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.