3 Essential Forum Marketing Tips -

And The 3 Most Common Forum Marketing Mistakes.

By Dean McNamara

One of the greatest sources of traffic on the Internet can be found in forums. These are people who congregate around a particular theme or niche, and they are people who take action. So if you have a product that serves a particular market you can find a large potential market by logging on to a forum that is based around that market.

Before you run off to throw up links to your website in forums READ THE FOLLOWING:

3 Most Common Forum Marketing Mistakes.

Tip One: Do NOT create a post to advertise your link.

Tip Two: Do NOT create a post to advertise your link. (just kidding – although not really).

Tip Two: Do NOT log on to a forum and solve everyone's problems by posting a link to your site.

Tip Three: Do NOT create a post to advertise your link (this really is the stupidest thing you can do).

Tip Three: Do NOT create multiple identities to have conversations with yourself to advertise your site.

Many people get a little knowledge about marketing on the Internet and can not wait to rush out and try it. Much of what is taught about making money online is RUBBISH. It is possible it worked once upon a time, it is possible that it works today (but there is a lot more going on behind the scenes to make it work than is usually taught).

Forget about your audience being “traffic” and “hits” and any of the other make money online buzz words. People on forums are exactly that; people on forums. Many of them will be well qualified in the subject of that forum, and they spend many hours talking to others about that subject. If you pretend to be an expert, or if you are trying to disguise the fact that the only reason you are a member of the forum is to market your product – You Will Be Found Out.

Using any of the 3 mistakes mentioned will result in your being ignored at best and kicked out of the forum at worst. Given that the people of these forums are your target market you do not want to have them talking bad about you and your product. So do NOT use that approach to forum marketing.

How do you market in forums?

3 Essential Forum Marketing Tips.

Tip One: Make friends (nobody said this was easy money).

Tip Two: Engage in normal conversations without fear that you may not be able to pitch your stuff.

Tip Three: Bring genuine value to your forum contributions.

But wait … You say there is nothing in those tips about how to sell!

You are correct.

If you conduct yourself in forums with the above merits you will make money. You will make much more money than any other method of forum marketing. How? By including a link to your website in your signature and in your profile (about me) page. People are nosy by nature, and they will want to learn more about you.

Once you have an established reputation in a forum you will be allowed to make occasional references to your products or services in the context of general chat within the forum. Not only that, people will want to support you just because you are a member of the “family.” You will probably also find people offering to market your site on their own related sites. These kind of references on niche specific sites will greatly boost your ability to rank in search engines, as well as drawing traffic in from these other sources.

Forum marketing can be the most productive method to get loyal, targeted visitors, who are willing to spend money. But ONLY if you do it right. It is not a post-and-run method, and will require time and effort on your behalf. Forum members are least likely to respond to blatent sales pitches of all online audiences.

Visit NZ Marketing Systems for the low-down on other methods of online marketing.