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Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Forum Marketing for Traffic Building

In the online marketing business, traffic is everything. You may have an extremely cutting-hedge-brilliant product to share, but, without an audience, who would you be talking to?

One of the many ways to promote your products online and to generate traffic is through online forums. You may not realize it, but online forums pull thousands, in the tens, to their website. If it is a specialized forum, then you have your audience cut out for you already!

Reaching the Correct Forum

Forums are generally easy to find, simply Google "your interest"+forum and an endless list of forums would be generated for you. It is best to pick the top few forums in search engines because that few forums would be what other people would find, and that is be where most of the crowd will be.

Registering into a Forum

To participate in forums, you would normally be required to sign up to a free account. Having signed up, they would then need you to log in to your e-mail to complete the registration. This is to confirm that you are a genuine participant rather than a spammer or a bot.

Once your account is ready, you may start interacting with the fellow participants. At the beginning, most forums would require you to post for a certain number of times before you may start adding links to your post. Take this as an opportunity to get to know how the forum runs and the general energy in the forum.

Start Posting

It is good to post informational comments that answers the questions posted. Answer their questions and try to solve their problems. If you give good advice and the participants like your comments and suggestions, they would visit your website. After a few weeks, you may even consider posting topics of your own and encourage discussion.

If possible, add your website URL in your signature so that they can see your link every time you post a comment. The more active you are in forums, the more often your website's URL will appear. This is good in helping to generate a good sum of back links for search engines crawlers to search for your site and ultimately boost your SEO rankings.

Community

Besides generating traffic and back links to your website, forums are also a great source of information. The questions and answers in forums are generated through real life experience. With that, it is also a great way to survey relevant market information of your product and come up with better value for your customers.

Getting Started With Forum Marketing Five Reasons An eBay Seller Should Join An Online Business Forum Internet Marketing Forum Has Benefits Reasons Why You Should Promote Your Online Business Through Forums Forums Are Great Websites For Sharing Ideas, Opinions, and Information About Specific Subjects The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Having A Forum On Your Website

Join a Membership Site, Get Engaged

When you join a membership site for the most part, you're there to learn, But one of the great resources that a lot of people don't take advantage of is also learning from the other members within that site.

Before you get in there and start making comments and asking and answering questions, you want to decide what exactly it is you want to share. Take a look at the content that you have in your business. Do you want to share all of that, and my advice is always give away your best stuff, and do you want to share your experiences?

How many times have you yourself learned from the experience of others? I know I have learned many lessons that way in my lifetime. Decide what kinds of content and kinds of experience that you want to share with other members of that site.

Depending on how big the membership site is, there may be individual groups within the site. An example is I belong to a group to learn how to better utilize Infusionsoft, a customer relations management program. Within the group, there are some of us that are intermediate, and we have some specific need that we want to address and learn to grow our business. There are others who are just learning and others who are advanced, and they are interested in different groups, different topics. Get into your membership site, join some groups, and make sure that you are active.

Decide what is your purpose, what are you there for, what do you yourself want to get out of the membership site? Is this something that you just are interested in learning about really quick, is this a static membership site where there isn't a lot of interaction, or is it one of great big membership sites where there are people talking to each other all the time. Decide what is your purpose, because you're not going to spend as much time engaging, growing and learning from others if it is not a site that you plan to stay with for quite a while. My Infusionsoft membership site, I plan on staying with that group for a long time. I help lots of other members in my area of expertise, pay it forward.

Participate in the activities. If they're asking questions, answer them. Give your honest opinion. If there is a contest, throw your hat in the ring. If there is a promotion of some sort, assist the people who are operating your membership site by sharing to your friends and family or letting other people know in your social media that "hey, I belong to this site for learning how to use social media marketing or use Facebook for business, and it's great, come and join me."

Blog Networks, Forums, and Tweeterville - Does Anyone Have Any Original Opinions Still?

Not long ago I had an interesting complement from an acquaintance. He told me that it was okay that I got thrown off of a blog network, because at least I stuck to my guns, had my own view, and refused to relinquish authority or cower to the mass mob of political correctness. Interestingly enough, I totally agree with that, and although it was unfortunate I can no longer participate on that blog network, perhaps it's just as well, lest it would corrupt my mind, as it challenged my right to free speech unless I promised to agree with everyone else. Okay so let's talk about this for second shall we?

Indeed, I told my acquaintance that; yes, those blog networks are interesting indeed. It is almost as if no one of any real intellect wants to discuss anything or exchange ideas, more tell everyone what their opinion is, which is not even theirs, it is pretty much whatever TV station or newspaper they soak in that information from, which they adopt and swear it is their own, not so much thinking these days and don't get me started on the Facebook generation.

You see, "it's amazing what people can be led to believe," or someone once said. Indeed, I think I also am in line with that thought from that famous philosopher, even if I do not agree with everything he said during a lifetime. Whereas most clinical psychologists will tell us that people are a victim of their observations, education, and experiences; it's too bad that there is so little creative and original thinking going on these days.

Why go onto a blog network, Internet forum, or even on one of those social networks like Facebook, or hang out at Google+ if all you hear are the opinions, opinion polls and surveys, or talking points of various groups on any side of the political spectrum. You see, I have this theory that humans just like to "commote" which is a word that I've created to explain the action verb for commotion, as it sounds a little bit more like "commode" - and perhaps that's what I'm saying - all of this trouble on the Internet, and now there are trillions of pages of it - doesn't amount to much.

Whereas, a good percentage of our population is attempting to work itself onto the same page, too many people are giving up their sense of originality, and they won't stand by their ideas. New ideas and concepts without a spokesperson cannot be achieved, as they end up a lost cause, something we talk about in our think tank quite often. You can have the greatest idea in the world, but if the bureaucracy, or political correctness won't let you get past square one, then there is no use wasting your time in uttering "pearls to swine." Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

Don't Forget About Forums!

Forums are everywhere and are great for people to ask questions and discuss services and products. Some businesses interpret a forum into their website whilst others use a forum as their website.

Forums and message boards are still as important as these are the places people go to if they have a question. You can use your expertise to answer these questions or join in on a discussion or debate about a topic which will draw more respect and attention to you and your business.

There aren't that many online marketing companies who will provide a social media strategy that includes forum use so here is an idea as to what you can do as a business to start participating with the online community:

1. Find the right forums for you

There are so many forums out there that if you try and participate in even half of them, then this could take up way too much of your time. Instead find the right ones for you where you can truly show off your expertise and services/products.

How about asking your co-workers, suppliers and clients where they spend their time online and where they would go to get a question answered or to get information on a topic as you can use this research to give you an idea of what you are looking for.

Construct a list of around 6-9 forums that you feel best suit your business and expertise by looking for forums that have a large number of members, try to avoid forums that have quite a lot of spam and definitely avoid forums that are run by your direct competitors.

2. Start setting up your accounts

People who visit forums respect the answers and views of members who have been registered to the forum for a long period of time, these members are in fact given a start rating or a title once they have either posted a certain number of posts or have been registered with the forum for a period of time. So don't dawdle, get your account set up and start posting (but don't spam) as soon as possible so you reach that high status.

Forum marketing is a long-term strategy so don't start setting up profiles and posting for a month and then stop, keep on top of it and view at as your own marketing channel.

3. Make sure you read the guidelines

As with most things when registering, you will be asked to agree to the terms and conditions, make sure you read these as you do not want to be suspended or banned from a forum for posting a link in a post that you should have known otherwise if you had read the guidelines. All forums have their own different rules so please make sure you read each of their guidelines and don't just read one and think that counts for all.

4. Choose a clever and relevant username and avatar

One of the first things people see will be your avatar (a small picture that represents you... not a character from the movie!) and username so think about what you choose. Pick a username that is relevant to your business but is also easy to remember and pronounce, do not choose a username that has deliberate misspellings or involves numbers if you can.

Your avatar will be attached to each and every one of your posts and clearly visible to other members. Try going for a professional headshot of yourself looking cheerful as this can make the best avatar.

5. Create a profile that will impress and engage

This is where you can describe your expertise and experience so make the most of it and make sure people will read it. I would add a couple of hobbies or something personal like your favourite football club so that it doesn't turn out to be a sales pitch which can put members off from reading it.

Provide contact information like an email address so that people who interested in your business can contact you for more information. To avoid spam and identity thieves avoid using information that you don't want to be made public such as your mobile telephone number.

Remember forums are great places to ask questions and receive very helpful answers and are a big platform for brands.

Forum Marketing Principles

It is no secret that whenever you use an on the internet forum to market your business it can result in more visitors to your site and potential revenue of your product or service. This, nevertheless, will depend on the type of website that you're wanting to market.

This type of marketing has to be carried out in a really subtle manner and without breaking any of the forum rules. It is important to keep in mind that many forum owners always keep a watchful eye out for spammers and if you might be found spamming you may well be banned from the forum without any notice. You have to use only your signature line to market your product and use the content of your post to answer queries or provide help as well as ideas.

When you adhere to this basic strategy, you will have virtually no possibility of your post being removed and you will make a good name with the fellow members on the forum. You should be aware that some forums will demand that you make a specific amount of posts before you can make a signature line. This will give you the opportunity to start building a good name before you begin to market your products or services.

If you are just starting you might consider avoiding forums with this rule because you want to get your name out as quickly as possible. But do not forget that even if you do sign up for a forum that allows you to make a signature line straight away you will still have to establish your reputation just before marketing your products or services. If you very carefully execute your forum marketing strategy, it can be a highly effective marketing tool for your own business.

This type of marketing is effective given that online forums often contain a high volume of members that are focused on the same topic. If your site relates to the main topic of the forum, it opens up the door for you to interact with prospective customers in a peaceful and low pressure setting. Another reason why they are so helpful is that you can actually obtain info on issues that the community may be experiencing. Once you've obtained this information, you can use it to create brand new products that will help the other members of the forum. This is definitely an opportunity for the experienced business proprietor.

When you're first getting started you will need to carry out your forum marketing campaign with extreme care. You must post a bare minimum of fifty times before you decide to actually try to market your products. This is actually the basic principle even though you belong to a forum that allows you to produce a signature line with less than fifty posts. You need to establish your reputation as a professional on the subject of the forum first, otherwise you will have less chance of success.

At the same time, you have to make certain all your posts are offering value to the other forum members. Don't make your posts very brief or too much long. Your goal with your posts must be focused on helping other forum members with a particular problem or concern. You should begin your posts with straightforward solutions to their questions or concerns. Once you really feel confident, you possibly can discuss your personal ideas and problems.

When you are creating your signature line, it must be intriguing and quickly appeal to people rather than being a revenue message. Try to excite the reader's attention by saying you've got a secret to share with all of them that you'll discuss when they see your website. You can even provide a free gift, eBook or download that pertains to your business if the customer clicks on your link. These are excellent methods for getting visitors to your site and when they do you can entice them to sign up to your list or purchase your products.

When you advertise effectively by means of on the internet forums you have the chance to get more traffic to your site. It can also improve sales, newsletters sign-ups and have other advantageous outcomes that you can't obtain from any other type of marketing without investing a whole lot in advertising dollars.

How To Run A Forum

Building a forum and then running one are very different things. To be honest anyone can build a forum, the skill is in running and building one.

I will be quite blunt, any idiot can build a forum and may expect to earn a lot of money from it. The first part of that is true, the second part takes quite a lot of time and skill to say the least.

When you first start a forum spam may or may not be a problem depending on what forum board you choose to install, and even then the best anti-spam features are those featured in free plug-ins that you can install later.

Trust me you need to get the spam in check early on, otherwise you will wake up each morning to a board full of naked ladies, sneaker or For-ex adverts. If you do not nip it in the bud it will happen daily (every single day!). This forum spam is automated so you need to be clever to stop it, but stop it you must otherwise you will spend your whole day moderating the forum.

If you have the money you could employ a forum moderator as they do not cost the Earth as you can buy them in blocks of hours per month.

When running a forum you will need to think about what is and is not appropriate so that you can set up the forums rules. You will need to work the list of your members - sending them an email with the best "Post of the day" can provoke people to going onto the board daily.

You should send each new member a personalised email thanking them for joining and asking them to get posting.

You will from time to time to ban users and delete their posts. Most of the time it will just be spam, but occasionally it will be one person verbally bullying another onscreen and this needs taking care of.

You will also need to backup your forum on a regular basis.

You may also want to change the theme/layout of your forum over a period of time, and maybe add in new sections and plug-ins. All of these take time and this is where the hard work comes in.

Also when first setting up a forum you will very quickly realise that nobody posts onto an empty forum so you will need to consider how to get round this or your efforts will be wasted