Tips and Tricks on how to build and market a forum

Many people believe that Ecommerce sites are the only ones who can generate real profits but they are wrong. Actually a content based site like a forum or blog can bring you much higher income than you could ever imagine. Take forums for example they are huge online communities that are visited by hundreds, and even thousands of internet users which generates huge traffic. Traffic by itself won’t bring you any money but advertisers will. What better place is there to advertise fishing polls online than in a fishermen forum, or web hosting in webmaster forums? The more traffic you get the higher the price for advertising will be. The possibilities are unlimited. Compared to Ecommerce websites, forums cost less and are easier to maintain. Here are a few simple steps that will guide you through the process.
Find a nicheYou can create a forum practically on every subject. Just think of something that you find interesting or something that you know a lot about. If you are a maniac about gadgets, start a forum about technology or if you are keen on football, start a forum about your favorite team or a football league. Anything you can think of is good enough for a forum topic.
Domain and HostingChoosing hosting and a domain are important parts of the forum creation. Keep in mind that your forum might generate a lot of traffic and you will probably need a hosting company that could offer you a lot of bandwidth and web space. Good domains are not vital but in my opinion very important. Try to keep it short, two or a maximum of three words, and make sure that you have at least one essential keyword in it. For example if your forum is about hunting try to include that word or a synonym in the domain.
Chose a PlatformMembers wont care much about the platform you are using so just pick one that you find easy to work with. Currently the two most popular forum platforms on the market are phpBB and vBulletin. If you cant afford to spend much on the software I suggest you use phpBB because its open source.
Keep it simpleDon’t create too many folders as it will make your forum look empty. Keep it simple. Start with only four or five categories. If all the posts are concentrated in one place the forum will look busier. When you get enough members and the forum is blooming you could split the categories into smaller ones.
Start topics and post content dailyBe sure to contribute on a daily basis. Don’t just create the forum and leave it be. Try to think of interesting topics and polls that could attract members’ attention. Find interesting articles from directories like goarticles.com and post them in your forum. Basically do everything you can think of to start a discussion between members.
Invite your FriendsIntroduce the forum to your friends and relatives. Ask them to contribute if they are interested in the same subject. You could also make a business card and hand it out to people you meet. Don’t be too pushy, people are busy and usually they don’t have enough time to hang around in forums. Even if only one of your friends starts to post, be happy about it because he will probably be your first active member.
Create Multiple IDsYour friends won’t be enough to make the forum look active. You must create some fake ids and create discussions with them. When a visitor comes he won’t be interested in posting in a forum where the only active user is the admin, however if he sees that a discussion is going, and twenty or thirty people are involved in it, he just might get interested and give his opinion on the topic too.
Offer prizesThis is not mandatory but a great way to attract more people is to give them some kind of a freebie like a t-shirt or a keychain for example. You could even start a monthly contest with a prize for the member with most referrals or posts. You don’t need to spend thousands on such contests, even 30$ or 50$ will be enough to get people interested in participating.
Get ListedLast but not least, get listed. Word of mouth won’t be enough to make your forum popular but high rankings in search engines will. Add your site in major search engines and directories like Google and dmoz. The whole process may take some time but it will be worth it in the end. You could also try to exchange links with people that own similar sites like yours. If your site is new you might have to pay for such links but it will be money well spent since they will bring you a lot of quality traffic.
Building your own online community could be a very hard and time consuming process.The important thing is not to give up, and to stay focused. If you work hard enough and with a little bit of luck, in some time you could have a very active forum with a few hundred members that will grow daily.