Journey

• Forum Marketing
• Finding Relevant Forums
• Why post in Forums?
• More Forum Tips

Forum Marketing

Although forums don’t necessarily provide a great deal of click-through traffic, well established (old & popular) forums have high page ranks which can filter through to popular threads and as such, benefit the links in your profile/signature.

If you don’t have anything to contribute than wait until you have something to say that can actually contribute to the community. Don’t just post anything for the sake of getting your link out there and promoting your business because people in the community will recognize that and this could hurt your reputation very quickly.

Forums are a great place to develop relationships with potential readers. Pick a big, thriving forum on a topic you’re passionate about and get involved. Post regularly, be insightful and be an upstanding forum citizen.

Make sure to link back to your blog in your forum signature.

Finding Relevant Forums

You only want to post to related forums or you’ll just be wasting your time.

Do a Google Search for “allintitle:the secret filetype:html forum” to find forums about “The Secret” (replace “the secret” with whatever your niche is etc).
allintitle:“law of attraction” filetype:html forum etc etc..

1. Ensure it’s a “busy” site.. that the forums are “active” and that the postings are read by lots of people
2. Hunt around and work out whether the visitors to the forum would be interested in your niche
3. Pagerank for site? Not as important, as long as the forum is active, but a bonus if the pagerank is high, then the link-back from your signature to your site is worth more :)

Once you’ve signed up, use a Forum Tracker to track the threads in the forum for threads you’ve posted on, and to track keywords on boards to relevant discussions that you can participate in.

Why Post in Forums?

Along with shared learning and a sense of community, forums offer a concrete way to:

* build trust within your field
* establish expert status for yourself
* pre-sell potential customers
* drive traffic to your web site

More Forum Tips

• Choose forums based on things that interest you. You’ll enjoy the time spent there, instead of viewing it as another task in your business day. If a topic holds your interest, you’ll make good contributions.
• Post like a pro. Answer questions and give advice where you know you have something of value to add. In no time, you’ll become a recognized presence on the forum.
• Be respectful of other’s ideas. And be gracious when someone gives you some good advice. The more positive relationships you nurture, the more successful you’ll be.
• It’s fine to recommend a product or service you really believe in that will solve another member’s problem. Just keep in mind that this is not the place for a sales pitch. Share…don’t sell.
• Build relationships: Did someone give you a great idea, or a useful piece of advice? Say thank you, publicly, and give their reputation a boost. You just might make someone’s day. Remember, these are people here. If your only intention in being in the forum is to get your links out, rethink that strategy.