Oh yes, I need some suggestions. Again. Sorry! 
First off, I want to ask you guys a question. I’ll be releasing the answers as a report (free, don’t worry) and using it to get a little bit of exposure for my list. 
Why aren’t you making MORE money online?
Some of you are making pennies, some just enough to live on, some so much that you’ll never have to go to work again. However, no matter how much you’re making – you could be making more. So why aren’t you? Lack of time, lack of money, lack of skills are some of the ones I’ve heard – I’m going to talk about dealing with those, but if there are any others you guys have, let me know and I’ll talk about them too. You can tell me through here, Twitter, or the various instant messaging services.
Okay, that’s done… now on to the main point:
To Forum Or Not To Forum?
Yes, this is a poorly reworked Shakespeare quote. When you’re on holiday, it’s hard to be too creative.
I have been working with niche websites + proxies, and they’ve made a few dollars – however, they are extremely boring… mainly because there is no interaction. I’ve always preferred community orientated websites, which is why I run this blog despite it not really making enough to be worth my time spent on it – this is also why I wanted to add a forum to Blog Premiere and have slightly neglected the front page.
Anyways, I paid in advance for a forum design yesterday, and although it hasn’t been started yet I am heavily considering getting another forum done. The idea is a forum that discusses MMO tips – geared at newbies. Here’s the reasons:
Convenience
Yesterday alone, I got six essay-type emails – emails that had quite a few questions, and emails that would take at least half an hour if not more to answer. Mainly because of the release of my new eBook. A lot of the questions were similar, but the emails were different enough from each other that I couldn’t send a generic email to everyone.
I probably will get around to answering those emails – not today, as the football is on, but over the next week. However, were I to setup a forum for this, all I would have to do is post a thread with the basics talked about, and then people could ask shorter questions through that. I do not have the time, and I will never have the time (or energy) to spend 3-6 hours a days answering email so a forum could save me a lot of time and allow others to chip in with the answers.
Newbie Friendly
One of the biggest problems with currently large forums is that members, especially those that have been around for a while tend to get their heads confused with their behinds and their level of prick-ness increases with the amount of posts made. I’m talking about newbie bashing. This is often seen on large forums, especially when newbies ask questions – now, I agree that some newbies deserve whatever they get, but it could always been done in a politer way.
Blog Premiere currently suffers from none of that, partly because there are not enough threads there to shout at people to use the search function ( ) and partly because there are only friendly people there (I have banned / not invited anyone that could be a problem).
A forum where newbies helped each other, and thus no one was better off than anyone else would certainly be a great help. Note, that I do not expect this to grow big (although obviously wouldn’t mind if it did) but it would be another place that people could goto for advice.
Increase My Online Worth
Yes, this reason is purely selfish – having a forum with contributing members is worth a lot more than having an email account full of answered emails. Basically, this becomes a saleable asset – 9MB.com sold for near $9,000 a while ago so it would be an interesting task to see if I could top that.
Fun
Building communities is always a lot more “fun” and doesn’t seem like work at all compared to say building and writing articles for a niche website. I think I could grow a blog or a forum a lot faster than your average “standard” website.
Two features, I’m thinking of that will make this easier to run
a) Member fee
Everyone that has more than 100 posts at Blog Premiere or is on the top commentator’s list at TUK will get in free, as will anyone that blogs about it. However, for others – I was thinking of adding a nominal member fee- this will keep out spammers. Something like $5/year – nothing too much but it would help save a lot of time. (Only the most die hard spammer would pay money to spam a forum, or that’s what I’m hoping at least )
b) Posting Requirement
I’m not sure about this, so I thought I’d run it by you guys – I wanted to make it a requirement that people post. Yes, I know this is opening it up for people not joining, but the whole point of a community is that you give a little, take a little. If everyone gives a little, you can take a lot. Nothing major, something like ten posts a week. I do that in ten minutes on Blog Premiere, so surely you guys can spare a few minutes of your time to put in ten posts weekly
This forum will not have any fluff apart from the usual general chat section – there will be two sections; a make money online section and a general chat section. The MMO section will be broken down into various things – affiliate programs, blogging, niche marketing; you get the idea.
I would rather this stay small and help as many people as possible than grow large and become like one of the huge webmaster forums out there today. If it could grow large while helping people, that would be great; we will see though.
What do you guys think?
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May 21st, 2008 at 9:31 am
Forums are great fun to run once they get going, but can be a nightmare to start from scratch. The first few members are the hardest. You already have quite a good reader base here though which would make that a lot easier, and the topic is always going to be interesting to a lot of people.
I think the yearly fee isn’t a bad idea, it’ll mean that you only get people genuinely interested. Getting people to pay and then telling them they have to post a certain amont of times a week might not be such a good idea though. I personally like to browe forums, and only make posts on something I’m really interested in. What would you do if they didn’t meet the post requirements, give them a refund?
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May 21st, 2008 at 10:47 am
I think your forum idea could work , but have you thought of when those newbies become self-styled ‘experts in a year and you have to tame them? to maintain the basic style of your forum? – LOL.
I’ve signed up for the newsletter, good luck to you.
Del Sauzo’s last blog post..10 simple steps to making some money online
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May 21st, 2008 at 2:20 pm
I feel that you should not make a minimum posting requirement. The reason for this is that some would rather read others diologue and learn silently instead of being vocal for the fear of being new. Doing this could drive away a lot of potential members…
Moneybites’s last blog post..Q and A Round 1 Answers
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May 21st, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Will a yearly fee work. I mean I’m not sure I would ever pay to use a forum when I can probably get the same info elsewhere. Just a thought
Tom – StandOutBlogger.com’s last blog post..7 Things I Hate About List Posts!
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May 21st, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Hi Jason, I was also looking at doing something like that with the domain http://www.Blogging-Advice.com but I’m so engrosed in huge amounts of ideas and projects I have going now.
A forum like your suggesting would be a great idea. If you need any help, give us a shout, you have me on MSN
- Carl
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May 21st, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Agree with Alex – The monthly/yearly fee is ok, but not so good idea to have forced posts. It will just result in spamming and non-quality posts.
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May 21st, 2008 at 5:47 pm
@ All – thanks for the feedback.
@ Alex, I had problems with both the ideas suggested so wanted to put them up on here to see what people thought.
What I had in mind was two user groups, one that could only see the general section and one that could see the general + mmo section. If you don’t post, you get downgraded.
@ Del Suazo, I have a baseball bat on me to slap anyone that becomes too big for his/her boots
@ Max, I want this to be a community which everyone benefits from. The whole idea of a community (should be) is that you give some, take lots. What use is someone that doesn’t add to it and just leeches? I will have strict plans in place to make sure that no member is marginalized
@ Tom – the thing is, people pay for eBooks, often extensive amounts when most of the information is available free (especially things like Atomic Blogging, where ALL the info is available free). Same thing here – you are paying for someone to compile the data, put it into understandable format, support etc.
However, due to feedback I do not think I’ll be going forward with the paying plan – might have a requirement (blog/Twitter/refer a friend) or something. We’ll see.
@ Carl, the ultimate problem for an entrepreneur – too many projects, too little time. Will ping you via IM when this kicks off
@ Karu, the spam might be a problem… might make it a five required posts weekly, with posts allowed in the introduction area.
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May 21st, 2008 at 7:00 pm
I do not think paid forum will get much members. For forums the number of members is very important. But 5$ a year is quite low so it might not affect. By the way it will be free for me as you say. I am one of the top commentors.
Agent 001’s last blog post..First 3 months of Blogging: Posts
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May 21st, 2008 at 8:03 pm
I like your comment about the freedom people feel to be pricks. I think paid forums are tougher to build by far, but will get a committed base of participants…. plus you won’t get pricks.
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May 21st, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Sounds like a nice idea. I’d definitely have a “trial membership” feature, maybe $1 for 3 days or something. If you have to buy a year at a time it will turn some people off, as they won’t know if the forum could actually be useful.
Stak Loaded – How to make money doing nothing!’s last blog post..Anyone want a Macbook Air?
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May 21st, 2008 at 10:29 pm
I could get in free? Since I’m on BP? (no 100 posts though
)
I think this is a great idea but will people who want to help newbies and already know how to MMO be welcome there since its geared towards newbies?
EmmaB’s last blog post..woohoo new forum launched
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May 21st, 2008 at 11:22 pm
Well…. Don’t you think spammers will try to spam BP? To get in for free anyway good luck with this new project
Usman’s last blog post..CarrotInk.com Review
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May 21st, 2008 at 11:25 pm
The team is pretty good at BP. I have only seen one spammer and he was booted fast
EmmaB’s last blog post..woohoo new forum launched
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May 21st, 2008 at 11:36 pm
I think your ideas are great in theory, but horrible in practice. No forum in my opinion is worth paying for. This might be because I belong to an awesome forum that actually PAYS ME to post. I’ve never seen problems with spammers on there – I think they have automatic software that actually goes through and deletes stuff based on keywords and number of links. You get paid more for quality comments, so everyone tries to give you 3-4 sentence long replies. If you’re interested in seeing it, anyone is welcome to email me for more info. (Haha, yeah, pm me for X) Nah, I just don’t want to irk you with my referral link in your comments
Actually, that’s not really what it’s about…but I think I’m in a rambling mood tonight…seeing as how this has to be the longest comment i ever left for someone, lol.
Btw, tomorrow morning’s post is all about getting cheap .info domains and encouragement to visit your site & find out why you should have them
Chelle’s last blog post..Not All Greeting Cards are the Same
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May 21st, 2008 at 11:51 pm
I am very excited about this and think it is a great idea. I actually like the pay option (especially considering I wouldn’t have to pay!). I think it would help to keep the spammers, scammers and leeches out. I think anyone that is willing to pay to get in would want to make the best use of their money and utilize the forums to their fullest potential. As you pointed out I have no problem paying for something if I know (or even think) that it is going to help me make money. An MMO forums is no different, and if the place was to develop a reputation as a place that moneymakers hang out you would probably have people lining up to get in…
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May 22nd, 2008 at 8:13 am
I think you should go for it. Successful forum is really something.
Aleks’s last blog post..Joke – Men and sex
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May 22nd, 2008 at 8:33 am
@ Agent, aye – free for you.
What I’m thinking of doing is having a three day period where people can ‘rush’ to signup – free for everyone. And then allow people to pay to signup or meet the requirements to see what’s cracking.
@ Mike, harder to build but easier to maintain
@ Emma, see my reply to Agent above. Also, it will be newbie friendly… but no matter how much you’re making, you always have the ability to make more. Everyone learns from everyone else
As for BP, no real spammers apart from those Nokia idiots, but luckily I’ve been on at the same time that they have so shut them down quick
@ Usman, see reply to Agent above. Might get rid of the whole need to be in top 10 over here or 100+ posts at BP.
@ Chelle, there are hundreds of paid forums, some charging upwards of $100/month… and they do get members. Some forums want to grow really, really big so most of them are free (especially when the owner has nothing going for him that would make people pay to join) but if I could get a few money making pros… well, the whole thing would change quite a bit.
As for your forum posting company, you might want to talk about it on BP – aff links are allowed there, remember
I’ll look out for tomorrow’s post, and as long as you leave long comments on here well… I don’t mind at all, to say the least
@ EGK, you’ve just driven home my point
Think that all the people that waste their money on eBooks at places like DP/SP/WSOs would love a forum that cost $x/year with decent money making info. If you don’t get good information, the loss is not that much of a problem.
@ Aleks, thanks for the encouragement.
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May 22nd, 2008 at 8:45 am
Woohoo-can’t wait to see this get rolling then
EmmaB’s last blog post..woohoo new forum launched
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May 30th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
I have to admit that I’ve left BP for a while now, but hopefully after I get everything sorted out I’ll be back with full force.
Rajaie AlKorani’s last blog post..Don’t Stuff Your Readers With Too Much
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July 23rd, 2008 at 7:54 pm
i would say to forum and wud like to congraluate u on the sucess of your blogging forum.so it is clear now that to forum was the right decision.
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