Comments on: How much are online forums worth?

By: Christina

Christina — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 23:06:54 +0000

It seems like most forums aren’t worth much (monetarily) so it makes sense to make the forums great from an informational standpoint. Your members will get value from it but it’s an ongoing hard process. If your forum becomes so successful that it’s worth selling, great – it’s a bonus.

By: Lisa Udy

Lisa Udy — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:37:19 +0000

I just setup a new site and I added a forum to it. I am a real estate agent, and I was thinking a forum might be cool for my clients to ask questions. The site is brand new, so I haven’t had any luck with it, but eventually I think it can take off if I put the time into getting it noticed.

By: Martin Reed - Blog Author

Martin Reed - Blog Author — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:29:17 +0000

Reckless – Glad you enjoyed it. It might be interesting to do this again in the future to see if forums are selling for more/less.

By: Reckless

Reckless — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 02:59:02 +0000

Good article backed up by solid research. Kind of reminds all of us webmasters out there to not quit our day jobs!

By: Martin Reed - Blog Author

Martin Reed - Blog Author — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 19:14:12 +0000

Eva – Developing successful communities is definitely hard work, and forums are perhaps the hardest to get right. The satisfaction you get from developing a successful forum though, is fantastic.

GetAIO – Ah well, we live and learn, eh?!?

By: GetAIO

GetAIO — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 10:55:41 +0000

believe or not, i was about to buy cod4forums.com at about $1200, ITS 20,000 NOW ouch!!!! wish i bought it!

By: Eva White

Eva White — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 07:31:40 +0000

I agree forums are important to build an online community for like minded people in the same business to come together under one place and discuss about their issues. But to develop and maintain a forum is a very tough task. A forum till it is reputed does not get success. I am not much of a forum person.

By: Martin Reed - Blog Author

Martin Reed - Blog Author — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 18:26:12 +0000

Sue – I would agree with you. Showing that a website can actually produce revenue encourages people to bid, and results in a higher selling price.

Chantix – I don’t think running AdSense can ever harm the value of a site. Simply showing that a site can generate revenue raises its perceived value – it doesn’t really matter what method you are using (so long as it is legal and ethical!).

Cody – You’re right, although often it is the smaller sites that tend to emphasise the few bucks they make each month. Larger sites can point to their content, goodwill and brand value. Revenue is important, but not necessarily indicative of a site’s true value.

By: Chat

Chat — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 23:54:22 +0000

Definitely the more money a online forum makes the more valuable it is in the average website consumer(predator’s) eyes. If you look at online forum sales threads on a webmaster forum, if the user who started the topic dosn’t mention revenue one of the first thread replied will usually be whats your monthly revenue? and will ask for stats. These days in my opinion its one of the biggest factors in website sales with the whole “make money online” epidemic.

By: Chantix Info

Chantix Info — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:50:28 +0000

I am not sure if adding Adsense alone will help. If you won’t have any revenue from Adsense for 3 months that could hurt the price you ask for the forum rather than helping.