I have finally finished my recommended page filled with publisher programs, forum products and webhosting solutions that I am currently using or have used before. For those of you that may just be subscribed to my RSS feed I am writing a post about it so that you can read the page.
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The list below contains various publisher programs, forum products and webhosting solutions that I have used before and highly recommend to other forum owners and bloggers. I have had a lot of experience working on the net and have only listed programs or companies I have had first hand experience working with. The list will be updated as I find more great programs or companies that I can recommend to my readers.
Google Adsense:
One of the best ways to monetize your website is with Google Adsense. And if you don’t already know, Google Adsense serves up contextual ads simply by placing the code on your website. You can choose from a slew of different ad sizes and customize the color scheme as much as you want. I use Google Adsense on nearly every forum and website I own because it does so well and it’s so easy to use. It’s also one of the easiest publisher programs to get approved for. So if you’re starting up a small forum and looking for a few ways to pay the hosting bills, try Google Adsense.
Text-Link-Ads:
Text Link Ads is just that; a text link advertising program. The approval process is a little more strict as they require you to be at least a PR3, if not higher to be approved. If at first you’re denied you can always call them up and ask to get in ;). The great thing about TLA is that it requires absolutely no work after the code is inserted on your website. You don’t have to change link colors to see what works better, change ad formats, ad placement locations or anything else that you often times have to do with other programs to improve your earnings. With TLA, simply input the code and they take care of the rest. TLA has a marketplace where advertisers can find your website and then purchase monthly links on it. In exchange for selling the links for you TLA takes 50% of the proceeds from each link sale, but I think this is a fair amount. I wouldn’t have sold any of these links by doing nothing if it weren’t for TLA ;). This is one of the easiest ways to add an additional unobtrusive revenue stream without sacrificing a lot of space on your website or annoying your users with ugly ads.
Kontera:
Kontera’s “Content Link” is another publisher program that an help make money on forums. Kontera’s code “reads” your webpage and then applies advertisements to various keywords found on the page content. It adds two underlines to the keyword that when hovered over pops up an advertisement. This program is a little more intrusive, but helps provide an additional revenue stream without having to sacrifice any of your previous advertising space.
vBulletin:
vBulletin is the leading forum software on the net and in my opinion the best solution out there. A single license is $160, with multi license discounts that go into affect as you purchase more licenses. I use vBulletin on every forum I run and have had an incredible experience using it. The community of webmasters that run this software is huge. If you have any trouble using vBulletin and need some help you can ask at the official forums, or at vBulletin.org (which is also home to a huge variety of sweet forum modifications). vBulletin
is the only forum software I use now and the only one I recommend using.
vBSEO:
vBSEO is a plugin that you install onto your vBulletin forum that drastically improves vBulletin’s ability to be indexed in the search engines and help provide search engine traffic. If you’re interested in reading more about how vBSEO performs check out my case studies. vBSEO has helped to send me more search engine traffic than I previously received before installing the plugin and I highly recommend the product.
vBskinworks:
vBskinworks is a great source for high quality vBulletin skins. It’s important to differentiate your forum from other forums and one step in that direction is to ditch the standard vBulletin skin that comes with the license and get something that will better fit the focus of your forum. I currently use a vBskinworks forum skin on my forum WorldofWarcraftBoard.com. Another advantage of going with a premium skin is that you don’t have to worry about updating your vBulletin skins by yourself after a new version of vBulletin comes out. You can simply download a new skin package and upload that to your site. vBskinworks also has an amazing deal going on right now where if you buy one skin you get another skin for free!
Click to check out vBskinworks vBulletin skins
Extreme Pixels:
Extreme Pixels also offers premium high quality skins for a wide variety of forum software including vBulletin. The first skins I ever bought for vBulletin were from Extreme Pixels. I used one on GamingVidz.com for nearly two years before I hired a designer to create a custom skin. They currently have a deal where if you buy two skins you get a third for free.
Click to check out Extreme Pixels forum skins
Site5:
I used Site5 shared hosting for nearly two years before switching to a dedicated solution. With Site5, I was able to host 4 forums with around 100 people active at once and about 10 other websites for less than $20 a month. Site5 is a shared webhosting provider which means two things: Hosting is inexpensive, but you have to share your server with others. I highly recommend going with Site5 if you’re just starting a forum or if you’re looking to move to an inexpensive host and don’t have a ton of traffic. Site5 also has a lot of hosting specials all the time as well.
Soft Layer:
I currently use a dedicated server from Soft Layer to host all of my vBulletin forums, blogs and miscellaneous websites. I can’t remember when my server has ever gone down with Soft Layer. My server loads are really low and I have plenty of room to grow on this server. If you’re looking for a dedicated hosting solution I recommend checking out Soft Layer. When you speak with the salesperson try and get a few services thrown in for free or the monthly price dropped down a little. I was able to get a second hard drive for free and an upgraded port.
Platinum Server Management:
I currently use Platinum Server Management to keep my server up, secure and help with any other miscellaneous tasks. I know that part of the reason why I haven’t had any problems with my Soft Layer dedicated server is because of Platinum Server Management. I began my search for a server management company while I was in the process of picking out my new dedicated server. When I was speaking with the Soft Layer salesperson she had recommended that I check out PSM because many Soft Layer customers had great things to say about them. I checked out the company and found that PSM only manages servers with cPanel and that just so happens to be the control panel software I’ve been using for a few years. Besides, if they only work with one conrol panel software (cPanel in this case) then they must know it really well AND PSM was only $29 a month! When I was looking around at some other server management companies she had recommended I found many prices in the $60 to $100 a month range, so to find a service that I really needed for only $29 a month was a steal. I highly recommend Platinum Server Management if you use cPanel and want help administering the server, keeping it secure, performing server migrations and more.
Click her to check out Platinum Server Management
Again, this list will continue to grow as I find more great companies to purchase products or services from and try out new publisher programs to use on my forums and blogs. I hope this list helps you out.
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