Forum/Website Profit Statistics Needed

DamagedShadows

Free Member
Nov 5, 2017
36
4
Hello everyone, I am needing some information for research and to show investors and I am hoping some of you can help me out with this.
I am needing some statistics on how much, roughly, your average website/forums makes from memberships paid per month.
If anyone could give me some insight on this that would be amazing :)
 

fisicx

Moderator
Sep 12, 2006
46,913
8
15,501
Aldershot
www.aerin.co.uk
I am needing some statistics on how much, roughly, your average website/forums makes from memberships paid per month.
There are no stats on this because every forum is different. Some have paid memberships (like UKBF) and some don't. Some require you to be a paid up member of an organisation but the forum is free. Some make all their money through advertising.

So if UKBF had 500 full members paying £40/year that's £2000 per annum or just over £160/month. But I don't know if UKBF has more or less than 500.
 
Upvote 0

DamagedShadows

Free Member
Nov 5, 2017
36
4
There are no stats on this because every forum is different. Some have paid memberships (like UKBF) and some don't. Some require you to be a paid up member of an organisation but the forum is free. Some make all their money through advertising.

So if UKBF had 500 full members paying £40/year that's £2000 per annum or just over £160/month. But I don't know if UKBF has more or less than 500.

Alright so how would I convince someone to give up that information? Most people aren't just going to want to give it up for the hell of it.
 
Upvote 0

fisicx

Moderator
Sep 12, 2006
46,913
8
15,501
Aldershot
www.aerin.co.uk
You could offer money. But I doubt many would even respond to your request.

I asked the moderator of a car forum I use and he would want at least £1000 for membership data.
 
Upvote 0

fisicx

Moderator
Sep 12, 2006
46,913
8
15,501
Aldershot
www.aerin.co.uk
It's not that expensive when you consider a forum may have spent a number of years and huge amount if investment getting to their current position and aren't going to give away all their secrets for free.
 
Upvote 0

fisicx

Moderator
Sep 12, 2006
46,913
8
15,501
Aldershot
www.aerin.co.uk
And you will no way of validating the info they do give. They could be lying.

Bin the idea of getting membership stats and develop your own business plan. Once you have the visitor numbers (after a couple of years) you can then start talking to investors about financial contributions.
 
Upvote 0

DamagedShadows

Free Member
Nov 5, 2017
36
4
And you will no way of validating the info they do give. They could be lying.

Bin the idea of getting membership stats and develop your own business plan. Once you have the visitor numbers (after a couple of years) you can then start talking to investors about financial contributions.

I'll just have to sell the idea to them without that information then. Either way I need investors if I'm going to start this project
 
Upvote 0
Any figure you quote is going to be meaningless, it varies enormously based on the target market of the forum.

Take two forums, each with a million hits a month, one targeting software pirates, the other targeting forex investors. Your income could be £5 for one and £50,000 for the other.

There's no way of knowing, other than finding a similar forum and asking the owner, or starting off with a small proof of concept forum and getting a decent size following. But given that you will be a rival, they're very unlikely to offer up that information.

But as someone that has run forums in the past, and currently runs a community site , I can tell you it is a hell of a lot lower than you think it is. You'll be hard pressed to run a forum as a business. The problem with forums is they are incredibly easy and cheap to set up - as soon as you start charging, someone will make a rival site overnight and steal all your traffic.
 
Upvote 0

Latest Articles

Join UK Business Forums for free business advice