Help- Forum Start-up

[JohnGBUK]

I have a domain name I wish to use as a forum (currently resolves to a Yahoo group). It gets about 30 new members a week at the moment and is on it's 3rd or 4th week. I want to make changes quickly before it gets too established. Problem is, I wany to use something like vBulletin offer. BUT I have no clue on programming, I am just not a techie, just someone who can find a half decent domain name..! Is this something I am goint to be able to do if I bought the software and found the right place to host (yet another problem). Can someone spare a couple of minutes to provide your thoughts please.

 

[darrenl]

Sure could. Its pretty easy to set up. Just find a host with some bandwidth.

 

[Mr Webname]

If I can do it you can do it
vBulletin is basically easy to install as long as you follow the instructions.
If your host uses CPanel then you can probably auto-install Invisionboard as a simple alternative.

 

[hotdog_pk]

cPanel also caters for phpnuke and phpbb2 :-D if you want to plan even further ahead i recommend phpnuke.... its always good to hope.

what type of domain are you looking for?

 

[JohnGBUK]

Thanks for the advice folks. It is a UK domain name that I already own. It will be used for a site that talks about a companies product. The company has been made aware I own the domain by me (it would have been pretty obvious to them anyway). I undersatnd one of their employees is a member who posts. There is currently no dispute. It is a very famous company that has recently launched a new email product (I need say no more here). The site attacts a lot of attention and wish to use it as a question & answer forum for the product. Thank you for your advice so far, I can now look further into what has been suggested here.

 

[hotdog_pk]

i know what you are talking about. great name especially if they arent bothered about it, most of the people I know in the uk use the .co.uk version of the search engine... but i wouldnt count on this lasting when they want to expand to more geographical areas. (although we dont see hotmail.co.uk do we? so you never know)

all i can say is develop the domain fast with phpnuke or vBulletin so you can maintain lots of keywords etc.

edit: it is worth investing in the domain. go to www.elance.com or www.scriptlance.com and get somebody to create a new template/theme for whatever you use.