Is it worth it?

[Andy Kaufman]

I've always been a big fan of vbulletin forums, and like anyone I can agree it in-hances the forum experience. I've been interested in starting my own forum recently but I question if the effort and money is worth it. It cost 160 bucks to order the program, but above that I really have no computer tech backround and I have no concept of codes and such. I could always hire a computer programmer and such, but I have no clue how much that could possibly cost.

So my question is out to you forum owners, is it worth the effort and money? Is it hard to make money off of this?

[feldon23]

Seems like 3 questions there. And really these questions should be posted in the Pre-Sales forum.

Anywho, you should NOT need a programmer or web designer to install the program if you have patience. When you encounter a problem, you can post it here and get it addressed. If you really do want someone else to do it, Jelsoft offers an installation service.

Worth the effort, I think vBulletin is the best forum out there. If you want a forum, then I think you want vBulletin. Free software like phpBB is a lot more work to setup and maintain and is less flexible unless you learn programming.

As for making money, I think you need to have some web development and management experience before expecting to make a profit. I guess it never really occured to me to start a forum for the primary purpose of making money. I always think that a forum's purpose is to talk about one or more topics that people might be interested in talking about. Profitability is a noble long term goal, but unless you have a niche that is starved for a good forum I would not go into this expecting to make a living at it in a short period of time.

[Andy Kaufman]

ok forget this..i wasnt aware i had to buy a ****ing domain as well. PEACE



So you're telling me I the program is simple enough to install myself? How much memory does it need to run? And the most important question is, how do I generate traffic? I am interested in making a forum directed for wrestling fans. There's alot of wrestling forums out there so I'm not even sure I could draw in a good rang of posters.

[Bob Isaac]

You don't need your own domain name, you can install and run this on the web area provided by your ISP. The only thing to watch is how much space they allow you for your MySQL database. You will also need the minimum versions of PHP and MySQL on the server they use.

Generating traffic for the forum is no different from getting traffic for a new web site.

Build it, then get it listed with some of the major search engines like Google and Yahoo etc. You can also contact other sites of a similar interest and mention your site. Then wait. It takes time.

Bob

[Andy Kaufman]

i dont mean to be a dick but i just dont think its the right invesment for me right now. im 17 years old, many of you guys are in your 40's and 50's, i might be out of my league when it comes to forum owning. thanks for your responces anyways. maybe further down the line, you guys enjoy your sites.

[merk]

i dont mean to be a dick but i just dont think its the right invesment for me right now. im 17 years old, many of you guys are in your 40's and 50's, i might be out of my league when it comes to forum owning. thanks for your responces anyways. maybe further down the line, you guys enjoy your sites.

The only way to learn is to jump in. I started my forum at 16, yet I have never had the motive of profit to drive my decision.

If you have a passion of starting a web forum about a specific topic, go ahead, you'll just have to stick to it to make it grow :)

[ManagerJosh]

I echo Merk's sentiments as well. I was about 14/15 when I kick started my website adventures. 16 I believe when I got my first vBulletin license :)

[feldon23]

ok forget this..i wasnt aware i had to buy a ****ing domain as well. PEACE

vBulletin is $160.
Web hosting is $7+ a month.
That last $20 for the domain isn't much. :)

And I think most vB users who post on this forum are in their early to mid 20's.

[derfy]

And, if you don't want to fork out $160 dollars for the software, you could always go with phpbb. It's easy to convert later on.

[greersfos]

http://godaddy.com sells domain names for $8.95 (9.20) with tax here in Texas. I have always received good service from them.

fos

[heroia]

Hello,

Related to your question if vBulletin worth.

Is The Best forum software available, i am sure about this. Well worth money invested.

Now, the only reason to ask if is good to go for vBulletin is if u're really going to a big forum, maybe commercial even later. If is just a small forum - it is your first forum in fact isn't it ? - maybe you don't need to invest money into vBulletin... Go for a free phpBB or so, and you can migrate later if your forum is going to become very serious....