New Website Idea (Help Please?)

If you want to set up a forum to become an authority site about writing, that is great. But it shouldn't be all your site does.

I'm also not sure why. If it is a forum for writers, then your members will compete for your writing business.
I don't think people who "want" a writer will join a forum.

Have I missed something?
If this is to recruit other writers to your team/pool, or sell writers stuff, then fine. But I don't think it is a way to get writing business...

IMHO you would be better off with a blog that discussed how you write and the uses of writing, and a showcase of some of your work and some sort of pricelist/order form.

If you want a forum to increase seo, etc. then fine, but it would be about "business" and not about writing.

Either way, I think forums are a lot of work to maintain and to build up a membership. The advantage of a blog is that you can contro the comments a lot easier and remain the key spokeman.

Or maybe I have misunderstood what you said or what you are trying to achieve?

Only my opinion. I am often wrong.

Cheers.

yeah I'm not sure if you would really want a forum if you're wanting to sell your writing services, I don't think that would be best for you. Maybe a blog with some type of ecommerce worked in like flamingbun says.

You could have a niche writers market, and get indian VAs to sign on to compete for work. Perhaps legal documents, business plans, stuff like that. PHBB wouldn't be as good as a listing site.

Exactly. You could do some keyword research and find out what kind of legal documentation/business things people need written, solicit VAs on elance and other sites to join your site for extra work, and then let some money come in when you're topping SERPS for whatever niche documents people need written. Small business owners are a great market (I make my living doing SEO for them). I'm not big into articles, but I'm sure some huge writer freelance sites already exist. You might be successful with a niche, though.