In the last post from the series I discussed the establishing of your forums within the forum. You need to keep it simple and limit the forums to 8-10 in the beginning. Before we get in to populating your forum and the best methods to do that, I wanted to touch on design. Earlier this year you might have read a post titled “Get Top Quality Design For Little Money”, and I feel this needs to be touched upon once again.
You are at the point where your forum theme is established in thought, but is not yet visually appealing. I have a wavering opinion about this and for the most part it has to do with your board, the competition and what you are looking to accomplish. You have the school of thought that says design isn’t important, especially in the beginning. People point to some of the long standing “Big Boards” and show you how some of them are using the stock forum skin, whether UPB or VB or a bland custom look. I understand that this is the case, but we are in a different time today. Many experts say that you have but a few seconds to grab a visitors attention with your design elements, a recent study said it was but miliseconds. I believe a design is important and in today’s world of online communities it will help to stand out and aim for uniqueness with your forum’s design.
There are a variety of ways to find good designers, an I recommend Talk Freelance (free to post a contest or design request) or Site Point (a cost of $9.95). You need to remember that a good design will likely cost a minimum of $100-$200 and that you need to make sure to set money aside for the coding of the skin/style as well. I have seen a vBulletin style coding job run from $150 - $250. These are the cost of doing business, something which you need to consider from the very beginning if you are looking to build something that will really grow and become special.
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