I was just wondering...
How many of you guys generate income from forum websites?
(how much? if you don't mind)
I'm talking about a website that has nothing but forum.
I was impressed at WHT site... and I started to wonder.

Do people make whole bunch of forums and generate money?
I'm pretty sure some people do it... but how popular is this? (owning forums as money making tool)

Marketing is key for forum websites. A large, active forum will continue to grow as long as you have a good host that is reliable. People who go to your website want to see it up, not wait forever for your page to load.

You may want to post this in http://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=43

The Web Design and Content forum is more appropriate for this, and you will most likely receive better feedback in that section ;)

-Steve

Generating income from a forum is usually a second thought. Most people will set up a forum for their own personal or business interests, and generate a large userbase, and as an afterthought they decide to offer advertising spots on the forum such as banner ads. Not a lot of people will pay for advertising on a forum where the general userbase is small, simply because they want to get the largest return on investment (ROI). Your best option is to start a forum, and get it to grow large with say somewhere around 1K unique visitors per month at least and then start offering advertising or stickies on the forum similar to how WHT does their forum.

The Web Design and Content forum is more appropriate for this, and you will most likely receive better feedback in that section ;)
I agree :) *moved*

THere are various ways of generating income from a forum based site but first you have to promote is and to make it popular, and then offer ad spaces on your forums ( just like here are ). Other method is to make it paid the submission of topics in specific forum, many more etc..

As long as your forum is marketed well, there is no reason why it can't be a money earner through advertisements or subscriptions.

Check out http://www.forumuniversity.com/ - it's very helpful with all aspects of running/marketing a successful forum.

B33R thanks thats a great link, just what i need for my new forum!!!

Another great site for forum owners is The Admin Zone (http://www.theadminzone.com/forums)

The AdminZone is one of my other favorite spots to hang out. Totally cool community like this one.

I was just wondering...
How many of you guys generate income from forum websites?
(how much? if you don't mind)
I'm talking about a website that has nothing but forum.
I was impressed at WHT site... and I started to wonder.

Do people make whole bunch of forums and generate money?
I'm pretty sure some people do it... but how popular is this? (owning forums as money making tool)

I have a few forums that generate a small 20-30$ a month. Like he said before, marketing is the key! You can not make any money until you spend it when it comes to forums.

So far I didn't make money from my forums, but they are young. A good managed community can get some good revenue, but it really takes a lot of time to succeed.

how busy does a forum need to get before people will pay for ads?

come on, I want the exact answer. :flamethr:

As soon as some company is willing to do it. There is really no 'set in stone' number as to how busy a forum should be. As long as it is priced fairly based on clickthrough rates and view rates as well as ad positioning.

You can always start with google ads (make sure google can crawl the forum if you want those ads). Keeping track of usage statistics is key though.

Forum owners dont only have to earn money through advertising :)

Most earn it from premium membership and donations.