how to start a forum

[Admin]

Mickey there is nothing secret about running a website... just about anyone can do it. I know a few kids who run this own blogs and get loads of visitors every day.

Coming back to the point.. I dont know why are you guys so confused its fairly simple... will put it in simpler words again.


You want to start up a forum>
Buy a domain name from godaddy.com
Buy a shared hosting package from hostgator.com (linux with cpanel)
Buy your forum script from vbulletin.com or get it from phpbb

Now you have all three things...

Now you have the DNS from your hosting so just go to your control panel at godaddy and change dns for your domain to point it to your hosting... Your domain should start working in a few hours.

Setting up vbulletin or phpbb? well like everything else on the net they come with installation instructions step by step and even a 5 year old can follow them.


Now you have your forum up and running so you would need to set up the sub forums from the admin cp and you are good to go...

All the above should not take you more then 30 mins from the word go and if you a new to all this and you keep screwing everything y9ou lay your hands on then may be 24 hours at the most so in a day you have a complete set up.

Now all the above was easy... whats not so easy is getting visitors and there are a number of ways to bring people to your new forum that included paying per click to search engines in the begning and working on SEO to get traffic for free from search engines... you can advertise using banners on other websites.


Having said all the above you might think that its fairly easy to set up a forum... I would say yes and no and the reason I say this is that it is simple to create a forum but to get visitors on the forum is both expensive and difficult as well as time consuming.

[itsmemad]

I have a question too. One of my friends is running a forum based on the phpbb. It's fairly new. He wants to know that in future, can he migrate the forum to Vbulletin script?

P.S.- Hez very angry on me that I've posted only a single post in his forum in last 3-4 months.

[Admin]

Yes your friend can convert his forum to vbulletin using a script called impex but I would say sooner the better as all the url's would change and the whole forum would be indexed again by search engines and your friends forum will loose rankings for some time.

[itsmemad]

Yes, that would have been my second question about the time-frame for migration.

One more thing, VBulletin has released 3.8.4 version. I guess IBF is still running on 3.8.2 (it was recently upgraded). Is it really necessary to upgrade the script for security and other features? Does SEO improves with new versions if you don't have the services of VBSEO?

Now, VBulletin guys are charging $180.

Thanks.

[Admin]

Yes upgrading the script from time to time is a good diea as most of them include security patches.

Vbulletin script in my opinion is not bad but vbseo enhances its ranking prospects. With newer versions vb is trying to cover some aspects of seo but no vbulletin's main concern is not seo its the functioning of the forum and usability that is their main aim. Vbseo script is pretty good and doesn't really cost too much either..

Vbulletin price has gone up to $180 ever since it got a new owner... Vbulletin was bought by another UK company recently.

If you want to save up on some money then pay in British pounds and you will end up saving some money

[mickey]

@maddy, and admin
vbulletin is the best forum management..
i am part of a smf forum, and it suckz..

[Luke Skywalker]

NextBBS had more feature now I think check it out also. I too was planning for opening a forum for lug but I don't have much time. As for hosting search google. I think lunarpages is also good.

[mickey]

hostgator is the best..

[Luke Skywalker]

Hostgator even don't support MS SQL( as data base) ASP.NET & JAVA. So it is best huh?

[oo7]

Ok to start a forum i have to invest more than 10 thousand Rs.

what is outcome i get in first month.

when it is establish than what is the outcome.

[mickey]

Ok to start a forum i have to invest more than 10 thousand Rs.

what is outcome i get in first month.

when it is establish than what is the outcome.

no outcome

you have to wait atleast 3-4 months, with consistent traffic and feeds..



you need to establish your major presence on net.
this means you will have compitition with IBF and even if you hire me for spamming there, that wont work,..

[Rameshjeee]

Ok to start a forum i have to invest more than 10 thousand Rs.

what is outcome i get in first month.

when it is establish than what is the outcome.

It all depends on the traffic you get.

[oo7]

what is the outcome of establish forum.

with 10 thousand member or more

[mickey]

again i will say , it depends..

[oo7]

just4kix can u answer the post #35

[mickey]

^^@money_ms

better ask admin,, cause j4k is not admin , but moderator...

[Admin]

Ok to start a forum i have to invest more than 10 thousand Rs.

what is outcome i get in first month.

when it is establish than what is the outcome.

No one can answer this question...

It all depends on how much traffic you get.

Why dont you open up a blogspot blog and get adsense on there and see what kind of money you can make from ads?

To be honest if you are going to start a forum just because you want to make money then I can assure you that your chances of making it a success go down by 90% or more... Most forums that you see which are flourishing these days were started as a hobby and was something those webmasters enjoyed doing and the money thing comes in after a long long long time.

[mickey]

started as a hobby and was something those webmasters enjoyed doing and the money thing comes in after a long long long time.

I bet a big bar of chocolate

our admin himself started this website as fun..

normally when we start a website, its for communicating with like minded guys..
atleast for me,, for ex. i have made many pages on the internet just discussing edge internet..
i know its slower (and i also have BB access) but i still love it and want guys like me..

[oo7]

Thanks for reply admin.

[mickey]

Thanks for reply admin.

hey where is my thanks??? :32:

[oo7]

Big Thanks for your support mickey

[mickey]

^^Thanks...


so are you starting your new forum??

[oo7]

May be if i start forum i start as hobby first.

Long way to go.

[mickey]

May be if i start forum i start as hobby first.

Long way to go.

start with something like SMF/Mybb first...
including vbulletin for a hobby site, is just like browsing and chatting on a High speed optical fibre dedicated line..

[oo7]

ya buddy i need a month to understand SMF/Mypbp/vbulletin how these software works.

i m bit new for this so first i have collect knowledge .