Building a Great Forum

Everyone wants to make a forum. Pretty much everyone who knows what a forum is wants to make one. Therefore the number of forums are growing. But, only a few will be successful. I’ll tell you a few things that you could do to build a great forum.

The Big Mistake!

I’m not just calling it a big mistake. It is really a big mistake. Or maybe even the biggest mistake. People have to understand that a forum isn’t like a blog that you could run it all by yourself. You need a few good people working with you! A forum needs to be maintained. There is a lot of work.

Go ask someone (maybe a friend) if they are interested in making a forum. Look for someone who you can meet in person and can trust. Also make sure that they are responsible and active.

Never start a forum all by yourself! Look for at least 2 people who would work with you. Together you could make something successful. Why? A quick example. Lets say there are 3 of you who are making the forum and each of you have like 50 contacts on MSN. So, if you guys start emailing your contacts about the forum then 150 people would get to know about it. If you do it all by yourself then 50 people would know about it.

Choose a Topic

What will be the forum about? Will it be a forum for gaming, hacking, seo or graphics? Think about it. Try to keep it about one or two topics. Like web design and web hosting. They would attract the same type of people.

I really recommend that you start the forum about the things you’re interested and good at.

The First Steps

So, now that you thought about how will help you and what will be the forum about. Lets talk about how you’re going to make the forum. First of all, do not use those free instant forum builders. If you’re thinking about using them then please do yourself a favor and don’t make a forum.

A Domain Name

Buy a domain name. It will cost you about $5 (from Netfirms.com) and people will be able to remember your URL. You don’t want a URL like “myinstantfreeforum.org/mike/anime-forums”.

Web Hosting

Now I wouldn’t suggest that you use paid hosting. You could start by using a free hosting service (ad/pop-up free service recommended) and when the forum starts growing buy a paid hosting service.

Forum Software

Think about which forum software you would use. There’s lots out there. Like phpBB, myBB, SMF, vBulletin, IPB, etc. I would suggest that you go with a free forum software unless you are really serious about the forum. If you buy a paid one then buy vBulletin (its the best!).

And for a free one, I would say that you should go with either phpBB or myBB. Installing plugins on phpBB is pretty difficult. I haven’t used myBB, but a lot of people say that its just as good as vBulletin. And one more thing, you can switch to vBulletin anytime you want and your forum will stay same. They have a script called ImpEx that converts your forum’s database to vBulletin’s database.

Getting the word out

Now you need members. A lot of active members. Start by asking your friends to join. And send an email to all of your contacts about the forum and ask them to join. Also ask them to forward the email to their contacts.

Try to make it like those chain emails. You’ll get some members like that. And also bookmark yourself on social bookmarking sites like digg, stumbleupon, etc.

Responsibilites!

Talk with the people who are helping you about who does what. Also ask them to be as active as they can and to promote the forum. And also talk with each other as often as you can about improving the forum.

So, follow these simple tips for now and the results should be good.