While some current Administrators and owners say that it’s “too late” to get into the world of forums, I don’t think it is any reason to stop people from starting a Forum at all.
There are plenty of forums out there that are “matured” and are behemoths creating tons of money for their owners as well as tons of new threads, posts, and registrations daily. Then there are the newer forums that don’t have quite the same strength in the search engines, pagerank or other positives that are some keys to success in the web world but have positives in their own right.
Many of the larger forum owners will say to “not bother”, “don’t waste your time, you wont get anywhere”, “all the markets for forums are flooded” comments or something similar. To that I say bullshit. I dove into one of the most saturated automotive niches with my F-Body site, but I did it because I wanted to and it has worked out so far. No; I haven’t made millions, haven’t made it to the top of Google, or anything of the sort. However, I am having fun and gaining a solid group of members on my site that I feel makes it a great place to be, even without the size and strength of an LS1tech or CamaroZ28 forum.
I’m sure there are some people who wonder why I’m stating my opinion when my largest site is a 175 member Camaro and Firebird Automotive forum. THAT is exactly why I do what I do. I plan on succeeding and don’t care if someone else is above me in Google. I’d love to be at the top of any search engine, but with my Forum being 6 months old that is a hard feat to conquer in any market, especially automotive.
It’s very true that one of the most important parts of a forum is its activity. I am constantly trying to find new ways to stir up more threads and posts for my current users, as well as add new registrations. That is where time comes in. I will not make a blog sitting here telling you the “Quick Fix” on how to get tons of registrations and posts on your forum because they are too good to be true. Time is a great asset to your forum, so sit back, enjoy your “young” days, let your forum grow older and wiser, and don’t let other people tell you otherwise.