Good Starting topics for a forum

[StrykerMGS]

After reading a bit of great recomendations from some of the other members about how to get a good forum off the ground, I wonder, What are some good starting forums that you should add into a forum?

Obviously an Announcements forum to let everyone know of any important updates...but what else could I add?

-Lounge?
-Suggestions?
-Advertisements?
-Graphical/Web Desgin?

I don't know if any of those would be useful. I've heared it a few times before, start off by making a forum on the board a multi-topic one, that covers a wide range of that topic, then obviously expand it to two, and so on and so on, adding as the popularity and specifics grows on that specific topic. But what are the ones that can really start it off?

Even though the main site is mostly a Graphical/Web Design Portfolio for myself, I'm trying to get my board to be a bit more multi-topic, not just constricted into 1-2 topics. I'd like to see people's opinions on other issues and events.

Any suggestions?

[nzmatt]

A forum about what annoys us. Everyone loves to winge. ;)

[jdancing]

Make sure your topic is attractive to a strong niche market that advertisers are willing to pay $10 to $7 per 1,000 impressions if your goal is to make money.

Integrate with a top notch content manager so you can have a submit an article section, submit your company, and an integrated blog. The forum plus content management seems to be the trend now.

Keep in mind that every topic has its obsessed - bike riders, SEOs, snow boarders, roller bladers (just look at the packs of 10 speeders in their matching tights and helmets going on their 3 mile rides through your suburban neighborhood) -- let the topic obsessed write the content while you control the rudder of the site and make the money.

Most importantly, pick forum and content management software that is very spider friendly so you get lots of visitors.

[rogerd]

Stryker, what do YOU want to talk about? That could be your best source of a starting point. Initially, you are likely to be the major poster - you could even start your forum off in blog-like fashion, i.e., write about a topic and invite comments.

If you want your forum to grow, of course, you have to find things that interest others. If your site has good existing traffic related to graphics & design, then logically something related to that would be a logical starting point. If you start a forum on the site with an unrelated topic, it will probably be harder to get going.

One other thought would be to pick a very narrow topic related to the site theme, e.g., instead of "Graphic & Web Design", something like, "Fun with CSS".