Im currently underway in making my own forum. Dont worry Geoff its not a rival to this one, I want to make a Birmingham Forum, as Ive done a load of searches and havent come across a specific one like Sheffield has.

Does anyone know how I go about getting sponsors like this site does with all the banenrs etc, and does this bring in a decent enough revenue to be able for the site to run without me breaking the bank?

I'm sure contacting geoff directly would be the best option :) But if you want a rough idea, count up how many banner ads you see, then multiply by the cost of them (see LHS "Advertise with us"). I would have thought you should be able to get going without any sponsors (it's not gonna cost much until you have hundreds of thousands of hits a month), then bring them in when the numbers get up - they probably won't pay much before then anyway. Add some google adverts near the start maybe, they are easy to set up and pay fairly well.

You won't get sponsors until you have a high user base and hit count.

Contact Geoff direct, but the most important thing is to get a good, stable forum running and get a user base. It should cost you next to nothing to achieve that, basically bulletin board software and hosting - vBulletin costs about $100(??) and hosting is variable. Alternatively you could run something like phpBB and then look to upgrading further down the line - phpBB is free.

Good Luck!

Joe

Dont know anything about this but im just a bit interested, from whats been said, does someone have to pay www's head person in charge (!) more for the greater number of hits that the site has?

Bit unfair if so, cos poor old geoff will be paying through his eyeballs one day!! Also, some people probably log on here about a dozen times a day!!

There is no 'head honcho' for the World Wide Web, but the site is hosted with a server company who may charge a little extra when you have more than a certain number of hits per month or a certain level of traffic. I don't know what Geoff's hosting arrangements are, but they're all paid for by Geoff month in month out.

Joe

start off with a free one mate then move up if you get a lot of intrest

http://www.proboards.com/index.html


i think the site is undergoing an upgrade at the moment but it will be back on shortly:thumbsup:

Originally posted by kirky
start off with a free one mate then move up if you get a lot of intrest

http://www.proboards.com/index.html


i think the site is undergoing an upgrade at the moment but it will be back on shortly:thumbsup:

Proboards are rubbish, go with PHPbb or Invisionfree.. Or even this new one I found thanks to a computer I bought from Smiths on Monday called PunBB (http://www.punbb.org)

I installed PunBB as an alternate forum on my site on Monday with NO hassles... Link to it is My PunBB forums (http://wrestlemanix21xbox.xi2.org/other_forums/)

Originally posted by pdrnsf
Dont know anything about this but im just a bit interested, from whats been said, does someone have to pay www's head person in charge (!) more for the greater number of hits that the site has?

Bit unfair if so, cos poor old geoff will be paying through his eyeballs one day!! Also, some people probably log on here about a dozen times a day!!
Yes, webhosting costs a certain amount per unit "downloaded", but you'd be able to support a large amount for say a couple of quid a month - and by the time that wasn't enough, you'd be able to attract sponsors. That's why I like google adsense, there's no minimum level needed to set it up...

I'd also recommend looking into phpbb, it's very widely used and easy to set up.

and also easy to hack. VB is the only way to go if you are serious.

Do you think Geoff will mind if I copy his very succesful layout :D :heyhey:

Google ads, sign up for the adsence program, stick one of thier banners on your site, and you make a shedload if you get enough people on it.

Joel

Originally posted by Skatiechik
and also easy to hack. VB is the only way to go if you are serious.
True enough - phpbb hasn't been great recently for security issues. Depends how serious he expects the site to go, and whether he can afford a commercial board - if you do use phpbb, make sure you keep it updated!

From what i've heard, Geoff pays for everything to do with this site. I've no idea how much that is, but as there are now so many members of the forum, would it be a good idea to have some form of 'fundraiser' so that Geoff is not out of pocket?

I'm sure if everyone contributed a little, it wouldn't amount to too much??

Thank you Geoff for setting up the forum, I love it and would be lost without it.

:thumbsup:

Originally posted by Rich
Proboards are rubbish, go with PHPbb or Invisionfree.. Or even this new one I found thanks to a computer I bought from Smiths on Monday called PunBB (http://www.punbb.org)

I installed PunBB as an alternate forum on my site on Monday with NO hassles... Link to it is My PunBB forums (http://wrestlemanix21xbox.xi2.org/other_forums/)

Invision Free is useless.

Compared year on year IPB is far cheaper than vB (i have to disclose a slight Bias here, I used to work for IPS) and it's also better software. I use IPB here (http://forums.olsen-twins.org) but I also use a free software called mytopix on a private board. A quick google should reveal mytopix.

As for server costs, I rent a dedicated server for $150 a month, and rent some space out to cover costs, and google ads cover the rest. It's unlimited bandwidth (we use around 3TB a month, and never been charged any extra) and we have 300GB of web storage available (we have been with our host since their day one though).

IPB/IPS have fantastic support networks and they're a great company, I pay for the perpetual license, and also have an old 'lifetime' license (used at the otorg forums). Although I'm ex-staff (Hook over there too) everybody else I know is satisfied.

I'm a bit of promoter for IPS, and my current webhost (although you won't want a dedicated server to start off with, IPS hosting is rather good, and also simply.net) so you have to accept there's a bit of bias in my post, but only because I've been extremely happy wit their service.

I've worked as a forum admin for EMAP, and I've used UBB, vB and ASP forums, and speaking from experience IPB is much easier to administrate, and the support is far better.

Avoid phpBB though, I'm friends with the developer and highly respect him, but some of the recent security flaws have lowered my confidence in the software. It's more worthwhile to purchase a license from a slightly more recommended BB than have to worry about the hassle of converting posts at a later date.

If you want any further advice, pm me before 9am tomorrow and I'll send you my mobile number, because I move house tomorrow and I'll be internet-less for a few weeks :(

vB licences arnt massivly expensive, if you can afford the expense.$50is for a year licence, or $130 for a full licence. I have 4 licences currently, despite not using any of them (Most were used, but various projects havent got off the ground, yet).

PHPbb is a pretty good board, the main reason it had so many problems in the last bout was due to clueless admins who dident patch it. The patch was out about a day after the inital vunerability was discovered, but a staggering amount of admins never bothered to patch. So as long as you patch regularly, you should be fine.

Hook, which developer do you know? I frequently bump into random coders/support team from PHPbb, there a good bunch.

Joel

Originally posted by Joelc
vB licences arnt massivly expensive, if you can afford the expense.$50is for a year licence, or $130 for a full licence. I have 4 licences currently, despite not using any of them (Most were used, but various projects havent got off the ground, yet).

PHPbb is a pretty good board, the main reason it had so many problems in the last bout was due to clueless admins who dident patch it. The patch was out about a day after the inital vunerability was discovered, but a staggering amount of admins never bothered to patch. So as long as you patch regularly, you should be fine.

Hook, which developer do you know? I frequently bump into random coders/support team from PHPbb, there a good bunch.

Joel

IPS now has a similar licencencing structure to vB, it's $69.95 for a year licence, and $185 for a pepetual (or full licence) but it's cheaper in the long run to run IPB, because it's (I think) $30 a year for the support, which includes phone, web, email, forums unlike vB ^_^

It's also better software (in my opinion) and that's why I use it.

Originally posted by Hels
From what i've heard, Geoff pays for everything to do with this site. I've no idea how much that is, but as there are now so many members of the forum, would it be a good idea to have some form of 'fundraiser' so that Geoff is not out of pocket?

I'm sure if everyone contributed a little, it wouldn't amount to too much??

Thank you Geoff for setting up the forum, I love it and would be lost without it.

:thumbsup:

Buy a T-Shirt :)