Honestly it does not matter how much money you throw at it.
To be successful requires more than just money.
By successful i mean loads of members posting all day every day.
Its just not that easy to achieve.
Sure you can go buy the best most expensive hosting, software and even waste loads on ads.
But if you dont have a solid niche then your not going to succeed IMHO.
To try replicate something that exists will fail.
Its not as easy as $
(01-02-2012, 02:06 AM)DAMINK™ Wrote: [ -> ]Honestly it does not matter how much money you throw at it.
To be successful requires more than just money.
By successful i mean loads of members posting all day every day.
Its just not that easy to achieve.
Sure you can go buy the best most expensive hosting, software and even waste loads on ads.
But if you dont have a solid niche then your not going to succeed IMHO.
To try replicate something that exists will fail.
Its not as easy as $
I'm not saying that cash will bring you success. Not at all. And it won't. But having no cash will sure as hell get you no where.
Mybb = free software
Noip = free domain
freehosting.com = free hosting
Google will give you a free $100 worth of ads when you join up i think. so thats $100 free advertising.
So cost is irreverent largely.
You have to consider whats important.
Is it going to be a waste of money?
Are you prepared to renew it, upgrade it, administer it?
If your serious then other things need to be considered.
Do you care about server speed and uptime when its new? If so then you gotta pay for hosting.
Do you care about brandname? If so then you need to pay for a good domain.
Domain name is cheap really... $20
Hosting starts cheap and recommend really cheap to start....Hell why not i will give you 1 year free hosting just cause i like ya PM ME about that.
Software. Well most here like mybb anyway so thats free.
So your outlay for a years hosing and a good domain is about $20
There ya go. A rambling reply with no real good info and badly formatted.
But an offer of a year free hosting just because i can.
You have to consider what's important? A domain and proper hosting is important. Try hosting a forum with more than five active members on it with free hosting. Good luck to you. If you're going to get a free $100 AdWords, then it just shows how good that service is. People give away AdWords vouchers like they're worthless, because they pretty much are.
This thread was more out of curiosity than anything and mostly for others' sake. I'm not planning on starting up a forum, I've got a lot of work to do with my blog. I'd love you to bits if you wouldn't mind I took your offer up for my blog.
But in the end, you're right. It's really not got to do with money as long as you've got enough to start yourself up with the basics. Work, time, and effort is what determines whether you're going to be successful or not.
You will need money for domain, hosting, advertising, contests etc.