👉🏼 In this article, we will help you learn how to create a forum website and make money from it.
From buying a domain name and hosting service to We select the best forum software and guide you through all the steps. And in the end, you’ll be able to build a forum and generate multiple revenue streams even if you’re a beginner.
Reading: How to create a forum website for audio
Sounds exciting? Impressively!
But before we move on, let’s recharge by understanding the top benefits of creating a forum.
Top 4 reasons to create a forum website 💁🏻♀️ How to create a forums website in 2023 📝 7 Handy Ways to Make Money From Forums 💲
Important Disclosure: We are proud partners of some of the tools mentioned in this guide. If you click on an affiliate link and then make a purchase, we earn a small commission at no additional cost to you (you pay nothing extra).
Top 4 reasons to create a forum website 💁 🏻♀️
While it may seem like forum websites are a dying breed, quite the opposite is true.
They are increasingly popular as people now have many different expectations.
Here are 4 top reasons why you should consider building a forum website:
Benefit from loyal readers
Readers on forums- Websites are extremely like-minded people.
👉🏼 They are on your website because they want to be there.
This means they follow you everywhere, which ensures a consistent viewership.
Even if you have a blog or other ventures these readers can lead many people back to your content. The result is a constant flow of traffic and a loyal readership.
And you can make money in many different ways.
Enjoy the power of UGC (User Generated Content)
A forum website provides a platform on people can exchange ideas and experiences. And that’s what search engines like Google want: User Generated Content (UGC).
Search engines will see this and therefore your forum will rank.
Gather ideas for creating products and services to build an online business
Forums are a place where you can get ideas for creating new products and services and improving existing ones.
👉🏼 Your community will tell you what they like and don’t like.
Referencing a product based on the answer will no doubt lead to significant sales.
So if you are struggling to come up with new ideas for your business ( or if you want to improve it), an active forum will help you change things.
They tell you what works and what doesn’t – right from the start!
Offer customer support
If you already have a business, the forums can be the best way to offer customer support on the go.
From Apple to Microsoft, all major companies do this. Some even monitor the forums where people share their views and issues.
You can also hire moderators to ensure only appropriate questions and answers are shared. It saves a ton of energy, time, and money.
Now that you’re super charged for creating a forum website, let’s get straight to it.
How to create one Forum Website in 2023 📝
Creating a forum website is pretty easy and you can create one in an hour.
If you want to start a forum, think about what kind of community it will be. Brainstorm on the general topic or topic.
👉🏼 After that, you need to buy a domain name and hosting for your forum.
Integrate software or hire a developer to create forum functionality. Do something to increase the security of the forum and start creating content.
Don’t worry. Let’s get into the details below.
1. Buy the domain for your forum website
The first step is to buy a domain.
A domain is the primary address of the website that you type into your browser’s address bar. An example of a domain name is marketsplash.com.
Consider these tips when buying a domain name for your forum:
- Have a name available that is easy to say and remember
- Try choosing a .com domain name extension (but choose accordingly)
- Choose Always use a short address (the shorter the better)
- Consider showing the niche with your domain name
- Avoid hyphens or numbers (until they make sense)
See also: How to Create a Small Business Health Check Plan
You can also use brandable one-word domain names.
Make sure your forum’s domain name represents your niche. Do you have the domain name?
Let’s jump to the second step, hosting.
2. Choose the best forum hosting services
Hosting services offer to host your forum content for a cheap price.
If you are serious about your forum website, choose a reliable hosting company with the best uptime and security.
How to choose the best hosting services for Your forum:
- Estimate the traffic you expect to receive in your forum
- Decide the Type of management you need
- Choose the services that offer secure servers
- Go for the best uptime
Most Hosting services offer shared, VPS and managed hosting services. Start with shared hosting because it’s cheaper than any other type.
We recommend choosing Bluehost for shared hosting and Contabo for VPS. Both offer 99% uptime with reliable security and commendable load times.
3. Choose the software to build a forum website
Forum software helps you add forum functionality to your website. You also need it if you need a standalone forum.
The other option is to hire a developer, which of course requires a lot of money. Luckily, there are many free forum software options available, especially if you use WordPress to manage your content.
How do you choose the best? 🤔
Know what your needs are before you decide on any software. Here are some software and plugins to choose from:
- wpForo
- bbPress
- Forum script from CodeCanyon
- WordPress Forum-aligned themes
These themes include BuddyBoss, ForumPress, Gwangi, Kleo, Socialize, Neve, and more. All you have to do is install the plugin, script or theme to create a forum website.
And that’s it! Now you need to make your forum more secure to avoid spam attacks.
4. Protect your forum from spam
No matter how much you create a friendly environment, spam is inevitable. Spammers create spam content on your forum website to do nasty things.
👉🏼 Spam posts wreak havoc on the general or community topic.
Don’t panic! You can easily avoid this by adding security features to your forum. For that you should do the following:
- Keep the software or plugin and theme up to date
- Get the SSL certificate (which is usually free)
- Choose the strongest password (but don’t forget it)
- Choose the secure hosting provider
- Monitor user access and administrator rights
- Keep Back Improve your forum content (talk to your host)
- Make sure your hosting service protects against XSS attacks
- Avoid File -Uploads (as needed)
We hope these tips will help you secure your forum so that you and the members can continue to benefit from it. This brings us to the last step; Create content, of course!
5. Start creating content for your forum website
Now that the forum software is installed and you have added security, start creating content for your forum! “What why?” You can ask because it’s a forum.
👉🏼 You may be right, but nobody is going to create content or share ideas on a blank website.
So create unique content that is unique to you relate topic or niche of the forum. Start it yourself and others will join in!
Here are a few tips to get you started:
- Treat some of the most important topics related to your niche
- Answer the most frequently asked questions in your industry
- Use the “Automatic suggestions” and “People also ask” sections on Google
- Join the relevant forums and fill in the content gaps
- Ask your members for ideas
- Optimize any content based on SEO
And don’t forget to check out these content creation tools so you can keep up with the flow. For example, Canva can help you create beautiful images for your forum, even if you’re not a designer.
Now you may want to create content based on the community theme:
- Blog Posts
- Podcasts
- Videos
- Questions and Answers
- Infographics
- White Papers
Once you start creating content, forum members will do the same. Encourage them to share their thoughts.
👉🏼 Start connecting with your community.
Respond to the requests and reply as soon as possible. It will create the feeling of a responsive admin who cares about the members of the forum. It will also generate more traffic.
Just keep one thing in mind; Help community members learn and do something worthwhile in their lives. That’s the law here!
6. Share content on social media and email
Spread the word on your forum with social media marketing.And share any engaging content on social media platforms and via email.
What do high-performing #engineering teams have in common? You can bet they did well on these four #DevOps metrics. Read more here: https://t.co/oXdjbvhPzm
Creating trending posts on social media creates local backlinks, which are important for SEO. Email the industry leaders and talk about things that need to be said on your forum website. Ask for retweets, shares and more. Get involved 👏🏽.
7 practical ways to make money from forums 💲
Now that you’ve learned how to create a forum website, let’s make money from it earn. As long as there is a way to get people to do something, you can turn it into a business.
See also: Create First GUI Application using Python-Tkinter
There are countless ways you can use forums to build an online business. Now let’s get to know the top 7 of them.
1. Create a Paid Membership Forums Website
👉🏼 Offering paid memberships is the best way to monetize forums websites.
For example, AffLift offers a membership for $20 a month. It makes $10,000 a month if it only has 1,000 members.
👉🏼 Think about the potential.
The paid membership forums are worth their weight in gold. But they are more demanding than free ones. You need a loyal following and a solid marketing plan. However, you will eventually if you work smart enough.
2. Start Adding Affiliate Content to Your Site
If you’re like me and don’t want to offer paid memberships, go for a free forum. Anyone can join for free.
👉🏼 But that doesn’t mean you can’t monetize it.
You can start adding affiliate content to your forum. It is without a doubt the easiest way to make money from forum websites.
You can add offers from Amazon, ClickBank, Commission Junction and others. The best choice is to add affiliate banners from leading ecommerce companies.
Here’s how:
- Choose the best affiliate network for your niche
- Register as an affiliate or partner
- Observe the rules of each network
- Go to the banner area (if available)
- Copy the code and paste it into your forum
And use all the necessary affiliate marketing tools to increase your sales. Start adding contextual affiliate links to a product or service. And earn an affiliate commission in return.
3. Offer customer support on your company’s forum website
From Microsoft to Apple, all major companies offer customer support on a forum.
Why? Because they know people want user-friendly help.
Customer support doesn’t cost much if you hire a moderator of your forum. Forums are far more useful for offering support than anything else. Your business will no doubt grow faster than ever.
4. Leveraging Ad Networks
Google Adsense, for example, is a great way to monetize any web property, including forums.
👉🏼 It’s an ad network that helps publishers and advertisers support each other with ads.
All you have to do is, apply for the program and add a code for your forum.
And that’s about it. Google will start showing ads on your forum posts and you’ll get paid with no problem. It’s a perfect monetization strategy if you have significant traffic.
Alternatively, you can try other ad networks like Ezoic, Mediavine, and others. However, they may have minimum traffic requirements. So check that first.
5. Sell ad space in your forum
While publishers bid on an ad network like Google AdSense, you can speak directly to an advertiser likewise. This monetization method gives you two major advantages:
- Avoid paying fees to an ad network (like Google AdSense)
- Earn more money than you would with an ad network
But it would help if you focused on relevant advertisers who are willing to pay a significant amount of money.
Choose the advertising spaces and start advertising yourself.For example, a forum about movies is a perfect choice for an advertiser like Netflix.
6. Promote your ventures on forum websites
It has to be the underused way of making money from forums.
Some use automated linking plugins in WordPress like Prettylinks that scan keywords and link to my other services and websites.
So, for example, if someone talked about blogging, the plugin will automatically associate the keyword blogging with a blogging guide.
7. Build business relationships with your customers
This is for those who already have a business and want to build relationships with its clients or customers.
Of course you will also be there to help them solve a problem with your product or service. Your visitors will start building long-term business relationships with you.
And that will increase your sales and chance of making money in the future.
How to drive traffic to your forums Website 🧲
You have done three things so far:
- Developed the idea (or topic) for the forum
- Created a forum website
- Develop monetization strategies
Now it’s time to drive traffic to your forum. Your content will never be noticed if it doesn’t get traffic. Here are a few ways to drive traffic to a forum website:
- Create an account with all search engines (Google, Bing, and Yahoo are a must)
- Become a member of all relevant forums and spread the word
- Join relevant Facebook groups and invite them to your forum
- Benefit Harness the power of Pinterest (and create relevant Pins and boards)
- Answer the relevant questions on Quora with a link back to your forum site
- Upload forum website to all free web hosting directory sites
- Build an email list and let your users know about any updates
- Create social media Pages and start sharing posts (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn , Twitter and more)
Show paid ads too in social media and in Google search. Remarketing of the campaigns for even better results.
Only drive traffic to your website if you have content worth reading. Do not spam anyone with links to your forum; Everything starts with powerful content.
This article was written by Hasan Aboul Hasan. Hasan is an online teacher, developer, YouTuber and founder of H-educate.
See also: 10 Ways to Capture Leads on Your Website
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