This is just an example situation, but you might want to start a forum on vehicles. Well, there are plenty of different vehicles, such as: planes, cars, bikes, and boats. There are also plenty of forums on each of those, too. If you just make a forum about vehicles, possible registrants will just flock to the other preexisting forums. So, you need to come up with a more specific focus, and make it somewhat unique. So, you've decided you want to make the forum about bikes. That's more specific, right?

Well, it's specific enough. But, I'll be damned if there aren't other forums for bikes. There are all sorts of bikes, too. You'd probably be fine starting a forum on bikes, but you'd probably want to be more specific and make it about motorbikes. That's specific enough, and it will attract people that ride motorbikes. But what if you want to make the forum just about motorbike parts? After all, you'd rather not moderate posts about biker gangs and whatnot. Well, now you're making the niche very specific, which you might want to avoid.

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Not specific enough: A forum about vehicles in general
Not very specific: A forum about vehicles with wheels
Relatively specific: A forum about bikes
Pretty Specific: A forum about motorbikes
Very specific: A forum about motorbike parts
Way too specific: A forum about motorbike handles

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If you made the forum about motorbike handles, then it'd be way too specific. The point is, when you're picking your niche, try to be specific but not way too specific. If you'd like to discuss other stuff on your forum, you can broaden your focus later on. But, you want to wait until there's a demand for it, or there's enough activity to broaden your focus. Sinisterly originally started as a security forum. After people started discussion on new topics, new sections were added.

Your forum's name is extremely important. If you made a motorbike forum and decided to call it something stupid like "Fiery Hot Flame Forums", you're unlikely to get very many members. I have a history of picking incredibly stupid forum names. You might even think the forum name Sinisterly is pretty dumb. But, I do know one of the most important things is your forum's name. You want to pick a name that suits the niche you've chosen and make sure it characterizes your forum.

You don't want people to think your forum is generic or common, so pick a name that's specific and unique. You might to ask other people for ideas or thoughts on names you're considering. Also, make sure there is a domain available for the name you choose, and ensure that another forum of the same niche isn't using the same name (or it can get embarrassing). You don't want to have to change the name later on, so give it some good thought.

If you just create a forum, hoping people will find you on Google and join, you're wasting your time. Generally you want your site to have a backbone when you start it. You need a few members that share your interests to help start the forum and get it running. If you know a few people in real life, that's great. Asking people you already know can be very efficient and you might already trust them. But, if you don't know anyone that shares your interests, here's a few tips.

• Be involved on other forums that have a niche similar to the one you are thinking of picking and know the audience. Might want to avoid any that have the exact same niche, though.
  
• Just simply registering on sites isn't going to do it. Being involved means that you're active in the community. Engage in friendly chatter and share your knowledge. Don't be selfish.
  
• After a while, you'll know a bunch of other people and they might share your interests. Let them know you're making a forum soon. Ask if they might be interested.
  
• Don't just join a forum, randomly solicit members, and expect for them to be the backbone of your new site. That won't work and you'll just piss people off.

Once you have a few people that have decided that they would like to be a part of your new and upcoming site, you can get the ball rolling quite quickly. But, that's not all there is to it.

Being a forum owner can be a full-time job. It can also be a simple hobby. You need to decide how you'd like to run your forum, how big you'd like it, and what kind of owner you'd like to be. Do you want to be controlling and keep the forum as formal as possible? That's great, if you're running it for money, or you have a community of professionals. Do you want to be relaxed and allow the forum to run itself? That's great, especially if you're a laid back person, and you'd like things to be more informal. These are things you need to know ahead of time so that things remain consistent.

Next, determine how large you'd like your forum to be in the future. It's a lot easier to ensure a site stays small or medium-sized, than it is to make a large forum. But, maybe you'll hit a homerun and your site will become much larger than you were originally comfortable with. This is why you need to know how large you'd like it to be. Be sure to consider where you will be in the future. Too many site owners have given up their massive sites, simply because they had to leave for college, or had other priorities. Make sure your choices suit your lifestyle. Below is a few things you can do to increase/decrease future activity or size.

Increase Possible Future Activity or Size

• Run contests that promote posting or involvement.
  
• Purchase advertising on other sites that might have people that would benefit your forum.
  
• Offer perks to currently active members, based on activity.

Decrease Possible Future Activity or Size

• Cease advertising. You'll get less registrants and the community will grow less.
  
• Make the forum invite-only. This generally helps a forum stays the size it is.
  
• Set requirements to join the forum. This will make your forum elite, in a way.

When doing these things, you need to make sure there is a balance. If you're wanting to make a colossal forum, you might not want to add an invitation system, or set requirements to join. MyBB provides statistics in the administration panel, in case you want to monitor things. I can't give advice specifically on how to grow a large forum, as I have found it comes with experience. The future size of your forum is largely dependent on your actions and how you do things. Be sure to plan ahead.

Just like you need your own name, you need your own logo and images to distinguish your forum from others. It's recommended you have your own logo. If you're interested in doing your own graphics, head on over to the Design section. You can find a lot of information there. Alternatively, you can pay someone else to make your logo, userbars, and other graphics. Originally, Anarchy Forums/Sinisterly's graphics were designed by me. They weren't amazing, but they distinguished us from other forums. Later on, I decided I'd have @Crow make us a logo. You can see the difference between our old logos. The new one is much more attractive. In general, people will want to join a site that looks good.

First Logo


Second Logo


Current Logo


If you have an attractive logo, it can attract new members. It's not the only thing that will help, but it's certainly one of the things that will. It's also worth mentioning that you should make sure that your logo matches the theme you're using. If the logo and the theme don't go together well, people will be less likely to join. If you're wanting to get someone else to make your graphics, you can make a request in the Buyer's Area or Design's Requests section. You might also want userbars or other graphics for your site.

Like your name or logo, your forum's theme matters a lot. I don't know of any successful forums that are still using MyBB's default theme. Your theme represents your community and is one thing people examine when they consider joining your site. It's recommended that you have a custom theme made eventually, although you can always buy a premade one for the time being. You can also make your own, although I tend to work with other people. Premade themes are cheaper than custom ones, because they aren't as unique. Below are a few places you can buy themes. I've done with with a couple of them.

Audentio Design
https://www.audentio.com/

Dynaxel
http://dynaxel.com/

Demonate
http://demonate.com/

ThemeFreak
http://www.themefreak.net/

MyBB has an amazing plugin system and I'd argue that its plugin system is one of the things that makes it so great. Plugins add new features to your forum, so it's always great to have a few of them. The one issue with plugins, is that they are often made by 3rd parties, so security could be a concern. I suggest that you only use plugins that are widely known. You can also design your own plugins, or have someone else make them for you. Below are a couple of sites that you can get plugins from.

MyBB Mods
http://mods.mybb.com/

MyBB-Plugins
http://forums.mybb-plugins.com/

MyBB Central
http://www.mybbcentral.com/

MyBB Extras
http://www.mybbextras.net/

Once your forum gets started, you might want to pay for advertising, to get its name out there. Advertising can be quite expensive, and there are many ways you can advertise. Encouraging people to refer others helps, but you might want ads. I suggest buying advertising off of sites that you have been on, which have a similar niche or member-base. If you do this, your ads are more effective. You might also want to sell ads on your site, which you can do through another company, or manually on the forum. Below are a few sites that are known for advertising.

Google Ads
https://www.google.com/ads/

BuySellAds
https://buysellads.com/

Chitika
http://chitika.com/

Adversal
https://www.adversal.com/