How do I start my own forum?

[Danyo]

I run a blog for house music, it's getting pretty big now and I want to expand...

How do I set up my own forum? Are there any services that do it for you so all I have to do is pick the settings and include my logo and advertisements?

Thanks for your help :)

[crazyleaf]

Starting your own forum is pretty hard. First of all there are services which offer you forum installations on their own domains, but I don't think you could add your own ads.

The best thing to do is purchase a domain, get a forum script like vBulletin (like this forum), phpBB or IPB, install it, configure it and let it ride. Like I said it's not easy, the promotion is really really hard, but once you get it going it's ok.

[flick]

yes, crazyleaf is exactly correct, let us know how you get on! :)

[Danyo]

The hardest part will be setting it up, I've got thousands of people who will actually join ready :)

Thanks for the help guys.

[Toon]

Don't let the price of VB put you off, it costs because it's the best, go for a cheap or free option expect to have a tough time competeing

[PosterManiac]

I say start off with Ipb because it more user friendly templates and really good admin control panel since this is your first forum. Try out different ones also if you start your site with joomla you can intergate fireboard with it so you can have your blog and your forum work together

[Toon]

Also not that the new version of VB will be more advanced than any other software on their next release. If combines blogs for your users, a social network layout more like facebook, image databases a bit like flickr, all VB advanced options and a front page to combine them all........

vBulletin 3.7 First Look! - vBulletin Community Forum

[crazyleaf]

Although I am running a phpBB3 forum, which I am totally satisfied with, I think the best forum script is vBulletin. Indeed I've seen some superb IPB skins, but looks aren't everything.

[Riight]

I believe free hosted forums are a good thing. I know a lot of people who run very successful forums using these services. A lot of people don't even have websites but still manage to run a successful forum. Generally the admins don't even want to move from the service even when they get to >100,000 posts, they are happy all server management is done for them and the costs involved in running a large forum are handled by the main forum hosting company.

Just try it out on this host :

forumotion.com

[Leah-Q]

Show me the most successful forum on your network and I'll believe you