Starting a Web Hosting Forum

I am in the process of creating a unique web hosting guide, where visitors can go, read articles, and take quizzes to see what they know, what they need to know, and what they have learned.

I've been pondering whether or not to create a forum to compliment my website. I would like to have an active community as part of the website, however, there are so many web hosting forums already on the Internet.

How many forums do you think an average Internet user would visit? Is it worth it to create something that has been done before, even if it is a part of something unique? What ways could I distinguish my forum from the countless other web hosting forums?

Thank you in advance for your responses.

Well, I would say those interested in web hosting are not your average internet user and tend to spend much more time online. So hard to say. I visit over 100 forums.

Do you believe that adding RSS news feeds and other hacks would keep a forum member on my community longer and increase the possibility of recommending it to others?

that helps - but I think the essence of a forum are its members. Thats what makes a forum popular or not.

In your opinion, do referral contests help or hurt the quality of a forum's members? Is there any ways you have found to get products for a discount?

refural contests are good, it can be a double edged sword, but I have never had any problems...Buy in bulk to get the best discount....

Well, I would say those interested in web hosting are not your average internet user and tend to spend much more time online. So hard to say. I visit over 100 forums.

For what Joey, 45 seconds each per day :confused: :D

What motivates people to join a forum and become an active member of the community? Contests? Prizes for points?

What motivates people to join a forum and become an active member of the community? Contests? Prizes for points?

This is the question....if we knew this all of our forums would be Kickin....

I have attempted to get into people head and ask what atracts them to my site...Good content and discussion is my advice...

Joey told us if we continue to support him until he is a Billionaire that he would send us 50 bucks each :) :D

I read one place that creating fake user accounts and using them to post makes a forum seem more active, however, in the end, I'd just feel like I was braking one of my own rules.

If you want to create content, just find articles and quote part of them in your posts, leave a link back to the article to the original author and you have a bunch of threads started for engines to crawl.

Make a few comments along with the content quoted from the article and that will help jump start your forum.

Post a lot on other forums with your signature and keep working at it, because it takes time and hard work and good members to get a forum off the ground!

I did this at the biggining of my first forum...I posted here and there when I felt the place needed a pick me up...it works, got a few more people active, got the ball rolling...no harm done...

If you want to create content, just find articles and quote part of them in your posts, leave a link back to the article to the original author and you have a bunch of threads started for engines to crawl.
This forum is supposed to compliment a web hosting guide, so this would be very easy to do. Thanks for the suggestion.

It is no different from the posts that a lot of us put up, the only difference is that you would be posting on your own forum. :o

Now for my next question - sort of a personal opinion. Do you believe that having AdSense (probably like the layout on this forum) will in any way diminish the credibility of my articles or opinions?

Thank you for your help so far.

No, most folks don't pay a lot of attention to the ads, CTR is low on most forums, but the ads do provide added value to the user.

So I say go with it, I click on ads to research other sites every day and most progressive sites are buying Adwords so it is a good way to find good sites and research the competition.

Well, after all of your responses, I feel compelled to create the forum and see how things take off. Are you guys interested in a web hosting guide / web hosting quizzes / web hosting community all-in-one site?

If the resource is good, everyone will be interested in it, just depends on how much original content and useful tools are on the site.

You will have to work hard to provide value to bring folks back and to get them to link to your site.

Sry, I must add in that I do believe adsence takes away from the site...Although I know it pays out for some the server costs, I do not belive in its use at all, I have my reasons, and I dont use it on any of my sites.

Also I will say you have a HUGE job ahead of ya...strap in and get ready for a wild ride.

Good luck and have fun, I have found watching your community grow is very rewarding!

Sry, I must add in that I do believe adsence takes away from the site...Although I know it pays out for some the server costs, I do not belive in its use at all, I have my reasons, and I dont use it on any of my sites.
How do you make your forums profitable, then?

Adsense is fine and works, it will not make you rich on a small forum but it is one profit center.

We have threads here on how to make profit from your traffic, but you have to build content first to get traffic so you can keep members interested in coming back and posting.

Look through the threads here, you will find many on Adsense and how to make money with your forums using other programs. :o

Sry, I must add in that I do believe adsence takes away from the site...Although I know it pays out for some the server costs, I do not belive in its use at all, I have my reasons, and I dont use it on any of my sites.

Also I will say you have a HUGE job ahead of ya...strap in and get ready for a wild ride.

Good luck and have fun, I have found watching your community grow is very rewarding!

A properly promoted website with adsense WILL profit, not just offset costs. You can look at a website in two ways, a profession or a hobby. If you implement adsense into the design, I don't see how adsense takes anything away?

Yes it's a hard job. With no experience, I would venture to guess you will be waiting one to two years to see a profit.

With no experience, I would venture to guess you will be waiting one to two years to see a profit.
I have been moderating a web hosting forum, which I guess gives me some experience handling a community, but never responsible for the forum as a whole.

Being a moderator and being the publisher are not related at all. However, if you are going to run a forum, that is experience, just not the type experience I was referring to.

Well, step one completed. vB owned license purchased and in the process of uploading.

Great news. Good luck!

It was suprisingly easy to install. Expected at least one problem, but I got everything up and running in less than an hour. Now for customization.

Go through the vBulletin options menu fully expanded and read every option. There are quite a few ya want to change the defaults on.

Also, copy the main style and set the copy as your default and customize it. Leave an original unmodified copy of the sytle for reference.

I'm trying to install an RSS Hack (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=63798), however, when I click the link in the Admin CP, it says the page cannot be found. Any ideas?

Fixed. Had it in the wrong directory.

Where do I find the default style to copy it?

style manager

Yep, copy sytle, make it with no parent.

I've started modifying the style, but can't seem to find where I can...

1. Edit the message that a guest sees when visiting the forum.
2. Edit the navigation menu.

Also, I've tried logging out on my forum, but after I return to the index, it appears as though I'm logged in.

1 is a phrase. Search in phrases for part of the test. I don't know the name off hand.
2 Is the navbar template.
3 It may be because you are logged into the ACP.

I'm trying to edit the navbar template, however, when I try to change the text displayed, that item on the bar disappears.

Show us some code, that don't help me sort it out in conversation.

For example, here is the calendar code for the navigation bar:


<td class="vbmenu_control"><a href="calendar.php?$session[sessionurl]">$vbphrase[calendar]</a></td>


Now, I want to change it to a rules page, which is simply a thread (single post):


<td class="vbmenu_control"><a href="showthread.php?p=77?$session[sessionurl]">$vbphrase[forum_rules]</a></td>

<td class="vbmenu_control"><a href="showthread.php?p=77&$session[sessionurl]">$vbphrase[forum_rules]</a></td>


First var gets the ?, the rest are preceeded by &.

Fixed it! It was actually the $vbphrase causing the problem, since "rules" was not a designated phrase. I think I have learned enough basic information to start and customize the forum to my liking.

Thanks everyone for all your help. :)