Setting up your own forum can be a good way to interact with
your customers and prospects.

You can use it to provide a resource for customers as I do
with the Software Gold Club, but there are many other ways
to use forums, which can directly boost sales.

One method is to make your forum visible to anyone visiting
your site. Many prospects visiting your site will check out
the forum to see what others are saying about your products
- and how you respond to customer questions and problems. A
favourable impression can encourage them to buy.

You can also use a forum as a traffic generating method for
your business, by setting up a discussion forum on a
particular subject. This can be particularly effective for
promoting niches.


If you're interested in setting up your own forum, but
haven't a clue where to begin, you'll find this brand new
article useful...



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How To Setup Your Own Forum In Minutes - At Zero Cost

For many webmasters, forums (also know as discussion boards)
are one of the most important tools they have.

Forums provide your online business with a way to hear out
other people’s comments and suggestions about your products
or services. They can also be used to provide support - or
even as a way to attract new customers.

Many webmasters are put off the idea of starting their own
forum simply because they think it will be complex to setup.

However I'm about to show you how you can establish your own
forum in around 2 minutes flat, complete and ready to use
and (if your web host supports it) at absolutely zero cost.
I don't care if you've never installed a script in your
life. With the method I'm about to show you, even a child
could easily set up their own forum.

To do this, you will need a system called "Fantastico". This
is included as part of many web hosting packages. If you
don't have Fantastico already, I'll give you the details of
an excellent low cost hosting package which includes
Fantastico, at the end of this article.

Fantastico can automatically install a huge selection of
useful scripts, but we're just going to focus on forums in
this article. To use Fantastico, login to your web hosting
Control Panel (or "Cpanel") and click on the Fantastico icon
(it's a big blue smilie so it's easy to spot).

Fantastico generally includes at least two forum script
options, but the most popular - and probably the best for
general use - is PHPBB.



Here is how to install your forum:

1. Using Fantastico, click on the PhPBB2 option (under
"Discussion Boards" - the technical name for "forums"). It
can be found in the list on the left side of the screen.

2. Make sure that you have enough “disk space” in order to
install the application - Fantastico will tell you if you do
not.

3. To start the installation process, click on the "New
Installation" link on the right hand side.

4. Choose the domain that you would like to install your
script on (only relevant if you are hosting multiple domains
on the same web hosting account).

5. Enter the name of the folder (or "directory") where you
want the script installed (for example "forum"). Fantastico
will create the folder for you.

6. Select an admin user name and password which you will use
to login to the forum admin area.

7. Enter the site name (this is actually the name of the
forum and will be shown to users). Enter a short description
of the forum (this can be just the name again if you
prefer). Enter your e-mail signature (usually just your own
name or the name of your business). Enter the admin e-mail
(i.e. your own email address).

8. Click "Install" button to start the process. Fantastico
will show you a few technical details and a "Finish
installation" button. Click this and the installation will
be completed. It will only take a few seconds - and then you
will see something like this...

/home/..../public_html/forum/config.php configured
/home/..../public_html/forum/data.sql configured

with a "Please notice:" note below and the link to your
admin area and to the forum itself. Ignore the "email
details of the installation to yourself" box.

Your forum is now setup and ready for use.

That's all there is to it!

You just installed your own forum.



You can install several different forums on the same web
hosting too if you wish. Simply use Fantastico to install
each forum into a different folder on your web host.

Fantastico can install lots of other scripts for you
automatically too, such as emailing programs, blogs, full
ecommerce scripts and many other useful web applications.
Take a look through the list and choose the script you want,
then follow the simple step-by-step process.


If your web hosting doesn't support Fantastico - or even if
it does but you're not 100% happy with them, you should take
a look at our superb Web Business Pro membership site. We
offer top of the range web hosting with full Fantastico,
huge bandwidth and disk capacity, support for an unlimited
number of domains (so you can host as many sites as you want
without paying any extra) and much more, all for just $9.95
a month, with no setup costs.

You'll also gain access to a huge selection of webmasters
resources, training materials, newsletter building resources
and much more - hundreds of dollars worth of software and
resources, all included in your $9.95 a month payment.

For full details, please visit...

Hostgator Web Hosting