I'm looking to start a forum as my first venture in the online business world. But there are so many costs that I have to take into consideration, and I'm not sure if I'd have enough money on hand right now to begin.

I'd just like to know everything that has to be payed for in order to start a decent forum, including hosting, forum software, SEO and whatever else is recommended for success.

What sorta money are we looking at here?

Not a lot. $50 if you're starting out, $200+ if you are serious.

For starters, all you need is $50, which should cover cost of domain and hosting. You can choose a free forum software, such as MyBB or phpBB. (Personally, I hate SMF)

If you're serious, you'll need money to buy a vBulletin license.

So if I was up spending as much as needed [purely hypothetical of course], would it be wise to start straight out with vBulletin and vBSEO? Or is that just putting too much money into something new?

You can start it with $0. Open your account in some free hosting (Free Hostia: domain hosting and web hosting service for example, what I'm using) and install phpBB.
If you want your own dot com name, you should register it cost around $5.

Tanjiro ..

do you know what subject you want to cover
have you looked at the competition
what quality or service will your site offer that is unique

now with that said ..

I would start out with a Wordpress Blog to initiate your idea or something like SMF - simplemachines.org to start with

whoever has told you forums are good way of making money must be in the funny farm business



by the way, I develop a few forums so either take me seriously or else as someone from the funny farm business

Originally Posted by Tanjiro

So if I was up spending as much as needed [purely hypothetical of course], would it be wise to start straight out with vBulletin and vBSEO? Or is that just putting too much money into something new?

From my experiences, yes. When (if) your forum gets larger and you want to move to vBulletin, it can be a pain in the ***, even with impex.

Also, you only need to purchase vB and vBSEO once. If your forum fails, all you need is a new domain and move your vB/vBSEO license over to the new domain.

Originally Posted by bobdebilder

do you know what subject you want to cover
have you looked at the competition
what quality or service will your site offer that is unique

whoever has told you forums are good way of making money must be in the funny farm business

Well I do have a few ideas on content, but I'm not asking questions about whether my content is good or not so that's irrelevant. Additionally, I'm not talking serious money here, this is just something that I want to play around with. Communities can actually make a fair bit of money when they develop so don't dismiss it, regardless of what my goals are.

Originally Posted by lpxxfaintxx

Also, you only need to purchase vB and vBSEO once. If your forum fails, all you need is a new domain and move your vB/vBSEO license over to the new domain.

Thank you. I see the benefits of an owned license on the vBulletin software. This is why I feel that it would be sensible to just start out straight away with good forum software.

Well I think now I'll just finalise some of the concept plans and then get going on it, so thanks for your advice.

Originally Posted by Tanjiro

Communities can actually make a fair bit of money when they develop so don't dismiss it, regardless of what my goals are..

yes, I am in the funny farm business, consider I have some 9 portals under development now

I think you miss my irony and when you look at it again you will see the value of the questions and whether you want to benefit from them.
and SMF is free community software

unless your question was rhetorical and was meant to take up space and time, and if this is the case then you are well qualified to run a community

:thumbup:

pssst ... irony again

If you dont wanna put anything into it then your not serious IMO. You should at least get a webhost and a domain name.

I would say about $500.
$100 for hosting
$160 for vBulletin license
and the rest for a custom skin.

$500 sounds a little to much, you cant know if its going to be a success or not. When I started my forum I used phpnuke and phpbb as portal and forum, both free and I paid for some cheap hosting and a domain name. After a while when I saw the forum and site was growing and activity increased I went for invisionboard. It was free back then. After some more time I had to choose between buying IPB or Vbulletin so I bough a vb lisence..

You dont have to have top notch forum software to make a successfull forum.