Profitability of forums

[WallaceCleaver]

I don't mean to be rude, but I am toying with the idea of starting up a web site that is nothing more than a forum, ala Webmaster World, and I was wondering is this site profitable?

I'm not planning on starting a site that has anything to do with webmasters, so there isn't an issue of sharing info with the compitition.

I was just hoping that you could give me a few pointers before I possibily waste my time on a site that won't turn a profit.

[freeflight2]

I know a couple forums (or forum like sites) making huge profits ($1M/yr range) - you need a ton of traffic though... I am talking about 100Ms of page views and several million unique users/month. And you should be unique and a leader in a particular segment/market.
I am not familiar with the internals of WebmasterWorld but obviously it's much more than a forum ('officials' from Y, G, MSN visiting+making it an authority, WebmasterWorld conference etc.)

[Sanenet]

making huge profits ($1M/yr range)

You mean like this one? :)

[WallaceCleaver]

Ok, but how does Webmaster World (or any forum) make much money? I don't see any ads beyond that one in the top right corner and I haven't located any affiliate links either.

[txbakers]

monthly/quarterly/annual memberships

[WallaceCleaver]

Ok, well what about forums that don't lend themselves to memberships. Can they be monatized?

[encyclo]

You might want to try the Forum Community Building [webmasterworld.com] forum for some ideas. Check out this thread [webmasterworld.com] from that forum's library [webmasterworld.com] for starters.

[Essex_boy]

hey try asking Brett ;)