Do you treat you community as a business?

[Cedric]

Have you ever wondered if your forum could become more than just a hobby? Let's talk about turning your forum into a successful business adventure! Many of us started our forums because we're passionate about certain topics and niches, but do you treat your community as a business? And what can you do to improve your business vision?

First off, it's essential to know your mission statement. What's the ultimate goal of your business? Define a clear mission that sets your community apart from others. Putting your users first is crucial. Happy members mean more engagement and growth. So, focus on creating an amazing user experience. Listen to their needs, and tailor your forum to meet them.

Now, let's talk about making money. There are several ways to monetize your forum without compromising trust. You can consider ads, offering premium memberships with extra benefits, or even partnering with brands for sponsored content. Great content is the backbone of any successful forum. Keep things interesting with high-quality discussions, posts, and resources that your audience will love and share.

To attract more members, you'll need to spread the word. Develop marketing strategies to reach new audiences while staying true to your forum's essence. It's essential to be on the right side of the law and maintain ethical practices. Understand the legal aspects of running an online community and prioritize your users' privacy and safety. Especially for Europe! You know, GDPR. As your forum grows, consider building a team of reliable moderators and collaborators. Delegating tasks can help you manage the forum efficiently.

Keep track of your forum's progress by using data and analytics. Measuring success will guide your decisions and help you identify areas for improvement. Remember, every journey has its challenges. Don't be afraid to share your experiences, learn from others, and grow together as a community.

 

[SDL]

Ooo you used the naughty business word when discussing running forums! I’m not sure what the community is like nowadays (as a whole not specific to AJ) however I know many forum administrators hated anyone making money for profit back in the day when I was actively running forums, as they should only be a “hobby”.

Personally I feel every forum should operate the same as a business would in order to remain sustainable and be successful. Even if all of the money is put back into the forum, you can use that income for marketing or paid upgrades to enhance the user experience etc, unless you’re single with a massive income!

I’m even looking into registering mine as a limited company once it’s set up, it will be much easier to partner with other businesses for the benefit of the community. Plus it will protect my own assets should any legal issues ever occur, not that I anticipate it.

Some very solid tips, thank you for sharing!

 

[Cedric]

Ooo you used the naughty business word when discussing running forums! I’m not sure what the community is like nowadays (as a whole not specific to AJ) however I know many forum administrators hated anyone making money for profit back in the day when I was actively running forums, as they should only be a “hobby”.

Personally I feel every forum should operate the same as a business would in order to remain sustainable and be successful. Even if all of the money is put back into the forum, you can use that income for marketing or paid upgrades to enhance the user experience etc, unless you’re single with a massive income!

I’m even looking into registering mine as a limited company once it’s set up, it will be much easier to partner with other businesses for the benefit of the community. Plus it will protect my own assets should any legal issues ever occur, not that I anticipate it.

Some very solid tips, thank you for sharing!

I genuinely think and I mean no offend to anyone who disagrees, but if you act like a business, you'll show that you truly want to bring the best out of the community. And automatically will attract an audience for that as well. If members see you accept money for whatever it is that you offer, they will likely to go in on that offer, if it's in their interests.

 

[SDL]

I genuinely think and I mean no offend to anyone who disagrees, but if you act like a business, you'll show that you truly want to bring the best out of the community. And automatically will attract an audience for that as well. If members see you accept money for whatever it is that you offer, they will likely to go in on that offer, if it's in their interests.

I agree with you completely, you know the forum will be sustainable and still be open in the future so will be worth investing your time into the community.

If it doesn’t look like you run it like a business or a failed one at that, for me personally anyway, I’m not going to be as interested committing to it as I don’t want my efforts and time going to waste.

 

[Reverie]

I think in a sense treating it as a business will keep you honest and looking at things from all angles. It can take some of the fun out of it though which is my concern. I think forums can be a business and a job that you always have fun doing if you keep in mind that you're trying to have fun. If you become hyperfocused on income and etc I think that could kill it, but if you're trying to run the community in a business sense to make new decisions that are innovative I think it's a great idea.

 

[joelr]

Have you ever wondered if your forum could become more than just a hobby? Let's talk about turning your forum into a successful business adventure! Many of us started our forums because we're passionate about certain topics and niches, but do you treat your community as a business? And what can you do to improve your business vision?

First off, it's essential to know your mission statement. What's the ultimate goal of your business? Define a clear mission that sets your community apart from others. Putting your users first is crucial. Happy members mean more engagement and growth. So, focus on creating an amazing user experience. Listen to their needs, and tailor your forum to meet them.

Now, let's talk about making money. There are several ways to monetize your forum without compromising trust. You can consider ads, offering premium memberships with extra benefits, or even partnering with brands for sponsored content. Great content is the backbone of any successful forum. Keep things interesting with high-quality discussions, posts, and resources that your audience will love and share.

To attract more members, you'll need to spread the word. Develop marketing strategies to reach new audiences while staying true to your forum's essence. It's essential to be on the right side of the law and maintain ethical practices. Understand the legal aspects of running an online community and prioritize your users' privacy and safety. Especially for Europe! You know, GDPR. As your forum grows, consider building a team of reliable moderators and collaborators. Delegating tasks can help you manage the forum efficiently.

Keep track of your forum's progress by using data and analytics. Measuring success will guide your decisions and help you identify areas for improvement. Remember, every journey has its challenges. Don't be afraid to share your experiences, learn from others, and grow together as a community.

This is something that I don't think is talked about enough.

If you've heard me on other forums, I've used the phrase "serious webmasters." They're still hobbyists, they still love hosting their forums for the love of the niche, but they're serious about it. They have a content calendar. They have clearly defined objectives. They wake up and post even when they don't want to.

 

[Cedric]

This is something that I don't think is talked about enough.

If you've heard me on other forums, I've used the phrase "serious webmasters." They're still hobbyists, they still love hosting their forums for the love of the niche, but they're serious about it. They have a content calendar. They have clearly defined objectives. They wake up and post even when they don't want to.

I agree, it's called consistency and it's separating the better webmasters from the hobbyist.

 

[kensonplays]

I've considered registering officially, but I can't afford the $300 texas LLC filing fee. Is there a way to do it for much cheaper, or even free, and still be recognized, even if it isn't fully recognized or whatever?

 

[JoshB]

Now, this isn't legal advice. I've seen a lot of businesses create an LLC in Delaware. Not sure about the process of this or for what reason only that I guess Delaware is an easy state for doing this even if you don't have a physical location there.

 

[MrDawn]

I was excited when I started my first forum....until it became a chore and no one really had much of interest in it. I ran one for 6 months or more and then I decided it was time to delete it and move on to greener pastures.

 

[Jason]

No, it's a hobby right now (drummerlesson.com), but it would be cool to add a paid classifieds section, and if I had enough traffic, it would be like a full or part-time job.

Anyway, I don't like traditional ads on it cause it ruins the atmosphere, but there are ads on the third party site (daily-drum.com) which has my audio/visual playback lessons, but I don't get a cut on that.

 

[Excommunicado]

I have always been obsessed with the idea of making money online and in the past I’ve felt that if a project does not have the potential to make money, it is a waste of time. Recently however, I’ve learned to accept that running a project as a non-profit hobby is completely fine and before starting my current forum, my intentions were very clear to myself: that this was a self-funded hobby. That doesn’t mean that I would never monetise my site for the sake of self-sustainability at least, but that would be a bonus and never affect the status of my site.