are forums more valuable than content sites?

[ramprage]

Are forums more valuable than content sites in terms of profit? Which site will make more on ads?

Are you better off developing a content site with articles on the top or a forum and get users participating in discussions on the topic?

[John]

Thats not really an easy question to answer, it depends on so many different variables. Content sites can be very profitable and so can forums. This question comes up all the time and I am always wondering why people think they have to create a content site or a forum, why not do both. Create a solid content site with a forum.

[ramprage]

That's the thing, both my sites are both but was wondering what others have to say that use either a sole content based or a sole forum based site :)

The reason I'm asking is because I am considering lauching a big forum but it could also be a content site with comments... I think ads have a higher CTR from content sites if I'm not mistaken. Generally users don't click many ads on forums as they could for a content site.

[John]

Well with forums users tend to go "ad blind" because they see the same ads in the same position all the time so ppc ads will probably make less then cpm advertisising.

I think forums are a lot harder to get off the ground and monetize then content sites but if you put in the time/work they can be huge cash cows.

[Cutter]

In my experience you almost have to start with a content site to get the ball rolling on a forum. Clickthrough rates for content sites will be better simply because of pageviews; I don't really pay attention to the clickthrough rate but rather revenue per visitor. Forums are a lot of work, and they really need to be big before you start seeing good earnings from them. The real benefit is their growth potential over a pure content site which relies on search engine rankings for revenue.

[Giles]

My forum is incredibly general. It gets hardly any imporessions and has only 36 members, 70% are inactive or just came to spam. My ads are relatively well optimised and I get a very unstable CTR, for a while I was getting $1 - $1.50 a day so I do believe that forums can do very well. I also know that there are a lot of people out there who just need to be shown to my forum, they would love it once they got there. I find that seeing the same ads over again can realy bring CTR down, p[rhaps rotating ads would work better, maybe even if the colours rotated on every reload...

I find that a really good place for text ads is just above or below the post reply button. And also at the very top. I know this post is all over the place, I'm not really concentrating so I hope it makes sense.

[s2kinteg916]

Forums are very hard to start but its like a snowball once u get it big enough it starts rolling on its own. As far as revenue i havent jumped into that sector yet so i dont know much about the revenue potential.

I think forums take around 6 months to a year to mature and unless u have alot of income streams coming in.... its hard to stay motivated. If you are very passionate about the niche than none of this will matter.

I would go with a content site than if needed integrate a forum...