Learn from my mistake : Forum Mistake 101

[s2kinteg916]

My writing is horrible but its improving =) .. but none the less

So i built two car forums over the years. One of them i built from the ground up and it started off great and grew into a decent community about 2500 members. Due to my bad financial management i needed money because i was going through alot of stages in my life where i couldnt devote much time to the forum. So i decided to sell it off. Well a couple weeks later the one of the forum blows up and theres about 3 to 4 times as much traffic. Close to 200 to 300 users online.

I wouldnt say its my biggest regret that i sold a community. My biggest regret would be the fact that i didnt take advantage of the resources i had. I didnt monetize the site correctly and i didnt set up a team of moderaters to help me run it. Due to my inexperience in running a community i pretty much set myself up to be overwelmed and fail.

The good thing is now i know how to build a community, how to run a community, how to gather people and leaders for a community, and how to grow the community.

Mistake number # 2

I think for us new webmasters we always expect forums to build overnight. I setup a car forum with my friend and he added content and over the last year we built a good userbase of 1400 visitors with around 200 to 300 visitors. Again in another desperation move i sold the website because i wanted to devote my time to my core websites since i couldnt handle working on more than a couple.

I failed to realize forums take time to grow and mature. In reality even though my 2nd forum didnt have much activity it followed the same path and growth of my first forum. The only difference is i didnt put much time into it so the forum couldnt grow on its own.

...

So what did i learn in all this ? forum building takes time... There were alot of things i could of done easily to help grow the communities but i never took advantage of my resources. It also helps if you pick a niche that you have alot of passion for that way its not a task just to work on it day in day out with no results.

So if i was to do this all over again would i sell the websites ? absolutely for me i learn by mistake and what ive learned about myself and my decisions in this situation outweights the income the two forums will ever make.

Ive started another forum... and im ready to try this again ... !!!!

[s2kinteg916]

...

[r2d2]

Well a couple weeks later the one of the forum blows up and theres about 3 to 4 times as much traffic.

That seems like quite a sudden distinct change. What did the new owner do to cause it? Maybe they had other car sites, and sent traffic to their new forum?

[fumbler]

There were alot of things i could of done easily to help grow the communities but i never took advantage of my resources.

As someone who has moderated a few forums and is now trying to overcome the hurdles of getting the word out there to increase membership on his own forum... can you expand more on the above quoted text?

[Kyle]

Don't ever regret what you sell... for whatever reason, you needed the money then to either improve your life, or improve other businesses more important to you.

One thing we Internet entrepreneurs can't do is regret, because the list of things "we could have done" is long.

I used to regret the massive list of premium domains I have sold over the years for good money. Then I realize that those domain sales allowed me to do things like move out of my parents house years ago, quit my old job quicker, and re-focus my attention on areas of business that matter more to me.

Developing forums is extremely hard work, and an area that I personally struggle being patient for. I have sold names like mmorpgforums.com, windowsforums.com, shoeforum+shoeforums.com, too many to count due to lack of interest in even STARTING a forum to begin with! Or starting, and quitting just as quickly.

Consider it a success that you got one going, and actually made a profit off of it. Sometimes regret is the best way to learn, as long as you don't dwell on those areas of regret for too long.

[rpanella]

Very well put Kyle. If you would have kept it and not put the time in, it could have just as easily have died down instead of blowing up. Chalk it up as a learning experience, and it will only help you be even more successful the next time you start a forum site.
________
Vaporizer manufacturers (http://vaporizer.org/forum/vaporizer-manufacturers/)

[Meegook]

What was the key to your success?

"I always sold too soon."

Bernard Baruch, Zionist multi-millionaire.

[s2kinteg916]

I definately dont regret it at all but i do see it as a mistake. I could of found better solutions if i handled it correctly. As far as what i got out of selling the sites and what i learned not just about forums is priceless. After selling those two sites i have alot more understanding of how not only i work but how the web works as well.

I started a new forum already and already setup ways to combat all the mistakes i have made in the past so im excited.

[Meegook]

We can learn more from our mistakes than we do from our successes.

[Muggle]

I'm glad I've read this, thanks guys for sharing your experience, it has cleared up lots of things for me.

[dr maas]

excellent topic

I was wandering for three monthes to find such topic

Keep on