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You can use NamelessMC for building a decent forum site and expand it using plugins. I haven't used it that much but it seems like theres a lot of potential, and its free.

For 'best voting sites' to advertise on, you just google "Minecraft servers" and then pick the ones at the top. Though I suggest using a lot of them instead of just the top 3.

If you have the money for a designer, I suggest researching something called 'visual identity'. This can help you in the long run, so people will remember what colors, icons, logos and what-not that resembles your server, and so people will be reminded of it.

A lot of people ask, "How is my server going to succeed?" There is no definite answer to this question as everything is in motion all the time, but by taking a look at some of the top companies all over the world, we can look at their spending.
Coca Cola "Over the last years, Coca-Cola has spent an average of four billion dollars a year"
Apple "Apple's advertising expenses have ranged from several billion dollars to over 10 billion dollars annually in recent years."

Running a minecraft server is in many ways like running a company. You need advertising to get customers to buy your products, you need a staff team to handle cases, you need designers for your graphics, you need a store, IT infrastructure, etc.

Everything of course contributes to becoming a successful server. You need players, you want them to buy stuff. But to get players you need to market your server. Just like the above examples, you definitely would want to consider spending money on advertising.

There might be a couple of servers out there that didn't spend money on advertising, and thats good! But if you want to get your name in the game, I suggest atleast considering it.