Forums are widely used to develop communities. For a website, they had a whole new source of traffic and the opportunity for getting more from the long tail search results. Forums cost money to run and there is considerable need for monetizing a forum.
Monetizing a forum can take many different forms:
- Sell premium membership with additional benefit ad content
- Pay-per-click advertising, such as Google Adsense
- Sell advertising space
- Affiliate marketing, such as eBay and Amazon. Specific products in the niche can also be used
- Donations