How to build a great forum?

[Disrelation]

You are contradicting yourself or I'm just not following.
Are you saying if you don't have a good custom style, the road to success is very long and hard?
Content is king. You can't polish a turd.

Still, I think one needs to define what a great forum is.

You're not following. Content is not the only factor in the success of your community and although, you can still be successful without a custom style tailored to your community, it can make it sometimes make the difference when it comes to gaining new members, keeping current members coming back, etc.

 

[Digital Doctor]

You'll need some killer content to attract people to your site.
Definitely need to write ongoing Blog articles that people want to read.

You would benefit from Wordpress.

Get these:
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/xendynamic-wordpress-theme.19856/
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/paid-full-wordpress-xenforo-bridge.16228/ xenscripts.com

 

[Lisa]

Content is king.. god I hate that marketing statement so much. You can throw a bucketload of content on a site and still have it fail. The personality of your forum, the atmosphere, the members, the enticements you have are "king" if you must use that ridiculous term. Interactive content will help the success of your forum, but it's certainly not "king".