So, How do forums become profitable?

[Ellen C. Braun]

Forums are fun, and you can find all kinds of great information on them, yet here's my question:

How do you make your forum profitable?

How do you justify all the time and energy spent on your forum?

Adsense CTR's are known to be low on forums- so you'd have to have tons of traffic for this to be a meaningful source of income.

Promoting aff. products is a good idea.

What else makes your forum profitable?

Thanks!

[andrewwyvern]

Hi Ellen,

I would say You dont make a profit from forums all You really do is drive traffic to your adverts.

With most forums as they are hosted free You dont make anything from the adsense ads the hosts do which is only fair.

The main thing is it is fun and i think most admins would agree that we do it because we enjoy it.

best wishes
andrewwyvern

[Lynn Terry]

You're right - the Adsense CTRs are low on forums, and Affiliate Programs are generally the best way to earn money directly as a forum owner (unless you sell advertising or text links - I imagine this would be profitable too).

But the greatest benefit of a forum is that it can be used as a Lead Generator to your other sites and offers. It is a great way to attract visitors and to earn their trust and loyalty. From there, they will generally be interested in other related things that you have to offer.

[calvinchin]

Hi Ellen & Lynn,

Thanks for sharing out your thought...

IMHO, Forum is the place that you ask for help and help others.

I feel Glad when my ideas somehow helping people avoid the same mistake
that I made previously.

I agree with the lead generator term. When you are helping many people,
they treat you as their friend, and will trust that what you offer will TRUELY benefit them.

I also learn that forum is the place to meet like-minded people where
we could become partners in the future.

[TotalLifeSuccess.com]

I'd only slightly rephrase Lynn's post: A forum's greatest benefit until there's sufficient traffic and/or sufficiently unique selling point.

99% of the forums out there will never get to that point and the owners should, indeed, focus on using their forums as a lead generator. And regardless of the eventual direction it's the starting point.

But all this begs the question: "What's YOUR intended direction and *more so* plan to get there!?"

Because I'd also say that 99% of forum owners dream of huge traffic and huge profit... but are REALLY ambiguous about where either will come from. (It is NOT true that "if you build it they will come....")

And many of the directions become self-fulfilling (er... self-limiting) prophecies.

Once you've either developed enough traffic and/or a sufficiently USP I'd probably say the top 5 ways to monetize your forum would be:

5) Selling Affiliate products

4) Google AdSense (you can actually make a fairly substantial income with them, even in a forum)

3) Selling Advertising to others

2) Selling your own products (whether through advertising or through direct come-ons)

And the #1 way

1) Selling memberships / access to the information your forum contains.

[wahmcafe]

[Ellen C. Braun]

Thanks, all, this is a useful thread!

I appreciate all the responses!