Forum Marketing

Scott Lindsay asked:


Many online businesses view forums as a means of marketing goodwill to their customers, and it can do just that. However, forums are equipped with two sides, standard.

If you make a forum available to site visitors you have accepted one side of the coin. You can, in fact, utilize that forum as a means of marketing trust with your customers. Feedback is an important component of a forum and this mechanism allows for the free flow of thought and allows every individual a voice.

This has always been rare in customer relations. Typically it is only the glowing testimonials that are shared with site visitors while any negative feedback is generally inaccessible. Forums allow both, but you may find that others who will champion your product or service may refute a disgruntled comment by one individual.

But negative comments in a forum also allow you to be very public about how you handle customer complaints. This scenario provides the opportunity to turn a potential negative into a highly visible positive experience for consumer and business alike.

The other side to the forum coin is trust marketing on a personal basis. What I mean by that is you may do well to find a select number of industry related forums to participate in. While this idea is not new most business owners who use a forum do not use it in a specific enough way.

Here’s what typically happens. A business owner signs up for an industry forum and makes a few posts with a fair amount of marketing information in their signature line. The hope is that this ‘free’ advertising will convince other forum members to come to the business website. If this simplistic view of forum marketing is how you approach the subject it can often come across as disingenuous or insincere. In fact, on some forums it may even be considered spamming.

If you, as a business owner, use a forum with links back to your website embedded in your signature line you should seriously consider engaging yourself in the forum community as your prime objective. Respond with helpful information when an individual posts a question you are qualified to answer. Include links to helpful articles when appropriate and act like a member of the community instead of that guy that puts sales flyers on car windows - obnoxious and disliked.

Forums are a great way to reach out to existing customers, but the use of peripheral forums can help establish trust with those who may have never heard about you or your company.

In a way similar to a blog you can use these industry specific forums as a means of allowing others to catch a sense of both your personality and expertise. When you actually engage in the community you signed up to be a part of you will get to know many of the personalities on the forum and become a trusted source for information as you encourage those who may need the advice and information you can offer.

Use forums as a means of marketing your site, but don’t forget there are TWO powerful ways to get your message out utilizing forums. Make use of both.



Create a video blog…instantly.

Jeremy Gislason asked:


Forum marketing is the act of using web forums to gain traffic to your website. Using forums to market your site can also result in more sales of your products or services, depending upon what type of website you are promoting.

The key to utilizing forums as a promotional tool is to do it in a subtle manner. More and more forum administrators are becoming open-eyed to spam users who exist solely to promote their website in their signature.

For this reason many forums now require you to have a certain number of posts before you can add a link to your signature. This is a fair compromise and gives you a chance to post and build up a positive reputation before you start exposing your link to other forum members.

Forum marketing is a very powerful promotional method when carefully executed.

Why are forums so effective?

Forums contain a high concentration of people interested in a certain topic. If you have a website related to the forum niche, you are immediately exposed to a large group of people on the forum who may be interested in your website.

You can also gather information from forums such as problems people are having, and then use this data to create new products to address the needs of the community.

How to do forum marketing

Forum marketing must be undertaken with the utmost care. First, it is vital to have at least 50 quality posts before you even think about promoting or mentioning your website - even if the forum allows signature links before 50 posts.

Get a reputation, make some friends and then you can subtly introduce your website either in posts or in the signature.

All your posts should be of high quality, not too short, and have an aim to help people. Start by just replying to other posts with helpful responses.

Signature files

Signatures should be interesting rather than written as a sales pitch. Arouse curiosity by telling your readers about a secret that is revealed on your website. Or mention a free ebook offer - this is a great way to get visitors and have them sign up to your mailing list too.

You have much more chance of making forum marketing a success if it looks like you are helping people rather than selling them something. For this reason, your website itself must be relevant to the forum niche and contain useful information.

Results of forum marketing

You can have amazing results by using forums to promote your site. It can result in traffic, newsletter subscribers, joint venture partnerships, expert recognition and trust building that is hard to gather from any other source.

Forum marketing is a highly effective way to get exposure and traffic to your website. Once you have established yourself as a valued member on a number of different forums in your niche, you will be able to promote your website in a more upfront manner without upsetting anyone. This can result in great increases in traffic and of course, increased sales.



Website content

Chris Young asked:


As an Internet marketer, you owe it to yourself to look at almost every single method to generate traffic. Affiliate and network marketers know their success in marketing is all wrapped up in feeding the continuous machine. The market machine is made up of daily and weekly tasks you must get done to feed your machine. A part of this marketing machine is using methods to generate good target traffic. Forum marketing is one of those methods that needs to be considered.

Many Internet marketers overlook the forums as a resource for generating good leads. This is a mistake. For almost every product or service that you market, there is a forum available that will be related to your market.

If your market is weight loss products, then you could join a couple of forums that have members trying to lose weight. Writing a post that offers your products as a solution to their weight loss problems, then leaving a back link to your site can be powerful. Done correctly, this will generate target traffic to your website.

Of course, this all takes time to become established as a member in any forum. Adhere to forum rules, don’t spam and leave your back linked post with some finesse!

Forums have rules that all of the members of the forum community respect. When joining a forum, know the rules and adhere to them. New members must also respect a break in period. Do not begin moving too fast. Cultivating new forum friends, trust and respect is a natural process that takes some time.

There are a few things you should never do in any forum. Do not ever, ever spam the forum community! It would be insane to create an email ad campaign to send off to all of the forums members.

Stay away from flaming. Do not post disparaging remarks about anyone. If you find yourself in the middle of a flame war, both sides lose. Adhere to those golden rules we all learned about when we are little. Be nice and turn the other cheek when necessary.

Be helpful to other forum members by offering support and information, when others are lost. This is worth so much. Selflessness will go a lot further than self-centeredness. This is as true in forums as it is in real life. Yes, the Internet is real life too.

If someone flames you about, not knowing your butt from a hole in the ground, you can come back and tell them, ” I am still learning the ropes. I hope to improve soon. Sorry if I offended you.” This type of reverse psychology will endear the whole forum community to you. There is a lot of power in being defenseless instead of being defensive.

Above and beyond joining niche forums to market your services, there are several affiliate and network marketing forums to consider becoming a part of. Most of the Internet marketers that are successful have created positive relationships with other Internet marketers.

Going it alone is a very lonely feeling. Joining a forum community with other marketers has many benefits that just cannot be denied. By creating relationship with other members, you also have several opportunities to network with other marketers. Networking is one of most effective ways of finding other ways to generate leads on a much grander scale.

Networking together with other marketers combines everyones strength and efforts together. This combined effort is always more powerful than anyones single effort because of the internal support system that is made up of the group as a whole.

Making forum friends is all about being helpful, friendly and open communication with the members. Compliment others on their posts about how helpful they were.

Give positive feedback and stay away from being the critic and know-it-all. In time, you might find yourself to be that person everyone just naturally seeks out for solid advice!

As mentioned, there are several online forums. The best ones will be the forums where everyone is helping each other and having fun with it with a lot of give and take and honest sharing of resources. Great forums always have members that are good authorities and want to share their wealth of information with others. After all, forums are about exchanging ideas, information and forming lasting relationships which can be used to help us all earn money on the internet



Caffeinated Content

Jose L. Gonzalez asked:


/>Forum Marketing is perhaps one of the best free promotion tools available on line… and yet most new marketers have never posted a single “hello I’m here”.



If this is your case, my friend, you are losing a lot of potential free traffic to your site. It doesn’t matter what you sell or promote on line, if you are not using forums regularly, then you are throwing money on the wind.



You may have heard a lot of blah blah about forum marketing, but in fact, the basics are quite common sense and easy to apply. Before I go on, however, I must say I don’t agree in any way with using forums to spit up hordes of ads, or to practice awful spam.



A forum or discussion board should be a place to get along with others, communicate, interact, learn, and be helpful. Believe me, following these guidelines is the best you can do for your forum marketing.



The first thing to do when you have something to offer to the world is look up for forums related to your topic and niche. The most specialized, the better. Do I have to say the best place to look is through a Google search? (”your topic” forum).



Register, browse around and see what the folks are discussing about. Introduce yourself, say: “hello I’m new”, or reply to a post requesting for help or advice.



In most forums you are allowed to include a signature file, this is, a few lines about you or your business… and yes, a link (make it your sales page or newsletter sign up). Whenever you post, your signature file follows, giving you free exposure to your product…



If you establish yourself as a helpful guy or gal, you will get traffic to your site from people who think you can help them. You will also increase your link popularity and chances that a search engine will find your site. Most forums keep a huge archive of their threads on line.



This works wonders, specially when you don’t have a single red cent to spend.



To your wild success,



Jose L. Gonzalez



Kansieo.com

Troy Shanks asked:


n online business at home has never been easy, what with the number of advertising avenues that you can take to promote your services. You will find that there are some websites that offer advertising space for a fee, while others offer them for free. One of the methods that you can take advantage of without paying for anything is forum marketing.

Forums are everywhere, thanks to the ever increasing number of people who log on to the internet, eager to share their opinions or help those who are in need. Registering at forums is often free. All you have to do is log on to your favorite search engine and look for a forum that fits your interests, or, in this case, the industry that your services fall under. While online forums often have rules against blatant advertising, you can use your signature as a tool by adding your URL to it. Make sure you read and understand the rules in all the forums you want to register in.

It is also beneficial to be active in these forums, because the more you post, the more people will know you. If you share valuable information about the topics, you will be viewed as an authority, and soon enough, you will be surprised to see how many visits you have on your website.

That in itself is a very good reason to register, but here are 5 other excellent reasons to convince you to use forum marketing:

1. Branding. Simply giving out advice and tips will already show other people what to expect when doing business with you. Due to this, your home business will acquire its own branding and positive customer perception. A good reputation built out of willingness to help people is a very important asset in any business, whether online or offline. Later on, you can expect more traffic to your site as people recommend it to other people and follow it for any significant changes in your product and services.

2. Publish Special Offers. Some forums have categories for job opportunities or the best deals, avenues that will provide you with sufficient space to offer your best wares to prospective buyers. While not all websites have these, you can easily look for one by using your favorite search engine.

3. Free Education. Whatever question you have, whatever problems you’re already experiencing, chances are there are already those who have gone the same way as you, and are very willing to share advice about how they pulled themselves out of it. In addition, you will find numerous helpful links to eBooks or software that could help your business. Different people with different viewpoints tackling a single problem, and you don’t have to pay them - it’s any entrepreneur’s dream!

4. Joint ventures. You will often find other entrepreneurs who have the same ideas as you, or who can complement your line and services. If you think that a joint venture can help your business, forums can provide an excellent way for you to look for one that would best fit your work ethics.

5. Support. Every question in every forum always has an answer from more experienced forum-goers. Forums can become great focus groups. Just post a thread, wait for everyone else’s reply, and you’ll get the best ideas to keep your business going and blooming.



Caffeinated Content

Roger Haisley asked:


Forum marketing tends to be one of the less used online marketing methods employed by beginners to internet marketing. Most inexperienced internet marketers who claims to be having a hard time promoting their business don’t have a stuctured program of forum marketing. That may be because it does take a bit of descipline to keep at it consistently. Also the rewards may not be instant. I’ve had the experience where I joined a forum and within a very short time I was earning real money from my forum signature. But that is not the overwhelming norm, you usually need to establish a reputation for yourself which of course take a little time.

Here’s How to Make Money on Internet Forums:

You must develop a reputation! That’s it. That’s the key to earning money using online forums. Don’t advertise outright to your fellow forum members. This kind of behaviour is frowned upon and is usually counter-productive. You can even get banned from some forums if you do this. Instead, engage forum members in stimulating discussions, look for threads posted by people looking for help or answers to questions; do some research and post a nice reply that not only solves the persons problem but is also conversonal.

Use the person’s name (or username), personalize everything you say, everytime. Whether you are responding to a thread or creating your own; engage people in a conversational manner. Once you do this every single time you post to the forum (which should be at least once a day) you will develop a good reputation with your fellow forum members in no time.

Listen to me now, and believe what i’m about to tell you…some of the most willing buyers you’ll ever find are right there in those forums. People are much more likely to buy from someone that they feel they know. In-fact the people will buy things that they would not normally buy elswhere simply because its being offered by you; yes ‘you’. Once you are offering something, they’ll be interested. And that’s an undeniable fact.

Once you’ve developed your reputation, you’ll see what I mean.

You also want to consider getting a forum syndication software such as ‘Forum Fortunes’.

Stop thinking! Get moving, start makng money with online forums now.



Caffeinated Content for WordPress

Mindy Benkert asked:


There is a powerful marketing and networking tool right under your nose. Forums are not only fantastic resources for business advice, they enable you to help others by sharing your experiences and they allow you to market yourself to a highly targeted market. Read on to learn how to unleash the power of forum advertising and receive maximum results…

Forum advertising is frequently overlooked as a powerful tool to develop relationships and lifelong customers.

You likely already know the social benefit of online chat rooms and forums. Social networking has grown by leaps and bounds in the past few years and offers many people the opportunity to connect over a shared interest. Business forums are just as useful for people to connect on a professional level.

What you may not consider when posting or reading comments in a forum, is that they can also be a valuable place to find customers and clients.

Here are 3 tips to unleash the power of forum advertising and receive maximum results

1. Start Small.

Find a forum or two, no more than three, that cater to your niche or target market and register to become a member of the community. Why not register with more? Many reasons, it will take too much time, you’ll be reaching many of the same people, and your content/posts can begin to sound repetitive.

Begin by posting in the forum introductions section (most good forums will have one) and tell people about yourself. Talk about your business, but don’t just drop a sales pitch. Let people know what your interests are in the topic beyond your business.

2. Post regularly.

Your goal is to become an active member of your chosen forums, which means that you must post regularly. Set aside time each week to visit your chosen forum. To make sure that you stay on task, give yourself an hour and begin reviewing recent posts, and providing answers/help where appropriate.

In time, the members will see you as an expert in the topic. With more posts, your site/business will have more exposure, and you will see results.

3. Choose appropriate forums.

In addition to searching for forums that are relevant to your business, you can find these by using your favorite search engine and entering your topic, product, or service keyword with the keyword ‘forum’.

Look for forums that have:

A large number of members. This information is usually available on the home page, which means that you don’t have to register to have access to it.

You’ll also want to look for a forum has an area for members to advertise in. If an advertiser’s area is not available, don’t blatantly post ads in your posts. This is considered extremely rude and can get you banned from the forum.

Make sure that your chosen forum allows you to create a signature. Your signature should include your name, website/business name, web address, contact info, and a detailed description of your business.

There is a lot to be said about the benefits of forum advertising. They cannot all be fit into this article, of course. For reall great forum marketing tips, I highly recommend the free e-book:

Forum Marketing SuperTips, grab this great resource here: http://www.mindyrecommends.com/forum-marketing.php



Create a video blog

Marketing Guy asked:


Not two weeks ago I had a chat with someone (an SEO) about some online media buying and although the figures made an infinite amount of sense (6 figure monthly page views – prime location banner purchase for less than £90 per month!), he said, “but there is no SEO value from the banner link” (it was JavaScript)! Astonished, I spent the next hour arguing the case for buying the coverage, but it would seem that the majority of SEOs just don’t see the value of applying traditional marketing techniques to the web – they just don’t “fit” into the SEO mindset.

What is really bizarre though is that while the optimisation industry doesn’t see the value in some less search engine focused marketing techniques, they will pay a veritable fortune for paid links. The likes of ReviewMe (http://www.reviewme.com) change up to $250 for a single “review” (which is SEO speak for a plain text link not so subtly hidden in a purpose written article). One text link. One! Not just that, but a single text link on a new page that has no PR (and will maybe only will ever receive minimal PR filtered through from other page links)!

For that $250 (around £150) there are so many different options you could aim for. While a lot won’t have any direct SEO benefit, we still need to consider traffic and branding benefits.

$250 would allow me to buy banner advertising on a niche site / forum / blog for a limited amount of time. Depending on the type of site and its subject area you could be looking at a decent amount of traffic, enquiries and exposure – certainly enough to justify the cost.

An alternative would be to spend the money on a directory listing on a site such as TheBestOf (http://www.thebestof.co.uk) - £10 per month for a year and you get a full page listing (written by your local contact), an audio advert where you can pitch your service, inclusion in a high traffic site and a direct (SEO friendly!) link back to your site. A link AND qualified traffic – that’s like SEO Christmas!

Online marketing professionals do focus on SEO a lot and that isn’t a bad thing – it just isn’t the only thing and you should be looking to spend your budget wisely and spread your marketing scope.



Caffeinated Content for WordPress

Kenny Cannon asked:


Join the right forums - You have to make sure that the forums you belong to are active. When deciding on what forums to use, I suggest that you choose forums with an Alexa rank of at least 100,000 or above. The forum should have thousands of posts in every category and should have people consistently viewing each thread. Of course if you are a member of a forum already you should promote there, but if you should also join the high ranking ones as well.

 

Get “Trusted” - A member with 3 posts who starts a thread about his or her business is not going to get anywhere. Most likely the people on the forum will think negatively of this. In order to market on forums correctly you must get “trusted.” Start good threads in off topic sections of the forum. Make it look like business is not your concern. 

 

Post in sections that interest you. I like to participate in the sports section and the politics section of the forums I belong too because that’s what interests me. Before moving to the business sections and before you start promoting you should have at least 300 posts. This may seem like a lot, but 300 posts can be done in a week. Actually, I’ve done it in 2 days. Forums are fun and if you get into a discussion that you like (this is why you should start off in topics that interest you) your post count will go up very quickly.

 

Good luck and much success!

I managed to build an organization of about 10,000 in 3 months. I continue to get hundreds of sponsorships each week. My business is on auto-pilot.



Caffeinated Content for WordPress

Article Manager asked:


Forum marketing is considered to be very lucrative if you are clear about your target group and your business requirements. You have to know the proper methods of using forums if you are keenly interested for promoting your affiliate products. For the beginners, it is important to sign up for an account at the forum. Usually forum accounts are free and to gain the confidence of the readers you have to introduce yourself properly, before trying to promote anything.

Forum offers the most eccentric platform for exploiting your writing skills as well as other skills like discussing important issues. If you are creative you can make a good start by contributing new threads in forums. The forum should be appealing and convincing and the language should impress the readers. Forum marketing should be done very carefully as any posts that are obvious advertisements are considered as spam. Never promote the products in your post although you are allowed to post about topics that are related to your product.

Forum advertising helps you to get more traffic to your website and here are certain steps that you can follow to be successful:

•    Introduce Yourself

Forums have a space where you can introduce yourself and invite the readers. Don’t discuss anything related to your business at the beginning as people may not take interest in it. Be innovative and draw the attention of the readers through interesting posts and then slowly introduce them to your products.

•    Write Quality Posts

The posts that you have written are displayed whenever your profile is shown in the forum. Writing any posts won’t work as you have to maintain the quality and add new materials to it. If you want to increase your post number, write threads that are not related to your business.

•    Follow the Rules

You may get banned if you don’t obey the forum rules and this will have a negative effect. People will ignore you as you are not doing the things right. This will decrease the visits to your website.

•    Endorse your Website

After writing quality posts when you have built trust, people will be willing to know more about you and your work. You can offer them incentives to sign up and slowly get them introduced to your services. Forum can thus be defined as a web application intended to hold discussion and post on certain topics.



Website content