The first thing is getting a domain name, getting the forum web host, getting the forum software, changing the theme or style and doing any customisation that is wanted. Then the forum has to have a lot of posts and content added. It is important to recruit staff as they will help mold the forum, be significant contributors to the forum and help police the forum as it grows. Forum spam, especially vBulletin spam, is a big problem.
Then search engine optimisation comes in to rank the forum high in the search engines. You need to submit the forums to forum directories and social bookmark sites. You can also send your forum RSS feed to Twitter.
Once you have the content in place and some good traffic, these visitors then need to be converted to members, then the members need to be converted to regular posters. Then there is the ongoing monitoring of the forum, the management of the staff and the members.
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