Basic instructions for starting a forum like this one

[Todd]

Hi everyone!

I'm so impressed with this forum - it's exactly what I want to create. The only difference is that I want to create a forum for insurance auditors to share their experience and advice with others insurance auditors.

The problem is I think I'm confused after reading all the stuff on the internet on how to accomplish this. If I understand correctly, I need to buy a domain name, buy vBulletin, buy a FTP program, and transfer vBulletin to my website.

I guess I have to buy my domain name from a host and that includes a website (though I'm not sure why I need a website in addition to my forum). There are so many out there, and I have read so many conflicting reviews on quality, and ease of use, etc. I read about 1 or 2 hosts that include forums in their packages, but wondered if they were any good.

I thought I had found the perfect match when I stumbled onto bbpress (I ran a little blog for a while using wordpress.com) but then I read the installation instructions and I was totally confused.

I don't want to go the free route (I'm a firm believer that you get what you pay for), but haven't got much to invest either. Especially since I'm unsure of how successful this adventure will be.

I haven't had time yet to thoroughly search your forum to see if you have some kind of step-by-step instructional to guide me through the process and give advice on hosts, etc.

I know I'm probably asking enough questions here for a book-full of answers - forgive me.

Any help will be much appreciated. Thank you!

Todd

[lisa]

Hi Todd

This forum wasn't too difficult to setup but you do need to understand how to setup a database with your Web host and know the basics of uploading files via FTP. Once you've done those 2 things, customizing the board is pretty easy.

You are right in that you need a domain name and a web host. The domain name is of course yourname.com and the host provides you with the space and functionality to run this board.

Make sure your host supports MySQL and these days almost all regular hosts do. HostGator.com is a great host. I just switched to them recently and their customer support is superb.

So once you sign up with them you would buy vBulletin, extract the files to your PC. Next you would login to your host control panel and setup a database. All you do is create a name for the database and a username and password. Pretty straightforward.

Next follow the vbulletin instructions for installation. This requires you to edit one file (a config file). They'll ask for your database information that you setup and a few other host specific questions. (You can always contact Hostgator if you have questions about something vbulletin is asking for)

Once that config file is updated then upload all the vbulletin files to your host using the FTP user/password you setup in the hosting control panel.

From there you can customize the look and feel of your forum through the vbulletin admin/control panel. It's browser based and pretty user friendly.

Hope that helps!

[Todd]

Wow, Lisa - thank you so much! You summarized it so well. I really appreciate you for taking the time to help me on this. Hopefully, in the next 2 weeks, I'll have my site up and running.

Can I ask 2 more questions?

1) Does it matter whether I sign-up for Linux or Windows? I've heard the name Linux, but don't know anything about it. I have XP if that makes a difference.

2) Is there a problem going with shared hosting, and then swirtching to Reseller or Dedicated later on if the site is successful?

I've kept you up late...go to bed, and I'll check for a reply tomorrow night after work.

What a blessing you are - thank you!

Todd

[lisa]

I always choose Linux, but I will be the first to admit I'm not completely sure what the difference is between the two.

Yes, you can switch to dedicated but I've never used a dedicated host so I'm assuming they just upgrade you without you having to move any files just as if you were upgrading between shared plans.

But call the Hostgator folks (if that's what you decide to use) just to make sure there aren't any issues. I can't see it being a problem.

Don't worry, you haven't kept me up. I did it to myself... gotta get this new site design done! That's OK I slept till 10am. LOL

[Rob]

Linux was designed mainly for operating as web host until they decided to make a competing OS. So Linux is likely to be your best bet.

When installing a forum its mostly automated and they take you through the procedure in steps you might need a text editor of some sort to edit the forum files that you chose to input your database information but once you have done that it will create and format the tables automatically.

Also once you have a valid license for Vbulletin you can post on there forums and they will provide support for you.

Have you looked into IPB also I find it much more user friendly than VBulletin when comparing the two but its completely down to personal preference both of them have plugins such as SEO plugins so you can optimize topics and posts automatically which is great.

Or theres a free option which is very capable (phpbb.com) you could test this out and get a feel for it before actually purchasing a forum software its really up to you.

Hope this helped and good luck!

[Todd]

Thank you Lisa! Thank you Rob!

Rob - by IPB, do you mean IP.Board? (that's what I found when I Googled IPB)

If so, it looks really good...and it looks like it's pretty self-contained: web hosting with IP.Board included for $10 a month. Does that mean I wouldn't need a FTP program? Also, I'm wondering what would happen if I ever wanted to leave them for another host - would my data be portable, and would it be difficult to transfer?

I played around with phpbb.com for a couple of days and liked it, but I didn't want a free forum (I want my own domain name) and I was concerned because most of the instructions and forum dicussions appeared to be written by people for whom English was a second language. I thought vBulletin was my only other option (I'm vaguely familiar with it from my occasional visits to MrExcel.com).

You guys are great - thank you so much for your help!

Todd

[Gigababbler]

I think that you should not only make a forum, but a site with lots of content along with it as well. I know lots of people who create forums,and not getting any attention or new members.

Take for example, website babble forums. Lisa's popular content-infested 2createawebsite directs to this page, and that's how most of the members found this place.

Just take my advice into consideration. I don't want you ending up like those other poor guys.

[Todd]

Thank you Gigababbler - I think you're right. The more I look around, the more I see that forums are only a component of a website.

[lisa]

I agree you should wait until you have the traffic before you launch, but in the meantime you can work on gathering the facts on how to build one... which is what you're doing.

[pranz]

hi,
I dont quite agree with the fact that open source software(i.e free stuff) dont give you your monies worth. There are good free forum software like PHPBB and SMB which are good forum software with ample support and are very very popular and the best part is you can customize them they way you want them to be.

So, this is what i think you should do:

1) get a domain name.
2) get a web host-- I would suggest a linux based one because it is most cost effective and is bread and cheese when running PHP( most forum softwares are based on PHP)
3) download a free forum software like PHPBB( Vbulletin is fine too).
4) Customize the software as you wish.

Total Cost: Not more than $30( if traffic assumed is moderate i.e under 1GB/month)

I can help you setup everything. I do it professionally so do contact me if you need to.
pranavsbhat [at] gmail [dot] com is my mail id. You can also send me a PM via this message board.

Thanks and all the best!!

[PeterM]

yeah.. I want to setup a forum too, but I do not have enough traffic yet, I think it would just be set there dormant. I have read a few times here that it's good to have at least 200 targeted visitors per day before considering a forum

[webman]

I wouldn't worry about dedicated hosting as that's more reserved for hard core web 2.0 sites like Myspace, Facebook, or Youtube.

Oh and spammers. Your days are numbered in SEOland!

[socksfan]

Hey Todd:

I have a couple things to suggest to you based on experience:

1) Start with a beginning host-plan: something cheap, but something that still allows you to do what you want to do. The difference between the larger packages and the smaller one tends to be the amount of space and bandwith you are allotted, and various other features that you probably won't need to run your forum. Per Lisa's suggestion, HostGator.com offers a perfectly good plan at around $5 per month (if you buy the yearly package, $9 if you pay monthly). The reason I suggest starting off with a beginner/cheap plan is that in the beginning, you probably won't be using all of your space and bandwith. That comes along when your community starts to grow, and when that starts to happen, you can upgrade accordingly.

2) Aim for a linux server. For me I've always hosted on linux by chance; I then at one point went to a windows server and there were a lot of acute differences in programming. Though I guess for your purposes, there wouldn't be a difference.

3) Consider alternatives to vBulletin. This is an amazing forum software and is by far my favorite, though perhaps not the most obtainable. phpBB is a free alternative that I have used and would definitely recommend as an option; you can download it and install it on your webserver just as you would vBulletin. The support and community is great as well. Not only that, but you can transfer all of your users, topics and posts and all that from your phpBB forum to a new vBulletin forum if you decide you want to purchase vB in the future.

4) FTP. You will need some way of getting your forum files onto your webserver after you've downloaded them to your computer. There are plenty of FTP programs for free; the one I've used for a long time on windows is SmartFTP and is a great program.

With regards to upgrading to a dedicated server in the future, HostGator will transfer your files and databases to the new server if you so request.