I just got employed to moderate a forum. It is fun sitting behind the “virtual walls” and keeping tab on others activity. Oh, I have been enjoying myself. I just started the job (no pay though, just some volunteering). After two days, the curious me is begining to think, which is more profitable for an online entrepreneur? A blog or a forum. I love digging for new ways to earn money online. So long the idea is legal and above board morally.
In my opinion, a blog is expensive to maintain. Not just in monetary terms, but also in terms of other resources. A blogger has to be a jack of all trades, at least in the begining, until he is capable of employing staff or outsourcing some of those unpleasant tasks. e.g. Search Engine Optimization (SEO), web design and layout, building backlinks, upgrading blogging software, securing site against hackers etc. I will rather spend my time writing down my ramblings and socialising with friends around the globe. Well that may be my personal preference, maybe you enjoy those task, while I don’t.
A forum on the other hand does not require so much maintainance save for the issue of fighting spammers and moderating troublesome members. So, the forum owner has less headache than a blogger that must be on his toe to stay current and relevant. Once a forum gains momentum, there seems to be no stopping it. As a community project, members tries to outdo each other in building the forum into a great website. I belong to a handful, and I must confess that I have posted enough materials in them to keep a blogger smiling for twelve months. Sometimes I get tempted to copy those lenghty posts I made in the forum and just paste them in some new blogs with Blogger. Who knows, I may earn some cents from Google Adsense before the blogs will get deleted for lack of update.
Well I am sorry if I disappointed you with this post. I am asking a question because I want to learn. I did not mean to answer a question that you have. I hereby tender an apology if you misunderstood my intention. That settled, I continue with my ramblings.
The area that is not yet clear to me is how to value a FORUM. I have a little idea of how blogs get valued. The Google Page Rank think, Alexa Rank, Technorati Authority, number of backlinks, number of page views, number of RSS subscribers etc. I have also heard of bloggers selling their blogs and making some good money.
However, I am yet to hear of a forum being sold. Maybe I am missing something. This is just my view for now. But I will love to learn from anyone that have a better experience. I have a forum attached to my blog, but it is an add-on that is meant to serve regular readers, not a forum for everything and anything. You can only make posts that are relevant to the subjects being treated on this blog. I may not have gotten enough experience now, but I am indeed curious. I will do an update to this post if I get facts and figures that will benefit readers.
Ok you’ve heard my view, it is your turn! Which do you consider more profitable? A Blog or a Forum? Share your opinion in the comment. Cheers.
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Tags: Blogging, Entrepreneurship, Investing, Ramblings
Blogs make far more money than forums.
I dont really know how it was determined but i read somewhere on the internet about that.
I have a forum http://www.afrowall.com and i have a blog http://www.afrowall.com/blogs.
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will evaluate them with time.
I don’t know much about forums and how incomes can be generated through it, but I do know that blogging offers different platforms to generate income and all can be used together if you have the time and the wherewithal, by the time you combine all together, at least a substantial income can be realised at the end of the month.
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No doubt that blogging involves a large amount of work in the beginning, though thanks to the power of outsourcing it actually is possible for someone to dedicate themselves solely to content creation and marketing, but still, as someone whose done it full time for quite a few months, its just not worth it unless you really care about your topic area.
Forums on the other hand, I wouldn’t know much about. I guess the main thing I wonder is how one would build that community in the first place – SEO, backlinks, email marketing.
Personally, I am also not a very big fan of blogs that aren’t anchored either on a book or a blog or website because I think forums can be too general unless they have a central resource that ties all the discussion together. But at some point, I definitely see myself going into the forum business.
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Forum visitors are loyal but tend the CTR (Click Through Ratio) of these visitors and Forum sites overall are much much lower than blogs.. blog readers are more likely to click on ads… so unless you have more than 100,000 members with 50% active vs sleeping ratio.. don’t expect good money.
One more thing.. Warez and downloads related forums are another case.. I know a few guys making money with Ad brite …
I have posted the above comment because I have un-successfully ran few niche forums for over a year… at the end I am sticking with blogs.. now I own more than 5 of them and It pays for the bread and butter..
I think If I can make it upto 10 blogs, I can afford a good car 😉
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The answer to the question in your title would depend on the entity behind the blog or forum and the amount of resources available to commit to idea.
I completely disagree with you that a blog is more expensive to run than a forum. How can you come to that conclusion anyway?
A forum involves managing so many people which is by no way an easy task. With blogs, all you need do is post relevantly regularly and moderate the comments.
Oluniyi David Ajaos last blog post..DSTV Africa: No more SABC Africa, where is CNBC Africa?
I know nothing about blogging , but i really like forums. If you are lucky and find a good one.
Maybe i will check it out for my self one day.
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I think that forums and blogs are equal in terms of making money from them. It all depends on the niche and how you run your forum or blog. If you run your forum wisely, and get your members to deliver a good content, and then organize this content in a proper way, then you can monetize your forum just fine. It is the same with blogs. So I think the question itself is not very good. I am sure that many forums were sold (and are being sold) on the internet. I think I read in one of Yaro Starak’s posts that he sold the forum he once got.
So it is all really about your determination, mindset and business plan.
I must say a big thanks to you all for taking time to share your thought on this topic. It will be foolish to say that I know it all. For this particular topic, I actually set out to learn from others that know better. So a big thank you for sharing your knoweledge.
What I really know very well is that I want to make money online, and that in a legitimate way! 😉
It has been educative reading your comments. Please keep shedding more light. Who knows, I may just start a forum based on the acquired knowledge. I am not kidding 😉 Call me greedy no problem. Cheers.
Naijaecash, what a cheap way to do an online survey for free. That’s intelligent of you.
I run a blog:; http://www.geniusplanet11.com and also a forum at http://www.geniusmarketonline.com. My conclusion is that both of them require commitment to get the desired results. The blogger and/or administrator must be an intelligent business man who understands working hard and working smart. The combination of the two gives an awesome result.
I wish you the best in your plan to put in extra effort into your forum now that your blog is “successful”‘
You are a wonderful writer.I have a blog and I think it is easier to manage than a forumI would rather blog than create a forum now.
I am also giving out free adsense-ready websites to anybody that may be interested.Anyone interested in having one can register at http://www.nairaplus.blogspot.com
Please,how did you get the forum management job?
Hi.
I run some blogs: olumideadeleye.com and moviesbooksandsongs.com and a forum: kudizone.com. Although the three are in different niches and it is difficult to generalize, I would say that a forum is more profitable in the long run.
A blog is more like one person trying to keep people on his site. A forum on the other hand is a collective effort. It is much more difficult to get running than a blog. Getting people interested in a forum while it has no traffic and little membership is hard. But when it picks up, it’s like everybody contributing to make your business work.
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I really thank you all for your kind contribution here. but i will not agree with you concerning the forum. Forum is far more better and profitable at the long run then blog. Forum can be sold just as expensive as a website or even more then, but blog can not be sold and infact according to statistic blog can not be sold up to $1000 but you have seen a a forum sold for $10,000 and above and in Nigeria our pupolar forum call nairaland.com was said to worth N150 Million Naira and who can compliment it…
I have manage a forum before in 2005 till 2009 which i sold for $5000 and presently i’m running a forum again which of can visit to confirm my proof with my 2011/2012 forum at webdollarsforum.com and hoping for a better day even though i’m not intending to sell the forum but it is still possible to make money with forum and if you want to sell it with the traffic and membership, you will sell it very expensive.
I have also manage a blog for 7 years now which you can take a visit at billgatesguide.blogspot.com , autoinsuranceclaims.blogspot.com and googlemillionaires.blogspot.com and i’m making a little money from them monthly from google though i recieve Google check from them but the money can not be compare with the money i can make if i want to sell my forum webdollarsforum.com as traffic increases and sign up also increases.
Hope i have tried to answer your questions. thanks for your work here. keep it up