How profitable is it to run a forum?

There are multiple ways to monetize a forum:
1. Membership fee.
2. Selling upgrades - either to access private subforums or marketplace (or both).
3. Advertisments.
4. Allowing a free marketplace and offering a paid middleman service.
5. Advertising your own services/methods/products.

It all really depends on your niche and yes, it can be very profitable, there are forums where the owner makes 5 digits a month from upgrades.
Amazing stuff, definetely noted Kommando, I had 4 out of 5 in there that I have already thought about, why and how do you think a paid middleman service could help on raising greater income and what sort of workflow you have in mind.

I loved your comment by the way, thanks for the apporting something to the topic
 
A lot of people pay $97 on BHW, some people pay $150-170 for private discord channels etc..
It just depends on the forum, if you have a private forum for compliance officers or for corporate lawyers in Paris, you'll make a fortune.
lol, you are quiet close, but nothing to do with paris and nothing to do with compliance officers or corporate lawyers, nice comment.
 
Im sorry I just dont see it happening

that doesnt really help, could you elaborate on why not?

the site I meant to say was black hat pro tools . info, this guys have amassed a great fortune just sharing cracked software.
 
Amazing stuff, definetely noted Kommando, I had 4 out of 5 in there that I have already thought about, why and how do you think a paid middleman service could help on raising greater income and what sort of workflow you have in mind.
Because if there is a digital goods marketplace, the users will be interested in middleman services. The admin can monopolize middleman services for a steady income.
Examples: PlayerUp, EpicNPC, game specific RWT forums, etc.
 
I agree! Only an idiot would pay $99 to be a part of an exclusive online forum!

The paid forums I've joined were 100% worth it. I can only speak for IM forums, but the larger well known ones have an abundance of great tips, advice, and networking opportunities you can't/won't find on a public forum.
 
Because if there is a digital goods marketplace, the users will be interested in middleman services. The admin can monopolize middleman services for a steady income.
Examples: PlayerUp, EpicNPC, game specific RWT forums, etc.
so in that case you suggest as a human escrow for all transactions, is that correct?
 
The paid forums I've joined were 100% worth it. I can only speak for IM forums, but the larger well known ones have an abundance of great tips, advice, and networking opportunities you can't/won't find on a public forum.
interesting stuff Deleted member 15724, could you sahre a bit more info about those two forums you have managed to pay a membership for if you dont mind.
many thanks.
 
Your missing the value in forums completely


Once you've developed that niches community you have all the users of that niches data.

Take a carp fishing forum - I'm not involved in this niche but run forums in other niches all my forums are public forums

all links users post have affiliate ID's added on, (if its amazon it gets amazon aff id, if eBay eBay aff id, super retarded bollie company, super retarded bollie company aff id)

I also have username, email, real name, mobile number (for 2 factor ;) ) and address, from their address I've looked at their post code and can work out the average earnings or someone at that postcode and their nearest fisheries.

I can direct the narrative if I don't like a certain fishery I can encourage the forum to have a negative vibe about that fishery, maybe a rumor gets set off about how they sold off their big fish or there's a disease infecting their fish.

Maybe I'm looking to diversify and buy myself a fishery (never do this by the way - more pain than its worth), I have a captive audience my catch reports are going to be flooded by my fishery, any negative reports get ghosted.

forums are incredibly valuable if you can get them active but my good you will give yourself multiple personality disorder getting one going.

Wanna see the most valuable forum in the UK?
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/ (yes its the face of most of the bitcoin scams - well Elon may have taken his place.)
He actually sued facebook and won! He's a bit of a knob but his wife is smoking hot!

When people in the UK want advice about money they go to that forum! Imagine how much you could make from all the financial affiliate programs!!
by the way they hate spammers and its the hardest forum ever to market on getting links or anything to stick is a nightmare! - that's years of experience there!

I often use MoneySavingExpert as to what I want my forums to become.
 
The paid forums I've joined were 100% worth it. I can only speak for IM forums, but the larger well known ones have an abundance of great tips, advice, and networking opportunities you can't/won't find on a public forum.
Wanna know more about it please.
 
interesting stuff Deleted member 15724, could you sahre a bit more info about those two forums you have managed to pay a membership for if you dont mind.
many thanks.

I'm sorry man I wasn't trying to be a dick, I was trying to make a joke based on the fact that I'm a junior VIP here and did exactly just that lol. In all seriousness, I wish you luck on your journey and I can personally confirm that there are people willing to happily pay such prices! :)
 
It could be profitable if you find the right niche.
But it's not easy at all to bring traffic and constantly run it.
Anyway, if you are looking for co-workers please hit me up, I'll be more than happy to talk about your project. I got much experience on several forum platforms/niches
 
Like any other sites, you can monetize forums with Ad placements (relevant to what your forum serves)

BHW hosts a combination of both membership fee + Ads.
 
There is still plenty of money to be made with online forums.
Why? The simple answer is because forums are a community of people interested in a given topic. And if you give them the right product(s) and market accordingly they will buy from you.

Of course, is not so easy like in the old days as now we have social media networks like Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter where people spend most of their time BUT there is still place for forums.

Just to give you some hints:

1) Go to niches where anonymity matters and users will not post with their real names.
2) Go super niched. Broad forums are dead and you have plenty of competitors.
3) Make the forum an addon to your site but not the focus area of your website.
4) Figure out how you will monetize before starting otherwise you will lose plenty of time to figure out what works for your community.

This guide may help you: https://monetize.info/how-to-start-a-forum/
 
Depends on the forum.
Your missing the value in forums completely


Once you've developed that niches community you have all the users of that niches data.

Take a carp fishing forum - I'm not involved in this niche but run forums in other niches all my forums are public forums

all links users post have affiliate ID's added on, (if its amazon it gets amazon aff id, if eBay eBay aff id, super retarded bollie company, super retarded bollie company aff id)

I also have username, email, real name, mobile number (for 2 factor ;) ) and address, from their address I've looked at their post code and can work out the average earnings or someone at that postcode and their nearest fisheries.

I can direct the narrative if I don't like a certain fishery I can encourage the forum to have a negative vibe about that fishery, maybe a rumor gets set off about how they sold off their big fish or there's a disease infecting their fish.

Maybe I'm looking to diversify and buy myself a fishery (never do this by the way - more pain than its worth), I have a captive audience my catch reports are going to be flooded by my fishery, any negative reports get ghosted.

forums are incredibly valuable if you can get them active but my good you will give yourself multiple personality disorder getting one going.

Wanna see the most valuable forum in the UK?
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/ (yes its the face of most of the bitcoin scams - well Elon may have taken his place.)
He actually sued facebook and won! He's a bit of a knob but his wife is smoking hot!

When people in the UK want advice about money they go to that forum! Imagine how much you could make from all the financial affiliate programs!!
by the way they hate spammers and its the hardest forum ever to market on getting links or anything to stick is a nightmare! - that's years of experience there!

I often use MoneySavingExpert as to what I want my forums to become.

I have to say that you are very close from where I'm aiming, well done. thanks for the top advice.
 
Never came across adult forum, might be a nice shot
I'm not into adult forums I know that it may be quiet profiting but its like profiting from drug addicts by selling drugs we know it makes money but you are profiting from the adiction of others

Wanna know more about it please.
I'm into the learning myself aswell, what sort of thing are you looking to know better?

I'm sorry man I wasn't trying to be a dick, I was trying to make a joke based on the fact that I'm a junior VIP here and did exactly just that lol. In all seriousness, I wish you luck on your journey and I can personally confirm that there are people willing to happily pay such prices! :)
my brother, you are not dealing with a bunch of sissys here, nobody gets offended, I just take this quiet serious since I really seem to find a lot of potential on forums and I think it will grow as much as podcasts are growing nowadays, I see the feeling of bringin things that used to work for the simply reason that they work, and there is too much nowadays out there of things that promise too much but dont do, its hard to explain since I'm trying to be as vague as possible.

It could be profitable if you find the right niche.
But it's not easy at all to bring traffic and constantly run it.
Anyway, if you are looking for co-workers please hit me up, I'll be more than happy to talk about your project. I got much experience on several forum platforms/niches
Well I believe there are proven solutions to counter-attack that problem, but thanks for bringing it up.

Thinking of starting something like this
Nice - lets keep in touch if you want, feel free to PM lets have a convo.

Like any other sites, you can monetize forums with Ad placements (relevant to what your forum serves)
BHW hosts a combination of both membership fee + Ads.
Ads is something I'm not planning to enter since it tends to scare users at the start, since it destroys the entire UX if placed improperly

There is still plenty of money to be made with online forums.
Why? The simple answer is because forums are a community of people interested in a given topic. And if you give them the right product(s) and market accordingly they will buy from you.

Of course, is not so easy like in the old days as now we have social media networks like Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter where people spend most of their time BUT there is still place for forums.

Just to give you some hints:

1) Go to niches where anonymity matters and users will not post with their real names.
2) Go super niched. Broad forums are dead and you have plenty of competitors.
3) Make the forum an addon to your site but not the focus area of your website.
4) Figure out how you will monetize before starting otherwise you will lose plenty of time to figure out what works for your community.

This guide may help you: https://monetize.info/how-to-start-a-forum/

POINT 3 - thats on the spot, exactly my plan.
 
you will give yourself multiple personality disorder getting one going
This is so true!

I've dabbled in forums a few times over the years & had the most success keeping the forums closed, initially. I don't allow access to any of the boards & tell visitors that they're in private beta. When I get 25 - 30 requests for "beta" access, I add them all at the same time & let them in.

It all comes down to creating an air of mystery & exclusivity. People want to be part of clubs that others can't get in to.

But yes... it does take a lot of work seeding threads. Throwing people in to an empty forum, even behind a curtain, just doesn't work.
 
interesting stuff Deleted member 15724, could you sahre a bit more info about those two forums you have managed to pay a membership for if you dont mind.
many thanks.
Wanna know more about it please.

Unfortunately mentioning threads here is against the rules. If you research enough, there's one paid forum that comes out as the best in the space. I haven't used them in a few years, so I can't vouch for the quality of recent content.
 
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