Is anyone making money with discussion Forums?

[Ray123]

I'm right at the beginning of my Forum journey.

When I do start my forum I would like to earn enough from it to cover annual costs.

Obviously, eventually, I would like to earn more than my annual costs but that is not a deal breaker.

Reading through the posts here, making money is secondary for most people and the pleasure comes from running a thriving community is an area of personal interest.

So is nobody here making more money than they put in?

If so can you share a little about your forum and journey, more for inspiration than anything else.

Thanks

 

[Tracy]

The sad fact is.... you are VERY unlikely to cover your costs (even with low cost hosting and a free script) within the first year. The simple fact is, the majority of forums fail, and are brought down within the first year because reality suddenly strikes. Unless you are in a niche that is underserved, but popular (oxymoron alert).... best of luck.
On my site, I make zero on income, and the outlay (per year) is in the 4 digit range. It's a hobby for me because I enjoy it, and it gives me a place to post my content.

 

[Jay™]

I wish you luck as well; I am with Tracy on this one as I host a few sites of my own, which are hobby sites with zero revenue. I'm not saying you can't make money; however, get yourself into a niche that's not saturated already.

 

[Ravenfreak]

It's hard to earn money on a niche that is over saturated. I have forums just for a hobby myself, I don't earn any money from any of my hobbies. Unless you're offering something new to the forum world and or offering something to your members in return other than just having a place to hang out, don't expect to make money off your forum. If you're wanting to make money, you gotta think outside the box. Otherwise if you don't want to earn any money and just want to make a community for the heck of it, I suggest going down the free host/free script route to get familiar with owning a forum and perhaps you can come up with a idea to help earn you some money later on. Best of luck @Ray123 with whatever you choose to do! We'll be here if you have any questions or run into any issues if you decide to create a community.

 

[Nomad]

I run forums on open source platforms, I already had a hosting package, so I did not have to buy a separate hosting for my forums. My only cost is domain renewal and buying posting packages. I am not profiting from my forums but I manage to recover my costs. One of the reasons why I am not using premium software is because I want to keep the cost low.

 

[Ray123]

I'm not an expert but I think you have two nice forums there with lots of potential.

 

[Joeychgo]

So is nobody here making more money than they put in?

I know a number of forum owners who make a good income with forums. Its like any other business... It takes hard work and doesnt happen overnight... But it can be done.

 

[Mike30]

@Ray123 If your intention is to make money out of it, sure you can make it, Pick a niche, be creative, invest $$$$ and keep at it long enough. It's difficult at the beginning, but it is no different than any other business. Please, don't expect to make a business out of it if you don't put money in it. And be strategic, because you can also end up having an expensive hobby like the majority.

 

[Dilip]

Forums do make money. There are many ways to monetise a community. If people are there, you can sell to them.

But is making money your primary objective? There are better options than forums with more returns.

 

[Nomad]

Has anyone heard of Beer Money Forum?
It is a paid to post forum that seems to be making a lot of money (my guess is based on their ad rates and the number of ads shown on the site).
Making money from forums is possible but it will take a long time.

 

[MrDawn]

I'm sure there's a little money to be had, but I wouldn't expect it to buy you a good retirement.

 

[Heatman]

You will have to build an incredible amount of contents on your forum, generate traffic organically before you will start making money through the means which you have used to monetize your general discussion forum. Some of the general discussion forum I know the owners make good money from them are Index Forum, Beer Money Forum and Discussion Bucks.

 

[Nomad]

I'm sure there's a little money to be had, but I wouldn't expect it to buy you a good retirement.

Yeah, you cannot buy retirement our of your forum income but as long as you make something it is always good. The best part is it can be passive. If you have managed to build forum with activities, you will be making money without having to put any effort.

 

[Tracy]

I know a number of forum owners who make a good income with forums. Its like any other business... It takes hard work and doesnt happen overnight... But it can be done.

For clarification... are these "new" forums, or are they older established ones?
The big issue now is starting new forums. Most niches are already populated (and in some cases over populated) and unless you can generate content that the others do not have (in the niche you decide) that is relevant and wanted it is hard to get a new one off the ground.
Forums that are several years (or more) old that have an established base are better positioned.

 

[Nomad]

General discussion forums cannot get search traffic, and their primary traffic source is their own users. Unless they have a very large number of active users who visit the community regularly and spend time posting, it is not possible to attract paying users or sponsors, or even earn from ads.

 

[Joeychgo]

Forums that are several years (or more) old that have an established base are better positioned.

That's true for any business. As I said, it takes hard work and time.

 

[HuskerGarrett]

My forum makes pretty good profit, we are a forum for a college sports team and keep "inside info" under a paid section.

 

[Tracy]

That's true for any business. As I said, it takes hard work and time.

Yes, but how many new forum owners do you know that are making good income.
There, for some reason, seems to be an unreasonable expectation amongst many that it is a quick path to getting rich. 😉

It's not in this day and age of the preponderance of people spending time on social media.
The OP stated

When I do start my forum I would like to earn enough from it to cover annual costs.

Odds of that happening for a site just getting started are slightly above zero unless it's a site dealing with porn, illegal/illicit substances or activity or similar.
The exceptions are niches that are not covered well (which are few and far between) that do have the possibility of gaining fairly fast traction, but in many cases those are usually based upon a regional interest.

 

[Joeychgo]

There, for some reason, seems to be an unreasonable expectation amongst many that it is a quick path to getting rich.

As I said, several times, it takes hard work and time.

The exceptions are niches that are not covered well (which are few and far between) that do have the possibility of gaining fairly fast traction, but in many cases those are usually based upon a regional interest.

Again, this is true for any business. You need to find something that is different, that has a draw. You have to work hard, market it well, and manage it properly. I would generally stay away from regional interest themes as that lowers your field of members.

 

[Shortie]

Any type of forum has the potential to earn money but it is not something that is going to happen overnight or even within a few weeks, months or a year. It is going to take dedication, time and content for you to start seeing even a little bit of revenue.

If you feel you have the time and the dedication, I would say go for it!