Getting Site Traffic Through Forums

Even if the worldwide web seems to be a tough nut to crack for many people, especially those who want to market their wares but are unable to because they have not been to be familiar with the navigation processes of the computer (and the never-ending upgrades are not doing them any good), still the online world is open for all those who have the capability to go online and promote their products or services, and for those who are not that computer savvy, they can always hire somebody to set up a website for them and in the process learn the basics of computer course-plotting and direction-finding. And once you get the feel and know the basic ins and outs of internet marketing, you would soon realize that nothing beats online marketing tactics and strategies, especially those employed for SEO like article marketing, niche marketing, pay per click, blog marketing, and many more.

Some online marketers opt to perform different forms of SEO strategies all at the same time or in rapid succession to monitor and determine which works best for their website and who brings the most number of visitors and puts them on top of the search engine results page ranking. Others choose to just employ one SEO tactic at a time, stick to it for the time being and see what happens, and there is one that has been proven and tested to deliver the necessary amount of website traffic to help you get the amount of conversions that you need to maintain the site and earn a lot more.

Forum marketing has been around for years and you many even tag it as the very first social networking web page online, and because it has numerous members, each communicating with other members, the earning potential via forum marketing is endless and it is bit strange why only a few online marketers see the income-generating prospect it possesses - targeted exposure of your products and services to prospects. If optimized and used to its full capacity, forum marketing can be a very effective tool in traffic generation and income production.

The most basic form of forum marketing is posting threads that are ultimately and currently popular which is what is needed for maximum exposure. By posting your comments and responding to previous posts by other members, you would be drawing attention to yourself especially if your contributions and the data that you provide are new, effective, real, and innovative.

However, your posts should be as consistent as can be since you need to make sure that other members notice you and perceive you as some form of expert in your niche.

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Online Forums: 7 Reasons Why You Should Participate In Them

Online Forums: Why You Should Participate In Them

You can help other people and yourself

When you participate in online forums, the number one thing you should focus on is helping people.

When you focus on helping, and I mean truly helping people, all kinds of good things start happening for you. People start to trust you, bond with you and believe in you.

You start feeling great about yourself as well. Helping people improve their businesses (and themselves) is a terrific feeling!

That can only help you as you run your own business. The more you give of your time and knowledge, the more you, yourself, will benefit.

So, when you go to a forum, look for people you can help. Then help them in the best, most efficient way possible. Then watch your business (and profits) blast off!

You can gain expert status

When you honestly, sincerely, help your fellow forum participants, it won't be long before you are viewed as an expert.

When people look at you as an expert, they will want to know you, work with you and do business with you. That's a good thing - a real good thing.

You can drive traffic to your websites

As you go to different forums giving advice, tips and strategies, you can funnel people through to your website(s); using your signature.

Just make sure that you don't blatantly promote your sites or you can get yourself banned from the forum(s). Remember, you want to focus on helping people. You will be well-rewarded for doing so.

You can get great product ideas

Another great benefit of helping out in forums is that you can find great ideas for products. Pay close attention to the questions that are being asked over and over again.

That's a clue that people are having trouble with that particular subject. It is something that you may be able to capitalize on.

Once you know what people are having trouble with, you do your research, come up with a solution, and you have a potentially huge money-maker on your hands!

You can create joint venture deals

Forums are great places to find people who are willing to work on joint venture deals with you. Think about it. In many cases, they are interested in the same things that you are.

They have the same types of ideas that you do. They have similar motivations as you do. And they are often looking for JV partners. This could gain you some big profits very quickly.

You can get answers to your questions

If you have questions, one great way to get them answered is by visiting forums.

When you participate in forums, you will invariably come across people who have answers to any questions that you may have.

So, while you can use forums as a way to help people, don't forget that you can also get help while you're there.

You can network with like-minded people

Being in a forum that caters to your industry or deals with your particular niche can sometimes be like being part of a big mastermind group.

Working online can often be a lonely job. The support of fellow forum members can make you feel like part of a team. This can give you a huge mental boost, energize you and propel you towards reaching your goals.

Don't underestimate this. Even under the best of circumstances, we all need support from time to time. And that support just may be the greatest reason of all for participating in online forums.

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How to Make Money By Posting in Online Forums

Internet has changed the way we communicate. We are now able to express our views to millions of people around the world at the same time. We can make ourselves heard by posting comments on blogs, social sites, forums, chat rooms and many other private membership sites. But not many people know that money can be made by submitting such posts if desired.

Communication is a power tool. You can provide information, ask questions, give an opinion or pass on instructions on which ever topic you want to engage on the internet. So you can find many people meet on the internet chat rooms and forums to participate in discussions and exchange ideas. There are numerous topics ranging from stamp collections to space travels being discussed on the internet forums. Therefore, it is to your advantage to join a forum and participate in a discussion in any topic of your interest.

Once you are a member of a forum, it is very important t that you put a link in your signature or include your website URL in all your postings. These links can also be your affiliate link. Your reader will then be able to find your site and learn more about you or purchase the product from your site depending how your site is being set up.

Try to post answers to questions in the forum. Readers love answers as these are what people are looking for. So even if your post is just a simple answer, people will still want to read it. By posting answers every now and then, readers will start to notice you and if most of your answers are of good value, the readers will recognize you as an expert in that particular field. Eventually you will gain their trust.

You will start to understand what this group of people are looking for and eventually direct them to a solution or a product that you believe can be of help to them. You can take the opportunity to be an affiliate of this product and earn a commission from every sale you make through your affiliate link. In this manner you make a profit by participating in forums.

Whenever you receive a comment to your post, it is very important that you give thanks to the writer. This shows that you are a humble person and have respect and appreciation of the writer's effort. In return, they will respect you.

Please do not simply copy an answer from other sites and post it in the forum. It can be very easily detected. If you need to do that, I suggest you rephrase the entire answer in your own words before posting it. Always put in your most sincere words in your post. There are numerous ways that you can find an answer to a question. You can always ask your friends, your relatives, family members, tweak it and post it on Yahoo Questions, check it out at the resource library or simply ask anyone you happen to know.

Always remember to be honest with your answers and you will earn the trust of your readers. They will then follow your advice and buy your product.

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What Is My Post Count?

Your post count does dictate, to an extent, how much respect you'll get on any USENET newsgroup. It's a handy measure of how long you've been around.

The idea of keeping a post-count exists in every Internet conversation forum. It also exists on the USENET system. A post count is merely a tally of all the posts that you have put up on an Internet forum or a newsgroup. Your newsreader should give you a count of all the posts that you have added to any newsgroup. On an Internet forum, there is usually a tally displayed on your profile and right by your avatar picture on any post that you make.

What Does it Mean?

Your post count, in all reality, doesn't mean anything. You might've put 1,000 posts on a newsgroup, but they might only be bad posts, as well. What people generally look at a postcount for is to give themselves credibility over another user. For example, if you are having an argument with another user of the USENET newsgroup and they had been around much longer than you have, they might reference their post count as a way of explaining why they have more credibility than you do. Of course, this is a convenient way to measure credibility for them if they have a high postcount.

A post count can be handy, in some cases. There may be instances, for example, where you want to know if somebody has been around on a forum for a long time before you engage in a conversation with them. It's unlikely that a troll would end up being on a forum long enough to make a huge number of posts, for example, and this can prove a good way to filter them out.

Other than providing a sometimes convenient way for you to filter out potential trolls, a postcount really isn't worth much to anybody but a moderator. A moderator can use them to get an idea of how much people are participating in forums and to get an idea of which forum members or newsgroup members of the most valuable to the conversation. In most cases, bragging about your post count won't impress anybody, especially among the group of people who have been on the USENET system or on Internet forums for a very long time. Anybody can post, not everybody can post anything interesting.

Should I Worry About It?

In a word: no. You shouldn't worry about your postcount. Just remember that it's a handy tool if you want to make certain that somebody who is chatting you up on a newsgroup has been around for a while and that they're not some sort of troll. Beyond that, this isn't a number that you really need to concern yourself with. In cases where you suspect somebody of being a spammer, you may see an extremely high post count on their profile. Not only does this mean that the person is likely someone you don't want to converse with, it also probably means that the forum or newsgroup isn't very well moderated if somebody is able to make so many spam posts.

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The Best Internet Marketing Association

The greatest marketing you can do is the marketing you get paid for, and not scammed into doing later to find out you are not going to make a dime. There are so many scams out there it is really hard to see through the crap sometimes. When you find the perfect opportunity for you, it makes the work all the more worth it. People are cruel this day in time, and it is very easy to get suckered into some scheme or hoax without you even knowing what is happening.

Check out the optimum internet marketing association to partner with by reading tons of reviews and blog posts. Reading what others have to say about other internet marketing entities is the foremost way to cut through the crap of the business. Check through at least five to ten different sources then you should know exactly what you were looking for, then you will know what is real and what is fantasy. To make it in the business you have to do plenty of homework to wade through the hypocrisy of the internet community. Almost every person that roams the face of the earth wants to make more money, and some make that money suckering uneducated individuals into doing their dirty work. I am just trying to give you something to think about so you do not get shamed into a scam or worse.

There are numerous reputable companies out there you can work at home for; you just have to find it. When you have done the homework, you should have an understanding about the finest internet marketing association, or entity to partner with and which ones to steer clear of. Remember the best job is one you get paid to do not one you get scammed into doing and receive zero credits for. When you find the perfect job that you love will you really think that it is work or will you think it is fun. This goes for any job, online or offline. There should be no reason, if given the correct resources, that anyone can find that job for them. So get off your rump and start investigating so you can either improve your situation or get yourself out of that dead-end job that is taking you nowhere fast. If you do not, there is no one to blame but you. Whats the hold up?

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Create Recurring Income With a Paid Membership Site

Paid membership sites have become hot Internet properties recently, but most people who start them don't succeed with them. A profitable membership site can add new income streams, reach new markets, and create greater profits in your business.

If you're a thought leader or business professional, think carefully before you launch into building a membership site - it isn't for everybody. It works best if you have:

an established business delivering value to your clients through your face-to-face services resources that deliver on-going value (such as e-books, audio programs and worksheets) or the time to give members access to you (through webinars, group coaching, short consulting sessions, and so on) a network of clients, peers who can deliver value to your members, and a database of potential members

Benefits of a Membership Site

A membership site has a number of potential benefits for you:

Recurring Income: The most obvious benefit is that you create a new income stream. Market Once: You only need to convince people once to sign up, and then charge them every month. Vehicle for Value: The membership site is a way for you to deliver, share and archive your resources. Build Loyalty: You keep delivering value to your members in all your communication. Reward Loyalty: Members get access to things that non-members don't. Maintain Relationships: You can offer free membership to selected people, as a way to keep and build relationships.

It also has benefits for your members:

Manage Cash Flow: They know exactly how much they will spend each month. Join a Community: Some people join a membership site primarily so they can be part of a community of like-minded people. Make One Decision: They don't have to keep making decisions about whether to buy individual products and services. Get Increasing Value: The longer somebody is a member, the more value they get, because the network expands and you keep adding resources. So each month their membership dollar goes further. On-Demand Learning: Members can dip into the archive whenever they want, rather than waiting until you deliver what they need. Save Money: Finally, of course they save money, because you give them discounts, special prices and members-only offers.

Are You Ready?

Broadly, as an expert, you have four potential types of income:

Active: You get paid for delivering value to your clients - speaking, coaching, consulting, professional services, etc. Bundled: You get paid more for your activity, because you bundle in other products and services. Recurring: You get paid over and over again for your activity, because clients buy a subscription. Passive: You get paid even without any activity.

Each level of income relies on one thing:

To generate active income, you need to demonstrate value (otherwise, clients won't pay!) To generate bundled income, you need products (physical, electronic or even additional services) To generate recurring income, you need a network (potential members, joint venture partners, affiliates and staff) To generate passive income, you need marketing skills - especially marketing that stands alone without you being there to sell

The fourth level - passive income - can be achieved by itself, but the other three build on each other. A membership site is an example of recurring income.

The Proven Path

Because a membership site is recurring income, you need value, products and a network. It's difficult to succeed unless you have all three.

This is the most common path to success.

Unfortunately, some business owners launch into a membership site too soon, and discover that they don't have expertise that members value, they don't have enough products and resources to keep the site going, or they don't have a network to promote, support and buy membership.

So make sure you have value, products and a network - and a commitment to making your membership site work!

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USENET and Motorcycles

If you like getting out on the road on two wheels, you'll find that USENET has plenty of newsgroups that will likely interest you. Most of the newsgroups for motorcycles will be found under the rec hierarchy. Even though you might use your motorcycle as a daily commuter, on USENET they are considered recreational subject matter.

Finding the Groups

There are quite a few different regional USENET groups for discussing motorcycles. You'll find ones for specific states, such as news.tx.motorcycles, which is a newsgroup specifically for USENET users in Texas who enjoy riding motorcycles. You'll also find newsgroups for particular countries, such as one for Canadian riders. Joining a newsgroup that applies to your region is one of the easiest ways to make connections with people you might actually be able to get out and ride with. If you're just interested in regular information, however, you can get quite a bit of it and in very specialized ways.

People who ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles generally aren't interested in other types of motorcycles in any regard. They're apparently not even interested in newsgroups related to things that aren't Harley-Davidsons that some people have the temerity to call motorcycles. Such dedicated riders can go to rec.motorcycles.harley. If you don't know whether or not you're driving a panhead, a shovelhead or a knucklehead, somebody will probably give you a pretty straightforward answer in this newsgroup.

If you like the sleek lines and insanely fast speeds of Japanese racing bikes, you'll find newsgroups for those types of motorcycles, as well. If you head over to rec.motorcycles.racing, you'll find plenty of people discussing what bikes are the fastest and how they did in their latest races.

USENET and the motorcycle community, though it wouldn't seem like it on the face of it, have quite a bit in common. For one thing, people tend to be pretty willing to share information with one another when they find that somebody belongs to either of these relatively exclusive groups. USENET is very popular, but it's not the most common way that people have discussions over computer networks. Motorcycles, of course, are popular as well but not everybody is cut out to ride on two wheels. Hop onto a newsgroup and you probably won't take very long to find people who might want to go out riding with you or, at least, to find people in your local region you can network with online and off.

If you ride a particular type of bike exclusively, make sure you check the USENET newsgroups to see if there are groups that are more appropriate than others are. For example, you can look for newsgroups for riders of Royal Enfield motorcycles, riders of Indian motorcycles and so forth. This way, you not only get information about the motorcycle that you ride, you also managed to network with people who share a passion for the same design and brand name that you do. And at the root of it, USENET is all about sharing information and being part of the community and these newsgroups go a long way toward helping you do both.

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Why USENET Hierarchies Are Still Useful

USENET hierarchies may be old, but their brilliance is still apparent. They make USENET one of the most well organized systems online.

The USENET system is one of the oldest forms of communication over computer networks. The system actually predates the Internet as most people understand it. There are quite a few things about USENET that people generally do not understand. One, the system is actually still thriving. Two, the way the system is organized is actually far superior to the types of organizational schemes you will generally see around the rest of the Internet.

The Scheme

On the USENET system, groups are organized into hierarchies. They have very descriptive top-level hierarchies: such as sci for science and comp for computer-related topics. One of the real advantages of this hierarchy system is that the conversations within them tend to be much more on-topic than they are on regular Internet forums. In fact, the best USENET newsgroups are moderated, so anybody who is consistently adding off-topic material will simply have their articles deleted.

In the USENET system, there are eight very large hierarchies that have the collective name of the Big 8. They include comp, news, sci, rec, soc, talk, alt and misc. these hierarchies allow USENET users to divide the subjects of their newsgroups into logical divisions, making it easier for everybody to use the system.

Speed

The reason the hierarchies in the USENET system are so effective is precisely the same as the reason that a good card catalog in a library is very effective. Imagine walking into a huge library and having no way to know what any book was about or where it was located. The hierarchy system in USENET provide you with a very quick way of going through the various groups on the system and determining which ones you would be interested in. For example, you would start out with the top level and then work your way down until you found precisely the newsgroup you are interested in. If you're interested in computer gaming, and you are on the PlayStation 3, you might go to comp.games.ps3. The way the hierarchy system works allows users to narrow down exactly what they want from the huge number of groups available.

Enduring Appeal

Another important feature of the USENET hierarchy is that it allows users to avoid newsgroups in which they would have no interest or which they would find objectionable. The descriptions of the newsgroups are very specific, so you generally do know what you are going to be getting when you subscribe to any given newsgroup.

Internet forums may be more familiar to quite a few modern users of the Internet, but USENET newsgroups have been shown to have a great deal of staying power. They retain their appeal, particularly to individuals who enjoy substantive conversations online and who to like to make certain that the system they use allows them to navigate to exactly what they want without having to deal with all the distractions along the way. Decades since it was first invented USENET remains relevant in terms of both content and how that content is organized.

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Using the Usenet for Health Issues

You'll find plenty of people on Usenet servers who are genuine experts in their field. You'll also find plenty who aren't and, unfortunately, it's on you to decide what advice is good and what advice should be disregarded wholesale. A bit of common sense will go a long way here.

One characteristic you might notice about the posts made by health professionals is that they'll always advise you to go to your doctor for any serious condition and they'll always tell you that they cannot diagnose online. This is just basic science. A medical condition can only be diagnosed by someone with physical access to you. Even when a doctor does make a diagnosis, they're going with the most likely cause of your ailment. Doctors sometimes get it wrong, even in person.

If you have health issues that indicate something serious, you cannot use the Usenet to seek advice, you have to go to a doctor first. You can, however, make great use of the Usenet for information about how to live with your condition, if you have one, after a doctor has made sure that there are no emergent conditions. If you're having a symptom such as pain in your upper left chest, you need to go to a doctor. If you have a stiff arm or problems with your back, you very well may want to ask about it on Usenet, as these types of symptoms rarely indicate anything life-threatening.

Filter the advice you get with some common sense. Some people will recommend very out-there alternative therapies that may or may not be worth anything. In some cases, their posts will be full of pseudo-scientific drivel that's designed to make themselves sound knowledgeable. The great thing about Usenet, however, is that someone who actually knows what they're talking about will usually chime in and give you sensible advice. There is no shortage of scientists-medical or otherwise-on Usenet, which does make it a bit more trustworthy than standard Internet forums where getting reliable advice is concerned.

There are newsgroups for people with certain conditions and you may want to give them a try. These are good places to get advice about living in general. If you have diabetes, for example, you'll likely find plenty of groups where other diabetics talk about how they get by and how they keep their lives rich and enjoyable. These can be great sources of support.

The Usenet is a great source of information, but you have to have some critical thinking skills to find the best of what it has to offer. Your chances of finding someone qualified, however, are relatively good on this service.

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Create Great Message Board Content Easily: Tips From Top Publishers!

While every message board owner would love to preside over a thriving community engaged in provocative dialogue, it does take some planning and execution to get there. To that end, some thought should be given to defining the content and perspective your community will promote. It bears mentioning that while this chore is often overlooked in the planning process, the more clearly you define the core "personality" of your community prelaunch, the easier it will be to market your site and attract members in the future.

A clearly defined theme provides two distinct advantages: By promoting a niche interest, you increase your message board's visibility in the search engines as a specialized "authority" site: Secondly, you make it easier for people to determine if their interests are the same as yours. Niche communities, while often small, tend to have a more passionate following where enthusiasts will seek your forum out vs. you having to find and attract them.

Once you've settled on the identity and subject of your message board, the next step is to decide which topics will best support that identity.

The first topics you post to your board should be limited to a short list of the most interesting and compelling issues that relate to the core subject. Resist the urge to create lots of topic categories until they're necessary or members request them. When visitors see a message board with a huge list of categories it can be daunting and discourage them from participating.

Also, excessive categories can dilute thread and post counts making the forum appear less active.

Content Creation

If you're passionate about the subject of your message board, generating that first content should take little effort and even be enjoyable. Consider choosing a topic you would have liked reading about when you first got interested in the subject. Next, create some content that's a little more provocative and insightful. Perhaps write about current events or developments related to your board's topic. As you continue posting content and marketing your site, your forum community will grow and begin to offer considerable content for users to browse.

On a side note, try to make posts long enough to be informative but short enough so readers won't stray or lose interest.

To help generate a steady stream of engaging content that will keep people interested, we've assembled a list of ideas top publishers use to bolster their offerings. Consider using some or all of the following suggestions as they apply to your community:

Develop an editorial calendar: One useful technique is to think longer term about content management. Consider setting time aside on a weekly or even monthly basis to review board content and map out a direction and schedule for the introduction of new topics. Reviewing current discussion trends in your message board will also help you to stay abreast of your community's interests and brainstorm new topics accordingly. Schedule topics in advance: To build on the previous suggestion, scheduling topics in advance provides the opportunity to develop ideas more fully over time so they're better when you finally post them to your community. Make a list of interesting things you've discovered about your topic: Whether it's an amusing YouTube video, a provocative article making the rounds on the internet or some fantastic discovery in the news, gathering a few interesting links into a bullet-point posting is a fun way to keep your board fresh without spending a lot of time or energy. Map (mastermind) ideas: Start with either brand new content ideas or refer to interesting topics previously discussed in the forum and then brainstorm ways those subjects can be expanded into new topics. Then, take those new ideas and think about ways they too can be expanded into different, new posts. This technique can potentially help you identify countless new topics to write about. Turn research into content: any time you spend searching for answers or information relating to your message board's topic, take notes of everything you come across and turn that into content. If this information is valuable or compelling to you, there's a good chance it will be meaningful to others who share your same interests. Review posts made by forum members: Not surprisingly, this can often be a goldmine of ideas for new content. By reviewing the posts of your forum members, you can often find information or opinions that spark ideas for compelling new discussion topics. Interview an expert: invite a recognized authority in your niche to drop by your forum for an interview to share their opinions and expertise with your community. This is a great way to give your readers a relevant expert's opinion and perhaps even learn something about the topic yourself.

While the list above is by no means exhaustive, it will hopefully equip you with some new tools to continue building content. As an added bonus, the list below describes different types of perspectives forum publishers take when formulating new posts. Experiment with some of these and you might find they open up the hidden writer in you. Sift this list for ideas to craft additional new content:

Instructional Posts: Instructional posts explain how to do something. Try adapting this perspective to your writing and you might be surprised at the response. Instructional content is some of the most sought after and viewed content on the internet. Reviews: Another highly searched for term on the web is 'review'. Reviews come in every variety and can cover a broad range of topics. Provide an insightful opinion on an issue relating to your board and ask readers for theirs. Top 10 (or 5, 7, etc) Lists: One of the easiest, and most provocative posts to submit are ranking lists. They're popular with readers, can easily be expanded into subsequent posts, and are always reliable for stimulating responses from the community. Profiles: Pick an interesting personality in your niche and do a little research on them to present to your readers. Illuminate how they've reached their position and write about the characteristics and habits they have that others in your niche might like to develop. Rant: Get passionate, say what's on your mind and tell it like it is. Rants are great for starting discussions and can be fun if done in the right spirit. Just be aware they can also spark a flaming thread. Be sensitive to your community but have a little fun in the process. Link Posts: The 'link post' is always popular and is simply a matter of finding a quality post on another message board or blog. Link to it with an explanation of why you're linking and include a personal comment or a quote from the post. Adding a comments makes these posts more engaging and useful to your readers. 'Problem' posts: Another popular theme constantly searched in Google is that of the problem/solution format. If there is a genuine problem relating to your forum's main topic, bring it to light and begin a discussion about possible remedies. This is where the power of the community can shine as people contribute suggestions, observations and personal experiences as they relate to the 'problem' you've showcased.

Now that you've reviewed a few "best practices" for generating fresh forum content, it's time for the real fun to begin. Start your engines and begin writing!

Hopefully this article has provided a future reference for the continued creation of engaging content for your message board. Stay tuned for our next installment in this series on building a successful, self sustaining forum where we'll discuss more tips, tactics and strategies. Click here for previous articles in our Forum Building series. Thanks for reading!

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3 Forum Marketing No-No's!

Are you a social butterfly, the life of the party? Do you want to get out of your boring job and earn more without even leaving your home? If socializing with people is your thing and becoming rich and famous, your dream, you'll find the best match with forum marketing.

Today, forum marketing is becoming one of the best strategies for getting great profits. The primary reason is that it doesn't require much of a capital. The only real task a marketer will have to accomplish is to continuously participate in the community, sharing thoughts, interacting with members, getting friends-trivial things, really. The goal is to become a reliable member who people will run to for information, tips, and advice.

The task seems pretty simple, right? But how come a lot of marketers who try it still fail?

Why?

Well, it's probably because they came rushing to the forums without much of a thought or plan. Here's the thing: forums are usually very amiable in accepting members. However, a lot of them are keen and are only too happy to kick people out who break the rules.

What are these rules? Rules vary from forum to forum. Today, however, we will discuss 3 triggers or no-nos that you should avoid at all cost when utilizing forum marketing.

The 3 Big Forum Marketing No-nos

No spam!

Spam is basically posting repetitive, senseless messages. In the case of forums, spamming is posting nonsense, irrelevant, or blank posts done simply to show-off one's signature or name. Spamming is a great way to get noticed-and it's the best way to get kicked out of a forum. That said, the most vital tip I'm going to give you is this: don't ever spam! Even if you're lucky and you're not kicked out after a major spam, your name will totally be marred. You will not be trusted ever again, moderators will have their eyes on you, and, worst, you will ever make a sale! That's one tough luck.

No fights! (Keep your comments to yourself if you know it will just start a fight.)

Another big forum marketing no-no is fighting.

In simplest words, this is the rule: If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Fights can erupt from the simplest of things. If you come up to a thread where a hot topic is being discussed and where, you can foresee, your opinion will only trigger a fight, just leave. It's better to stay out than get involved and have your name marred. Just as another saying goes, "Better safe than sorry."

No irrelevant comment just for the sake of showing off your signature!

For forum marketers, sales begin in the signature. Why? Because our signatures are where we usually introduce ourselves, give insights to what we offer, and include a link to our website.

That's why it's necessary to be an active member-to be seen, to continuously participate in discussions, and to be a reliable member.

However, that doesn't mean that we should abuse it and post in every thread we can access. Post only in threads where you can share valuable information. Look for threads that discuss a topic you're an expert in or you're very interested or familiar with. This will help you further in becoming that forum member people will always come to.

In this article, we discussed only the 3 biggest no-nos of forum marketing; there are still tens if not hundreds of things you'll have to avoid in utilizing this marketing strategy. Nonetheless, following the above 3 tips will already give you a great advantage and head start.

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Types of Online Forums

A forum is basically a medium where people can exchange their ideas and views on a particular issue. It is a sort of online community where visitors can hold conversations i.e. read and post messages of common interest. There are infinite numbers of forums that are running online like internet marketing forum, technical forums, entertainment forums, sports forums, and many more. Let's discuss a few of them:

Marketing forum: The marketing forum is community where you can read and post messages that are connected with marketing and its various connected fields. Here you can discuss and increase your knowledgebase about topics connected with internet marketing such as search engine marketing, affiliate marketing, pay per click, offline marketing and alike. Whatever you want to market, whether it's a product or service, you can get lots of information from these forums. Using the techniques mentioned here you can increase the reach of your marketing which thereby helps to enhance your sales and hence can manifold your profits, earnings and turnover.

Search Engine forum: The search engine is basically an encyclopedia of information. The information consists of web pages, images, etc. There are many search engines that are present but the major ones are Google, Yahoo, and Bing. The search engine forum mainly consists of conversations that are related to search engine optimization and search engine marketing. This is again a medium of knowledge where you can exchange your ideas and get the solution from various people.

Make Money Online forum: There are money making forums that helps you to find ways with which you can make money online. It provides you various tips and tricks with the help of which you can earn money by sitting in the comfort of your home. The fundamental requirement is internet and dedication to work; and no one can stop you from earning good bucks. There are many ways that you can choose from like business development, ecommerce, content development, and so on. There are eBooks that helps to guide you through the whole process and you can move ahead in this field.

Design and development forum: The design and development forums include discussions on HTML, PHP, web designing and graphics and also the scripting part could also be discussed in these types of forums.

Marketplace forum: In this of forums you find discussions related to buy, sell and trade of products and services. The conversations can be found connected with the deals on domain name sales, website sale, link sale and lot more.

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Cut the Chatter in Online Home Businesses

Everyone who has expressed interest in any work-from-home business is getting inundated with offers that will make your ClickBank account flow with funds, enable your retirement, give you free time, etc.

How many secret tricks are out there? How many new super-secret ways of slamming your competition exist? Certainly many claim to do just that, but who has time to learn all about all the widgets you need to know about in order to build affiliate marketing traffic?

What is affiliate marketing anyway? What about viral marketing? Sequential marketing?? Pay-Per-Click? Search Engine Results? Give me a break! dmoz sounds like a geek producing machine but is it important...? I hear so much about blogs but I really have no idea what a blog is, let alone set one up!

The truth is, is that there really is a market and an opportunity for home-based businesses in affiliate marketing. ClickBank is the industry standard repository of information-based products, and they go to great lengths to make sure their delivery is secure, that affiliates are paid, that products are delivered, refunds handled, and there is a reason why they are number 1. They meet every objective.

So the exercise for affiliate marketers is basically to select the product to promote, and then promote it! Many of the same brick-and-mortar marketing strategies still work for Internet products, but you have a larger toolbox to work with on the Internet. It's a much richer environment, with ability to target your message to your market, and the best thing is that you have very low entry costs. You don't have to do mass snail-mailings to thousands of people for 10-15 leads. You have e-mail, and search engines deliver only your target market to you!

If you are truly interested in getting to the bottom of online home businesses, you can cut through the chatter and choose which one of very few options is shown below. I keep this short list of only the best internet home businesses, and I update it often.

I hope this helps all the Self-Employed Business People out there!

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Top 5 Ways of Monetize Your Forum

In the present age of technology, the internet has emerged as one of the best friends of man. Internet friendly people are glued to the computer screen. Many of them are own different online forums and spend a good amount of their time there. Hence, it is going to be extremely helpful if there are ways to monetize forums. This can help them make money from their pastime, thus making the leisure profitable. Besides, running a forum also costs some money. Hence, it is always great if you can earn a few bucks from the forum itself. However, some specific ways need to be followed for monetizing forums. This article discusses some of the ways to monetize forums and ensure that you earn from your pastime activities.

Sell Spots for Advertisements

One of the best and easiest ways of monetizing your forum is by attracting advertisements. You can sell spaces of your website at some specific rate to the interested advertisers. You may directly approach the potential advertisers with your proposals.

Place Advertisements at the Best Place

Ensure that the advertisements in your websites are placed in the places that catch attention easily. This will help to increase the clicks on them and, in turn, generate revenues for you. Besides, if they get a place on the page that will be profitable for them, the advertisers will themselves be interested to invest in your page. Proper placement of advertisements is one of the most important steps needed to monetize forums.

Provide High-quality Content

The advertisements provided by Google on your website depend on the quality of the content provided in the page. Hence, you need to maintain content of excellent quality to get the best advertisements on your website.

Know Who Your Target Audiences Are

Most of the websites usually have a specific type of target audience. It is important to know who your target audience is. In that case, you can attract only those advertisements that are going to interest the visitors to your website. This will result in increased number of clicks and thus, help you maximize revenues.

Provide Paid Membership Options

If you are sure to interest a good number of people with your website, you can make registration in it a paid one. Thus, when people will want to browse your forum or participate in discussions in it, they can pay you and do so.

You can follow these steps to monetize your forums and ensure that you make even your leisure profitable.

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Getting Started With Forum Marketing

Forums are online communities that are useful for people to have a place to ask questions, get answers, and talk about different products and services. Forum marketing is one of the best ways to generate traffic for your online business. You can share your expertise in your niche or join discussions to bring attention to your business and site. Forums are online sites that people visit to get answers. They will find a post in a forum based on their search for a specific question. It's important not to try selling your products on forums. If you try, people will ignore it, but also the site administrator could suspend you or boot you out of the forum. What you can do on a forum is contribute to the community and answer questions.

On most forums, you can add your signature which will show up at the end of your posts; this is where you can add a link to your site. You can look at other forum users' signatures, especially those with high ratings to see how their signature was formatted, and what their profile looks like. Using them as examples is a good way to learn what works best.

It's recommended to find and join at least 5 forums based on your niche. You can check the page ranks of different forums, and you'll also want to go with the forums that have a high number of members and are the busiest. Stay away from forums that are managed by competitors, and those that contain a lot of spam. Going with forums with high page ranks is best, because your signature on each of your posts creates a backlink that is valuable based on the forum site's page rank. For example, posting on a PR6 site is much more valuable than posting on a PR1 site. The backlinks will also gradually up your search engine rank, therefore increasing traffic over time. Also, the site should be related to the content of your site in order to be valuable. That's why it's important to join forums that are in your niche.

Get all your forum accounts setup and begin to post. The longer you are a member and the more posts you have, the higher your rating can be and the better your credibility. Make sure to read and follow forum rules, as to avoid losing ranking and to avoid getting booted out. Different forums have different rules so make sure to read each one's rules. Carefully pick a username and profile picture. Make sure your username and picture are a good representation of you and your business. Your username should be something that people will remember. Avoid cartoon-type pictures; you are much more credible and trustworthy if people see you.

In your profile, you will describe your experience and expertise, so make it interesting enough that people will want to read it. Adding hobbies or some personal tidbits are helpful to help people connect with you. You can leave out things such as your telephone number to avoid identity theft and spam.

It's important to post on all the forums you join consistently. Post at least 5 posts on each forum every day. This will help to promote your site to the forum community, which are people who are already interested in the niche. Since forum marketing takes time to build, consistency is very important over the long term.

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