How To Increase Website Traffic With Forum Marketing

by Ian J Purdie

If you are a person who is serious about making money online then you need to make forum marketing an essential and regular part of your marketing efforts. It doesn't matter what market niche you are operating in, you need to take advantage of any forums that are available in your niche. A Google search using ("forums: your niche description") will soon give you plenty to choose from. As your forum skills develop so your website traffic will increase.

So why is it so important to be involved in forum marketing?

The answers to that questions are quite varied because forums offer a range of different services and opportunities. Probably the best way to summarize is:

• forums are a great information resource
• forums provide an opportunity for you to market your product or service, albeit in a fairly subtle way.
• forums are a great source of back-links to your website
• forums provide you with great contacts with other marketers
• forums give you the opportunity to build your credibility and expertise.
• Forum participation leads to an increase in website traffic

So what does it take to be successful with forum marketing?
Despite forums offering so many advantages, as outlined above, they are areas where you need to exercise a great deal of care and caution in how you conduct yourself. Failure to do so will mean loss of credibility and even barring from the forum. However, if you follow the rules and exercise common sense, then forums can be an enormous asset to your marketing efforts.
Your success is going to revolve around the following areas:

• Be very active - it is no use logging in once a fortnight and thinking that you are going to achieve anything worthwhile. You need to be there at least two or three times a week, even daily. Post frequently, but not excessively. And remember - when you post and add your signature you are getting a back-link to your site. Over time, these back-links will lead to an increase in website traffic.
• Offer value - it is no use making trite comments because you are only thinking about getting your signature noticed. The best way is to offer value in any discussion thread in which you choose to participate. Once other members see that you have something to offer then they will notice your signature and probably check you out by visiting your site - and that increase in website traffic is what you want!
• Follow the forum rules carefully. Forums will have different rules and it is important to observe them. For example, some forums may allow promotion of your product directly - most don't: except through your signature link. In some forums you cannot even put in your signature link until you have posted a certain number of times.
• Be courteous at all times. Avoid being caught up in any personal disputes and never engage in abusive or derogatory behaviour towards other members. Forum members are a cross-section of society and as such will have differing points of view and different sets of values. So... let courtesy and tolerance be your watchwords.
• Concentrate on building your perceived expertise. The best way to do this is to follow carefully the various discussion threads and to hone in on those that are closest to your particular field of knowledge and expertise. This gives the opportunity to offer a comment, even a solution, to a problem that others may be having. This will enhance your credibility and people will, slowly but surely, perceive you as an expert in your field. In turn, you will receive an increase in website traffic. The golden rule is listen first and contribute later.

Follow the principles outlined and you will achieve success. Forum marketing will lead to an increase in the flow of business to your products or services.

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