Blog V Forum

[Carlos]

Acquisitions are a completely different thing than realistic, stable, earnings, and profit.

I. Know. That.

$6k ad revenue per month from a forum? unless you direct-sell branding ads, you're not gonna get this from adsense unless you have a ton of traffic, for which you need to spend more on hosting cost and employees

The $6000 number is from a very, very busy - very, very popular Nintendo forum. So popular it eventually reached close to 1 million posts before someone bought it and then added a network of sites to the pre-existing site. By the time it was said and done, it crossed that 1 million posts mark, and then acquired new forums to push that number even further. It's now 2 million posts.

It's not impossible. It's hard, but it's not impossible.

 

[Sheldon]

The $6000 number is from a very, very busy - very, very popular Nintendo forum. So popular it eventually reached close to 1 million posts before someone bought it and then added a network of sites to the pre-existing site. By the time it was said and done, it crossed that 1 million posts mark, and then acquired new forums to push that number even further. It's now 2 million posts.

Link?

 

[Carlos]

Link?

www.e-mpire.com

Network of sites are gone right now. Old owner sold off his properties. Now owned by an SEO company.

 

[W1zzard]

www.e-mpire.com

wrong site i think. that domain has never seen significant traffic in the last 2 years

and 1 million posts isn't that much

 

[Carlos]

wrong site i think. that domain has never seen significant traffic in the last 2 years

and 1 million posts isn't that much

Do you have a problem with me or something?

You know what, dude? Give me a break....

It's an old site. It used to be popular.

Also, I wouldn't exactly consider Alexa to be a reputable "source" to gauge a site's popularity, mostly because you'd have to put a (code) snippet.

No, it's not the wrong site. NintendoNow > E-mpire

And yes, 1 million posts is a lot. To me, it is. So what if your idea of 4 million posts or 10 million posts is "a lot" to you. The thing is this, not a lot of people can achieve 1 million posts. Not a lot of people could buy a domain name that's about - what... 12 years old?

Even then, you still missed my whole point. My point is that it's possible to make $6000 just from running a site. But no, you want to argue with me about something else to prove my theory wrong.

Once again, people; if you've got nothing positive to say about something, or someone..... DON'T. SAY. IT.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm done with this argument or conversation... whatever it is. It's not productive, nor is it substantive.

 

[OverHere]

Forums are for social interaction, generally based around a common theme.

It sounds like you are just interested in making money from clicks.

I don't believe most people start forums strictly as a hobby - most start forums to make at least some money, and no doubt forums do have the potential to rake in millions of $$'s a year once established, as serious conversation engage people for ever...

 

[Paul B]

most start forums to make at least some money

I completely disagree.
In my experience, most forums are started by people who have an interest in the subject.

 

[OverHere]

I completely disagree.
In my experience, most forums are started by people who have an interest in the subject.

Yes but to make money also .... why would any one start a forum and spend much time on it if there was no return?

 

[Paul B]

Because the subject matter interests them?

I don't make any money from my site.
I have been running it for five years.

 

[OverHere]

Because the subject matter interests them?

I don't make any money from my site.
I have been running it for five years.

You may be an exception then, but yes the subject must interest people who start forums but we'll only go around in circles here.... most people starting forums definitely have a financial goal in mind... or at least a forum which has 300,000 + active members but which doesn't earn a cent could still be sold for a 6 figure sum or even more (warrior forum just got sold for millions) - I reckon most people have at least this in their planning.

Cheers.

 

[W1zzard]

Building a forum is probably the worst way trying to make money. I'm sure there is more money per hour in flipping burgers at McD. Best way to make money = pay attention in school and study hard.

Especially these days, for forums, the money train is long gone..

I agree with Brogan that most forums are started because the owner(s) have an interest in the subject. Very few are launched to make money and actually end up generating enough profits to run a company around (office, employees, taxes).

That Warrior Forum acquisition looks to me like Freelancer.com wants to eliminate competition with venture capitalist money they got for free basically, and maybe motivate some users to move over. Such deals are very rare, look at the daily news for how many companies are bought and sold and profits involved there.

Edit:

Not looking so good for Freelancer stock

 

[TPerry]

I don't believe most people start forums strictly as a hobby - most start forums to make at least some money, and no doubt forums do have the potential to rake in millions of $$'s a year once established, as serious conversation engage people for ever...

Well, I know that the 6 I have were started exactly for that reason. Gives me something to play with.
They are about subjects that I have an interest in. I classify it in the same vein as if I was into fishing or hunting. There is a cost involved in those also.

 

[OverHere]

Building a forum is probably the worst way trying to make money. I'm sure there is more money per hour in flipping burgers at McD. Best way to make money = pay attention in school and study hard.

Especially these days, for forums, the money train is long gone..

I agree with Brogan that most forums are started because the owner(s) have an interest in the subject. Very few are launched to make money and actually end up generating enough profits to run a company around (office, employees, taxes).

That Warrior Forum acquisition looks to me like Freelancer.com wants to eliminate competition with venture capitalist money they got for free basically, and maybe motivate some users to move over. Such deals are very rare, look at the daily news for how many companies are bought and sold and profits involved there.

Edit:

Not looking so good for Freelancer stock

Well, fine... but I must continue to disagree... I certainly intend to make as much money as possible from my upcoming forum and, once I get my head around my forum, I'll certainly share everything here...

And the reason why I am using XenForo is because it's a nice simplistic forum script which will initiate good discussions and traffic on my forums...

 

[W1zzard]

I wish you all the best, don't give up too early. The first years are usually quite difficult and can be frustrating. At least hosting cost nowadays is almost zero until you've grown substantially.

+1 for XenForo, best forum software in 2014, and I don't see any serious competition on the horizon.

 

[OverHere]

I wish you all the best, don't give up too early. The first years are usually quite difficult and can be frustrating. At least hosting cost nowadays is almost zero until you've grown substantially.

+1 for XenForo, best forum software in 2014, and I don't see any serious competition on the horizon.

I dunno, not earning a few thousand a month for the first few years would be a waste of time imho! Some income on a monthly basis after a first few months max would be worthwhile only.

 

[OverHere]

If your primary goal is revenue from adverts then a forum is not for you.

But why do you say this? If a forum has a lot of members, say 300,000+, and an active community, then why can't such a forum earn any decent revenue? What if products & services were sold on the forum?

Aren't any xF-based forums earning any revenue?

 

[wedgar]

I completely disagree.
In my experience, most forums are started by people who have an interest in the subject.

I agree completely.

 

[wedgar]

Well, fine... but I must continue to disagree... I certainly intend to make as much money as possible from my upcoming forum and, once I get my head around my forum, I'll certainly share everything here...

And the reason why I am using XenForo is because it's a nice simplistic forum script which will initiate good discussions and traffic on my forums...

Best wishes to you for making money from your forum, but I believe a huge majority start and run their forums brasher of their interest in the subject.

 

[OverHere]

Best wishes to you for making money from your forum, but I believe a huge majority start and run their forums brasher of their interest in the subject.

thanks, I agree with you, I mean I wouldn't start a forum on a topic I'm not interested in like Tennis or Sport, but my point is that most people who start a forum on a topic they are into don't simply so it 100% because they are into that topic - I reckon most do it to earn at least some money from a topic they like...
After all, no one is going to spend their own money & resources & time on something for nothing imho.

 

[W1zzard]

After all, no one is going to spend their own money & resources & time on something for nothing imho.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobby