A few years ago I started going to a message board on a newspaper’s website. It had mainly regional high school sports stuff. But there ended up being quite a few people on there. I followed it a little. But before long it was overrun with immature people slamming on each other and putting each other down and saying how big and bad they were. It got really tiring. And I didn’t like the board software.
And an idea was planted…
I learned of some different software packages that would be able to run online message boards. I did my research, decided on one, and took the plunge just when the high schools were about to let out for the summer. It grew slowly over the summer then increased as the school year got underway. I had “success” that first year I guess. People seemed pleased and enjoyed being able to post on high school sports w/o all the “other junk”.
This past summer was down again. But to be expected. But this football season has been incredible. I remember when I was happy to get 15 posts in a day. Last week we had over 530 in one day alone. That’s not normal, but we’re averaging close to 400 a day for the past week or two. And of course this extra traffic and activity translates in a little higher costs too. So now I have to find a way to try and break even. It’s not just a cheap little hobby anymore.
More to come later on my thoughts on ways to make a buck off of it.
