Forum Marketing Tips For Realtors

If you’re a “tight-wad” like me, when it comes to your Realtor marketing budget, you’re going to love “forum marketing.” It costs you absolutely $0; only your time. It’s super-duper simple and it can be set on autopilot, sort of.

Forum marketing is all online but hopefully you already knew that. They are tons and tons of forums on the web for every subject and topic you can imagine.

People surfing the web for specific information will come across forums on their topic of interest. They’ll browse through the categories and individual posts that other people submit, searching for the information they want. It’s like when a club, such as The Knights of Columbus, has a live meeting; only it’s online.

With real estate forums, for example, some are geared only towards agents and helping them increase their businesses. Others are for consumers only, while a bunch is for both consumers and agents. You want to be in the last group, where the consumers are!

Your goal as a Realtor or agent is to prospect, generate leads and build relationships through your marketing efforts, right? That’s how you generate business and closings. If you like emailing and using Facebook, this is perfect for you!

Here’s exactly how this whole forum marketing thing works……

You’ll want to do a Google search for something like “real estate forums” and find a good forum with a lot of traffic. Try to find more than one high traffic forum to join, if you can (Alexa.com is a great place to see if a forum or any website is getting sufficient traffic). Also, make sure you can target you local region. It won’t do you any good if it’s a big national forum and not segmented into each state or area.

Once you’ve picked a couple of real estate related forums, you’ll sign up for a free account with them. They’ll ask for you to create a username (like “Sally Realtor”), a password, a profile/bio of yourself, yada, yada. All the standard stuff when you sign up for something like this.

But a vitally essential part of this forum marketing process will include setting up your “signature”, which will appear at the bottom of every entry or “post” you write. Your signature is how you’re going to generate all these leads and prospects going to your site.

By the way, when you write a “post”, it can be as short or as long as you want it to be. There’s typically no limit, although some forums require you to have a minimum of 15 words in each post. It keeps the spammers out.

When setting up your signature, take advantage of everything the forum lets you do. What I mean is some real estate forums will let you include a picture, some won’t. Some forums will let you use a lot of words in your signature, others have a limit.

So be sure to use a good, unique picture so people recognize you. It doesn’t need to be of you, necessarily. It could be your logo. The point is to have an image for prospects to identify and become familiar with you.

With the text though, don’t go crazy! The worst forum marketing signatures are the ones that have a novel of text and all kinds of links to various websites. Do include your website or blog but not your MLM you’re selling plus your dog’s website and your grandma’s Flickr page. You’re a real estate agent, not one of these wacko’s selling everything under the sun.

You’ll want to add in your USP/tagline (slogan) too. Try to keep it between 2-7 words, in general. Make it clear, concise and tell people in a nutshell what you’re all about.

And the most vital part of your signature? Your website or blog link! I would suggest making your company name a link to your site as well as a word or phrase in your slogan. Give prospects a couple of chances to click to your website but don’t go crazy and throw 5-10 links in there.

Some prospects will click on one of the links, others won’t. But the more posts you write, the more interesting content you write, the more helpful you are, the higher the number of prospects who “clicking through” to your site or blog will be. This brings me to my next point about forum marketing as a Realtor or agent…

Don’t simply write posts selling yourself! People will catch on and disregard you and you might even get kicked out of the forum. Carry yourself as you would in-person. Be helpful, answer people’s questions, give solid advice, tips, etc. Prospects on these forums will notice this about you and eventually you’ll start getting inquiries wanting to use you as their Realtor or agent.

Now, there are a couple of different types of forum marketing “posts” you can write. One option is to reply to someone else’s question or comment OR you can start your own topic (“thread”) and let other people reply and comment on it.

To utilize forum marketing to it full advantage, I would say it’s good to do both while emphasizing starting your own topics or “threads” (forum marketing language).

The reason I prefer you to start your own topics more often is that you’re likely to get more prospects viewing your post and signature than if you reply to someone else’s post.

For example, someone could have made a post and started a topic last week about “first-time home buying”. That “thread” may already have 50 or 100 replies. Everyone who’s viewing that thread is seeing the person’s post and signature that started it but they’re not all reading all 50-100 replies that have been written. If you’re one of those replies, you could be missing traffic. Make sense? You want to be the guy or gall started the thread.

Another reason I like starting new threads is that it sort of puts you as a Realtor or agent in authority; a leader in the real estate forum. In general terms (very general), “followers” reply and “leaders” start threads.

Again, if you start a thread, everyone will see you and your signature, whether they reply or not. They won’t always see your signature if you’re simply replying to another thread. That’s the difference between massive traffic and drips of traffic, my friend.

But don’t ignore replying to other people’s threads. If a prospect has a question and you’re one of the first to answer it, they’ll see that and you’ll move up a notch in their book. That’s how you’ll get clients.

In regards to my statement at the beginning of this forum marketing tutorial, the reason I said this can be set up on autopilot is because once you’ve made your post with your signature (whether it’s a new thread or a reply), it’s up there day and night for prospects to see and click on. You’re sleeping AND getting traffic at the same time! Add up the 100’s or 1,000’s of posts you could have and think about the potential flood of traffic. Yee Haw!

The last aspect of forum marketing that is great is how it relates to search engine optimization (SEO). A big part of SEO is the number of other websites that have a link pointing to your site and visa versa.

If you’re on 5 high traffic real estate forums and have your website link in your signature, that’s going to help with your SEO a whole bunch. The more sites that have your website link, the higher your site will rank with the search engines.

Again, this is just one aspect of SEO. I just wanted to explain how forum marketing relates to your SEO too. For lack of a better saying, it’s like “killing two birds with one stone”, in your overall marketing arsenal.

So that’s what forum marketing is all about. It’s free, it’s fun, it’s effective. Each real estate forum is a bit different but find a few, jump in, have fun and start gaining some more clients!

How to Use Forum Marketing to Make Money

It is hard to think about internet marketing without thinking about forums as they have been around for ages. Forums are a great way for internet business marketers to promote their products and services as well as swapping ideas about internet marketing. Being free it is one one of the most popular advertising methods online today.

What is Forum Marketing?

All you need to do is join a forum in your niche and join in the daily discussions about your niche. It also helps to if you can help solve the problems of other forum members when they ask for advice. It is considered spamming to write about your business in your forum posts and will certainly get your post deleted but may also get you banned from the forum.

Your Forum Profile

After you join a forum it is important to set up your profile as it helps promote your product online. If you market in many different niches it is a good idea to set up your profile for only one of those niches so that you are seen more of an expert rather than a marketer. If the forum covers more than one of your niches consider registering under another id and creating another profile. It is also important to include your keywords in your forum bio and hyperlink it back to your blog or website.

Your Signature File

However you can promote your products or services in your signature file which you can set up so that it is automatically inserted in every post you make on the forum. Be aware though that when you first join a forum other forum members are wary of you so start off with only your name in your signature file.

Gradually add your marketing links to your signature as the number of forum posts you make increase. Be careful not to add too much as to confuse people and I suggest keeping all your links in the same niche. By doing this you are more likely to be considered an expert in your niche and not merely someone trying to make money promoting products and services within that niche.

Forum Research

Forums are also good for research in that you will learn of what problems or burning desires people have in your niche. Use this information to target your products and offer solutions to these problems in your blog posts. Ask questions in the forum that your own products are targeted to solve but do not offer solutions using your products as that is spamming. Forums will also show you how things are changing in your niche so that you can create future products to solve the new problems that people may have, thereby keeping up to date.

Socailize

The most important thing you should do on forums is socialize and occasionally get involved in things outside your niche so that people see you as human not some marketing machine that just sells stuff. As you get known in the forum you can start to answer questions and offer solutions to problems as people will start to trust you and see you as some sort of expert in your niche. When this happens make sure your forum signature is updated with your relevant links and hyper linked back to your blog or website as this is where you will ultimately make money by participating in forums.

Generating Website Traffic Through Forum Marketing

Sharing and promoting your business ideas on discussion forums is one of the marketing ways of generating targeted traffic to your web sites.

So what really is forum marketing?

Forum marketing is a form of internet marketing strategy based upon the utilization of discussion forums and/or communities boards.

Marketing your products, services, or ideas in discussion forums is a great way to drive traffic to your website, though it is definitely not an overnight formula. To begin your forum marketing campaign, you need to Google search for forums that will offer you the best target market for your content. Browse through those forums, and also make sure that the forum is rich with members and contents as this will boost your image and credibility quickly because most forum members are also respected experts and bloggers in the specific topics discussed in the forum. But do not waste much of your time going through the entire forums in your search results to avoid getting sucked in!

Once you have selected a minimum of your best 5 forums, sign up with them and update your profile. All forums have what we call either a signature, resource, or bio box. Your signature box is a tool to promote you and your website or personal brand. Do not forget to include your web site link in your signature box, which can be used to gain unlimited visitors to your website. Remember, the people who read your forum posts will want to read more about who you are or the topic that you have written about, so be sure to include your web site link in your signature box.

After signing up, verifying your account (if necessary), start by introducing yourself to other members of the forum. Most forums are divided into categories or sections. Browse through the category where your information will best fit in and then offer answers or suggestions to questions on some of the posts. Forum marketing is dependent upon building relationships first with some members and readers of the forum, rather than focusing on a quick one-time advert. DO NOT blatantly advertise your website or business opportunity on your first forum post. You need to create a little reputation first, before advertising your business for effective results.

Most major forums have rules that are strictly monitored by the forum administrators and if you consistently go against their forum rules, you face the risk of getting banned. Also if you post your content on a wrong section or category on the forum, it might be deleted or moved. So before posting your content, make sure you are on the right section for it.

Most internet users probably do not know that forums are frequently crawled and indexed by search engines. This is why it is very necessary to draft a good headline or title to match with its contents so that the search engine crawler will be able to recognize the keywords for your contents. This leads to your forum posts and website link being visible and ranking high on search engines.

Back in the days, I built my first network marketing team (FortuneBuilders ITG Team) using forums, irrespective of the fact that I had no website of my own then and knew nothing about social media networks. It was a huge success. I used over 30 major forums at the same time and was very consistent with my effort. Today I still use forums and I am currently creating my own forum – FortuneBuildersTeam Forum, you can sign up and then get notified when the forum will be launched. The first 100 members to sign up stand the chance of having administrative right to some categories of the forum. The FortuneBuildersTeam Forum will be the HUB of Internet Marketing, Network Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Web Sites Designing, and Money Making Information.

Choosing the Right Forum To Use

In order to succeed in your forum marketing initiatives, it is essential for Internet marketers to do extensive research before launching their forum marketing campaigns. Forum marketing does not necessarily mean that we focus our attention on the community forums that generate high traffic. Success in forum marketing is not determined by the quantity but by the relevance and quality of the forum that we are seriously considering. Look for forums that you think will help you in your overall Internet marketing thrust of promoting and marketing your product or service.

It is also essential that you keep an eye for the forums that offer credits or rewards for posting. There are forums that extend adverts credits, rewards in the form of banner and text ads. If these are offered in the forums that you are seriously considering, then it is imperative that you take full advantage of these privileges in order to promote product awareness within the forum community. This is the right way of introducing your product or service to the forum community without compromising your credibility and tarnishing your image.

You can even go further, by going for the forums that offer advertising threads. Marketers can post relevant information about a business idea or opportunity free of charge. These advertising threads are extremely useful in forums that generate high traffic as it can directly impact at how search engines will index your website including your business opportunity post.

It is also important that you only join the forums that are closely related to the product or service that you are marketing. You have to seriously study the common bond between the members. In this way, you will be able to focus your effort in presenting your ideas and opinions in order to promote an advocacy that will promote your product or service. Once you are able to effectively do this, you will be expecting a lot of clicks to your website through the links in your signature tags.

Further, seek out the community forums where you can be able to test a market idea or product concept by way of a poll survey. This is a great way for you to be able to get the pulse of your target market while considering the specific marketing programs and strategies to be implemented.

Invest more of your time and effort in community forums where you can project a credible image and a good reputation of an expert on a particular interest that ties in with your product or service. Once you gain the trust and confidence of the other forum members you can expect a lot of traffic to your website coming from these forums using your signature tags. You must always remember that forum marketing is about providing your product or service to your target market by using the selling information in community forums.

Prioritize forums, where you think you can gain more business opportunities in the form of linkages with other business people or entities that you think, can help you grow your business, and further improve your products or services.

Forum Marketing Strategy

If you want to increase the number of sales on your web, you will have to use forum marketing. The reason for this is very simple. You can get a lot of leads from the forums. Forums do not only allow you to market your products, but they also allow you to strengthen your brand. The forums will allow you to create loyal customers.

Despite all these advantages and the benefits of the forums for an online marketer, not all the marketers are able to explore this. They may not get anything from the forums. If you go to the webmasters’ forums, you will see many people saying that that the forums are not helping them. The web masters will be claiming that the forum marketing is not helping them. You will also see many people who have tried a lot and have dedicated both time and money to the forum marketing but have not seen any results. This is a common problem but there is no blame on the forums for that. At the same place, you will see hundreds of webmasters telling their success stories and telling how forums have helped them in order to boost their business.

What is the main cause of this failure? The webmasters, who fail despite effort, do not analyze their efforts. They make a major mistake and that mistake is to ignore the importance of a strategy. The forum marketing is just like all the other marketing campaign which requires a solid and successful strategy. In order to get the most from the forums, you will need to have a working strategy.

If you can not make a good strategy for the forum marketing, then you will fail. Despite efforts and time, the forum marketers fail when they do not work on the strategy. For a good strategy, you will have to make sure that you are making the market research. Market research will give you important data. This data will help you to design the strategy. You will know more about the needs and the interests of the people visiting those forums. You will also be able to know about the potential of the market and then you will be able to decide about the investment of time and money as well.

After you have made your market research, you need to research the forums in order to make a good forum marketing strategy. There are thousands of forums on the same niches. What you need to d is to look for the forums which have maximum number of active users. The forums must also have the audience which you are looking to target. For example, if you are targeting the Asian market, you need to find a forum where Asians are found in abundance. If you choose a forum which has the most number of active users but those users are mostly from North America, then you are not going to succeed. You will not be able to succeed. Your marketing strategy will have a flaw.

How To Begin Forum Marketing?

The online marketers like forums. They can use the forums to market their products and business. They can also use the forums to improve the brand awareness. The forums are great because they can help the marketers with many other things as well. One good aspect which is attached to the forums is the opportunity to learn. The marketers can market their products using the forums; they can also learn the new techniques and technologies as well. The forums are something which every marketer needs to consider seriously.

It is also easier to find the targeted audience through forums. If you are able to find the forums which are talking about a specific product or category, you will instantly know that the people visiting those forums will definitely be interested in that category. This means that you can save a lot of money and time which you will have to spend on the market research to reach your target market.

A marketer will find it easy to succeed in the forum marketing with proper strategy and hard work. The commitment and the devotion are must and no marketer can succeed without these two factors. Apart from them, the marketers will also have to read the market trends and will have to show his intelligence while implementing various strategies.

If you are serious about forum marketing, then you will have to show patience. Remember that the forum marketing can not succeed until you are patient with the things. The forum marketing strategy will involve timing and waiting. You will have to time your moves properly. You will have to know when to market the products and when to respond to the forums as forum reader only. You will also have to wait before the right opportunity comes your way. You can not just start marketing in the forums and expect to get a good reward from those marketing efforts. Also, the forum marketing is a long and mid term approach which can not give you results in the short term. If you focus on short term approach then you will not be successful in the forum marketing. You will not be able to attract the visitors and you will not get any buyers from the forums.

Most of the time, the forum marketing fails only because the marketer fails to choose the right forum and the right niche for the marketing. This is a common problem and many forum marketers face it. The online forums are on various categories and you will have to spot the proper category to promote your website and business. If you are marketing to the wrong audience, then you will stand no chance of succeeding.

Make sure that you are not wasting your time in the dead forums. The forums should be active and the activity should be fast. You can not keep on committing yourself to the forums where there are few people to read and respond to you. This will literally go against you and you will find it hard to recover from such a failure.

How to Take Advantage of Forum Marketing

If you look at most of the most successful Internet Marketers, the one thing they all have in common is how well respected they are within the forums in their particular niche.

This is really evident in the biggest forum online today, the Warrior Forum where threads are often discussing who are the ‘biggest 5 names in Internet Marketing today’. This list changes depending on who starts the post, who writes within it and who is ‘flavour of the month’. This is the cutting edge Forum for all who want to learn about Internet Marketing, eBook products and home based businesses.

Not everyone is a huge fan of Forum Marketing, but those that benefit from the business they have got from Forums cannot praise this enough as one of their top marketing strategies.

I love Forum Marketing and when I started I looked around for teaching products but failed to find what I was looking for. Yes there were one or two products that told you to use Forum Marketing to promote your business, but didn’t explain how to do this without looking like a spammer or an annoying car salesman!

It is sad to see so many people in the Forums thinking they are marketing their product because that is how their mentors told them to do it but they are simply wasting their time. Time is the one thing none of us have enough of so why not use it as productively as you can by using Forum Marketing the way it should be used.

Some of the more new and timid marketers will see others being labelled with the Online Forums as spammers or just being told off and this could easily knock their confidence and make them write off Forum Marketing before they even really get started. My advice would be to become a great student; spend the first few weeks, about an hour each day just watching how others post, how they respond and get a feel for how it all works.

When working within Internet Forums, you really need to master some basic strategies:

The Importance of Forum Marketing

Before you start implementing this strategy in a concerted way, you need to understand the specific advantages and disadvantages (yes there are some) of Forum Marketing. You need to know how to work your time in the Forums effectively.

What to Promote with Forum Marketing

You may already have a product or service you want to promote within the Online Forums, but if you don’t have that, then it is so easy to create your own product or service just by using Forums.

The Best Forums for Your Niche

You cannot just go into Forums and start marketing because that will get you banned. You have to know which forums will be most productive for you. It is all about taking your time to find the right Forum that will give you the best return on your time.

How to Create An Effective Signature

The best and ‘non spammy’ way of effectively marketing in Online Forums is to have a keyword rich anchor text signature. Many people within the Forums have no signature or they have one that is really untidy and unprofessional looking. A Forum Signature is the little bit of text after your post that includes Anchor Text linking back to your website. You need to make your signature attractive, preferably by creating intrigue so people want to click on to see what it is all about. You want it to attract however rather than distract so not too loud and just a subtle call to action for your reader.

How to Establish Yourself as an Expert in Your Niche

It is really important that others posting within the Forum see you as someone of authority, a so called subject matter expert and this does not happen by just visiting the Forums for 10 minutes each week. You have to earn this status by regular posting, giving value, helping others and always offering solutions. This is really important if you want people to buy from you. By working in these forums daily, you will ensure you always remain current with what is going on within your niche. I would suggest that you post on average 5-6 posts per day.

Internet Marketing – Forum Marketing

Want to know a great way to get traffic to your website all while learning more about the niche you’re in also? The answer is forums! Forum marketing is an excellent way to learn about the little details about your niche, and it’s great for staying on top of the niche. Plus, for those forums that offer “signatures”, you can promote your website or your product or service there.

Plus, forums are free! So this is an excellent way to get more traffic to your website for free, and these visitors are highly converting because they came to your site after reading something insightful that you may have stated. This is one of the best ways to get good, quality traffic coming to your site everyday. Not to mention the fact that you can do a lot of market research simply by doing forums.

For example, I’m involved in this popular forum online, and one area in particular that intrigues me is the “mobile marketing” or “cell phone marketing” section of the forum. It gives me the opportunity to reach more people who aren’t at their desk in front of their computer screen. So this is a great way to reach more new people.

I’ve heard of mobile marketing before, but I never pursued it heavily the way that I am now. It’s the only way that I would have taken it seriously had I not joined the forum. But I’m glad that I dead. I learn new things, and in return, I get traffic back to my website for the helpful posts that I write on the forums.

Forums are a great place to market on. To find a forum in your niche, go to Google and type in “[your niche] forum”. So if you’re in the basketball niche, you could type in “basketball forum”. If you’re in the weight loss niche, you could type in “weight loss forum”. Or if you’re in the wedding niche, you could type in “wedding forum”. Hopefully you catch my drift.

The more quality posts that you make, the more people will begin to view you as an expert. With this kind of branding in the marketplace, it can lead to increased sales, higher profit margins because forum marketing is free, and more backend customers. And with backend customers, this is where the money REALLY is of your total business income will come from backend marketing.

So forum marketing should play a big part in your online marketing mix. Even if you’re someone who’s big on paid advertising, think about the low customer acquisition cost you would have if you incorporated forum marketing into your selling cycle. You’ll lower the cost per customer, and profit more on the front end. Now you will want to sell to your existing customers also, but you’ll be earning more on the front end – therefore making you more profitable.

Don’t put off this marketing strategy. Even if it seems like something that you don’t want to do, give it a shot first. Once you make your first 5 posts, it will feel like you’re a regular member of the forum, and people will want to read your responses and posts on the issues that you are an expert on.

Be sure not to spam the forums with your marketing message. This is the fastest way to get banned. Market on forums legit, and take your time. Don’t rush, because people will ignore you and report you to the moderators of the forums to delete your “spammy” account. So keep this in mind.

Forum Marketing

Want to feel the pulse of your market niche? Know exactly where to put your finger on it to gauge what they really think, have issues with, or needs that are unanswered. There is no better way than to go to the source and that is your very own source of prospects. They are qualified and if you can establish yourself as a trustworthy authority offering answers to their problems/ questions, you have a great opportunity to land them as a customer. The best source available to you is by enrolling in and/or even hosting a forum yourself. Although this is a form of marketing that does require time and patience, you just can’t get better quality raw information anywhere else, not even in a survey! (I mean “raw” in terms of honest with no motivations other than addressing the topic at hand.) Here are some added benefits a business can glean from Forum Marketing:

* Do you own a blog? Are you always looking for current and relevant content? From the questions asked and topics discussed in your forum you can glean ideas and issues that can translate well into article content and attract attention to your blog. Consider not only answering the topics in the site hosted by the forum, but bring the issues and questions right to your home page!

*Gauge trends within your niche discussions that you can fill either with a product/service extension or modify an existing product/service to answer the trend. Then use the same forum to announce their incorporation within your business.

* The format of forums also allows opportunities for you to obtain valuable back links, list building capabilities, as well as establish you as an authority in your niche. If you invest time and honest effort you can become the “Go To” person in your forum.

* This is also an avenue to test market an idea in a safe environment, prior to costly investment. Here you can hone in and fine tune your strategy with the help of interested and potential future prospects. What more relevant and cost effective test market can you think of?

* Forum marketing offer’s the same environment that social sites offer and what the consumers are now demanding; more personal and interactive relationship with the businesses they deal with. Like social networks, forums gives voice to the consumer.

How To Join A Forum:

You will be searching your browser trying to be as specific as possible in your keywords to find the niche you will best fit into, as well as find niches that may not necessarily be serviced to their fullest. TAKE YOUR TIME… don’t just jump in feet first. You will want to take a look around so your time and your efforts will be spent wisely and with utmost economy. Try different word combinations to see what is out there. Use the same “key word” strategy as you do in your SEO efforts. Testing different keywords allows you to target specific demographics whether it be audience, topic, or location to see what is going on in the marketplace. You may even find a sub group in your niche you never even thought about and want to bookmark and keep an eye on. Watching and assessing is always your best initial move. Forums are tight knit communities, therefore initially sitting back and making note of who the influential users are, getting a sense of the community, and the favorite and less favorite topics: will help you fit in more quickly.

Not all forums are made equal! To be successful you have to hunt out the best fit for you and your business. Do not walk into a topic that you can not prove yourself as an authority on. Look for popular forums! You can try keyword searching in popular sites as Board Reader, Big Boards, 100 Webmaster Forums. In fact the last option will give you a wealth of sites to consider.

Don’t overwhelm yourself and overtax your time by taking on too many forums at one time. Only you know what is a reasonable amount to handle in your busy schedule, but here is a few criteria you can use to short list the forerunners:

* Look for a list with good healthy membership, (1000 members and up.)
* Look also for robust activity, one that offers at least ten plus posts a day.
* If you see spam in the forum, back away! Sites that don’t moderate their spam offer more heartache than gain.
* And finally don’t go head to head on your direct competitor’s site. Their following is loyal, they have established a relationship already, you will only do yourself more

harm than good! Seniority is very important in forums.
* Check the rules. Check the user agreements and posting guidelines and look for forums that:

– allow you to place links in their posts,

– allow you to promote your own business,

– allow you to contact other members for commercial purposes.

– Check also the restrictions placed on new users and weigh the advantages if there are any.

You are dealing in a “social” situation and as in any social situation, you have to remember etiquette! Again it is worth mentioning that this is not a quick and easy marketing strategy… then again establishing long term and productive relationships don’t adhere well to quick and easy thinking. Rather it is eyed as suspicious activity generally viewed as a hustle in nature. The internet is fraught with cons, hustlers, spammers and excessive phishing… you do not want to get lumped in this category because the public relations mop up required would be a nightmare! On the flip side, there is no better and cost effective rewards than successful forum marketing. Make this then part of your long term strategies, as one of the “irons in the fire” if you may that when solidifies for you will also reap for the long term. It is a good investment!

Your first move in the forum of choice is to introduce yourself. Give a brief description of yourself as well as an explanation why you chose that particular forum. Look for threads the forum may offer that are designated for welcoming new members. Don’t ever make any marketing pitches out of the starting gate! If you try to sell anything on your first post, there is a good chance that you may find yourself banned.

Alternate Forum Marketing Activities

In as much as you are encouraged to participate in a forum, in time once you get a feel for the process, you may well consider hosting your own either as your soul forum marketing activity or in conjunction with your activities on your host’s site. It all depends on your time available and the successes you build on either end of the scale.
Be cautioned though. It may sound easier said than done! Like any enterprise/undertaking you first need to start out with a good plan because your forum is going to need a little more than just software to get it going and make it successful. You need to carefully select what topics to discuss within it, and you also need to be ready to answer as many posts as possible.

In the beginning, keep the amount of topics down so that you don’t spread your forum too thin making it look like there aren’t many members or activity happening to the curious onlooker considering to join themselves. (5 topics with 5 comments in each look more appealing than 25 topics with one answer each….) Organizing the content in a way to have the most popular stuff on topic at the top of the forum. This is is the most likely relevant content for the new visitor, and is the best way to draw them in. Leave the chit chat and introduction topics at the bottom. That stuff is for your true regulars, and they will check it out without encouragement.

Answer as many threads as possible, be a good host and make everyone feel welcome and an important member of your community. What is the use of having a forum if you are not going to actively participate in it? Reply to threads that contain answers to previous questions, (possibly with another question) just to keep the thread alive. Actively and aggressively moderate the spam! Offer something in addition to the forum… a tool or a link to a site with more information. This gives greater utility to your forum and it is no different a strategy than that used in list building. Or offer incentives for posting in your forum; give them a trial product, offer a little free advertising, give them a link on the main page, allow them to post their website in the main forum, etc. It is amazing how the quantity and quality of posts increases after you offer even the slightest free incentive.

Getting The Word Out

Use the same strategy as you do for getting the word out for your blog, website, product or service:

* Use the social networks you are on to advertise, announce and/or invite your friends to participate. Announce your forum on a regular (but not annoying) basis.
* Consider making an announcement via press release, banner ad, as well as adding it to you existing email marketing program.
* Encourage your friends, clients and other contacts to spread the word for you. Offer an incentive if possible to encourage word of mouth.
* See if you can get a guest posting on another blog or podcast to create interest and desire for joining your lively and informative forum!
* Look into free classified posting as a potential source of creating interest.
* What ever you do…don’t spam! Keep everything professional and above board!

Two Types Of Forum Applications To Consider

You have two options available when considering where you can host your forum. You can chose to be “off site”, that is your forum is not hosted on your website but rather in a community of forums. Consider this to be a similar set up to that as Blogger where an individual can sign up and them format their own forum/s. If you enter follow this link http://www.yuku.com, (copy and paste in your browser if it is not working for you,) you can get an idea what these sites offer. We suggest you shop around though before you settle on that perfect fir for you. We are only using YUKU as example, and should by no means be viewed as a sole endorsement.

In addition to off site forum offerings, you can also consider hosting a forum on your own website instead. To get a feel of what that is all about check out: http://www.comm100.com/forum. They specialize in business forums and the process is pretty painless and relatively simple:

Step one: register an account
Step two: Customize necessary settings to have your own branding
Step three: Copy several lines of code and paste it to your site
Step four: You now have a full featured discussion forum

We hope we have presented enough information for you to feel secure in making a sound decision on whether Forum Marketing is a viable strategy for you. What ever your decision is, we would like to wish you the best of luck in your endeavors.

Using Forum Marketing To Grow Your Business

We are social beings by nature, and forums have become very popular social communities where like minded people gather to share their thoughts, ideas and strategies. Whilst many people join online communities specifically for social benefits, there are also professionals online who see the huge potential in forum marketing.

Personally, I join and interact on forums because it gives me a chance to promote my business through a signature link at the bottom of each valuable post I write. Others use forums just to gain a back-link to their website from their signature, and then there are people who are just starting out in the internet marketing business who are looking for advice and tips on which direction they should be heading in.

Okay, let’s take a look why forums are powerful for online business owners…

1) Forum Marketing- Building On Your Existing Knowledge:

Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or a newbie, conversing and participating on online forums can be very valuable for the future growth of your business. Well respected forums have a lot of valuable content shared by many different marketers who approach their business from completely different mindsets. I have learned a lot over the years just from reading other posts left by like minded people in the same industry as myself. While this may not be seen as direct forum marketing, it has helped my online business grow immensely through the years.

You can pick up some great little tips & tricks just by browsing through the popular categories of a forum, but be warned, there are also a lot of bad habits you can pick up from internet marketers who have no real clue as to how to run an online business. What I really like about forums is that there are many different viewpoints shared by successful entrepreneurs, and when a conversation erupts into a full blown debate about what are the best strategies to run a business, you will begin to see who are the experts and who are the opportunity seekers very quickly.

Opportunity seekers are the ones who give advice on how to make “quick cash” online, where the seasoned business experts will highlight the importance of creating a long-term business plan that is sustainable over time. You can pick up some great little nuggets of gold from both parties.

When joining a forum with the sole purpose of learning about your industry, I suggest you take a close look at who is doing the posting, what their strategies are, and what their goal of posting is.

Learn to distinguish from the people who actually work to provide value, and weed out the ones who simply post on forums to gain a back-link to their website, or simply just to promote their online services. Marketers who post to provide value are the ones I pay attention to. I don’t trust the ones who are just posting to promote their business. This is ineffective forum marketing and I’d much rather ignore what they have to say.

I like to take notes when I go onto popular forums and I also like to write down the names of members who seem to have a strong presence on the forum. I then go through their previous posts to dig a little deeper into their overall business strategies.

You can learn a lot from these people and if you are impressed by their approach to online marketing, you can follow their posts and get to know them a little better each time you visit. Maybe I will even send a private message after a short while asking for specific answers to questions I feel they would have extensive knowledge in. This approach is very valuable and you can build valuable relationships with knowledgeable folk over time.

2) Forum Marketing- Marketing Your Online Business:

Forums are great place to promote your brand, products and services to targeted people within your niche. I use forums for many different reasons but my main reason is for promotional purposes. I have quite a bit of knowledge in the internet marketing industry and I would like to promote what I have to offer to that particular market…what better place than where these people hang out every day?

A simple little signature profile at the bottom of your posts can bring in a lot of traffic over time to your service, providing you give value to the forum that is. I have seen forum posters leave one sentence posts in an attempt to get their signature file on many threads within the forum. This is a complete waste of time and will drive very little, if any, visitors to your web space. Adding little to no value to a forum is a waste of your time, and a waste of the forums capabilities of helping you with your online presence.

If you go to the most popular internet marketing forum that exists on the net today, you will see many well known people adding consistent value to that forum. These marketers know exactly what they are doing and the reap the benefits tenfold.

Alexa Smith is a regular poster on the warrior forum and she provides incredible value to participants of that forum on a consistent basis. Alexa has marketers, and “would be” marketers, hanging onto her every word. If she decided tomorrow to launch a product within the warrior forum, she would make a boat load of cash overnight, simply because she provides valuable information every post she writes or responds too. This is how forum marketing is done effectively.

The key to making forum presence work for you is to provide as much value to the members on that forum on a consistent basis. Joining forums with the purpose of promoting your service is short sighted, your number 1 goal is to provide as much valuable advice as possible to the members.

After a short while you will notice a lot of people coming to your website from clicking on your signature link. If someone on a forum provided me with great advice on a particular question I had, I would absolutely click on the link in their signature…who wouldn’t? Even if I didn’t ask a question in the forum but got some great tip from a fellow marketer by reading other threads that I have no posts in, I would still click through to their service regardless. Remember also, your valuable posts will be on the forum for a very long time, so you can have consistent exposure to your business providing you regularly give value.

Conclusion:

There are many ways to promote your business online, and you should be using a mixture of them all to create an online presence that reaches far out across the whole world wide web. Forums are just one of the ways to do this, but they can be very powerful if approached in the right way.

Years ago I would have used forums to gain a back-link to my website, these days however, I approach this with a much more targeted goal in mind. Back-links are of course very valuable for search engine traffic, but not as powerful as bringing targeted traffic straight to you service or product. I participate in 5 forums related to the niche I’m in, and I spend at least an hour each day providing value in each of these forums.

Not all traffic is equal, so it’s important to go where your target market is already hanging out. Forums have dramatically helped me promote my business and will continue to do so for many years to come as long as I consistently use these communities to provide value to it’s members.

I also learn a lot from forums by conversing with experts in the internet marketing field I am passionate about. Don’t underestimate the value of participating in high traffic forums…the value they can bring to your business is immense, as long as you use them to market your business in the proper manner.Forum marketing is one of my favorite free sources of traffic and it works wonderfully well if used in the right way.