Forum Hosting (Novice) - Where to Start?

[McN41R]

I would like to be able to host my own forum. Not really decided whether own server or rented server. I ahve used a free forum and I have hosted my own web page before but I have not hosted a forum.

I just dont know where to start???, so if somebody could give me a shove just to get me going.

I would like my forum to be similar in appearance to this on (so I assume php is fine), but instead of a site map I would like to show "affiliate web sites" and a "searchable database" which the results would again link to various affiliate web pages?

So any advice on:

where to host and possible by the domain name?


What softawre to write and manage a php forum?

How to put a searchable database on the side?


Thanks for the push

Regards
sandy

[sb123]

Get a cPanel hosting. Initially when your forum doesn't have too many members and bandwidth is not a problem, a shared cPanel Hosting will be an economical option for you.

Later on, you can always upgrade to VPS hosting, or if money is not a constraint, a dedicated hosting plan, or a semi-dedicated hosting, or any other hosting plan that gives you more space and bandwidth as needed.

Choose a niche market that you are comfortable with, and get a relevant domain name, preferably a dot com.

Forums are loved by search engines because the forums are constantly updated with fresh content (through all those new comments, posts, and threads). Concentrate on getting members, traffic, and relevant and valuable comments. Also allow to seep in some general comments too. Absolutely stop the Spam comments.

You will get a forum program right inside the cPanel (see Fantastico), or get some custom-made forum scripts. Search on the internet.

Read this link for detailed information:
Choosing Forum Software

P.S.: This forum is Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.2 (See at the bottom of this page).

For all your hosting needs:
eUKHost's cPanel Hosting

[McN41R]

Good response, thanks for that.

If anybody has any further advise or opinions please continue to post.
sandy

[Cenial]

As for forum software I would suggest using Vbulletin as once you are a member you will have access to vbulletin org addons/mods/skins which are easy to use and will have the search function you wish and the look you would like.

[WelshTom]

As for forum software I would suggest using Vbulletin as once you are a member you will have access to vbulletin org addons/mods/skins which are easy to use and will have the search function you wish and the look you would like.

phpBB3 FTW! The best software is open source.

[charlesgan]

you can start with shared hosting and open source forum, if you have a budget issue.

If you aimed to commercialize your forums and bring it further, repeatedly you need to have popular forum scripts like vbulletin.

Once your forum is growing you can consider to upgrade to vps hosting or Dedicated Server Hosting.

[kendalbigson]

it depends on the size of your forum, but dedicated servers would be the best choice.

Kendal Bigson

[manolis]

phpBB3 FTW! The best software is open source.

Yes i agree with you but if you try to update a phpBB3 forum that is heavily modified with mod's etc then ....you got serious problems.

I vote for VBulletin as specially in ver 4.x has many more features.

[deepy420]

I know this is an old thread, but I found this via a search engine and I think it might be helpful to anyone else who finds the thread that way... You don't necessarily need a server or even software to start a forum. You can just use forum hosting instead. Check out website toolbox forums or run a google search for "forum hosting". I decided to go that route.

[Catherine]

I would recommend you to choose a cPanel hosting plan to start with and consider a CLoud hosting plan if your requirements increase in future. A Cloud hosting plan can be customized as per your requirements and after you have an experience with the cPanel hosting plan, you will get an idea as to which resource is highly consumed by your website.

[Macdale]

You can choose a hosting plan according the future growth requirements and using the Softaculous you can easily create a forum with very few steps. You don't need a different software. Softaculous is a one click installer, that offers more than 176 free scripts based on PHP to install. It contains various forum scripts which you can install very quickly. You can choose a cheap web hosting plan or any that would suit your budget and requirements.

[Phnx]

By now, I assume your forum must have gained much popularity and grown in size (number of users as well as database). I am curious to know the affordable web hosting package that you had chosen and whether have you felt the need for an upgrade?

[alibalavi]

thanks for your useful topics.