COVERITLIVE.COM

11:46

Sheara Goldenthal - Vbulletin is a forum software. You can do everything that goes into producing a website and put it together as a complete package. Today we have some distinguished guests.

11:46

Sheara Goldenthal - First up Erika Tabke. Starting a vBulletin Community

11:48

Sheara Goldenthal - Erika just started a community 7 weeks ago and will tell us about her experience. She has no database/php/css experience however she did it. The content of her site is for women with infertility. At this point, she is generating revenue and the site is about 25% active (at 7 weeks mark).

11:49

Sheara Goldenthal - Plan and Document...first steps in building a vBulletin:

Planning is the most important. Winging it, costs time and stress. The best way is to pick a system for notes. Document your log ins, testing, data, numbers, user names and keep them all in one place. Write everything down!!!

11:51

Sheara Goldenthal - Figure out your architecture, site design, etc. Once you have registered your domain and figured out your hosting, you want to find a vBulletin-friendly site. Many hosts have lots of problems so its important to find the right host. You will also need an html editor.

11:53

Sheara Goldenthal - As for vBulletin itself, there is a new release, beta 3.0 that is launching today! This new release is going to give people a lot more choices. You can opt into the content management suite or choose forums. Phone support and purchasing installation of the vBulletin is helpful but not necessary since it is user friendly. Register for free support at vBulletin.com.

Make sure to read the manual!

11:53

Sheara Goldenthal - Competitive Intelligence:

What are the top 5 sites in your niche doing? Look at competition before you begin.

Content
Look and feel
Membership
Monetization
Forum Organization

11:55

Sheara Goldenthal - Starter Content on the vBul would include

About
Privacy
Contact
Terms of Service
Posting Guidelines

When you want to roll our your forms, you need to decide categories, forums, and subforums. Start small. Plan basic modules. Building a big forum with lots of categories is like building a HUGE mansion for two people. If you start small, and have fewer areas, it will look like you have more conversation, and grow more organically towards the needs of your users.

11:57

Sheara Goldenthal - Features and Functionality

Start simple, because the simple is complicated enough
100's of features
Many come default
No extras

Test!!

Go to URL
log in to admin control panel
look at everything
create users @ all levels
Post, edit, reply, delete, PM, etc

What are the things you want to change? Signatures? Avatars? User info? The more you turn on and want to configure, the more work you need to do.

11:58

Sheara Goldenthal - Style-wise, you start with a blank slate. Standard look. You have lots of choices:

Use stock look and feel
Edit styles/ templates of youself
Outsource design
Find/ tweak other style/templates

Most people like a simple, basic look. But you can definatly customize, and there are many free templates and designs out there. Its a plug and play to see what you like.

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