I am considering adding a forum to my website, however, i am beginning to comtemplate whether or not it would just be a waste. I only offer one product right now and its not a reoccuring charge just a one-time fee. I usually use forums as a way to keep visitors coming back to my site to hopefully purchase more products but since i have no other products is it worth it to install/moderate a forum?

The big question is whether it would be useful and usable for potential customers? Personally I'd suggest having a Frequent Questions section on your site that addresses the most common enquiries you get. Why force people to go through the hassle of registration etc when they could find the answer in one or two clicks?

i do have an FAQ section on my website currently.

It is worth installing if you have traffic above 400 uniques daily. Otherwise do not bother

Originally Posted by weker

It is worth installing if you have traffic above 400 uniques daily. Otherwise do not bother

I agree with Weker, I would even suggests 600+ uniques before you add a forum. If you do decide to add a forum it's a really good idea to create 'fake' users and make some posts/replies to make it look some what busy.

Originally Posted by sequencehosting

I agree with Weker, I would even suggests 600+ uniques before you add a forum. If you do decide to add a forum it's a really good idea to create 'fake' users and make some posts/replies to make it look some what busy.

Even at 400 uniques per day it is hard to get a forum started unless you are actively promoting it. Starting a community isn't a walk in the park. If you have a large mailing list you could always send out a newsletter regarding your forum.

However if you are just adding a forum just to add one, I wouldn't recommend it. If you have a purpose for it such as customer support, answering questiosn.. etc then it may be worth it.

We currently have 1500 UV per day, sometimes spiking up to 2000 to 2300. Our forum link is only on the home page, which may be one reason why we haven't had very many members join the forum. We haven't promoted the forum yet, but probably will soon.

However, we will use our forum for customer support and answering questions for potential buyers. It will also (hopefully) help us get ranked for some other keywords if we have a lot of people posting.

If its gonna be useful for your users and business, you should go for it.

The question should be not "Is it worth it" because the answer will be a very large NO!!!

The amount of time and work needed to maintain and monitor a forum is not worth the traffic it won't bring.

A better question would be "Is there a need for a forum for this product.

Starting a forum purely for the dubious SE benefit is the quickest way to make sure it becomes a chore and soon gets filled with pharmacy, mobile (cell) phone, shoes & trainers, russian porn, "matrimonial script junk" and other assorted flavours of spam that you can't spare time to clean up.
A forum for your customers has to be started FOR THE CUSTOMERS rather than some vague idea that it will be another SE "asset" because I can honestly say it won't be!
Been there done it for a couple of clients, and I can honestly say that the spam fighting took 4 or 5 times the amount of time that went into looking after customers (existing or potential)

I agree completely with Chris. Are people visiting your site and wishing they had a way to start a conversation with you and each other? Would a support forum help customers with your product.

Forums are not easy to run and they are even harder to get going. An empty forum isn't going to look good attached to your site. Don't set up a forum just for the sake of setting up a forum or because of some perceived seo benefit that doesn't exist. Add a forum to your site if it makes sense for the people visiting your site.

I think you should have a forum. As you said you are posting on other forum sites.

So why don't you create a forum and bring your visitors on your forum and you can solve there problem instantly on that forum. It will also help to improve you sells.

You also have to consider the extra amount of work that needs to be done through moderation etc. Undesirable types like to use forums as a spamming ground.

Forums are so much work, if a forum looks empty people wont use it but when a forum starts it is empty. You'll either pay people to make posts to make it look busy and before you know it you'll spend hours every day monitoring it deleting spam etc

And if its just for business to earn money, I think there are easier ways Do it if you love it and useful for your existing services.

I agree with everyone here. In order to have a successful forum community its vital to have high traffic and an interesting topic as well.

i say no. since your just offering one product? let's say you add a forum, what would be the categories you'll place there? and maintain a forum is tough and you need to spend time on it.

If you are really helpful person then definitely it is worth to add a forum and also it is useful for your business also.

If you don't believe chris about the spam, take a look at this.

http://www.tipsforwebtraffic.com/forum/

I gave up on fighting the spam. I didn't have but 4 actual people posting on it anyway. In my case, it was not worth it.

Originally Posted by WebTraffic

If you don't believe chris about the spam, take a look at this.

http://www.tipsforwebtraffic.com/forum/

I gave up on fighting the spam. I didn't have but 4 actual people posting on it anyway. In my case, it was not worth it.

All forums need the mods put time to maintain it. Just not only forums, but all websites.

I added a forum to a couple of sites, really mostly attracts spammers.

Too much overhead to keep the content clean

I think forums are good for most websites.