This is how far you should be if you have read this far [I will assume that you went with a custom skin and vBulletin from this point on]:

- Found your niche
- Have a good domain name
- Have a good hosting plan
- Set up your vBulletin - installed
- Have a good attractive vB skin installed

What Categories/Forums should I make?
Now, it’s time to start adding forums, and getting your forum ready for the launch! When considering which forums to put, you should know beforehand that the maximum number of forums on your forum should be 10. Suggested amount is 5-6. Don’t have any more forums than that in a brand new forum, or it will hurt you in the future when we start advertising your forum. Here are a few suggested forums that will get you better results:
- Introductions Forum
- General Discussions Forum
- Suggestions/Announcements Forum

Also, your introductions forum should be at the very top of your forum, followed by the General Discussions forum. At the very end should be your ‘Suggestions/Announcements Forum. This is because, if you really think about it, new members really don’t care about your site news, or updates. Encourage them to post, and the best/most common place to post is in Introductions and General discussions forums. Suggestions/Announcements forum being at the bottom allows easy access by experienced members.

Getting Ready for Traffic…
Now that you have that handled, there are many small details that you should be aware of. Make sure that you’ve edited the default vB stock guest message to a creative one, and offer something special encouraging guests to register. Maybe a free ebook, or something similar.

Now comes the most important part of creating a forum. Find help! I would say, a brand new forum just starting out should have at least 5-10 moderators helping out. It can either be friends, family, or volunteers you find on similar forums. Make sure that they are at least interested in the topic of your forum, and is willing to visit daily to post/moderate posts. Also, you must be prepared to do some posting work yourself. As the admin of the forum, be ready to make at least 15-20 posts per day. You have to be the one leading the whole thing. Encouraging your moderators and new members to post by making quality and thoughtful threads/posts yourself.

Advertising!
Here comes the most critical part of your forum’s delicate life; the launch. This is very important, and everything must be perfect. If your forum uses 50% of your bandwidth your host provides already, then make sure you upgrade right away. The worst thing that can happen to your forum is to have a suspended page rejecting all visitors.

There are many many ways to advertise, although it is very important to start strong. This is optional, but it may be wise to start with a forum population company before starting an advertising campaign. I would suggest a pervious site that I used to own, WiredFlame.com, for high quality forum posts that are REVIEWED and MODERATED before the job is finished. Next, you should start with a launch contest. The reason contests are so successful, even for full grown web forums, is because they generate activity, invite new registrations, and ‘builds community’. Take out $200 for a cool gadget that is related to your niche, or simply get an ebay gift card for the contest. It’s up to you.

And there you go. Now your forum is ready for the World Wide Web! If you have any questions or suggestions of any sort, please feel free to email me at webmaster[at]kinkarso[dot]com. I wish you the best of luck, and hope you find my little article helpful :D.

Thank You,
Donny