When you have a large community and fanbase for your site, some websites take the route of creating forums for their website. In these forums, users can discuss various topics pertaining to both your site in general or go off-topic in sub-forums.

This is a great way to keep your community centralized and hooked. Once a user registers in a forum, he or she may find themselves to be at home. They will visit every day and become further involved with the site.

It is important to remember that forums are not for everyone. If your site doesn’t get enough hits to get a few comments here and there, it’s probably not in your best interest to create a message board. However, if you’re absolutely sure that you have a following large enough that they will actively post in the forum, by all means get started.

Once you have created your forums, it’s a full-time job all over again. You need to moderate your forums to make sure that there are no fights, spam, etc. Choosing moderators can be a hassle too; will they be reliable? Before creating a forum, be sure to check out other forums first and actively engage in them. You will begin to grasp the idea of how a forum works and how to get things done.

My recommended forum software include: XMB, phpBB, vBulletin, and Invision Power Board.

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