How to Start a Business Forum

If you have been online for a while, you've probably come across many forums where users get to exchange ideas.  If you have thought that maybe you would like to design something similar, there are a few forum platforms you should look into and some best practices to follow for starting a forum.

• Attract visitors who contribute and post.  No one wants to visit a form that is not busy. There is no way for people to start a conversation when there is no conversation going on. In order to get some people posting on your forum, consider asking a few friends, associates, or even webmasters whose sites you respect to the administrators on your form. They can get the ball rolling by posting a few topics and perhaps sending out a link to either their Facebook friends or Twitter followers. 


• Consider paying people to post to your form. This is no different than paying people to write articles for your website. Whatever method you choose to employ, you need to get some content on your form so that both search engine spiders and visitors will start to engage with it.


• Choose the right forum software. PHP Bulletin and vBulletin are the most popular.  vBulletin is more fully featured, but it costs money (both a lump sum up front, and around $100 every year) to run it. PHP bulletin, on the other hand, is free. IP Board and SMF forum are two more free forum software platforms.


• Market your forum. Visit other forums and websites related to the subject or your forum and invite their users to try your forum as as well. Incorporate a blog feature into your forum to create a relationship between you and your forum users.