How to start a forum

[sreepandiat]

How to start a forum? wanna know details from domain registration to marketing.

am new to this do explain in details
thanx in advance

[N3RVE]

Reading the stickies are good

http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=190581.0
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=135395.0

[HoTmetal]

Yes indeed stickies are nice. Hello sreepandiat, there are a ton of events that take place from registration to marketing. I'd recommend research...

There's alot involved with creating a site... from A-Z, to explain truly everything may require a book, or maybe several of them depending on your current knowledge base.

I'd recommend heading to your local library and checking out a few books that are of interest to you. You can never have too much knowledge. Once you have a brief understanding of domain names, ISP, web hosts, etc, etc, then you could dive in a bit further & learn more and ask some more specific questions online.

Here's  a few VERY basic answers to the questions you did specify....

Domain names... Godaddy.com is cheap & does a good job in the was of domain registering.


For hosting, you could ask around.. ask a few friends, or checkout our hosting section here at SMF.

For installing SMF, you should be able to do it in a few clicks, provided you have a brief understanding of things such as FTP & other gadgets on your server... (See SMF's min. requirements for what is needed to run SMF)

Now marketing, it depends.. My first step is to get your site up, then plan plan, plan... then formulate a plan & write it down make copies of it. Dedicate a set amount of time to it. Decide what your site is about? What are its goals? What resources do you have to market this site? This should get you started, but its a never ending task...

Good luck & post back here & keep us updated on how its going

[kateey]

i also want to build my own free forum. but i don't know how. any help?

[N3RVE]

i also want to build my own free forum. but i don't know how. any help?

You need web space and a domain name.
There are many Free and paid web host out there.
See this board,
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?board=4.0

Alternatively;
www.smfforfree.com