How to monetize a free forum

Daniella Level 1

August 26, 2013, 12:24 pm

7

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My forum is hosted for free on a free forum site which does not allow me to ad Adsense or banners. (The banners are on the forum, but not mine, they belong to the host company). Is there any other way to monetize a free forum like this so that I can earn a little money with it?

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Beverly

Beverly

You could put up affiliate reviews on posts, along with links to the affiliate site. Or, you could sell sticky post advertisements to other similar niche forums and sites.

13 years ago

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ricky44

ricky44

Reviews are the way to go. You can earn some extra money by doing this.

13 years ago

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Beverly

Beverly

Reviews are the way to go. You can earn some extra money by doing this.

And, you'll earn so much more money from affiliate sales than you ever would from Adsense. Though paid reviews and endorsements on site usually pay very well too.

13 years ago

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Violet

Violet

You can use shortened links that pay. Though these will not be the best money maker for a forum. Also, you could post articles for money on your forum. That would be like a paid backlink.

13 years ago

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Sysode

Sysode

There are hosts avaliable that offer free hosting without the ads - nice specs as well.

Here's a list:
http://www.serversfree.com/
https://x10hosting.com/ [Best imo]
http://www.000webhost.com/

Maybe considering transferring to one of these hosts and then putting up your own adverts to attract a little money?

13 years ago

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vinaya

vinaya

You can earn by affiliate marketing from your free forum, however, if you want to have control over your forum and earn better, you need to move to a self-hosted forum. You don't need a lot of money to self-host your forum. For example, you can get $3 per month hosting easily from various web hosts.

9 years ago

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Corzhens

Corzhens

I know of a free forum that was monetized with Adsense. But it’s not the main site for the Adsense account, just an addition to the existing account. Anyway, one other forum that I know relied on contributions of supporters particularly the organizations that are related to their forum. They sometimes hold fund raising campaigns and the community members help in finding potential donors. But usually they have a charitable purpose of that fund raising campaign although part of it goes for the upkeep of the site. Isn’t it a pretty good scheme to raise money?

9 years ago

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