So, you want to create a discussion forum?
That’s fantastic! The benefits of having your own discussion forum are numerous. It can seamlessly integrate with your main website, brand, or business, enhancing customer satisfaction and lead generation.
But there are also many reasons why you wouldn’t want to start a discussion forum, either.
If you want to do all the talking and be the only one to make the main topics, you’d be better off blogging than creating a discussion forum.
If you don’t want to be active on a daily basis, then a discussion forum isn’t for you.
The first step in planning a discussion forum is to decide whether you want one, but this step is often ignored and results in a huge waste of time.
Discussion forums are not for everyone.
But if a discussion forum is for you, then I suggest you keep reading this guide.
A niche can best be described as the “topic” your forum will focus on. You will create content and discuss subjects based on a topic or niche, which will often be the primary focus of your discussion forum.
The niche of Another Admin Forum is “forum administration,” first, with a sub-niche of “blogging,” too.
Sometimes, you might choose a specific niche like football or gardening. Other times, you might choose a broader niche, like a general forum about all sorts of topics. The most important thing is that you choose a topic or niche about a subject you’re extremely interested in or passionate about. If you choose something that you love, you’ll always be able to discuss it and keep your forum active.
Choosing a niche you're passionate about is crucial. Your enthusiasm will be evident in your forum, attracting like-minded individuals and increasing the chances of success.
Understanding your target audience is a prerequisite for launching a successful forum. It's essential to know who your forum is for and what they're looking for.
You’ll need to know your niche to know your audience. Your audience should be the perfect forum member or persona—the ideal forum members that you would want.
For example, I have a cycling forum called “Bike Southern Illinois.” My niche is “Southern Illinois cycling, " and my target audience is “people who ride bikes in Southern Illinois.” As you can see, I have narrowed down my target audience pretty well, and that’s what you want to do before you launch your discussion forum.
If you don’t have a target audience, how would you expect to be able to grow your forum when you don’t know who the forum is for?
Before you launch your forum, you need to consider the value you will offer your target audience.
I recommend that you take a few weeks to research your target audience. Get to know them, understand their full demographics, and learn their biggest needs, wants, and pain points within your niche. Once you determine these things, it’ll be easier to develop your forum’s value offering.
If you can offer something that helps to solve the needs, wants, and pain points of your target audience, you’ll be able to provide significant value to your target audience. That will be a big stepping stone on how active your forum can get.
Financial planning is a crucial aspect of starting a discussion forum. By understanding the potential costs and considering ways to monetize your forum, you can ensure that your forum is sustainable and successful.
You can go with a free forum hosting solution like ProBoards. However, ads will support the forum and you will not earn any of the money made from it because you get the forum for free. If you ever want to move the forum or if ProBoards closes down, you’ll lose your forum for good. There is nothing you can do about it. It’s also harder to get serious members on a free forum than it is on your own hosted forum.
The other option is purchasing a domain name (for example, bikesouthernillinois.com). Then, you’ll buy web hosting. Then, you can choose to install free forum software (like SMF or PhpBB) or purchase premium forum software (like vBulletin or XenForo). It will cost about $150 a year for a domain and hosting when you first start your forum. As your forum grows, your hosting resource consumption will also grow, and that means you’ll have to pay more for it. Premium software will cost around $200.00 a year or more.
As you can tell, most of the time, running a discussion forum is a financial investment.
There are ways to monetize your forum. However, you won’t be making money overnight, and you definitely won't be getting rich from forums. Make sure you can financially support a discussion forum before you start one of your own.
The most common thing people do is create new forums from scratch.
Starting a forum from scratch is a common and rewarding journey. While it may seem daunting at first, the potential for growth and success is immense, and with dedication, you can build a thriving community.
Another thing you might do is start both a forum and a content site to accompany one another.
In this situation, you’d start a forum from scratch, as I explained above. However, you’d also start a content site from scratch, as well. A content site is most often either a blog or some form of CMS (content management system). You’d use the content system for articles, pages, and stuff like that, and you’d use the forum for the online community.
Another thing you might do is start a fresh forum to accompany a content website that you already own.
For example, suppose you already have a blog, and you want to expand to an online community. In that case, you might choose to launch a discussion forum as the community platform. This might be helpful to you because you will likely already have an audience to market to, and getting new members and content will be easier.
The most uncommon situation is that you acquire a discussion forum that already exists.
Acquiring a forum that already exists usually means buying it from someone. Prices can vary, but if you have a bigger forum that is active, you’re likely going to have to spend quite a bit of money on it. I’ve seen fairly active forums go for four figures. If you have the budget to buy an active forum, by all means, you should consider it.
I recommend that you consider all your options and do plenty of research before deciding how to start your discussion forum.
The first skills you need to have are people and social skills. You need to be able to deal with people and be a social person who can easily communicate with others. A forum is all about being social and talking to one another.
Your next skill to master is patience. A forum will not grow overnight; it takes a while to start profiting from it. Nothing happens quickly. The internet is too saturated with forums for anything to happen fast. You’ll have to be patient and be able to wait for as long as it takes. Sometimes, a forum doesn’t get successful until about a year after you launch it. Can you wait that long?
You’ll have to have the skills of being able to commit and be consistent. A forum cannot grow without its creator-you. If you can devote DAILY effort to your forum, it will have the highest chance of being successful. A forum without an active administrator (you) is a forum that will remain inactive. You also need to be consistent about creating new content that adds value and keeping discussions going once you start getting new members. But for a while, you’ll be the only one posting anything, and that’s normal for a new forum that you start from scratch.
You need to be a caring person with a friendly attitude. No one wants to deal with someone who doesn’t care or is negative. If I consider joining a forum and the staff and members are argumentative, negative, and don’t care about other members – I’ll stay as far away as I can from that forum. Most people will do the same, too. If you’re not a caring or nice person, please don’t create a discussion forum.
While being nice and caring is important, you must also be able to be firm and take action if necessary. Sometimes, you’ll have to deal with problematic members.
Sometimes, you’ll have to be the disciplinarian. You’ll need to be the type of person who can solve problems and take action to better the community. You don’t need to be the type of admin who’s members walk all over them.
You don’t have to be a master of forum technical skills when first starting. I suggest you study the forum software documentation and read support questions concerning how to use the forum features on the platform’s support community. While you don’t have to know this all from the start, you need to be willing to learn it and get better at it. Make it a goal to become an expert at the software and hosting service you’re using.
The more you learn, the easier it will be to run your discussion forum.
As I explained above, make sure you know what your forum will be about, who it will be created for, and what value you’ll provide to make people want to join your community.
You’ll need to decide on the strategy for creating a forum, whether it’s using free hosting (risky), starting your own forum that you host (most common), or purchasing a forum that already exists (uncommon).
After everything has been said, I’d like to hear from you. What kind of strategy best describes you in terms of launching a forum? A standalone fresh forum, a new forum with a new content site, a new forum with an existing content site, or acquiring an already established forum? I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences on this topic!
That’s fantastic! The benefits of having your own discussion forum are numerous. It can seamlessly integrate with your main website, brand, or business, enhancing customer satisfaction and lead generation.
But there are also many reasons why you wouldn’t want to start a discussion forum, either.
If you want to do all the talking and be the only one to make the main topics, you’d be better off blogging than creating a discussion forum.
If you don’t want to be active on a daily basis, then a discussion forum isn’t for you.
The first step in planning a discussion forum is to decide whether you want one, but this step is often ignored and results in a huge waste of time.
Discussion forums are not for everyone.
But if a discussion forum is for you, then I suggest you keep reading this guide.
Initializing Your Forum
Understanding your forum niche is the first step towards creating a successful platform. This knowledge empowers you to create content and discussions that resonate with your audience, making your forum a go-to destination for your niche.A niche can best be described as the “topic” your forum will focus on. You will create content and discuss subjects based on a topic or niche, which will often be the primary focus of your discussion forum.
The niche of Another Admin Forum is “forum administration,” first, with a sub-niche of “blogging,” too.
Sometimes, you might choose a specific niche like football or gardening. Other times, you might choose a broader niche, like a general forum about all sorts of topics. The most important thing is that you choose a topic or niche about a subject you’re extremely interested in or passionate about. If you choose something that you love, you’ll always be able to discuss it and keep your forum active.
Choosing a niche you're passionate about is crucial. Your enthusiasm will be evident in your forum, attracting like-minded individuals and increasing the chances of success.
Understanding your target audience is a prerequisite for launching a successful forum. It's essential to know who your forum is for and what they're looking for.
You’ll need to know your niche to know your audience. Your audience should be the perfect forum member or persona—the ideal forum members that you would want.
For example, I have a cycling forum called “Bike Southern Illinois.” My niche is “Southern Illinois cycling, " and my target audience is “people who ride bikes in Southern Illinois.” As you can see, I have narrowed down my target audience pretty well, and that’s what you want to do before you launch your discussion forum.
If you don’t have a target audience, how would you expect to be able to grow your forum when you don’t know who the forum is for?
Before you launch your forum, you need to consider the value you will offer your target audience.
I recommend that you take a few weeks to research your target audience. Get to know them, understand their full demographics, and learn their biggest needs, wants, and pain points within your niche. Once you determine these things, it’ll be easier to develop your forum’s value offering.
If you can offer something that helps to solve the needs, wants, and pain points of your target audience, you’ll be able to provide significant value to your target audience. That will be a big stepping stone on how active your forum can get.
Financial planning is a crucial aspect of starting a discussion forum. By understanding the potential costs and considering ways to monetize your forum, you can ensure that your forum is sustainable and successful.
You can go with a free forum hosting solution like ProBoards. However, ads will support the forum and you will not earn any of the money made from it because you get the forum for free. If you ever want to move the forum or if ProBoards closes down, you’ll lose your forum for good. There is nothing you can do about it. It’s also harder to get serious members on a free forum than it is on your own hosted forum.
The other option is purchasing a domain name (for example, bikesouthernillinois.com). Then, you’ll buy web hosting. Then, you can choose to install free forum software (like SMF or PhpBB) or purchase premium forum software (like vBulletin or XenForo). It will cost about $150 a year for a domain and hosting when you first start your forum. As your forum grows, your hosting resource consumption will also grow, and that means you’ll have to pay more for it. Premium software will cost around $200.00 a year or more.
As you can tell, most of the time, running a discussion forum is a financial investment.
There are ways to monetize your forum. However, you won’t be making money overnight, and you definitely won't be getting rich from forums. Make sure you can financially support a discussion forum before you start one of your own.
Your Community Situation
There are different situations about how you might start a discussion forum. It’s better to understand these situations because one might be more beneficial to you than the other.The most common thing people do is create new forums from scratch.
Starting a forum from scratch is a common and rewarding journey. While it may seem daunting at first, the potential for growth and success is immense, and with dedication, you can build a thriving community.
Another thing you might do is start both a forum and a content site to accompany one another.
In this situation, you’d start a forum from scratch, as I explained above. However, you’d also start a content site from scratch, as well. A content site is most often either a blog or some form of CMS (content management system). You’d use the content system for articles, pages, and stuff like that, and you’d use the forum for the online community.
Another thing you might do is start a fresh forum to accompany a content website that you already own.
For example, suppose you already have a blog, and you want to expand to an online community. In that case, you might choose to launch a discussion forum as the community platform. This might be helpful to you because you will likely already have an audience to market to, and getting new members and content will be easier.
The most uncommon situation is that you acquire a discussion forum that already exists.
Acquiring a forum that already exists usually means buying it from someone. Prices can vary, but if you have a bigger forum that is active, you’re likely going to have to spend quite a bit of money on it. I’ve seen fairly active forums go for four figures. If you have the budget to buy an active forum, by all means, you should consider it.
I recommend that you consider all your options and do plenty of research before deciding how to start your discussion forum.
Skills Needed at First
There are a few important skills that you’ll need to have or acquire before you launch a forum; otherwise, your forum may fail as a result of lacking these skills.The first skills you need to have are people and social skills. You need to be able to deal with people and be a social person who can easily communicate with others. A forum is all about being social and talking to one another.
Your next skill to master is patience. A forum will not grow overnight; it takes a while to start profiting from it. Nothing happens quickly. The internet is too saturated with forums for anything to happen fast. You’ll have to be patient and be able to wait for as long as it takes. Sometimes, a forum doesn’t get successful until about a year after you launch it. Can you wait that long?
You’ll have to have the skills of being able to commit and be consistent. A forum cannot grow without its creator-you. If you can devote DAILY effort to your forum, it will have the highest chance of being successful. A forum without an active administrator (you) is a forum that will remain inactive. You also need to be consistent about creating new content that adds value and keeping discussions going once you start getting new members. But for a while, you’ll be the only one posting anything, and that’s normal for a new forum that you start from scratch.
You need to be a caring person with a friendly attitude. No one wants to deal with someone who doesn’t care or is negative. If I consider joining a forum and the staff and members are argumentative, negative, and don’t care about other members – I’ll stay as far away as I can from that forum. Most people will do the same, too. If you’re not a caring or nice person, please don’t create a discussion forum.
While being nice and caring is important, you must also be able to be firm and take action if necessary. Sometimes, you’ll have to deal with problematic members.
Sometimes, you’ll have to be the disciplinarian. You’ll need to be the type of person who can solve problems and take action to better the community. You don’t need to be the type of admin who’s members walk all over them.
You don’t have to be a master of forum technical skills when first starting. I suggest you study the forum software documentation and read support questions concerning how to use the forum features on the platform’s support community. While you don’t have to know this all from the start, you need to be willing to learn it and get better at it. Make it a goal to become an expert at the software and hosting service you’re using.
The more you learn, the easier it will be to run your discussion forum.
Final Thoughts
In summary, you should now have a basic understanding of how to plan to start your own discussion forum or acquire one if you decide to go that route.As I explained above, make sure you know what your forum will be about, who it will be created for, and what value you’ll provide to make people want to join your community.
You’ll need to decide on the strategy for creating a forum, whether it’s using free hosting (risky), starting your own forum that you host (most common), or purchasing a forum that already exists (uncommon).
After everything has been said, I’d like to hear from you. What kind of strategy best describes you in terms of launching a forum? A standalone fresh forum, a new forum with a new content site, a new forum with an existing content site, or acquiring an already established forum? I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences on this topic!