While some current Administrators and owners say that it’s too late to get into the world of forums, I don’t think it is any reason to stop people from starting a Forum at all.
There are plenty of forums out there that are matured and are behemoths creating tons of money for their owners as well as tons of new threads, posts, and registrations daily. Then there are the newer forums that don’t have quite the same strength in the search engines, pagerank or other positives that are some keys to success in the web world but have positives in their own right.
Many of the larger forum owners will say to “don’t bother”, “don’t waste your time, you wont get anywhere”, “all the markets for forums are flooded” comments or something similar. To that I say bullshit. I dove into one of the most saturated automotive niches with my F-Body site, but I did it because I wanted to and it has worked out so far. No; I haven’t made millions, haven’t made it to the top of Google (not completely true-I do have a few #1 Firebird Rankings), or anything of the sort. However, I am having fun and gaining a solid group of members on my site that I feel makes it a great place to be, even without the size and strength of an LS1tech or CamaroZ28 forum.
I?m sure there are some people who wonder why I’m stating my opinion when my largest site is a 600 member Camaro Forums and Firebird Forums. THAT is exactly why I do what I do. I plan on succeeding and don’t care if someone else is above me in Google. I’d love to be at the top of any search engine, but with my Forum being 1 year old that is a hard feat to conquer in any market, especially automotive.
It’s very true that one of the most important parts of a forum is its activity. I am constantly trying to find new ways to stir up more threads and posts for my current users, as well as add new registrations. That is where time comes in. I will not make a blog sitting here telling you the “Quick Fix” on how to get tons of registrations and posts on your forum because they are too good to be true. Time is a great asset to your forum, so sit back, enjoy your young days, let your forum grow older and wiser, and don’t let other people tell you otherwise.
If you’re a beginner in Forums, check our the Forums For Beginners series I’ve started.? I’ll be adding more of my insights I’ve just recently learned from building a new forum in a very competitive niche.
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Posted by:Rocket 442 in webmaster tips
Posted by Brandon on June 4th, 2008 at 1:17 am |
Thanks for the post Rocket
The first of many, I hope
You started off with a good one, they can only get better from now on, just like your forum.
I’ll check out your blog and post a few comments as well.
Posted by Cindy on June 17th, 2008 at 8:21 am |
Good topic for the new forum user. it’s very useful advice. i will bookmark this article…forum is one of the best ways to increase free traffic…..
Posted by glennybee on June 18th, 2008 at 9:48 pm |
Very nice post Rocket.
I agree that most of the markets for forums are saturated, it seems these days that if you’re looking for information on something, there’s a forum about it. It may just be the whim of the decade or they be here to stay but for now, it’s a good thing.
The niche my forum is about has huge competition. Some of the competitors have been around for 10 years, have huge PR and rank high in google. But I didn’t start my forum to be the best or to make money, I started it as a hobby and to create a place where people could come to hang out, chat about similar interests and meet new friend. If you start to create a forum with the right attitude then it will do well. If you’re in it to make money then you will fail. People don’t want to be obstructed with google ads and affiliated links on every page they visit. I’m a member of loads of forums and I get weekly emails from one particular forum asking if I want to donate, telling me of the features they’ve implimented, why I should return, etc. It only makes me stay away more because of it.
In summary, if you want to start a forum, go for it! People like to be part of something new that’s being built from the ground up. Don’t be scared!
Posted by deepak on June 19th, 2008 at 8:37 am |
yup i totally agree.everything is hard to start even blogs if you are really aming to reach big.Forums is not about earning money,most of the people do mistake is they are just after money and if they don’t earn money after 2-3 months they are forums are useless.
Always keep in mind forums are communities,the more you love your members the more you get from them.All you have to do is love and respect the members ,the rest members will do.Love what you do,don’t just listen to people or ask people what forums get more money or sth.Ask yourself are you capable of having good relation with the people or are you really love or interest in the subject your forums is about.
Remember before google started there were many other search engines too and they were laughing at google saying its hard to get success because there are other searche engines are its hard to beat them.
Posted by Mike Griffin on June 20th, 2008 at 6:47 am |
Great post !! When we embarked on creating MyGeneration (the code generator) I was told there market was full, don’t bother, well, it eventually became the #1 download on download.com. There is always room for a great product. Also, if you are going to create a forum such as PHPBB or something that runs on all kinds of databases contact me at mike.griffin@entityspaces.net, we would be willing to partner with you (at no cost to you) and let you use our architecture EntitySpaces. Same goes for portal developers such as DNN, if you are starting a portal we would again partner with you (at no cost to you). The portal market is ripe for new portal that can run on all kinds of databases. We are keen at helping someone crack into that market. This is not spam, this is a genuine offer. I applaud your post and this is exactly how we think.
Posted by Mr Woc on June 20th, 2008 at 10:08 am |
Hi there
Never noticed your blog on here before, this subject caught my eye, its never too late to start a forum so i dont agree with administrators that say it is too late.
As the previous comment says some markets are saturated though, so its just a case of finding a niche or gap in the market, but im sure people who are going to start a forum seriously would have researched this beforehand, I certainly did with my forums.
Woc
Posted by Rocket 442 on June 20th, 2008 at 2:39 pm |
Thanks for the Comments everyone.
I agree that you should definitely do your homework on your niche before diving in and creating a forum. Although, if you’re passionate about something even in a saturated niche of the web it may pay off to attempt to work at it.