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ablaye
Guest
Currently thinking about starting a webmaster forum. What do you guys think?
Is this niche already too saturated???
Is this niche already too saturated???
There are a lot of webmasters in the world, many of which subscribe to multiple webmaster forums. I don't think that the market is too saturated with these type of forums. However, it is a lot of work getting people interested enough to join any forum. You must be very active in your own forum, as well as other forums that are similar to your forums topic. Forums can't build themselves, and many webmasters fall into a rut because they think that it will. If you have friends or acquaintances at other forums, perhaps they would be willing to join in yours as well to help to make it grow. I think that one of the best things to do before starting any forum is to try to network with like minded individuals and get them interested in building a community with you. The thing not to do is go into other forums where you aren't known well and request members to join up. Many forum owners take offense to this type of thing, and will ban you for doing it.
I think Jump puts that very well. I will add that should you decide to go ahead with your forum, get the software and the url right from the start. I started this forum with phpBB and in a sub folder of the main website, after all the security headaches phpBB gave I has to migrate to VBulletin, so perhaps use a robust forum software from the start to save you having to do more work later on.
Also put some though into the domain to avoid moving in future. At the beginning, consider post exchange with other forum owners to populate your forum and get it going. I used to run a post exchange here a while back, we can revive it again.
Good luck.
Also put some though into the domain to avoid moving in future. At the beginning, consider post exchange with other forum owners to populate your forum and get it going. I used to run a post exchange here a while back, we can revive it again.
Good luck.
There is also a tool at adminfusion called post fusion, it's a program that is installed on any forum software that will keep track of how many posts you make at others forums, and how many they make at yours. I haven't made much use of it, so I can't "recommend" it, but it looks pretty useful.
M
maxseo
Guest
What domain would you recommend? something as webmaster-forums.com or someting more cathy? and is vbulletin free?
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A
ablaye
Guest
Oops. That domain is already taken. I checked it to try to steal it
vBulletin isn't free. It costs about $160 for a license.
If you want "a sponsor" I am happy to sponsor the forum by giving you a Vbulletin license. If you do not want a sponsore you can use one of the free forums, its just that you will have to work harder to keep spamers at bay etc. In another forum, jump said SMF is a much better and more secure forum software... so you see, if you have the will and the desire nothing stoping you
That is and excellent thing to use to run a post exchage ring, will see if I can download and install it on this forum
If you need any good seo domains, I have a few available.
I stand by SMF as far as free forums go, although, if you have the cash, their is none better than vB. SMF seems to be quite a bit more stable and secure than what I've heard about PHPBB.
Once you get it going, let me know, I'll be more than willing to join in the conversations, I am a forum lover.
I stand by SMF as far as free forums go, although, if you have the cash, their is none better than vB. SMF seems to be quite a bit more stable and secure than what I've heard about PHPBB.
Once you get it going, let me know, I'll be more than willing to join in the conversations, I am a forum lover.
I am launching a forum for internet business people. It will be for Wales though, but I think it might spread a little with regard people posting there as I have a lot of friends online.
I think that rather than launch another webmaster forum you should sit back and think what will make your site special, why should people post there? What is in it for them? get that right and you will fly along.
I think that rather than launch another webmaster forum you should sit back and think what will make your site special, why should people post there? What is in it for them? get that right and you will fly along.
OWG, when you launch, I'd like to be a part of your forum too.
When I launched my last forum, I think the big kicker was the fact that I had friends in other forums that were willing to participate in my new venture, it really helps in boosting a forum if you have a support team.
The way that I gained support was by being generous, not everyone will be perceptive to generosity, but if you are sincerely generous, those people will usually return the favor.
Try to always give good answers, sometimes the answers will be wrong, in that case, always admit your mistake. We can't all be right all the time, and most people understand that.
If someone is extra helpful, make certain that they know that they are being extra helpful (some of them don't have any idea as to how helpful they are).
Well, I hope that you take something away from this thread, it is full of great advice.
When I launched my last forum, I think the big kicker was the fact that I had friends in other forums that were willing to participate in my new venture, it really helps in boosting a forum if you have a support team.
The way that I gained support was by being generous, not everyone will be perceptive to generosity, but if you are sincerely generous, those people will usually return the favor.
Try to always give good answers, sometimes the answers will be wrong, in that case, always admit your mistake. We can't all be right all the time, and most people understand that.
If someone is extra helpful, make certain that they know that they are being extra helpful (some of them don't have any idea as to how helpful they are).
Well, I hope that you take something away from this thread, it is full of great advice.
I have a rugby forum that I set up 2 years ago. we are about to hit 300,000 posts. That is great fun
M
maxseo
Guest
I decided to give it a try and registered WEBMASTERFORUM.COM.AU
what about the domain? good catch or not?
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what about the domain? good catch or not?
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The domain name is excellent, is got the purpose of the site all in the domain name. Did you just register that yesterday or you registered and kept it for a while? I would have though a cool name like that would be gone.
M
maxseo
Guest
I just registered it yestarday when I saw this thread. There is one webmaster forum in Australia and again it is not very busy. I think with little bit of work and effort I can create something useful.
To register domain name in Australia, you have to be registered business in Australia... I guess that's why it was still not taken
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To register domain name in Australia, you have to be registered business in Australia... I guess that's why it was still not taken
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M
maxseo
Guest
Of course, UK webmasters are welcomed.
I'll be working in China whole March, I think I will try to set it up before I leave. I am just researching different forum software. From what it looks like vbulletin are used on few major forums including yours.
Do you think they are the best and easiest to use, install and configure,
have you heard of any other worth looking at?
I'll be working in China whole March, I think I will try to set it up before I leave. I am just researching different forum software. From what it looks like vbulletin are used on few major forums including yours.
Do you think they are the best and easiest to use, install and configure,
have you heard of any other worth looking at?
VB is far more robust and secure than PHPBB SMF is also a good catch
I am sure many people will disagree with me if I say VBulletin is the best, maybe it is maybe it is now. This forum used to be powered by phpBB, when I said I wanted to migrate to vB many people including OWG were disappointed, they thing phpBB is better because its free and vBulettin cost an arm and a leg plus you pay $30 a year to renew your license if you still want to receive updates from them to patch your forum. I think paying $30 for professionals to keep looking out and protecting you against spammers and hackers and all the other horrible guys trying to wreck your forum is money well spent.
If you use SMF or phpBB, they are free but you spend an awful lot of time looking for this hack or that patch to patch you forum so you spend a lot of time maintaining your forum, with vB, they do all that for you and you see a little notification in your admin panel saying for example "so and so exploit has been detected by hackers, we have patched it, just download and install this blah blah" to me its work the $30 a year. With other forum software, you forum will probably get hacked and wricked and they you to the vendors site to start looking for patch
With phpBB its particularly very bad, I have a link exchange forum here: Webmasters - Free Web Hosting Web Design Directory Resources & Forums UK , I have had LOOOADS of bogus registration, though I set the forum not to activate new users it still does, I have not had time to find the patch at vb so I just have to switch the entire forum up till I have the time to go to phpBB site and find a solution.
So, to me spending $160 on vB license is an investment well worth the peace of mind I get from having a very stable forum that I do not need to for ever keep looking for a patch for.
Haven said that, OWG run a far larger forum than this with phpBB so perhaps he want to tell us the secret of his phpBB success.
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