Anyone making money on message boards/forums?

[cbmeeks]

Either with Adsense or other means.

Thanks

cbmeeks

[fultron]

Forums and discussion groups are one way to make money online. If you run your own forum you can turn your traffic into revenue by using Adsense, or selling products/advertising space.

Or you can post helpful messages in other forums and include your website in your signature file if they allow it. I do this and I get a nice amount of traffic from this forum and some others I post to regularly. I've even had some sales that have originated from posts in this forum, so yes it can work.

Just remember to have a reason for posting other than promoting your site or you'll soon be branded a spammer.

[shengmei]

Don't recruit too many "free" moderators too quickly. Or else it can become a power-struggling moderator war

(I had seen it on another forum)

[cbmeeks]

Thanks. Yeah, I know the ropes about the forums...I run several forums myself. I was just wondering if anyone was actually making any money doing it? Enough that it could be considered a good secondary income (or more).

Details appreciated. :-D

Thanks

cbmeeks

[jmjj215]

I'm sure Jeffrey is here, but he's talked about the difficulty of AS revenue with forums. For instance, I can't remember the last time I noticed the ads here, and I think that goes for probably a lot of the regulars on forums. they come for the discussion.

[cbmeeks]

Yeah, I've had that problem too. I've even asked for $1.00/month donation to help hosting fees and no one does it. Even the "Oh, I promise to help!"

lol

[Broken Arrow]

Some of the larger forums out there sell value-added services with their premium membership. Specifically, some of the more popular sections of the board was made read-only for all, and only those who paid can post. So, if the area was enticing enough, people will pay just to get a chance to join. If not, at least it helps to keep down the cost of bandwidth. Another example is that many articles are readable for free, but members can own the banner-free PDF copy.

[PrincessPerky]

This site is big, easy to find on google, and full of great people, but I think Jeffrey still has his day job.......

[jmjj215]

Originally Posted by PrincessPerky

This site is big, easy to find on google, and full of great people, but I think Jeffrey still has his day job.......

Does he?

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Not me, but I worked for a number of years for a website that made money, though not from the start. They went from a handful of small advertisers, through the high ride of the highly financed dot com bubble, through its "pop" and the dreary months following it, and slowly back to good profitability and many on-topic advertisers. That company is now unfortunately in the hands of a media giant. I think now it is much harder to make money on a new start. There is getting to be an internet commercial establishment that can fund holding on through the tough times (if they choose to) better than can an individual with the bills to pay and little income from the site. However, passion for your topic brings a kind of enthusiasm and, most importantly, quality to an internet site, that the faceless corporation just cannot match. I would not discourage anyone from trying.

What I saw making the difference where I worked was true quality born of passion for the topic (not just sloganized corporate claims to the same, and very responsive, fast-to-act management, the programmer being the enterpreneuer so that performance never lagged below with expectations, and, oddly, a very plain user interface without much in the way of customisability for users. Discrete but firm moderation of the site was probably key as well.

Anything more than that and I'll have to charge for a consultation.

[TBH]

Originally Posted by jmjj215

I'm sure Jeffrey is here, but he's talked about the difficulty of AS revenue with forums. For instance, I can't remember the last time I noticed the ads here, and I think that goes for probably a lot of the regulars on forums. they come for the discussion.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the number of hits the site gets determine how much you get paid per click? So an active forum site, even if not too many people click on ads, should make okay money on ads because of the volume of traffic.

I am sooo not an expert, so please enlighten me if I have it all wrong.

[jeffrey]

Originally Posted by claire

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the number of hits the site gets determine how much you get paid per click? So an active forum site, even if not too many people click on ads, should make okay money on ads because of the volume of traffic.

I am sooo not an expert, so please enlighten me if I have it all wrong.

Hits do not determine how much you get paid per click - it's the subject matter that determines that because different people bid on different key words and the more competition there are for certain words, the more value the clicks have.

That being said, the more traffic your site gets, the more likely that you'll get more clicks and revenue will go up.

As jmjj215 mentioned, regulars usually tune out the ads after a bit and that is what makes forums less attractive as money makers as pure content sites. This does not bother Nate and I - while they may not be interested in the ads, they do help those looking for information and help attract new people to the site.

[jeffrey]

Originally Posted by jmjj215

Does he?

I currently don't have a full time day job, but I do some other part time things to supplement income each month. The sites (I could not live on what this site makes alone, but with all the sister sites we've added, we make enough to cover my living expenses) makes enough for me to live, but just barely. I'm certainly not living an extravagant lifestyle

Nate currently works only part-time and has a regular day job. It's tough going and takes a lot of time (12+ hour days including weekends are common for me), but I love what I'm doing so the time doesn't seem like the amount I really spend (it's not like 8 hours in a job you hate)

Can you make a living? Yes, but it's going to take a lot and time and effort and I wouldn't quit your day job until you really have laid the foundation and are earning quite a bit. For most people, I would look at sites as a good part-time income and if they grow, be pleasantly surprised.

[Tree0164]

Jeffrey
Have you looked at IntelliTXT I know you need over 500k page views each month so I don't know if you are there or not.

[jeffrey]

Originally Posted by Tree0164

Jeffrey
Have you looked at IntelliTXT I know you need over 500k page views each month so I don't know if you are there or not.

I've seen it and I'm not sure if I like it or not. Frankly, I think the site has too much advertising as it is and would prefer not to put any more up (and actually decrease it id possible)...having key words in the text of articles that are ads I think takes away a lot from the information. I guess I should consider it a bit more seriously, but at this point I haven't.

[Broken Arrow]

Well, I for one hope that this labor of love of yours will pan out greatly for you.

However, I must admit this is a very interesting dilemma indeed.

With other forums I've seen and even participate in, they are interested in things that would cost money to begin with. Specifically, the sites I go to deal with technology, but really, this can apply to anything from lawn mowers to cars. In other words, the vast majority of people who actively participates those forums are the ones that wouldn't mind spending money to support their interest/hobbies.

Nevermind the fact that they're running up serious debts to support said interests/hobbies, but I digress.

With sites like this, however, the active participants here are people who are also the least likely to pay for anything if they can help it. I know I feel that way.

So, exactly how does one go about solving this dilemma? I wish I knew the answer. However, it may still be worth studying other premium sites to see how they do it and why it works for them....

Whatever it is, I know it always starts with a good group and great information, which this site has in spades. Who knows? Eventually, perhaps you may want to put together all that information in the form of e-books and sell those online?

[markio26]

no, i don't make any money from the forums/or message boards... it is just something to do for me... it is fun to read and respond at things i want to....i have made alot of new friends this way... and i have helped alot of ppl.