I'm wondering if starting a forum would be worth the effort.

Of course, if the forum takes off and gets a lot of people participating, I would think enough ad revenue could be generated to make the effort worth it.

Then again, I participate in some forums and I rarely click on an ad. Also, some of the forums I participate on are considered the best forums in the industry and yet there is only a small amount of new threads being started each day.

I guess it matters what type of forum it is. If it is a forum where people are just looking for conversation and information, then that is what people will do there.

However, if it is a forum based on a product or service, then people might look through the forum for information and then click on some of the ads to make purchases or find more information.

The biggest problem is getting the forum started. The first visitors all come to the forum and see there is nobody there. It is kinda like having everyone be the first one at a party. They look in the door and see there is no party going on so they go somewhere else. I guess the only way to solve this problem is to create as much content and conversation as possible through lots of work by the forum creator and anyone the forum creator can recruit to participate in the forum.

Overall, I think starting a forum is worth it. It needs to be unique enought o attract attention and interest while being active enough to encourage people to join and participate. Starting a forum is especially worth it if it is built around a topic that has a product or service that could be purchased or will drive a large amount of ad clicks.