How to make a forum like BHW?

[TheMightiestFurher]

I don't know much about making forum, can someone guide me?

BHW uses xenforo, Pixeledit Right. So which will be the best for a budget friendly full of features forum?

Also what do you use( if any)?

 

[ristoriel]

In the past I used to having an online gaming forum using phpBB, I think it's still used these days as well. Go check it out, I am sure it is budget friendly for a lot of people.

 

[icrowd]

Making a forum is not a hard part, you can hire a freelancer and he will do it. The hardest and the most expensive part is getting traffic. The forum should be live and useful

 

[TheMightiestFurher]

Making a forum is not a hard part, you can hire a freelancer and he will do it. The hardest and the most expensive part is getting traffic. The forum should be live and useful

That's the thing with me, I know a very specific niche that will get decent amt of highly targeted traffic, I don't know the technical stuff.

 

[MV3]

Why not enter into a JV with someone?
I'm sure someone can take care of the technical part if you have good project.

 

[pitbully]

Are forums still relevant today with all of the social media platforms?

 

[awesomewebsites]

Ask @Diamond Damien for help.

 

[Dopious]

Are forums still relevant today with all of the social media platforms?

Yes, otherwise BHW would be dead.

 

[TheMightiestFurher]

Are forums still relevant today with all of the social media platforms?

Okay, why are u on bhw ?

 

[pitbully]

Yes, otherwise BHW would be dead.

Okay, why are u on bhw ?

I mean would creating a new forum still be relevant. BHW is relevant because it has existed for a long time and some of the content wouldn't be allowed elsewhere. Also there's a marketplace for selling services that wouldn't be allowed to be sold elsewhere. So there are things keeping BHW afloat and it was established since before the social media wave came along.

If you built a new discussion forum, would people come and discuss things there instead of discussing them in a Facebook group or on Reddit or somewhere similar?

 

[Chris Newman]

The technical inputs to make a forum is not a challenge at all. Almost anyone nowadays can "plug & play" and create a forum. However a forum with a community such as BHW's ? No one can do it nowadays. It is the community that makes the forum and BHW is simply unbeatable in this aspect.

 

[Lukmat]

1. Choose script: xenforo, vbulletin, but i have seen great forum with custom features on mybb
2. Hardest and most expensive part: you need to break even. To do that, hire writers in your niche to create artificial discussion from big number of accs. Nobody will register on forum with few hundreds of posts and last post few months ago
3. Force people to register, for example half of thread should be for signed in users.
4. Do regular mailing
5. Promote on reddit and other social media

To do forum you need to have very specialized niche. I think it's better to make just blogs.

 

[Kinu Actaz]

Its as easy as installing WordPress. If you are on cPanel, head over to Autoinstaller and choose any forum script like PHPBB, MyBB or VBulletin.

 

[remeser779]

There's also MyBB which is quite nice . But yeah don't worry, it is really easy to set up.
Also about the theme you can choose a quite classic one, or a more "modern" looking depending of what you want(there is forum engine for eg forumengine.enginethemes.com/ ) however sometimes "classic" setup are better and with less hassles

Are forums still relevant today with all of the social media platforms?

I think @pitbully means that forum are sadly generally less used than, to say, like 10 years and more ago, when you had forums everywhere; now it's quite centralised in social medias like FB groups. However thankfully there is some which are still actives

 

[Kinu Actaz]

Hardest and most expensive part: you need to break even. To do that, hire writers in your niche to create artificial discussion from big number of accs. Nobody will register on forum with few hundreds of posts and last post few months ago

It can be done with Microworkers if you have budget and if your niche is Internet Marketing or Make Money Online, there are higher chances that people of Microworkers would stay there and engage with the content since they want better alternative to Microworkers.

 

[sageshark]

Leave the technical part aside, these are the REAL people in the community that drive a forum and make it successful. It takes years of hard work and persistence.

Now you know why there are trillions of websites over the internet but only a handful of successful forums!

 

[TheMightiestFurher]

yep one of my methods. But I have something in mind, I believe it works, especially in my country. But can you shoutout ways to monetize it?

It can be done with Microworkers if you have budget and if your niche is Internet Marketing or Make Money Online, there are higher chances that people of Microworkers would stay there and engage with the content since they want better alternative to Microworkers.

 

[TheMightiestFurher]

Leave the technical part aside, these are the REAL people in the community that drive a forum and make it successful. It takes years of hard work and persistence.

Now you know why there are trillions of websites over the internet but only a handful of successful forums!

Can you suggest me some good ways to monetize it?

 

[TheMightiestFurher]

Its as easy as installing WordPress. If you are on cPanel, head over to Autoinstaller and choose any forum script like PHPBB, MyBB or VBulletin.

1. Choose script: xenforo, vbulletin, but i have seen great forum with custom features on mybb
2. Hardest and most expensive part: you need to break even. To do that, hire writers in your niche to create artificial discussion from big number of accs. Nobody will register on forum with few hundreds of posts and last post few months ago
3. Force people to register, for example half of thread should be for signed in users.
4. Do regular mailing
5. Promote on reddit and other social media

To do forum you need to have very specialized niche. I think it's better to make just blogs.

Can you suggest me some good ways to monetize it?

 

[virtualbyron]

Can you suggest me some good ways to monetize it?

Make the forum so good that people will pay $97 / year to be VIP