I've got a forum I want to start in a specific niche that's fairly targeted but I do know of 2 other forums in the niche that are extremely popular. Other than that, it's pretty much an untapped niche.

Am I fighting an uphill battle to try to take on the existing ones?

The existing ones are horrible from a usability standpoint and the design really is circa 1995...just really outdated and horrible navigation, etc etc.

I'm sure there are better things I could offer, but just curious what your experiences have been when fighting against existing sites.

I can give you an example of where I lost

When I first bought my GMC Envoy there was only one forum out there that catered to Envoy owners. It was an ugly site with an ugly domain at the time. The domain envoyforums.com was available so I took it and started building a forum. In short I built a better mousetrap. I had an updated version for vbulletin right when they launched AJAX and added a few cool features and an awesome custom design.

I rapidly began catching up to his site in post count (they only had like 20k). And I started ranking well in the serps. I even attracted a few of his members with some of my advertising techniques. So what did he do? He upgraded his board, got a better design, and started copying every advertising technique I did "Apparently" he just looked in Google for anywhere my link was and tried to get a link there too. I was spamming people's profiles on carsdomain.com and one day I went back to check the links I posted the day before and he was there posting his link in the comments too.

Well long story short his older domain allowed him to overtake me in the serps using the techniques I was using. He also beat me to the punch with ideas my members had been discussing like vehicle stickers and decals. Half of my members were his members too so I'm not saying he copied that he just beat me to it. He started offering incentives to post just like I did and his lead on me started to grow instead of shrink as more people went back to the more active board after the newness of mine wore off.

To clench the victory he updated his board yet again with a fresh new domain, a lot better than the old one, and a new design with some custom features like a shopping cart for site merchandise.

I guess I said all that to say to be careful when going this route because you could also awaken a sleeping giant. I'm sure he was happy with his site look and low activity till I showed up and did in 2 months what took him over a year But once he got his act together he became serious competition.

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Very interesting question, I've been thinking that myself lately. Its all about your ability to compete. If you have the time and resources (ie. talent and money) to do well, there is no reason not to enter an already competitive niche. Finding a new one just makes your life easier.

@GeorgeB

Thanks for the post man, really gave me some insight. Sounds like you had some fun there for a while.

There is a really big general board in my area that has been going for years. The members constantly complain about racist comments, insults, and porn but they have no where else to go so the admins haven't really gave a shit about bringing any changes. Although I know I can steal a lot of their members if I start my own, my downfall would be if they were able to upgrade their software, and copy my ideas they would have a huge lead as they have
been around longer.

I guess there are two ways I can go, start my own forum and hope they don't find out until its too late, or just go all out and compete with them head to head.

Now that I think about it, the more planning you do BEFORE you launch your forum, the more chance you will have of surviving. I also believe that the quality of posts and member quality ensures long term survival of your forum (other than just domain and look of the site). One more thing I guess you can do is introduce features one by one instead of all at once. That way, if the competition DOES copy you, you will be one step ahead of them with another feature the following month, and the following...

Hey

I hear over and over again that it is a bad idea to enter a marketplace that is already well served. I also hear that you have to find a niche - that too broad a topic is a poor idea.

Personally I disagree with both of these statements. I don't think it is impossible to grow a forum into something that competes with a monster board and I don't think it is a poor idea to cast a wide net. The key is to simply ask yourself if you have the resolve to keep plugging away at it.

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I think you have to ask the question is there enough need for the content/service you are going to provide in the niche you have chosen to serve both your competitors and you because I think it is extremely difficult if not impossible to make a big dent on an established well sized community. The member count of big forums exerts massive gravitational pull and even if you manage to attract part of a niches community through promotion etc it naturally gravitates back to where the mass is. Unless you are offering something really unique it will always be a struggle imo.

I'm not denying there is a gravitational pull from a large mass, but I can tell you for example that AF attracted not only my input but my support as well even though it was (at the time) dwarfed by another board on the same topic (TAZ).

Sometimes it's not sheer size but other factors that can contribute to the success of a community. I haven't gravitated back to TAZ and won't.

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There's almost always going to be some form of competition in the niche you choose. If you offer something unique and plan your forum well you definitely can succeed even with popular competition.

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If you think that you can come up with an idea and method of promotion better than any competitors using your niche, go for it!!!

...Otherwise, it's a lost cause. But seriously, you shouldn't have much trouble competing with a small-sized niche. Just remember to give your members something special, like AF has PostFusion to lure members away from TAZ.

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I guess your success does have a lot to do with your ability to compete and your belief in your forum. Different people go to forums for different things. If you can provide the members with a service or experience that they can't get from the bigger board and they have no where else to go, then it is possible to compete, co-exist, and maybe even win.

I've had success starting forums with competitive niches. You can probably do it too. Just try to make it a bit different. Visit the other forums and see what they lack.