Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : getting started

[GearJammer13]

i want to start an internet forum and have never done this before

i understand i will need to first buy the domain name, and then pay somebody to host it......i want to have a large amount of members, can anybody point me in the right direction?

also, how exactly do i get to the point of actually building the website? is that included in the hosting? im kind of lost

thanks

[LuxuryServers]

May I ask What type of forum will you be running and what forum software? Vbulletin? IPB?

Also if you would like to run a forum with a large amount of members how many is that? 100s? 1000s?

If you would like to run a forum that big or even if it was small Most people would say you should go for a VPS. Witch is a server.

[GearJammer13]

Originally Posted by ToNeZ

May I ask What type of forum will you be running and what forum software? Vbulletin? IPB?

Also if you would like to run a forum with a large amount of members how many is that? 100s? 1000s?

If you would like to run a forum that big or even if it was small Most people would say you should go for a VPS. Witch is a server.

probably a vbulletin board...not sure what kind of forum yet, i have a few ideas im going to choose from

and yes i mean thousands

what is VPS exactly and how much would it cost?

[ItsJustHosting]

Will your forum be popular from the start or will it take some time to build traffic and a member base? If you are just starting out, it is best to go with a basic shared account, and upgrade along the way. Eventually when your forum is really popular you might consider getting a VPS or dedicated server, but it seems way to early for that now.

[MikeDVB]

Unless you hit a popular niche for your forum that is underserved or not served at all chances are it's going to take years to grow your forum and you will be fine on regular shared hosting for a long time to come.

I am speaking from my experiences over the years in the hosting industry in telling you that you usually don't see overnight success with a forum and thousands of members.

[ldcdc]

There is plenty of free forum software out there that you can just download, install, and use. Some of the more popular ones are phpbb, simplemachines, mybb etc.

http://php.opensourcecms.com/ may be an interesting site for you.

There is also paid forum software out there like vbulletin, invisionpower.

You can usually find templates for your forum (free or paid), or you could have a designer make you an unique, original one.

Two very important tips for a forum owner are: keep your software up to date to keep it secure, and backup your database often, even if your host promises to to it too. Once lost, you can't get back your data, and a forum without its content is going to require a lot of effort to grow back).

and yes i mean thousands

Forums take a while to grow. Don't waste your financial resources unless you have definite reasons to think it'll be an instant hit.

[LuxuryServers]

A VPS is a Vertral Private Server. ITs a server and your the only one on it it comes out of a dedi server i belive. Its one line just for you more like.

[JLHC]

I will advise you to start with a small shared hosting plan and upgrade only when your need grows. A 1GB space shared hosting should last you for some time since forum don't really take up much space unless you plan to have many media files.

Once you have signed up with a hosting provider and registered a domain name, look for a forum software to use. I will recommend you to use SMF - SimpleMachinesForum which is simple and user-friendly. There are many free themes that you can use to customize your forum. To install the forum software, some provider will provide auto-installers like Installatron Application Installer to install the forum software.

As Dan have said make sure that you keep your software up to date at all times and you can upgrade your software through the auto-installer, so do make sure to choose the right installer as some popular installer like Fantastico is known to be slow in updating their software versions so it may post a security risk to your forum if you reply too much on such installers.

[GearJammer13]

Originally Posted by ldcdc

There is plenty of free forum software out there that you can just download, install, and use. Some of the more popular ones are phpbb, simplemachines, mybb etc.


There is also paid forum software out there like vbulletin, invisionpower.

You can usually find templates for your forum (free or paid), or you could have a designer make you an unique, original one.

Two very important tips for a forum owner are: keep your software up to date to keep it secure, and backup your database often, even if your host promises to to it too. Once lost, you can't get back your data, and a forum without its content is going to require a lot of effort to grow back).

Forums take a while to grow. Don't waste your financial resources unless you have definite reasons to think it'll be an instant hit.

thanks for all the help all of you....no it wont be an instant hit, lol i wish....i started one of those proboards forums but it just seems they dont get any attention at all, it seems the only way to get a real amount of members is to buy an actual domain name or whatever

[Hostevery]

If your just starting off and not sure 100%, try one of the free forums software like PHPbb and SMF. Start off on a shared hosting plan, and as resource is needed upgrade your hosting plans.

[ddontheweb]

Originally Posted by ldcdc

Forums take a while to grow. Don't waste your financial resources unless you have definite reasons to think it'll be an instant hit.

I'd even say this about websites in general...don't pour a bunch of money into any new site without some clue of demand and how well it will do.

[GearJammer13]

it all seems kind of difficult honestly

[GearJammer13]

being somebody thats not very good with computers, would you all say its possible for me to do this and learn along the way? and if not could somebody tell me how i can learn more about this? im kind of lost to be honest

[JLHC]

Originally Posted by GearJammer13

being somebody thats not very good with computers, would you all say its possible for me to do this and learn along the way? and if not could somebody tell me how i can learn more about this? im kind of lost to be honest

Which part do you not understand? Once you have purchased a hosting account and domain name, you can proceed to install a forum software like SMF and start building your website. There are many guides and tutorials available on how to use forum softwares like SMF so you should be able to learn about it easily.

[ldcdc]

Take it one step at a time. You'll probably run into things you don't know how to do or understand, but with some Google search, forums like this one, and support from your host, you should usually be able to find the answers you're looking for. Rome wasn't built in a day.