Making Money with Online Forums
The human race has always had an inner desire for communicating with one another. The popularity of social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter should come as no surprise when you think about the fact that we have always been sitting around campfires sharing stories with one another. It’s as if the need for communicating and sharing has been ingrained within us.
This is one of the reasons why social media networks are so successful. There is a natural need among us for connecting with people. It’s also one of the reasons why forums, even before social media’s time, have been so incredibly popular.
In essence, online forums (also called message boards or discussion boards/forums) are communities of people. It’s an unrestricted space where people can come together. In an online forum, people can hold conversations in the form of posts. These single conversations within a forum are called threads.
If you have an online forum, you may have asked yourself how you can make money with your forum. The building of your own online community and starting your own forum can take a lot of work, but if you have already been through the hurdles and are now thinking of monetizing the forum, you may have started looking into some ideas.
Advertisements
This is a no-brainer — ads are a common method of generating revenue. If you have an active forum with enough traffic, you may want to think about placing ads on your forum and charging for them. The most popular form of ads are banner ads, which may be placed at the top and bottom of a forum. This will be seen by all your visitors.
The success you will have with advertising will largely depend on how many visitors your forum has. The more popular your forum is, the more that you can charge for individual ads. These advertisers will likely want to advertise with you if there is a dedicated fan base of visitors.
Perks
There are several extremely popular forums that charge for perks, such as adding images in signatures or bumping threads to the top of the thread in popular sections of the forum. If you run an active forum with a lot of engagement from your visitors, you may want to think about these sorts of perks that can generate additional revenue. In addition to the revenue you may generate, these sorts of perks and benefits will keep visitors engaged.
Memberships
The membership option for your forum may be a one-time fee or an annual charge. This will mean providing them information in your forum that they couldn’t find anywhere else, or exclusive access to different parts of the forum that is closed off for regular visitors. FOMO stands for “fear of missing out” and if people feel like they’re missing out on something exclusive, they may want to sign up!
Conclusion
These are a handful of ways in which you can make money with an online forum. The most important thing is keeping your community of readers and visitors invested, so that they will continue posting and remaining active. Their dedication may translate into revenue for your online forum.
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