Although you are notified through e-mail about updates, visitors to the forums typically are aware of, and download, updates several hours before those who learn of the updates through e-mail.  Also, with every update is a thread dedicated to the discussion of that release.

Another advantage of participating in the forums is the ability to keep in touch with fellow vBulletin administrators, allowing you to learn tips and tricks from people who, like you, use vBulletin every day.

With service like this, and that you get from those of us here at URLJet, there’s nowhere for your forums to go but up, in terms of users and quality!

One way to save on those resources is to limit the usage of the search feature to users who have registered.  To accomplish this, you need only go into the usergroup edit mode for unregistered users and users awaiting e-mail confirmation.  There, you will find an option for “search”.  Click “no”, save your options, and from that point forward only registered users can search.

Although this may annoy some users, it accomplishes two things: first, it may encourage some users to register and contribute to your forums.  Secondly, it will save resources.  And, if you only allow registered users to search, you may not need to enable security features such as CAPCHA for the search feature, which in turn will bring down server resources.

vBulletin allows you to give moderator permissions to certain users, who would then have limited administrative rights on certain forums.  They would not be able to access the administrative control panel, and in fact have their own moderator control panel.

The purpose of a moderator is to keep the boards running smoothly.  A good moderator will delete inappropriate posts or threads, and take appropriate action against troublesome users.  As an administrator, you can then rest easy, knowing that your forums aren’t being overtaken by spam or trolls.

Whether you pay a moderator or not, what you need to do is ensure that the person or people you choose are trustworthy, and will not abuse their power to run your board into the ground.  If you surround yourself with good, on-the-ball moderators, then your boards will run smoothly, leaving you more time to run your business or tweak your server.

Avatars are little graphics that appear near your username.  You can easily find plenty of avatars to upload to the proper images folder, or you can offer your users the opportunity to upload their own.  By doing this, you foster a sense of community, and you allow your users to use the same avatar on your forum that they do on others, which pleases the hardcore forum fan.

Rank files are graphical images that change with the user’s rank.  These files, too, are easily found with a little search engine work, and can be anything from swords to tanks that represent a user’s standing on the forum: one star is for a new user, and five would be for a moderator, for example.

By using avatars and rank images, you can customize your forums, and give them an extra boost.  vBulletin makes it easy to import these files, by using the appropriate section in your administrative panel.  With step-by-step instructions, you will have your avatars and rank files working quickly, to the delight of your faithful users.

Built into the software is the ability to set up subscription plans. With it, you can accept payments via PayPal, NOCHEX, Worldpay, Authorize.Net, 2Checkout, Moneybookers, or CCBill, assuming that you have accounts with one or more of these companies.

You are able to set up a subscription the administration menu by the day, week, month, or year. This flexibility allows you unlimited potential for income.

With the powerful subscription options, you can set up access to certain forums for those who pay. You can even give a user a trial period. For example, you could allow them access to your paid forums for 3 days at $4.99. After that, they’d be able to choose the regular subscription plan, or automatically return to their original usergroup.

Speaking of usergroups, you can also promote paid users to a higher usergroup, and in so doing grant them access to forums that are only available to that specific usergroup. For example, you could have a “User” group for your verified, but non-paying users, and “Paid User”, which would afford that group access to special forums.

vBulletin is so advanced that with conditional tags, you have the ability to remove or reduce click ads for paid users, should you so choose, making for an entirely professional appearance. So, with vBulletin, you have not just a hobby, but a potentially income-boosting business, if done right.

You can, and quite easily, with vBulletin, which offers numerous banning options in the vBulletin administrative menu.

When you encounter a user you want to remove, you can of course ban them, but you can also ban by username, IP address, and e-mail address, to help reduce the chances of them sneaking in under another name.

Not only that, but you can ban entire domains. So, if you know of domains that are associated with spam, you can ban them, simply by putting in @domain.com. And if an existing user has a bad domain for their e-mail address, you can force them to change it, if you choose.

You don’t have to tolerate abusive users, and with vBulletin you can help ensure that the bad users don’t drag down your online community.

That’s why it’s important for you to keep your e-mail address current with vBulletin, and check in on their customer forums often.  That way, you can be apprised of any current or pending updates.  If you’re shy about upgrading your vBulletin software, don’t worry.  That’s what we here at URLJet are for!  But because you are the license holder, you should certainly keep up to date, so that you know when an update is available.

If it’s a patch, it’s very easy to update.  Simply download the patch from the members’ area, and then upload the matching folders in your vBulletin directory.  Usually, patches involve only a few files and folders, and you don’t need to close your forums while this happens.  It takes a few seconds and you’re set!

Of course, if it’s an actual upgrade, then you need to close your forums, upload the files, and run the included upgrade program.  But again, if this intimidates you, turn to us here at URLJet as part of the service that we offer you, our valued customer.

Another handy feature that vBulletin offers is the promotions feature, which is found under the “Usergroups” section. With this feature, you can allow the system to automatically upgrade users based on parameters you set. You can set what time and how many times a day this is done with the Scheduled Task Manager. For example, slower boards may update user levels once an hour, where more popular boards may wish to update four times per hour.

With the promotions feature, you can advance a new user to a full user status, and you can base it on several things: number of posts, days of membership, and reputation. You can choose a combination of these factors, or just operate off of one. For example, you may wish to moderate a new user’s posts until he or she has 3 posts. Once they have 3 posts, you can set it to automatically promote the user to full status. You can promote them to a new primary group, or a secondary group, depending on how you wish to configure your usergroup settings.

You can also demote users. Suppose you require your users to participate. If a user has been a member for 14 days, and only has one post, you can easily bump them to a banned status, or you can even set up an entirely new usergroup that can you can automatically clean out (delete the users) on a regular basis. A more popular option is to move users who have not completed e-mail verification after, say, 3 days. If they haven’t responded to the verification e-mail, you can simply move them to the banned users queue, or to a queue whose users are automatically deleted.

As with many of the other features that vBulletin offers, the opportunities are endless with the promotions feature. You can have complete control over what your users can and cannot do, based on parameters you set, giving the feel of a completely professional board, regardless of your subject matter.

Through the administration panel, you can control access to forums by each usergroup that you have enabled on your forums. You can do it by each individual forum, or you can edit by category, if you want every forum within that category to have the same access rules.

vBulletin’s allows you to drill it down as far as you want to go. The individual usergroup settings can be adjusted under the “Forums and Moderators” section, and by clicking on “Forum Permissions”.

The ability to completely control your forums is endless. You can allow guests to see the names of the threads, but when they click on it, they will be prompted to login or register, which could entice more guests to register for accounts on your forums. You can also allow users to see the forum, but no content at all, or of course you can allow them to see the forum, thread, and posts.

Have you toyed with the idea of allowing guests to post? You can, and you have the ability to set it so that posts for unregistered users (or any usergroup, for that matter) are moderated. You can enable e-mail alerts, so you are sent a copy of the proposed post. If you approve, you can enable the post with one easy click.

You can also filter out features by individual usergroup. You can allow or disallow the ability of users to send a copy via e-mail to friends, you can disable the search function by forum, you can toggle poll access, and you can choose whether or not that usergroup can reply or post.

Another powerful feature of vBulletin is the promotions feature, which will be discussed in a future post. With these two functions you can “audition” new users, and once they prove themselves in accordance with your guidelines (3 good posts, for example), vBulletin will automatically upgrade them, and grant them the new access. This comes in handy for pay forums, granting certain privileges to users once they enroll.

vBulletin makes forums administration easy, and with it, users can see as little or as much as you want them to see.

But let’s face it, as with everything else in life, running a website isn’t free. Usually, the biggest cost associated with your site is the hosting fees, followed by the license fees for vBulletin. All told, you could be spending at least $300 a year to run your site, if you do everything yourself. You’re only human, after all, and you have bills, too.

So, how do you offset the costs (and maybe make a little profit) without charging your users, who may just go somewhere where they won’t be charged?

Accept advertising!

Ad revenue is like manna from Heaven for many bloggers and webmasters. Fortunately, there are numerous options available to you that can bring much-needed revenue to you by way of check, PayPal, or direct deposit. But, there are a few things you need to know before you start counting those dollars.

1.) Many advertising companies will wait for you to reach a minimal amount before paying you. Depending on how much revenue you make in a month, you could wait for as much as three months before seeing a dime.

2.) If you are based in the United States, you will, for most companies, have to provide taxpayer information, such as your Social Security Number, and this income will have to be reported.

3.) You will need a PayPal account for most companies, or a bank account that can accept ACH transfers. Failing both of those options, you will need to be able to provide a valid mailing address
for paper checks to be mailed to. For webmasters outside of the United States, PayPal may be your only option.

Perhaps the most popular choice for bloggers and webmasters is Google’s Adsense.

It has a $100 threshold before it’ll pay out, but in most countries you can get payment by check or direct deposit. You have numerous choices with Adsense; you can select ads that are based on keywords, or you can choose from specific categories. You can also place “referral ads”, which will plug several of Google’s products, as well as YouTube.

There are numerous other companies out there, and they each have their own minimums, and rules. Some of them include AdEngage, AdBrite, Adster, and Commission Junction, so if one company doesn’t suit your needs or wishes, you can certainly find one that does.

Once you’ve signed up with a company and designed your ad (each company makes it simple, and they walk you through the process), you can cut and paste the code– which will be provided to you–into your vBulletin forum. For that, you will need to go to the Style Manager, and select your active theme. At that point, you simply go into the template editing mode for that theme.

The most popular places to put ads is in the Forum Home template, the SHOWFORUM, and the SHOWTHREAD templates. With the newest version of vBulletin, you can see the commented text that suggests where the ad code should be placed. Really, you can place the ad code anywhere on the pages that you want the ad to appear. Exact placement varies with the theme you’re using. You can also place the ad code in any template, so that ads appear as little or as often as you like. With the proper coding– referred to as “conditionals”– you can also set the code up so that it appears only for guests, but not for paying users, if you have them.

With vBulletin, the opportunities are endless, and with the right plan, you can easily earn back the license fee, and more.

Now you’ve placed the ad code, and the ads are running. Depending on how much traffic you get, and how many clicks you get, you could see money very quickly, or in months. In other words, count on this revenue as a bonus. Consider it to be supplemental income. Perhaps the worst mistake a vBulletin operator can make– until they bring in the volume to justify it– is to assume they’ll immediately bring in enough money to live off of. This is not a “get rich quick” deal, even for the most popular forums.

In any case, the money you earn will help offset the costs associated with your hobby, and by doing so, you can continue to run your forums without going into your own pockets. In these days of ever-increasing gas prices, one can scarce turn away easy (with certain limitations) money.