When to add a forum to an Information/Ecommerce site

[fonzerelli_79]

my shopping directory is starting to get more traffic. Its getting over 200 unique visits per day which is good for a site of this type.

I would like to add a forum in the future (hopefully within the next 6 months) - for visitors to ask about the best deals, where to buy etc.

However i know that a dead forum reflects badly on a site and im wondering what level of traffic i should consider adding a forum - 1000 uniques, 5000 uniques?

cheers,
kev

[stymiee]

ASAP. The sooner you start the sooner you get posts in there and get the ball rolling. Starting a forum is always rough and the only way to make it look good is to get people in there and to get them to post. Whether you start with 200 uniques a day or 2,000 you still start the forums off with zero posts. I have a forum which gets 400 uniques a day and gets an average of 100 posts a day and I see no reason why you shouldn't be able achieve similar results.

[fonzerelli_79]

yeah i know forums can be hard - im currently running 4 forums and ive ran several in the past which i have since sold.

Im still a bit concerned that the forum will be quiet with the current level of traffic - what to do, what to do!!!