Does your forum pay for itself?
- Thread starter Baw$e
- Start date
Soulwatcher
Reputable
No, my forum is brand new and I have to pay for the hosting myself. How about you? Does your forum pay for your hosting?
I think you should consider optimizing them. Even if you don't want to make money off our sites, you can use the income to improve your sites.
I'm fine with my sites just being passion projects, if people want to donate to or sponsor the forum, that's excellent, the money goes right back into paying the hosting, but I don't want people to feel obligated.
I'm just more business savvy I guess, while the niche/topic of my forum I am passionate about. I still expect my site to one day be an established business.
Nothing wrong with that whatsoever, I went down that route with a couple of projects and it was good to take that approach, but I'm at the stage with forums now where I just want to enjoy what I'm doing.
Forums are my passion, something I've been involved in since I was just a kid. I grew up on and around forums, watched them change from very basic pieces of code to the complex systems they are today. I've used basically every big and small, free and paid forum platform and loved every minute of learning about each one. I'll always have that love for forums and probably always be involved with forums in some form, but for me now it's just that joy, not so much about turning it into a business anymore. Nothing wrong with doing that, by all means go for it! Anyone that makes it to that point deserves all of their success!
Ah, okay. Makes more sense. I understand waiting for a thriving community before optimizing the forums. The way my forums are built it makes sense to optimize them now with our promotions/bonuses. I wish you the best of luck with growing your forums, so you can reach your goals, and make money from your passion.
I'm operating two forums outside of FP, and neither of them pay for themselves. They're not being monetized at all at the moment. I've been meaning to take steps towards that, but haven't just yet.
D
Deleted member 29780
not yet haha, I’m still trying to get memberships and get more ads on my site
Nope all my money comes out of pocket. I've tried getting Thee Zone approved for Adsense but I never got approved. I haven't tried other means of monetization, but it's got to be difficult earning money from a forum these days unless you offer something unique.
Since I use free forum software, the only expense I have to worry about is a yearly domain renewal, which comes out of pocket. My current forum has never gained a penny and I don't see a need to have it generate revenue due to its little expenses.
I've been using Google Adsense for years now, and most years it roughly pays for the server costs for the year. I've added some donation options over the years, and some merch for my site, but it's rare, so I'm not exactly making a bunch of money on the site right now haha. But I'm happy that it can pay for itself basically.
The forums that I own are private and subscription based so I get a reasonable return from them. The forums that I manage are funded by the companies that they support and I get paid for maintaining them.
I have run forums without any financial gain and did it for many years but I think those days are behind me now.
I have run forums without any financial gain and did it for many years but I think those days are behind me now.
None of my forums currently pay for themselves.
In time, I'll implement premium upgrades where it can help alleviate some of the costs.
However, my blogs provide me a significant second income, as well as other paid side-gigs that I do online., This allows me to budget for the forums I currently have going, which are passions, and more for the hobby aspect rather than a profit generator.
I figure anything I make on the forums, I'll put back into them some way.
In time, I'll implement premium upgrades where it can help alleviate some of the costs.
However, my blogs provide me a significant second income, as well as other paid side-gigs that I do online., This allows me to budget for the forums I currently have going, which are passions, and more for the hobby aspect rather than a profit generator.
I figure anything I make on the forums, I'll put back into them some way.
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