ask, why the IM niche? Why not target a much smaller niche.

You'd probably grow it much faster, there would be less competition, and you could probably be an expert at it much faster. If you are not making money online yet, it's going to be hard to run a How to Make Money Online forum.

Sometimes we see the passion on forums like these about the IM niche, that we want in. But you have to think outside the box to make any money marketing online.

Before starting a forum, I suggest you to collect your own list first, after you get enough leads, then you invite them to your forum.

First build a great Website with lots of excellent content. Build a list. Post videos and courses. Do podcasts and webinars. Get high profile guests to answer questions. Be so great that people tell their friends about you and like you on Facebook and follow you on Twitter. This is going to take awhile but keep building. Then, when you have a LOT of dedicated followers start your forum.

It's almost impossible to start a forum without first having a reputation.

It can be very tempting when you come to a forum like Warrior and see all the SEO/webmaster posts and want something like this for yourself. But, just think of all the forums like Warrior that you'll be competing directly against. Why not publish your content on a blog and link to it from webmaster forums that attract your ideal audience. In that way you are providing a compatible not competing site.

1. Figure out what your specific niche will be.
Since this will be your forum, it is best to pick something in which you are interested and knowledgeable. Since there are already so many forums out there, it is best to have a defined niche. Something well-defined will help your forum get noticed by the search engines and also help attract your audience. You do not want something too general or too common in forums. You can always add a "general chit chat" area for any off topic business.

2. Choose a forum script.
There are many different forum scripts available. It is best to start with a free forum script. Make sure that it is able to move information to another forum script should you want to change later. A good free script that does allow you to transfer your information is phpBB. This is the script that many web hosts offer as part of their packages as well. When you want to change to a paid forum script, vBulletin is a good one and it comes with a migration tool for phpBB, which will allow you to easily transfer all your forum information without losing anything.

3. Find a good forum hosting program.
You can choose to set up your own message board using software if you have experience with web development. If not, you will have to have a host. You will need a good host that does not have many problems or downtime.

4. Start creating your forum or discussion areas.
You will want to start off with about 5 to 10 forums. They should all be related to the main topic of your board. You do not want to over categorize your forum as it many confuse and put off users.

5. Advertise your forum to get users.
Once your forum is up and running, you will need to have users to make your community. If you have friends that are online and have similar interests, you can e-mail or instant message them to let them know you have started a new forum. If you have your own website or blog, you can make a post to announce the grand opening of your forum to your readers. If you are already active in other forums, you can add a link to your forum in your signature. Search online for other forums that are related to your niche. Start contributing to discussions there and add a link to your signature.

6. Make posts to your forum.
As the originator, you should be making posts all the time. Respond to posts by your members and start topics that will provoke conversations among the members. If you have members that are active in your community, you can have them be moderators so that they will be encouraged to stick around and post more.

software recommendation :
-wordpress platform , use bbpress as the plugin.. instantly build a forum

That's the easiest and the most instant way to do it I think

I normally don't say things like this, but you would probably have faster and more success by joining an MLM program lol.. An internet marketing forum? To get it listed in Big Boards you'd need at least 500,000 posts. Not spam either. Switch business models and get the money and chill. If you have the talent to start and successfully market an IM blog... then you can surely do the same thing in a small niche with multiple backend products.

What everyone else said. Wow, it would be so hard to gain traction at this point to compete with the big boys. Your only hope would be to concentrate on a micro niche that held a hungry audience. Even then it is so hard to get those initial posts. Everybody is now taking their micro-forums onto Facebook page and groups.

You can do anything if you put your mind to it and back up it with hard work and long hours. However starting a forum in this particular niche is exceptionally difficult. You'll have to employ people in the early days to make forum postings in order to generate the critical mass required.

If you really want to start a good forum, go with Xenforo software as it's the best forum software available for creating a professional looking site with many built in social features. Good spam control too. Though it's more expensive than a free forum software, the results will be very impressive.

Starting your own forum can be a great way to attract the
people in your market who are looking for a sense of
community, answers to questions and solution to problems.

There are many scripts that can create a forum type
atmosphere, even Wordpress plugins that'll work fine.

If you are planning to scale large, VBulletin is your best bet.

When people come to a forum they commonly look to see
how many members there are, how many posts, threads, etc...

This will be your biggest initial hurdle. To get beyond the
0 Members, 0 Posts, 0 Threads problem.

If you can gather up (maybe from similar forums) the most
common questions and solutions your market asks and looks
for, you can go in and create initial posts and threads
that ask and answer these. That way right off the bat
there's a good chance visitors that do come will find useful
content immediately.

You or someone will need to be available to quickly respond
to visitors who do decide to join and post. Otherwise you'll
quickly lose folks. Once you have lots of traffic finding folks
who want to act as Moderators will be no problem.

If you're quick to respond and over-deliver on helpfulness
people will begin to stick, revisit and spread the word.

If you position your forum membership as a way folks can
get one-on-one personal help from YOU and you really provide it,
you'll be able to steer people into the forum and get them
to stick.

There are hundreds of empty dead forums scattered across
the web. It's the strength and personality of the owner or
the Moderator that will make it work.

One upside in the beginning is that because there are few
members, it will not require much time IN the forum and
you can spend your time and marketing on getting the word
out and building traffic to your forum.

EVERY forum starts with 0 members, just like any other site.
So I wouldn't let that issue bother you -- if it's what you want
to do.

Talk to successful forum owners and moderators to get
the best advice you can along the way.

I would view it as a long-term project, consistently work on
it until it 'takes' and gets momentum and don't give up.

All this being said, you are unlikely to see significant income
from the project for quite awhile. So it's essential that you
go in with the right perspective and consider it an investment.

If you pull it off, in a few years you can be making some
serious income with sitewide advertising, product sales,
consulting -- the whole nine yards.

I've been operating a forum in a niche for 10 year's...it's the biggest and best in the world (in the niche). I have invested 10's of thousands of hours in it and I still battle to make a living out of it. I use Invision Power Board and the partner content management system. The subject matter of the forum I knew as it is my day job, so I have knowledge. Even in a niche it would be very difficult...probably impossible to make a successful forum these day's. Esp. with the prevalence of social media. I would have a different idea.

Anyways, WF is also a forum!

Probably better off starting a blog and getting a more refined niche and try to build a following that way. Then consider that doing the blog is a small percentage of the effort to do a forum. You will probably find, as people suggest, this is not for the faint of heart. Give a blog a shot and Best of Luck!!!!