howard_hughes
Elite Member
Ever wanted To Start Your Own Forum?
Tired of trying to generate content yourself or paying others to write articles? Don't sweat it. A forum is a great way to have lots and lots of free unique content. You can monetize it with ads or just flip it for $$$$ after couple of months!
Here's a step by step guide to start your own forum -
Installation
1) Get a good hosting, (I'm writing this guide for GoDaddy).
2) Get a catchy domain name.
3) In your GoDaddy Account > My Products > Hosting
4) Click manage account
5) Content > GoDaddy Hosting Connection
6) Message Boards/Forums > Simple Machines Forum > Install Now
7) Select your domain and click "continue"
8) Fill in the following
Database Description: (you can leave as is)
Database password: (something you'll remember)
Confirm db password: Retype Pass
9) "Install it into a folder:" erase whatever is there (If your forum in not the home page then You can move your forum to a /forum folder later)
10) Fill In
Admin Name: (this will be YOUR username on your forum)
Admin Password: (this will be your password on your forum)
Verify Admin Password: (retype above)
Email: (your regular email address)
Forum Name: (this will appear on the top left of your forum)
11) Click "Finish"
12) GoDaddy will automatically set up your forum and it should be live in about 10 minutes or so.
How To Get Members
Getafreelancer - Post a project saying you need 500 active members in your forums, pay only after 10 days to avoid getting scammed by profile generators.
Social Sites - Create some "hot" profiles on twitter, Fb etc and invite friends, friends of friends.
Forums - Join forums in similar niche and pm other members (I'd be better to outsource this)
Video Sites - Go To YouToob and download vids in your niche, watermark them and reupload. Yes it requires some work but the returns could be really good.
Spam - Scraps tons of emails from facebook, ask someone on BHW to send mails for you. Invite people to join your forum using a girly name (ex - Kathy21 has invited you to joing xyz forum)
Monetization
A few good ways to monetize a forum could be Adsense, Chitika, CPM banners, CPA, Affiliate Ads etc.
If your forum grows big then you can probably flip it for big money
Good Luck!
Tired of trying to generate content yourself or paying others to write articles? Don't sweat it. A forum is a great way to have lots and lots of free unique content. You can monetize it with ads or just flip it for $$$$ after couple of months!
Here's a step by step guide to start your own forum -
Installation
1) Get a good hosting, (I'm writing this guide for GoDaddy).
2) Get a catchy domain name.
3) In your GoDaddy Account > My Products > Hosting
4) Click manage account
5) Content > GoDaddy Hosting Connection
6) Message Boards/Forums > Simple Machines Forum > Install Now
7) Select your domain and click "continue"
8) Fill in the following
Database Description: (you can leave as is)
Database password: (something you'll remember)
Confirm db password: Retype Pass
9) "Install it into a folder:" erase whatever is there (If your forum in not the home page then You can move your forum to a /forum folder later)
10) Fill In
Admin Name: (this will be YOUR username on your forum)
Admin Password: (this will be your password on your forum)
Verify Admin Password: (retype above)
Email: (your regular email address)
Forum Name: (this will appear on the top left of your forum)
11) Click "Finish"
12) GoDaddy will automatically set up your forum and it should be live in about 10 minutes or so.
How To Get Members
Getafreelancer - Post a project saying you need 500 active members in your forums, pay only after 10 days to avoid getting scammed by profile generators.
Social Sites - Create some "hot" profiles on twitter, Fb etc and invite friends, friends of friends.
Forums - Join forums in similar niche and pm other members (I'd be better to outsource this)
Video Sites - Go To YouToob and download vids in your niche, watermark them and reupload. Yes it requires some work but the returns could be really good.
Spam - Scraps tons of emails from facebook, ask someone on BHW to send mails for you. Invite people to join your forum using a girly name (ex - Kathy21 has invited you to joing xyz forum)
Monetization
A few good ways to monetize a forum could be Adsense, Chitika, CPM banners, CPA, Affiliate Ads etc.
If your forum grows big then you can probably flip it for big money
Good Luck!
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