How much traffic needed before adding a forum?

the deftone · #1 (**permalink**) 12-17-2008, 10:45 AM

Hey guys,

Just wondering what your thoughts are on forums. Iv had my website for about 2months now. My traffic is usualy between 70-100 per day. How much traffic do you think would be needed before an active forum could be added?

Oh and one more thing, how many visitors do you need before adsense starts paying up?

Cheers guys.

mirage2009 · #2 (**permalink**) 12-17-2008, 11:04 AM

about the forum I don't know but when the traffic pays up?
ummmmmm...... the ratio is about 2 % so 2 out of each 100 visitors either clicks an adsense ad or shows interist in buying something and that varies also.

so I thing it would be reasonable to say that 500 a day would be a good target at the start.

lisa · #3 (**permalink**) 12-17-2008, 04:06 PM

I think your traffic is a little low for a forum, but of course it varies on the niche, how you promote the forum, etc. I waited until I had 2000 visits per day but again that was my choice, not a rule. I don't think you need quite that much in most cases. 500-1000 visits is a reasonable target.

James · #4 (**permalink**) 12-17-2008, 04:27 PM

It seems to me that there are two things to consider. One is the traffic needed. That is certainly important. I have visited numerous forums that I crossed off my list immediately because of the limited participation. No matter how good the topic, if there is not enough participation it just doesn't have much value.

But the second issue that I don't see discussed much is the amount of work it takes to run the forum. There is a lot you have to deal with. When beginning you will need to answer a lot of questions yourself, and then later you still do! At first so someone does, and later because people expect the moderator to keep participating and some will direct their questions that way despite all attempts to maintain the group focus.

Unfortunately that is only the beginning. Fighting spammers. Moving posts to the correct threads. Keeping up with management responsibilities of various kinds. It is a lot of work. You have to think carefully about the impact of that responsibility on your other projects. You need to be sure that you have most other marketing and other responsibilities well in hand before starting a forum or it can set you back significantly in those areas.

lisa · #5 (**permalink**) 12-17-2008, 05:09 PM

So true, James. Running forums are a lot of work and not as glamorous as some may think. I've often asked myself "What was my reason for starting this forum again?" LOL James is right. The initial AND ongoing work is something else to consider.

sammyspam · #6 (**permalink**) 12-17-2008, 07:13 PM

i agree with lisa, ive ran a gaming site/forum and its not as much fun as it seems. And sometimes you do wonder why on earth you are doing this.

I started my forum from day one, but my niche was gaming discussion on a particular online game, so how can you discuss without a forum? I ended up with 1000 members after 6months. Mind you.. about 50 active. But thats what you get with a forum.

You have to ask yourself, why would people want to signup to this forum? what is this forum offering them? is there going to be good quality discussion on the forum?

mirage2009 · #7 (**permalink**) 12-17-2008, 08:31 PM

well thinking about it!!

having a popular and active forum is just like having a strong mailing list + more interactive.

Geekdout · #8 (**permalink**) 12-23-2008, 08:13 PM

Forums are a tough thing to manage as well as need/deserve quite a time commitment. Beyond needing a sufficient user-base, you'll have to deal and cope with the spammers, which i'm sure Lisa can attest to is a royal pain. Plus you'll get a lot of "One Timers", those people who just need a question answered and are only registering to get there one question answered and will never be back again. Don't let this discourage you though because with a large enough community managing a forum can be fun and educational.

Jordy3738 · #9 (**permalink**) 12-23-2008, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lisa

I had 2000 visits per day

WOW, How many articles and years, from when you started your site, did it take to get that many visitors a day?

I started a forum right around the same time that I joined WB, not knowing anything about doing so. I picked a domain name and launched my forum. I have had to poke, prod and pull for people to join. Needless to say, it's not going very well. But, if I keep entering content on several of the boards on a daily basis eventually, the search engines will bring in a load of traffic

I have learned from my mistake. I read about how to start a forum after I started one, da!

lisa · #10 (**permalink**) 12-23-2008, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jordy3738

WOW, How many articles and years, from when you started your site, did it take to get that many visitors a day?

Took me about 4-5 years and over 100 pages of content to get to that level.

Fangslayer · #11 (**permalink**) 12-25-2008, 09:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jordy3738

WOW, How many articles and years, from when you started your site, did it take to get that many visitors a day?

I started a forum right around the same time that I joined WB, not knowing anything about doing so. I picked a domain name and launched my forum. I have had to poke, prod and pull for people to join. Needless to say, it's not going very well. But, if I keep entering content on several of the boards on a daily basis eventually, the search engines will bring in a load of traffic

I have learned from my mistake. I read about how to start a forum after I started one, da!

To start, im new to this site, first post yay!

Getting to business, i just thought of something. One way to promote a user forum is to make multiple accounts and then make them reply to each other on your forum (yes, make like 20 accounts and reply to yourself), to make it look like as if your forum is active. after all, i would not join a forum that has no active users, or if the forum is blank.
thats just my idea anyways.

WB Sponsors