Blog VS Forum

[freshjiive]

Hey guys completely new here been kind of creeping the forums for a few weeks and have been completely inspired to start my own site. Found my own niche, got a domain and hosting. Now i'm stuck on layout. I've been interested in a blog type style site but also very interested in a forum based site (like BHW). Today I played around with both wordpress and phpBB and i'm sure I can learn them both fairly quickly. Anyone have any input on which would be better? I intend on putting in content on for either one but for for some reason feel like a forum may be more appealing to visitors?

 

[Techxan]

JMHO but getting a forum off the ground is a bitch.

 

[freshjiive]

Yea so i've heard. I have a bit of money to play with and thought about hiring super cheap freelancers (like .10 an hour) to start posting in it now and then to get some stuff going. bad idea?

 

[kingbrend]

A forum is great if you're dedicated to it. The good thing about a forum is once it's established, your site visitors will generate fresh content for you and slowly build up your site.

After some years and some dedication on your end you're looking at a solid site you're making money from every day.

A blog requires the content come from you. You're working harder to increase traffic while forums create content 24/7, beating you in the search engines.

 

[_clicking_]

Where are you getting freelancers to do forum posting for .10/hr. I may be in the market for some forum posters for a clients website and interested in the going rates for such an endeavor.

 

[freshjiive]

PM me and let i'll let you know. Fairly new to the forums so don't want to accidentally break a rule by posting a site or something.

 

[Salty]

Forums are the #1 easiest thing to grow.

-Make a forum about Honda Cars.

-Find the most popular twitter users talking about Honda.

-Make their tweets auto-post to your forum via RSS.

-Create sitemaps & send to Google through Webmaster Tools


I will guarantee you will get more than 2k unique visitors/day starting out, and you never have to worry about "content." If any reputable people want to work with me, I have a Xenforo license that I don't use and would collaborate on this. I use my own hosting, direct-to-backbone connection (cogent 1gb).


Here is an example:

 

[BigMarcusStud]

I heard that Adsense CPC sucks in forums. True?

 

[freshjiive]

Awesome idea. If I had any clue on how to do it I would lol.

 

[ab lincoln]

What content is it gonna be all about ?

 

[arsaltheman]

Forums are better than blogs I think!
You can actually see your self live examples,bhw,wf,etc.

 

[Entertainment]

Yeah, I think a forum would be great! However, I would go for MyBB over PHPBB

 

[Articlewriter2012]

I love BHW and the all the great tips that people share on this forum! Loving this thread

 

[Big_0n3]

I preffer wordpress because it is easier. WIth forum you had more work..

 

[Zakhar]

I heard that Adsense CPC sucks in forums. True?

correct it sure does I've been at it for 8 months on my forum & the CPC is absoloutly horrific & I can assure you its not very motivating when you wake up the next morning looking at the same forum in hope that the visitors come back to put on fresh content heh

 

[Gollie]

If you are new to this as you said, you should start with a blog. Once you have a good amount of traffic, start a forum and invite your visitors to join and post in it. You will need a few good moderators to constantly monitor your forum to start. Nothing is worse than posting in a forum and never getting an answer.

Answer questions in a timely manner and you can for sure get your forum off the ground...expect to be dedicated though.

 

[BigMarcusStud]

correct it sure does I've been at it for 8 months on my forum & the CPC is absoloutly horrific & I can assure you its not very motivating when you wake up the next morning looking at the same forum in hope that the visitors come back to put on fresh content heh

Maybe because they know that regular visitors will get immune with the ads that they won't even see them.

But if you can get advertisers to buy ad space, I think you can really bank with a forum.

 

[freshjiive]

Yeah, I think a forum would be great! However, I would go for MyBB over PHPBB

Why myBB over PHPBB?

I've already installed phpBB on the site and it's up and running. I've started adding content and am hoping to see a little traffic soon. Still learning the ins and outs of phpBB and how to optimize my site the best.

 

[freshjiive]

I preffer wordpress because it is easier. WIth forum you had more work..

Yea I wasn't sure what to go with. I work full time and to be completely honest i'm not that great of a writer so I was afraid I wouldn't be able to come up with content.

 

[goinviral]

do both. wordpress blog main site with a forum hanging off of it. All the better sites do this. So you can offset all the crap content in the forum with well written long blog posts. BLogs are a Good anti panda shield for all forums.