Thinking of starting your own online community and discussion board on your website but does not know where or how to start? Well, with today’s technology advancement, creating a forum platform is easier and faster than you may think. This, in other words, meant that you can easily create and manage your own forum with just a few clicks. However, the catch is that you would have to search for a hosting provider which provides you the adequate support needed to run a popular forum.
Right, so what is considered a good enough hosting provider and what would you be expecting from them once you have signed up? Well, there are many hosting providers in the market today but only a handful that are capable of providing you affordable yet reliable hosting support for your forum hosting. One of which is Bluehost. Let’s take a look at why they are one of the better hosting choices.
SimpleScripts 1-Click Script
Bluehost offers a complete package on forum hosting. And by this I mean you can create instant forums without the need to search for additional software or applications elsewhere. And they also support PHP 100%, which is important as most forum scripts these days are written in this language.
Bluehost has partnered with SimpleScripts to provide their subscribers 5 awesome forum software applications to choose from, depending on your level of IT proficiency and your need for appearance and operation customization. Talk about having lots of choices. These forum scripts are simple to install, constantly updated with the latest features and best of all, free too! Here’s a quick guide to the forum software applications:
1. Simple Machine Forum (SMF)
Simple Machine Forum is a professional grade forum software that allows you to set up your own online community within minutes. You can fully customize the look and feel of the forum easily with its powerful custom made template engine.
2. phpBB
This is currently the most popular forum software because of its user-friendly administration panel and simple installation process. phpBB has a lot of features which are usually only found on premium forum software!
3. bbPress
This was created by the people behind WordPress so you can expect no problem when it comes to compatibility between them. It also has an extensive list of plugins, which you can install to enhance the software.
4. PunBB
This is suitable for those who want a faster and simple forum with though with lesser features.
5. Vanilla Forums
Provides easy integration with your website, social networks and has a mobile version too. If you need to integrate a forum to your website quickly and effortlessly, this forum software might be the best choice
List of Unlimited Features
Bluehost provides unlimited disk storage, unlimited site transfer bandwidth and unlimited domain hosting, thus allowing forum hosts to build their forums as big as they want with little restriction on resources. At the same time, Bluehost guarantees a 99.9% uptime so you can run your forum without having to worry about downtime, especially when you are expecting heavy traffic on your website!
Ease of Upgrading
There may come a time when your forum has outgrown the resources a shared hosting plan can provide, like when it becomes so popular that you get thousands of concurrent users at any moment. In this circumstance, Bluehost offers a stress-free and reasonably priced upgrade to a dedicated server so you need not worry about looking for other alternatives to migrate your forum.
With all these great features, it’s no wonder why Bluehost has received many positive feedback from forum hosts. And it only cost you $3.95 per month. So whether you are planning to set up a discussion board on Warcraft figurines or a community forum for novice bakers, Bluehost is one of the recommended web hosting company. And to help you get started with your forum venture, Bluehost is also throwing in freebies such as $100 free Google AdWords credit, free domain name, and free site builder with templates.
Bluehost is also one of the few web hosts who offers Anytime Money Back Guarantee! In the unlikely event that you are unhappy with their hosting services, you can cancel your account at anytime you want and they will refund your money back! No questions will be asked! Check out Bluehost now… hosting with Bluehost is really stress-free as you can get your money back if you are not completely happy.
bbPress looks good for my use since it is developed by the same people from WordPress, right? I believe it should be easy to install and use just like WordPress… good for non-IT people like me. Will try out bbPress.
Hello Mandy,
Yupe, I myself like bbPress too. It’s very easy to use and setup, just like WordPress!