forum creation

I have decided to create a forum- there does not appear to be another one out there on this subject.

How can I go about earning money from this site? Would I have to get a good client base first and then get money for ads?

Or should I plan ahead?

Advice appreciated

A few more details would assist your question in getting helpful replies. For instance: -

Whats the theme?
Whats your main goals?
Would all the ads be relevant to the forums theme?
How would you go about getting people to visit?

Etc. etc.

Ditto on what Ross said.

But to add to it. To make money off a forum you need a very good theme and ALOT (and I mean ALOT) of people interested in it. Enough that people will want to give you money to have their site displayed on your forum.

Suffice to say, this doesn't happen over night

Karinne and Ross speak the truth. Its as true on the web as it is in brick and mortor businesses. you have to get and keep customers to make money.
It is the proverbial business 101.

Yep, I agree there. Business is business, get yourself a business plan and stick to it. When it's all down in a proper form you'll see if it's a realistic financial venture. It won't be easy though, I've just spent the last month putting one together. 5 year projections? Gimme a break I don't even know what I'm having for lunch!

Advertisement is an option as is a premium subscription seervice, but those people have to want to pay for it. Set up a good forum first.

Pete.

well- im not going to tell you the content! my idea may get stolen if i post on here!

i do appreciate its a long road- and the success depends on the traffic.

Google AdSense is a good way to make money.

Check: www.google.co.uk/adsense for more information

Yeah just place Adsense, it's the easiest way to go..

Alternatively, you can place your affiliate banners.

Let me put it to you this way. Google Adsense is great, but does not even begin to pay the costs of running a large forum. We at Webforumz have over 10,000 members and are paying vBulletin licensing fees and running a dedicated server...and 98% of that comes out of Rob's pocket...even though we have Adsense and ask for donations, just not enough money…good thing Rob loves Webforumz and web development...just thought I would fill you in.

Go Rob!!!

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In my opinion the vast majority of forums shouldn't look towards making a profit. The reason for this is that there are many many places on the web offering exactly the same services for free.

The best way to go about it is having a good forum that offers advice and content as well as free discussion. This way you can sell this extra content to paid subscribers for a small monthly fee. Without this extra content you are trying to sell free discussion, i have only seen this work twice and i have no idea how they got it started.

As far as ad's go, you won't make much money of ad's especially on a forum. More often than not all ad's on a forum do is degrade the users experience.