Can you make any money with a forum?

[johnn]

Hi,

Just curious? and how large a forum or how many posts before you can make some dollars in income?

Thanks,
John

[pavlovmb]

that depends. the revenue/visitor ratio is ofcourse mucher lower with a forum compared to for instance an ecommerce site.

It also depends on the topic of the forum

but it really wouldn't be somthing I'd do solely for the purpose of making a profit, although I'm sure money can be made

[petertdavis]

It also depends a lot on the type of forum it is, as you'll find it a lot easier to get advertisers if you have a forum full of wealthy businessmen than you would if your forum was full of gamers.

[Mo Money]

dnforum.com switched to a pay per membership system and has been very succesful.

[petertdavis]

dnforum.com switched to a pay per membership system and has been very succesful.

Are they? I haven't gone back there since I heard they were charging.

[Heinrich]

yes they're one of my cousin bought membership,

because that forum r about making money
so charging some bucks for doing business isn't
a big deal at all.

[markymoo]

I am currently setting up http://www.computingforums.com, I hope to make a bit of extra cash from advertising etc. I am not planning to charge for membership at all.

I think that whether or not you can make money from a forum-based website depends on a number of things:

1. The target audience of the forum (Forums aimed at the younger generation (e.g. gaming forums) tend to make less.)

2. The number of users (non-technical forums get far less users than technical forums, basically because computer users use the internet, more users general equals more revenue)

3. The way you plan to make money (selling items off your forum-based site will obviousely make more than simply advertising, if you are using affiliate programs like me, pay-per-lead programs tend to generate the most revenue (in my experience) it is also important to make sure the advertising you choose is suited to the audience of the forum)

hope this helps

Best Wishes and Good Luck!

markymoo

[Anat]

Our forums on www.TheCatSite.com/forums are sponsored. A few things I can tell you that's important for our advertisers is that the boards are completely moderated, that it's family oriented and educational, and that we put cat welfare first.

[Anat]

And of course, I suppose the ad at the top of the forums here at SP aren't free

[I, Brian]

I figure you can make money from your forum, but that actual profits are going to be fairly low - meaning that if you use advertising revenue to pay for all the hosting costs, plus you have money left over, I'd figure you're doing well.

Best left until you develop real traffic for your site, though - that's when both your costs adn the advertising potential will be highest.