What do you get out of your forum?

so we know why most of you started your forums but have they benefiited you financially? what would you like for your short and long term plans for your forum?

Mine is just for entertainment purposes. Basically a hobby of mine. I was a member at a huge board and the people were childish..So I left! LOL!

I'm not even looking at making money yet...maybe 5 years down the line? There is so much to do right now like building content, getting a solid member base, SEOing of all things. I just need funds to keep it running so next year I'll be offering paid subscriptions. I think I'm going to do $5.00 a year so to make it affordable.

I never intended my forum to be a money maker. I just would like to have it self-sustaining, so it doesn't cost me anything out of personal funds to keep it going.

It's not that I'm averse to making a profit. It's just that it was never the goal. At the moment, I'm making a small income from AdSense, and that's cool.

I'm not even looking at making money yet...maybe 5 years down the line? There is so much to do right now like building content, getting a solid member base, SEOing of all things. I just need funds to keep it running so next year I'll be offering paid subscriptions. I think I'm going to do $5.00 a year so to make it affordable.


i'm sure you can get $5 from your members...on the girls forum i had, i had a voluntary donation of $10-15 per person and about 75% did it...

on my cabo forum, i have had brides ask if they could contribute so i am thinking about adding that to the forum...minstrel kind of talked me into it

I don't get anything out of my adult site at all. I started my site to get away from another adult site I was a member of that was getting way too porn-ish. I never intended to make any income off of mine either (good thing!).

I have a donation button, paid subscriptions, classified ads, etc... and the only time anyone donates anything is when I come right out and say HEY I need some $!

My styles site, vbImpressions, is already paying for both itself and my adult site, as well as my photography site... and I've only been open for 6 or 7 weeks! :D

I don't get anything out of my adult site at all. I started my site to get away from another adult site I was a member of that was getting way too porn-ish. I never intended to make any income off of mine either (good thing!).

I have a donation button, paid subscriptions, classified ads, etc... and the only time anyone donates anything is when I come right out and say HEY I need some $!

My styles site, vbImpressions, is already paying for both itself and my adult site, as well as my photography site... and I've only been open for 6 or 7 weeks! :D


thats awesome peggy...i hope to start making $$ too offset costs...

Yeah.

My goal is to make enough $ to be able to get by comfortably on my p/t job and child support, and be able to be home with my son after school. Right now we barely get by on my p/t job and child support. I can't work f/t cuz sending him to afterschool care, with his disorder, is a nightmare for everyone. Sooooooooooo... that's what I'm working towards

I never intended my forum to be a money maker. I just would like to have it self-sustaining, so it doesn't cost me anything out of personal funds to keep it going.

It's not that I'm averse to making a profit. It's just that it was never the goal. At the moment, I'm making a small income from AdSense, and that's cool.

Same here pretty much :)

ODJT is more a less a hobby for me, I'm a member of several other DJ forums (who wudda guessed? :p) but one is full of constant bashing and over moderatoring, the other is a bunch of elitests, IMHO. So I started my own and invited a few people whom in turn invited other people I'm still at about 50 members, most of whom are active and we only started about 6 or 7 weeks ago

My newest site HWC is still pretty much a concept.. Is mainly being started for my love of learning & teaching. If something interests me in the least I'll learn as much as possible. I'd like to spread that love to others. (That must sound so corny but :cool:)

I think forums add a great dynamic to just about any site. Having static pages without some sort of discussion bores me, franky. As a webmaster, I like to get feedback and know that out of maybe 20 things written just one helps someone.

On to the money part: It would be nice to make a little something but really all I want is the sites to substain themselves. If Adsense pays me enough for the domain registrations, hosting and vB licenses; I'll be happy.

Just my two cents,
-Danny

Yeah.

My goal is to make enough $ to be able to get by comfortably on my p/t job and child support, and be able to be home with my son after school. Right now we barely get by on my p/t job and child support. I can't work f/t cuz sending him to afterschool care, with his disorder, is a nightmare for everyone. Sooooooooooo... that's what I'm working towards

gosh, that would be great...i know it will happen for you.

i am hoping to get pregnant soon and want to be able to work from home if/when pregnant have baby...i am currently in real estate and make really good $$ but i am burned out an di know it is not sustainable once pregnant. i want to be home with my family NOT showing property every night until 8pm or all weekend.

so i started my travel agency because i am really good at finding deals and negotiating...and it has taken off...i am hoping the forums will also start making some $$ to offset the fact that i will probably make ALOT less being a SAHM...

If *I* get pregnant, I am going to make a LOT of money... "Dear Jerry Springer..."

I get $$$ out of my fourms, I've also made a lot of friends and a good handful I've meet in person and talk to on an almost daily basis.

If *I* get pregnant, I am going to make a LOT of money... "Dear Jerry Springer..."LOL...

I get $$$ out of my fourms, I've also made a lot of friends and a good handful I've meet in person and talk to on an almost daily basis.
same here. I've made quite a few friends on my adult site, have met a few in person, and talk to a couple of them on the phone quite often.
I've talked to Joey and noppid on the phone as well... what a trip... lol...

If *I* get pregnant, I am going to make a LOT of money... "Dear Jerry Springer..."


you are such a smart *ss :p

Mine is just for entertainment purposes. Basically a hobby of mine.

ditto!

yes, i own it and run it, but at the end of the day i do that because i love chatting to the people there, and enjoy keeping things going for them.

i think most people start theyre forums as a hobby then realize they can make some extra cash and moneitize it. i love all of my forums and post daily. it started as a hobby now its a job lol

i think most people start theyre forums as a hobby then realize they can make some extra cash and moneitize it. i love all of my forums and post daily. it started as a hobby now its a job lol

We started ours because we wanted to save our Community, then it turned into a 2nd full-time job. As an Admin I spend A LOT of time at my forum and I'm still the top poster...no one will ever beat me. I notice that when I'm not online, my forum becomes a ghost town and when I sign on everybody comes on...weird. I've started leaving myself logged on.

We started ours because we wanted to save our Community, then it turned into a 2nd full-time job. As an Admin I spend A LOT of time at my forum and I'm still the top poster...no one will ever beat me. I notice that when I'm not online, my forum becomes a ghost town and when I sign on everybody comes on...weird. I've started leaving myself logged on.

maybe its just the times you go on that you notice the activity. i doubt the forum follows your activity lol. coincidence maybe. usually we are the top poster cause not only do we help members but were constantly giving direction to staff or creating tutorials etc.

maybe its just the times you go on that you notice the activity. i doubt the forum follows your activity lol. coincidence maybe. usually we are the top poster cause not only do we help members but were constantly giving direction to staff or creating tutorials etc.

Coinky dink, maybe :p.

I don't think it's necessarily coincidence, although it may depend on the type of forum. I think the presence of the forum admins online does encourage increased activity among posters at many forums.

Not mine... they see me and run the other way :rolleyes:












;)

Same here Peggy...they see me make a post and they generally asked who let me out of my courner...shouldn't you be tinkering with the site or something? :)

Isn't it nice to be loved?

As for the ADMIN/Owner being the top poster...humm...not sure I agree about this one. Maybe the ADMIN but I would believe more so should be your MOD(s). With the amount of time I spend trying to make the site better for everyone, I have slipped to the number 6 spot on my main board. I believe when your members start posting more than the staff, you are a hit.

Just my .02psi

Same here Peggy...they see me make a post and they generally asked who let me out of my courner...shouldn't you be tinkering with the site or something? :)

Isn't it nice to be loved?

As for the ADMIN/Owner being the top poster...humm...not sure I agree about this one. Maybe the ADMIN but I would believe more so should be your MOD(s). With the amount of time I spend trying to make the site better for everyone, I have slipped to the number 6 spot on my main board. I believe when your members start posting more than the staff, you are a hit.

Just my .02psi

All of my staff are in the 5,000s I'm in the 11,000s because I'm adding a lot of images and content. My active members are all in the 1000s and beyond.

I'm always working on something and they can tell because something will be messed up for a minute or two and they let me know. They also make fun of me when I start miss info like stuff happening in their lives and all. I used to know everything, but the board has grown so much that I'm lost. I'm hoping that's a good thing. ;)

male pattern baldness and peptic ulcers... but my members do make me laugh every now and then, so it's worth it.

We're the same as a lot of you. It was never about making money, it was more about having our little home in cyber space. For the first year and a half, our hosting costs were less than $200 CAD per month. We've since ballooned to over $1000 CAD with two dedicated parked servers just to maintain the site. We do about 150 - 200 gb per month with an average of about 130 concurrent users.

Google ads really isn't a major option for me because there's simply not many advertisers on the topic that we cover. Honestly, I don't ever see my site being a "cash cow" or even covering it's own monthly expenses, but it's my baby and I'll keep dumping into it as long as there's members to entertain.

I've seen a lot of forums started over the years with the goal of solely making a quick 'n tidy profit. It is possible, but IMO the community usually isn't as tight knit as one with an admin who's an integral part of the community and the purpose is growth and serving the members.

Same here Peggy...they see me make a post and they generally asked who let me out of my courner...shouldn't you be tinkering with the site or something? :)

Isn't it nice to be loved?

As for the ADMIN/Owner being the top poster...humm...not sure I agree about this one. Maybe the ADMIN but I would believe more so should be your MOD(s). With the amount of time I spend trying to make the site better for everyone, I have slipped to the number 6 spot on my main board. I believe when your members start posting more than the staff, you are a hit.

Just my .02psi

It would be wonderful if my members had more posts than I, but that just ain't the case. I'm a post hog, unfortunately, as you may be able to tell by my post count here. I'm just a naturally sociable gal, I guess.

i also have the highest post count on my site, but this is for a couple of reaons....

1) my Mod, who was rapidly catching up, dumped one account and set up another, and didn't want his posts merged, so he starts from scratch. (he now uses his real name rather than a chat name)
2) i've been there longer than most of the members due to the shifting about of the site, chunks of downtime and changing domain names (all a bit complicated really).

as for daily activity tho, i'd say we're all about as active as each other. it's just that i've been there the longest.

It would be wonderful if my members had more posts than I, but that just ain't the case. I'm a post hog, unfortunately, as you may be able to tell by my post count here. I'm just a naturally sociable gal, I guess.

I'm still the top poster on the old board we came from and we left that piece of crap back in February. Get me somewhere comfy and I'll start posting like crazy too.

tanya, i have the highest posts on all my forums...even one i am not that active in anymore...too busy getting these wdding ones up and running...alot of times, it is because i am welcoming new members, posting information, helping people etc...and when people post, they get sad when i don't acknowledge it so i usually have to on most big threads like pics of their wedding etc.