Best way to promote a business forum?

Hey guys,
I am the co owner of this project, with cpvr. Thanks for all your advice! We are seriously concidering converting to vbulletin and buying a design. We are first trying to find out if we can afford it. Does anyone know how much it generally costs to code a design you had purchased?

I don't know why I keep hearing adsense is bad though. Since we purchased the site we have made about $25 with hardly any traffic. We are earning from $4-$10 a day, usually more around the $4 range. What would our other options be?

Originally Posted by Robson I wouldn't offer a premium membership at all, you're just excluding people.

We're not planning on offering premium membership at this time - we're toying with the idea of purchasing a Vbulletin license though, and buying a customized skin, such as this one used on Talkfreelance.

Hey cpvr, there is one up for grabs in todays promotion! Starting in 30 minutes!!!!!

Originally Posted by Robson Hey cpvr, there is one up for grabs in todays promotion! Starting in 30 minutes!!!!!

Thanks Robson, just posted my entry.

I have been thinking.

Since we are on a bit of a budget, do you think it would be wise to buy a vb licence, then a design over at one of the vbdesign websites. It wouldne be totally unique but much more affordable at the moment. Would that help, or should we just go for the complete package which would cost at least $300 more?

I would wait until you had enough money to purchase a nice unique skin.

Advertising in Talkfreelance and Webhosting talk for sure, I mean paid advertising. They have very cheap $50 per month banners.

Originally Posted by Aubrey Advertising in Talkfreelance and Webhosting talk for sure, I mean paid advertising. They have very cheap $50 per month banners.

Ya, we plan to launch an advertising campaign as soon as the funds come in.
We're on a tight budget right now - we hope to purchase a VB license, a new skin, and launch an advertising campaign in a few months.

Awesome, I could imagine it is going to go far by the looks of how many you already have. Have you thought of banner ads to afford the cost of ads for your self?

Originally Posted by Aubrey Awesome, I could imagine it is going to go far by the looks of how many you already have. Have you thought of banner ads to afford the cost of ads for your self?

We already have adsense installed - making $4 a day with Adsense.
We're having a logo designer as we speak, should be done in a few days.