Using forums to make money?

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Do you think forums are a great way of making money online? For those of you who specifically create forums for revenue, how is it working out?

*This thread is NOT about whether or not you think forums SHOULD be used to make money.
 
If your forum is successful, there's no doubt you can easily make money by selling products or ad revenue.
 
I believe you can make money off a forum.

Enough to survive? Possibly if the site is managed correctly and it is kept original to make users coming back.
 
Shotgun said:
Do you think forums are a great way of making money online? For those of you who specifically create forums for revenue, how is it working out?

*This thread is NOT about whether or not you think forums SHOULD be used to make money.
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Absolutely. I think a site th size of this may make enough (if it had banner or tribelfusion ads) to live on. Wouldn't be a reliable source of income however though.
 
I think there are easier ways to make money online than a forums. It's certainly possible to make a decent income, especially if you've got a few boards online - but i don't think it's the easy route.

Personally, i don't currently have any adverts on my forum at all. In fact i have other sites running adsense, i then use that revenue to fund my forum! When it has grown more i may consider adverts, but currently i make more than enough from other projects for me to want to 'spoil' my forum.
 
I would say every successful forum can make some money.

But to make the bigger money it really depends on what you forum is used for.
 
Personally I feel that it is much more difficult to make money from forums than from other types of sites, such as blogs or niche directories. I'd hazard a guess that most forum owners would be making a lot more money if they spent all the time they put into their forums, into a site that was more advertising focused and revenue driven. Some blogs are famous for making money, I've never heard of a forum that's famous for making money.
 
Fergal said:
Personally I feel that it is much more difficult to make money from forums than from other types of sites, such as blogs or niche directories. I'd hazard a guess that most forum owners would be making a lot more money if they spent all the time they put into their forums, into a site that was more advertising focused and revenue driven. Some blogs are famous for making money, I've never heard of a forum that's famous for making money.
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I've never heard of that either. I would never use a forum to make money. Foruming and forum owning is something I do as a hobby. It's not my career, so I don't intend to make any investments out of it. It's just something I do for fun.
 
Ashley said:
It's not my career, so I don't intend to make any investments out of it.
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Well, no. No one said owning a forum is a career. I really doubt anyone would. However, you can still make some revenue for things like hosting, domains and services so making a few dollars won't do you any bad.

As for the discussion, definitely. Not the best way, but certainly a way, but a way you have to work more hard on.
 
It can be a small source of income though it is very rare for people to make significant amounts of money off forums I would have thought.
 
Shotgun said:
Do you think forums are a great way of making money online? For those of you who specifically create forums for revenue, how is it working out?

*This thread is NOT about whether or not you think forums SHOULD be used to make money.
Click to expand...
I have made a lot of money. The ads were added around the 1st maybe, and up to know, with small hits we have 40.00 in our account.
 
As long as the forum makes enough to pay for itself lol Then I am good to go. I want a community that eventually I will not have to put money into, it will just carry itself.
 
Or generally, ad space around the forum, whether it be in the footer, between posts etc. Simple ways to at least pay off hosting and the domain and maybe gain a little extra.
 
Haha, actually, this thread was to talk about how good/bad forums are at making money - not how they do it. 😀
 
Something Awful Forums charge $10 membership fee and they still get a large amount of daily sign ups. When you have reached a certain critical mass (like 50,000 members) you should be able to charge for membership. When you reach 2,000 members or so, you should also be able to charge for VIP membership as well.

Advertising helps, but from experience all you can hope for in the beginning is to break even. Of course as your activity levels rise, that should change.

I plan to eventually make money off my new forum. It's far out in the future though...
 
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