Monetizing my forum... ideas please.
 

I have a forum that has about 1300 members. about 10% are active. 99% are legit. I managed to block most spam bots. It is a niche forum so I really don't expect too many more people to show up.

Well, I recently ran into some problems with viruses on the site and upgrading issues. Long story short, it cost me some money. I have always told everyone that as long as I run the forum it will be free to everyone. Well, now I want to sell memberships. I will keep my promise and not block anyone from any of the forums. All forums will be accessible to everyone. I'm thinking about selling 2 memberships. A membership that is basically a donation to the site where you get a title that says "member" and that is basically it. The second membership will come with a title that says "premium member" and they will get an e-mail address with the forum name i.e [email protected].

What I'm looking for are other ideas that I could include with these two memberships that will entice a person to make the donation/purchase. I talked with one member on the phone and he suggested an area just for members. That would take away from my promise of a free forum so that is out. any other ideas would be welcome, though.

Thanks
Steve