Divspace Community Forum
Well, I did it. I decided to buy vBulletin today. On top of that, I ordered vBSEO as well. I’m trying to figure out what exactly I want the forums to be about, and it definately isn’t an easy thing.
I guess the hardest part is coming up with the categories. I can literally organize it a thousand different ways, and I must have edited the titles a hundred times already. The hard part is that you don’t want to get so focused on every subject, but at the same time, it makes it much easier in terms of navigation.
For example, website monetization, e.g. advertising sales, affiliate programs, etc. I can break down the Advertising forum into Google AdSense, Yahoo! Publisher Network, and other popular advertising services. I can list all the affiliate programs like Commission Junction and ValueClick. I can also have forums for e-books, newsletters, and eCommerce. There are so many different ways to generate money from your website, but where do you draw the line? Would it make more sense to just have a forum for “Making Money” and letting people talk about any of the above mentioned topics? Or does it make more sense to categorize it so things are easier to find.
You can see what I’m going through right now, and for anyone who has ever tried to setup a forum, you’ll understand what I mean. I’ve setup forums before, and this is the first time I’ve bought vBulletin, but it never gets easy.
Anyways, I think I’ll keep the focus of the forum on subjects that I also write about: web design, graphic design, programming, advertising, search engine optimization and marketing, etc. I’m hoping to launch this pretty soon too.
Working with vBulletin has also given me the chance to code a template entirely in CSS. It’s something I have wanted to do for a while, and if you have ever been to vBulletin’s website, you would know why they haven’t done this yet. They don’t seem to focus too much on design. I’m actually surprised that they haven’t converted to CSS yet. I have also seen contests for pure CSS templates, and though many have tried, they—to be totally honest—suck.
If you have any suggestions I’m open for them. Nothing is final right now, and I have a lot of coding to do in the backend. It will be pretty easy though, I’ve worked with vBulletin on some pretty large websites before, like the Marijuana.com community of websites, which includes CheapTalk, 420 Lounge, and the Garden’s Cure.
So keep an eye out, I’m pretty excited about this—except for coming up with categories!
December 5th, 2006 at 11:41 am
Start small. Very small. Create a handful of forums. Nobody posts in forums where 90% of the forums have no posts in it.
December 24th, 2006 at 09:59 pm
I’m curious, do you plan to integrate whatever CMS you end up using with vBulletin?
Heck, even if you don’t, I’d be curious to know what CMS you’re going to end up using for the website. You said in a previous post that Wordpress was starting to feel limited to you, but are you sticking with it anyway?
December 24th, 2006 at 11:36 pm
Well right now I’m using WordPress, and I’m not a fan of using a CMS either. I actually never have. I’ve been working with my copy of vBulletin for a while now, and it’s already pretty hacked up. It’s done entirely in CSS, so no tables at all, and even the way the forum posts are laid out is completely different than a typical forum. Think SitePoint (the “index” page for their forums) and Digg meeting together.
As for how I’ll be publishing articles, I think it will be easier to setup an moderated forum with anonymous (guest) posting and only I can post new threads. Each thread would be a new article, and they would be pulled directly onto the front page. That way, it would function exactly like WordPress with the no need to register posting ability.
I’ve had to delay any work on this site though, including articles, because I’m working on a complete redesign and upgrade for a really exciting client of mine. More details later though, and Happy Holidays.