Aggressive Marketing Through Forum Participation

We talked previously about passive marketing through forum participation and how time spent doing a fun activity, like participating in a forum, can pay off from a marketing standpoint.  Passive marketing is a great technique in the battle for website traffic, but sometimes you need to take it to the next step.

Aggressive marketing through forum participation is not nearly as scary as it sounds.  It is virtually the same as passive marketing but more focused and driven.  Where in passive marketing through forum participation you were posting in forums that interested you as a fun distraction from work, aggressive marketing through forum participation is work itself.

Simply put, you need to identify forums whose members would make desirable traffic to your website.  The forum itself could be covering the same subject as your site, or it could just attract users that would also find interest in what you have on your site.

You then need to establish a presence on these forums.  This means that you will need to register and input your website address in either the signature file or profile, whichever the forum allows.  Be careful, most forums don’t allow direct affiliate links in these places, so you’ll want to place links that direct to your website.  What you do with the traffic once it gets to your site is up to you.

Now for the activity, you will need to post questions looking for guidance from the members of the forum you have chosen.  Do not spam the forum with offers as this is not effective and you will not be thought of in very good terms.  Ask questions, answer questions, provide insight, be an all-around good participant of the forum.  You will want to frequent the forum at least twice a week for good results, this will instill confidence in you as a fellow regular member.  With each posting you make, there will be an opportunity for a forum member to click a link to your website and hopefully convert into a customer for you.

The more forums you do this with the better the results will be.  Don’t stop at just one forum, be a participant in three, five, seven, or more.  Your questions and responses don’t have to be huge in length, but make them have some importance.  If it makes it easier you could setup regular days that you participate in forums, say Monday nights and Thursday nights are your forum participation nights.  A half hour each night, compounded by eight or more weeks in a row will do wonders to your traffic stats.

A few things to avoid:

Avoid forums with low membership.  You want your links to your site seen by the most people possible.

Avoid forums with stale posting intervals.  If it’s been months since the last post, that isn’t a good sign as far as how active the community is.

Avoid spamming or coming off too much like a salesman.  This will not instill the trust that is needed to make members feel you are one of them.

Aggressive marketing through forum participation still has some elements of fun to it, but it is more focused as a marketing endeavor.  The payoffs to this strategy are real, not imagined.  Let it be one more weapon in your online marketing arsenal.

A fun way to promote your website or offer

Contrary to what many people in the brick and mortar world think, web development and internet marketing takes a lot of time and can be a lot of work. This line of work offers many benefits as far as work from home opportunities and personal freedom, but it can also be rather time consuming. After spending time working, whether at a nine-to-five job or promoting your online business, we all need to relax a little bit and find a diversion. That diversion can be playing some free online video games, browsing through pictures of a beautiful area, or any number of other internet pastimes. One fun social online activity you can do during these downtimes that can also be a benefit to your website or online project is participating in a forum.

Forums are a great way to connect socially with others who, oftentimes, we have a lot in common with. The interaction, the ongoing conversations, the sometimes off-the-wall or controversial subject matter are all great stress relievers. Once you register for a forum there are usually options as far as filling out your personal profile. In this profile it is not uncommon for there to be an acceptable place to put a link to your website. Now, when people read your posts and want to know more about you they can click on your profile, in there they will see a link to your website. See how easy it is to do passive marketing through the fun activity of participating in forums? Some forums make it even better by providing what is called a signature line. You can then add your website address to your signature and it will appear at the bottom of every single post you make. Now people no longer have to make the move from your post to your profile to see your link, they can just click it right there in your post. Be careful, most forums don’t allow straight affiliate links in the signature line, but you can always link to your website and have a link there to your affiliate line.

So, next time you’re burnt out or need a break just register for and participate in an active forum. Provide a link for people to click in your profile or signature and then while you’re having fun posting remarks and participating in conversations, you’re also marketing your website address to anyone else who participates in that forum. Passive marketing through forum participation can be a valuable tool for both increasing your traffic as well as keeping your sanity.

Now that we’ve covered passive marketing through forum participation, let’s take a look at aggressive marketing through forum participation.

Forum Marketing Secrets
By Mark A. Abrahams

Forum marketing can be a very profitable exercise when you
start your internet business. Use forum marketing to drive
high quality visitors to your website for free. Once you
are making money you can reinvest the profits into paid
marketing like ezines and ppc. The significant factor with
forum marketing is that you need to do your research on
which forums to post regularly on. Target the wrong forums
and your efforts could be in vain. You need to find forums
directly related to your product or service. So for example
if you sell internet marketing products then target
internet marketing forums like the Warriors forum.

The key factor with making forum marketing work is that you
need to establish credibility and get the other forum
visitors to trust you first. Avoid posts that are like spam
where you post only to try and get the forum visitors to
visit your website. Post regularly and answer posts with
insight. Over time you will establish your reputation and
forum visitors will trust you and follow your
recommendations and signature links.

When you join a forum there usually is a signature that you
have to fill out. This signature is crucial for your
success as every time you post you will have the chance of
a visitor being able to visit your website. Make sure that
you spend a lot of time initially to create a powerful
signature. Often they will allow you to use html here and
make sure that your signature has your unique selling
proposition that will make the forum visitors want to click
through to your website.

Having links from different forums will definitely boost
your search engine rankings. Post on different forums and
make sure to include your anchor text for your different
targeted keywords in your signature. Using this method of
forum marketing you will drive targeted visitors from the
forums and also increase your targeted visitors from search
engines.

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Mark Abrahams is a full time internet marketer who has helped others to earn a living online.

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Using Forums to Make Money and Drive Traffic Online
By James Krawder

In the online world today the marketers are busy in developing newer ways of generating web traffic. There are some customary ways which are used by almost every web site but as the competition amongst the websites is on a rise it is no more a possibility to attract the attention of web surfers without putting extra efforts to work. Forums are used by many websites t o promote themselves. The internet marketers are always looking for newer ways to generate traffic. The content in the forums is generated by the users. Now if a user wants to comment on your product, he or she can do that by using a forum. The forums are thus an important source of leaving a feedback about the product or service you are providing to the consumer. Most of the companies have forums on their websites. As a result they are able to get the consumer feedback. As special marketing effort the companies also try to locate those websites which have the forums with large readerships. It is beneficial for these websites to use those forums to their advantage.

Forums generally have the discussions saved in chronological order. Due to this reason the companies and websites which want to use the forums as a marketing tool have to remain on the top of the forum. As a result they need to enter a new post after every few hours. Only those forums are suitable for marketing purposes which have a huge readership. Otherwise they may not be effective as a marketing tool.

Want to learn more about it?  Download the free ebook, Steps to Article Marketing Success.

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Forums - A Consumer Centric Approach
By Scott Lindsay

If you’ve participated in a forum lately you may have stumbled across blatant advertising from individuals who obviously have no interest in the forum, its members or the subjects being discussed. Many forums not only frown on this type of spamming, but when they catch you they will likely ban you from future involvement on their forum.

If you want to use a forum to market your business you need to make sure you follow a few netiquette tips.

If you are going to involve yourself in a forum make sure you actually have an interest in the subjects being discussed. If you have a business selling die cast model cars you may find a forum that deals with model cars. Your personal interest in the subject can have positive marketing potential.

When you register to participate in the forum make sure you actually participate. Don’t use the forum as an ongoing platform to promote your business. Be involved in the forum and contribute in a way that forges connections between yourself and other members.

Take full advantage of your signature line. You will typically be given a specific limit of characters you can use. Some have found the use of introduction text coupled with a tasteful business banner code to be a positive way to consistently promote their business while concentrating on building trust with other forum members.

Check the forum to see if there is a section specifically designated for advertising. If so, make sure you provide a professional overview with appropriate links.

As the growth of forums has exploded so has the need for quality site moderators. It is possible to seek a trade with the site owner. Simply put, you offer to provide moderator services in exchange for banner ads on the forum pages. This will serve to blend your personal interest in the forum with a quality marketing opportunity.

Forums remain a great way for individuals to connect on subject they are passionate about. Most forum members are happy to welcome new members to the forum and are grateful when these new members add to the forum. When new members simply post an attention-grabbing subject and then fill their post with messages only related to their business the response is usually very cool from forum members.

It may be hard for some business owners to come to terms with the need for a consumer-centric approach to marketing, but when you use a forum it is virtually mandatory.

Scott Lindsay is a web developer and entrepreneur. He is the founder of HighPowerSites and many other web projects. Get your own website online in just 5 minutes with HighPowerSites.com at: http://www.highpowersites.com Start your own ebook business with BooksWealth at: http://www.bookswealth.com

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How To Do Niche Market Research Using Forums
By Fabian Tan

Forums are a great place to conduct market research. Why? Because that is where people discuss about their favorite topic, their likes and dislikes, their wishes and what problems they want solved to make their life. This makes forums an excellent place to ‘spy’ on your market and their problems and needs.

Certain forums will contain leading figures and experts. Look out for their posts as they usually provide quality information. This is how information entrepreneurs create completely new products in niches in which they do not have expertise in. They simply spend a little time studying their niche carefully.

One way to do market research is just simply by reading through posts. You can even find out about any topic that you want to know about simply by using the ‘Search’ function in the forum. This is a great way to acquire information for writing your next book, ebook or article.

You can even join in the discussions by posting questions you want answers to. For example, you might want to know about the most popular acne cream or which photography book provides the most timely photography techniques. It’s almost like a survey of your marketplace, and instead of paying employees to go and survey people, you are doing it completely free of charge.

Visit forums to learn the language of the niche too. This allows you to speak their language and when you are ready to produce a new product or service in that niche, you will be seen as one of them. Forums are a great hunting ground for ideas and market research, so use it! It’s totally free and only costs a little of your time.

Fabian Tan is the author of the free 51-Page Report:

“Murder Your Job: How To Build Cash Sucking Autopilot Businesses In 30 Days Or Less!”

Head over to http://www.MurderYourJob.com to get your free copy now before it’s gone!

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