Creating a Forum

Hanneman213

Hi guys,

I am currently trying to help create an online presence for a local record store and one of the ideas I am considering is creating a forum for the store. It currently doesn't have an official site, just a Facebook account, MySpace, etc, so I'm guessing it would be an indpendant forum, something along the lines of say Nuclear War Now. I'm just looking for a bit of advice on this.

1)How much would it cost to set up a forum?
2)What sites/programmes are best to use?
3)Does hosting a forum cost the same as hosting a website?

I've been messing around with www.forumotion.com, which allows you make a free forum and that seems kind of cool, but I'm not sure if it professional enough.

Does anyone have any advice/suggestions about creating a forum? I've posted this in 3 places because im not sure which forum its best suited too (its also in internet marketing & web development, so moderator, please feel free to delete the posts which are in the wrong place).

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated!

SerialComplaint

You're asking the wrong question by focusing on the technical issues. The real question is what would make users visit and stay on your forum. Why would they not visit one of the many independent forums (boards, cluas etc) for discussing musing?

The web is littered with huge numbers of forums that were set up, but had no users coming and staying around. Unless there is a very good reason for people to stay, the forum won't be used. No forum is better than a forum where the latest three posts are more than 18 months ago.

BrianD

Yes, you might be better off setting somebody up as an official rep for your record store on a number of forums including Boards. Participate in conversations overtly and people will take notice - better to be a small fish in a large pool.

Problem with running your own forum is moderation and then you are open to legal issues of libel and slander. There is also the big issue of time. Do you have the time to both moderate for legal issues, removing spam and inappropriate remarks by members?

There are also functions on Facebook Pages and Groups that allow fans/members to interact and discuss various topics.

The_B_Man

I dont know much about marketing but I can probably answer your technical questions.

1)How much would it cost to set up a forum?
(between €25 and €300) You can get a basic shared hosting account for dirt cheap. You can also get free forum software, eg phpBB3 (like in my sig). You can also then go for the more advanced web hosting if/when your site grows. This will cost more, and you can optionally go with the same software that boards.ie uses, vBulletin, which costs around €150

2)What sites/programmes are best to use?
See above: vBulletin(~€150) or phpBB3 (free)

3)Does hosting a forum cost the same as hosting a website?
Yes, a forum is a type of website

liah

I can host something for you if you'd like, OP. I've an unlimited bandwidth/space hosting account and loads of free installs included (phpbb3, vbulletin, loads of others). All you'd really need to do is buy a domain name, which can be as low as 10 USD per year.