Do forums make money?

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  • Andrea86
    New Member
    • Dec 2008
    • 24

    Do forums make money?

    Hi,

    my Boyfriend and me are considering to build a site where people can chat thus the site is going two have two features: you can start your own blog and discuss topics in the forum section. We do not intend to sell any service or anything by ourselves. We are wondering whether we could make money out of a pure forum/blog site. We`re planning to join affiliate programs run by companies like Amazon and it sounds nice but I`m still sceptical whether our users will click on the ad and place purchases or just visit our site to chitchat. Could you please give us hints how to make money if you owned a pure forum site? Please share your experience with us! Thank you very much in advance.

    I`m new here and Ive browsed the topics and if threads like these already exist I apologise. In that case please refer me to those threads. Thanks.
  • WurkAnimal
    Senior Member
    • Aug 2005
    • 2538
    • 3.5.x

    #2
    Hi there.

    Welcome to vBulletin.com.

    I know many people who run very large internet communitys and earn enough money to work from home.

    Try Google Adsense, it pays well.

    Earn money with website monetization from Google AdSense. We'll optimize your ad sizes to give them more chance to be seen and clicked.

    Comment

    • lim (x³-7x²) = ∞
      Senior Member
      • Apr 2008
      • 634
      • 3.0.0 Gamma

      #3
      It depends on your niche.
      http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/images/editor/smilie.gif

      Comment

      • MRGTB
        Senior Member
        • May 2005
        • 5454

        #4
        Originally posted by wurkanimal
        Hi there.

        Welcome to vBulletin.com.

        I know many people who run very large internet communitys and earn enough money to work from home.

        Try Google Adsense, it pays well.

        www.google.com/adsense
        There are very few people making enough money from adsense ads etc. To be able to stay at home and live on the money made without having to get a real job. I'm not saying some don't do it. Off course the really huge sites make this kind of money, but in reality people like us don't even come close to that!

        In fact, I would like to see how many people here can reply to this article saying - their in that situation of not having to go out to work, because they make a fortune from there forum to stay at home and live (comfortably). By that I mean, they make the same money a week as a good paid job (after server expenses have been deducted) first.

        I'm not talking about selling a product either, just money made from ads.
        Last edited by MRGTB; Tue 2 Dec '08, 3:56am.

        Comment

        • Lenni
          Senior Member
          • Aug 2004
          • 758
          • 3.6.x

          #5
          I once did for a short time. But no more.
          selling kawaiiNation.com

          Comment

          • jeffinj
            Senior Member
            • Apr 2006
            • 841
            • 4.0.0

            #6
            Originally posted by lim (x³-7x²) = ∞
            It depends on your niche.
            Very true.

            I make enough to cover the costs of maintenance. But I spend a lot on addons and building new sites and experimenting. I can't earn a living out of my websites.
            www.christianforumsite.com
            sigpic

            Comment

            • Mazinger
              Senior Member
              • Jul 2005
              • 2399
              • 3.7.x

              #7
              Originally posted by lim (x³-7x²) = ∞
              It depends on your niche.
              And traffic ofcourse.
              $post[signature]

              Comment

              • MRGTB
                Senior Member
                • May 2005
                • 5454

                #8
                Originally posted by Lenni
                I once did for a short time. But no more.
                What do you mean Lenni you once did, but now you don't. Do you mean the money has dropped that you make from ads etc?

                I'd be interested to know your story

                Comment

                • Mazinger
                  Senior Member
                  • Jul 2005
                  • 2399
                  • 3.7.x

                  #9
                  It's exactly one year since I started with AdSense, going with $2.50 as a daily average.

                  I put multiple ads on blogs (high click rate / low impressions) and ads on my forum (low click rate / high page impressions (you know members keep navigating pages all the time)). That's the formula that keep me earning and in save.
                  $post[signature]

                  Comment

                  • ThorstenA
                    Senior Member
                    • Nov 2004
                    • 3082
                    • 4.0.x

                    #10
                    Making money is not only possible, it's most likely - once you have a big board with lots of members. But - It's most unlikely to have such a big boad You can make money by doing this:
                    • use Google Adsense. You'll notice 4 figure income once you have a board with thousands of members and put your ads on right place.
                    • contract with online ad agencies that will give you online campaigns of larger companies (IBM, Microsoft). Notice that if you want to do that, your forum should not look like a forum. If it is a forum, most companies do not want to have their ads on your site.
                    • Affiliate with companies that sell products your users like and will purchase online. Biggest affiliate company out there is amazon.com

                    Comment

                    • ThorstenA
                      Senior Member
                      • Nov 2004
                      • 3082
                      • 4.0.x

                      #11
                      Originally posted by MRGTB
                      By that I mean, they make the same money a week as a good paid job (after server expenses have been deducted) first.
                      Server expenses are a joke. With nowadays supreme hosting you can just take a "webhosting account" with one cpu core and 2 gb RAM for far less than 100 $. As its only webhosting, there's nothing technical you have to take care of. So it's around 5% of income you have to pay for expenses. Which I consider as "not much"

                      Comment

                      • harrysmith
                        Member
                        • Jan 2008
                        • 77

                        #12
                        Yes, you can earn good revenue from your forums just by placing Adsense ads or any other...., you need to have good traffic for your forum with active threads. More visits = More Clicks = Good revenue

                        Comment

                        • ThorstenA
                          Senior Member
                          • Nov 2004
                          • 3082
                          • 4.0.x

                          #13
                          Originally posted by harrysmith
                          Yes, you can earn good revenue from your forums just by placing Adsense ads or any other...., you need to have good traffic for your forum with active threads. More visits = More Clicks = Good revenue
                          You'll also notice very great difference (1000x difference ) on both ctr and cpm for placing your ads in different locations.

                          Comment

                          • Andrea86
                            New Member
                            • Dec 2008
                            • 24

                            #14
                            Hello there,

                            sorry for not showing up earlier!! After I opened this thread it said it would be `invisible` and I simply could not find it anywhere. I thought maybe I`m not allowed to post here and now accidentaly noticed that my posting was successful.

                            Thanks for all of you!
                            I`ll check out adsense.
                            My `problem`with the affiliate programs, like Amazon`s, is the following:
                            maybe i`m stupid but i found only programs on pay per action basis. So maybe my visitor will click on the ad but finally will not buy.

                            Comment

                            • MRGTB
                              Senior Member
                              • May 2005
                              • 5454

                              #15
                              Originally posted by Andrea86
                              Hello there,

                              sorry for not showing up earlier!! After I opened this thread it said it would be `invisible` and I simply could not find it anywhere. I thought maybe I`m not allowed to post here and now accidentaly noticed that my posting was successful.

                              Thanks for all of you!
                              I`ll check out adsense.
                              My `problem`with the affiliate programs, like Amazon`s, is the following:
                              maybe i`m stupid but i found only programs on pay per action basis. So maybe my visitor will click on the ad but finally will not buy.
                              I've never been a fan of those type of affiliated programs. The way I see it is like this, most people who want to buy something from places like Amazon - go there direct to do it. Yeah it can happen, getting a sale done via a link on your site! But in general most people who buy online - do it by going direct to the site itself. Because they know before-hand what their plans are that day.

                              Your much better off using pay-per-click.

                              Comment

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