Why Start a Forum?
Posted on April 19, 2007 by
Adie 
Forums 
4 Comments
The prospect of starting a forum can intimidating, particularly for those who have had little or no experience running one before. Many are also put off by the technical side of developing a forum, or the fact that they have never advertised on the Internet before and as a result have little idea of how to attract members. Regardless of this, forums are becoming more and more commonplace on the web, which has been aided by the increasingly user-friendly systems available with which to build your very own community.
In the past, the vast majority of forums were started by enthusiasts who wished to run their own community based on a topic of their choosing. By getting together a group of like-minded people, they could initiate debate and the sharing of information amongst forum members and ultimately provide an informative resource for anybody else that was interested in learning more about the subject. However, with the development of the web and more focus on the monetisation of forums, many are now being developed with the sole aim of resale or generating significant advertising revenue. In short, many forums are now being run and developed as businesses rather than hobbies.
The advantage of this is that there is now much more scope for starting a forum. Whether you wish to start a community based on a profession or hobby, or would rather develop a forum with the aim of making an income, the decision is entirely up to you.
The main motivation for starting a forum is still out of personal interest. If there isn’t an existing community that deals with a particular passion, then why not start one? If there are existing forums but they have very little to offer and you think you can do better, why not try? Although there are countless forums across the web on a wide range of subjects, relatively few are developed and run properly. This is where you have the opportunity to step in, start your own community and develop it to a standard that will satisfy both you and your target audience. The cost of forum software, hosting and development is as low as it ever has been, and even if you can only dedicate a few hours a week to the project, it is still quite possible to develop an active, successful community.
Not only will you be able to run the community as you see fit and take it in your own direction, you will be able to look back and feel the reward of owning and running your own forum. Knowing that you built a community from scratch and are responsible for the flow of information and ideas between members is immensely rewarding and almost always worth the time and effort spent getting it up and running.
Alternatively, there is no reason why you cannot start a forum with the aim of making money. Whether you are looking to generate income from advertising or wish to sell the forum once it is up and running, there is certainly money to be made from the development of forums. Many choose the best of both worlds, with an increasing number of forums making use of adverts in order to generate income which can be used to advertise and develop their community further. The one disadvantage with starting a forum with the intention of selling it is that you have to choose a fairly mainstream topic, which may or may not fall within your area of expertise. If you choose to target too much of a niche area, it will prove difficult to find a buyer unless it has excellent potential. It should also be remembered that a forum is worth relatively little without a moderately sized, active user base, which takes time, effort and money to build quickly.
Starting a forum is a big commitment that will require time and energy to make it work. You should be prepared for an uphill battle in getting visitors to your site and converting them to active members, and you should also be aware that developing a forum takes time. Rome wasn’t built in a day, nor will your forum be! However, the rewards associated with running your own community and being able to tailor it to suit your preferences are immense. Instead of having to make do with what is currently available, you will be able to choose everything from the topic to the forum design. Starting a forum isn’t easy, but it certainly isn’t impossible, and with a little help and guidance from people that have been there and done it before, you will be in an excellent position to start your very own community.
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You are right on the money when you say establishing a forum is hard work. Setting up any community website requires a lot of hard work, commitment, dedication and passion. If you don’t have these qualities, you shouldn’t even try.
Forums can add huge value to a website, although they can be harder to monetise if not attached to a site offering additional content.
I make my living online creating communities and love all aspects of creating and maintaining them, hence the reason why I recently setup my community building blog.
I’ve been managing/moderating a number of forums for many years. Some of them are attached to existing websites that are membership based and they were developed as an additional extra available to members. They are very much industry related but some of the forums I run are also topic driven (like blogging). They are a great way of developing a profile as an expert in your field but I’ve never used them specifically for income producing. They definitely do take work though and I have co-moderators who assist when required.
Forums are selling at higher multiples than other sites right now it seems like.
Yeah but starting a forum is not as easy as it sounds.. I’ve tried years ago and did not come out good
i would say it’s the forum which you will establish harder than any other site