Forum Traffic Gold
By Cindy Battye
Table of Contents.
1. Getting Started
2. Finding The Right Forum For You
3. Using Your Signature
4. The Power of The Avatar
6. Becoming the ‘Expert’
7. Posting Frequency – Earning Respect
8. Wording Your Posts For Optimum
Success
9. Forum Revenue Sharing & Advertising
10. Networking with Peers & Customers.
11. The Fine Line Between Promotion &
Spam
12. Last Minute Gold
Brought to you by the
10xMoreCash System
next generation profit potential. A
ProfitIndex
Production.
5. Targeting your Traffic
Chapter 1
Getting Started
If you have never stepped proverbial foot in a forum before then you are in for a treat!
I know that some of you might have seen forums as a place where you can find
answers about how to fix the latest virus, or find a nice tomato soup recipe – which is
about as deep as the general internet population goes. This is why it is exciting! If you
can learn to implement these strategies,
YOU will provide the rest of the internet with the information.
They will look to YOU as someone who ‘knows their stuff’
YOU will be able to point them directly toward your website!
The truth is that around 90% of internet users will not sign up at an informative forum.
Is that good news? Bad news? Well, for you, it’s fantastic news! Did you know that
out of that 90%, if they use any search engine that 100% of them WILL find their way
to a forum in search of answers to their questions? In the forum world, this 90% are
called ‘lurkers’. These are people who will regularly show up at a forum, but never
register or post.
If you have gone past the boundaries of the registration page and made it into the
actual forum, you will soon realize that there can be a huge opportunity to network and
build your online exposure. We will get to that later, but for now let’s start from the
beginning. If you are already active in forums, then you are off to a good start. This
book will help you to hone your posting skills so that you will be more productive, and
get much more effective results.
Chapter 2
Finding the Right Forum for You
There are several things to be considered in choosing a forum so that you can post
with maximum effectiveness. This part is absolutely vital, to ensure that the traffic that
you get is as targeted as possible.
Subject Matter
Obviously the content of the forum will make a difference in your interest, and in the
type of people who will be reading the posts which you make. You can look at sites
such as big-boards.com to find information about the content of the forum, the number
of members and the number of posts included in the archives. Take the time to review
the categories and choose several which reflect your area of interest or niche. Look at
the specifics about what is covered in the statement of subject matter. Although it may
be tempting to go to the forum with the largest membership, you are far better off to
attempt to find a mid-sized board which is a better match with your niche. For
example, you may want to consider 'natural foods' as opposed to 'food'. We will look
deeper into this, in chapter 4.
Size Does Matter!
Forums are typically ranked by number of members and by the number of posts
present in the archives. In choosing a forum, bigger is not necessarily better since
your post must compete with more entries and may not stand as much. On the other
hand, a large and active forum will provide you with many backlinks (which will be
discussed later) as you continue to post. Your signature and avatar will be seen by
and become familiar to more people.
A forum which is very specialized or has very low membership will make your posts
stand out, but there may not be enough draw to those people searching for the subject
with a search engine to warrant spending your time and energy there.
Technical Factors
You should be aware of the techniques for submitting your posts. Are you able to use
your signature block? Are avatars allowed? Can new members submit immediately?
Is there extensive blocking or editing of posts done by an owner or moderator? Is
there a history of spam messages on the board, and if so, what steps are being taken
to combat it?
Ego
This is an area that's hard to define, but you often see it in niche forums. One or more
people generally monopolize the board with posts, often using the forum as a sort of
public email. These people often have strong opinions and promote them strongly.
Even worse is if there are two people who rarely agree with each other and a great
deal of the time and space on the forum is spent watching them pick at each other.
Finding forums
Well, you can’t go past Google. Do a search for your keyword, and the word ‘forum’,
so it could be ‘Affiliate Marketing Forum’, and see what the results are. Generally, the
ones that show up in the first page are the ones that you should try out first. Before
you sign up, have a look at the stats (generally found at the bottom of the forum index).
Are there active posters coming in regularly? Does it have more than 1000 members?
Check the topics in the headers, do they relate to your niche?
Another way that you can find good forums, is to find a leader in your field, whom you
respect, and ask them where they hang around. There are some forums that are
limited only to invited members, making them less of a target for spammers.
Forum
Know-How
is one of these, which provides a place purely for networking and business
planning with people in the Internet Marketing industry. Most people will be flattered if
you email them to ask what forums they spend their time in, which will also help you to
be welcomed in more warmly.
Choose your name
When signing up, use your real name. It is easy to find security in anonymity,
however, if you want people to identify with you and feel comfortable that they are
dealing with a serious, competent person, then using a forum name like ‘basementbob’
is not going to give them that assurance. The only exception that I can think of is if
you are targeting a specific niche, such as gaming – where you might need to adjust it
according to the generation that you are trying to network with. In the case of general
internet marketing though, promote yourself. Let people relate your name to your
words.
Chapter 3
Use your Signature
Many people overlook the value of the signature as a method of free internet
advertising for your product and business. The signature is a three or four line follow
up to your post name. Each time you post on a forum or respond to an email, your
signature is being used to identify your valuable information to the readers and to
provide a way for them to find your company website.
The signature you use should contain a link to your web site. In some instances you
will be required to pay for the use of signatures, but in many other forums, the internet
advertising provided by the use of signatures is absolutely free. You should take
advantage of this marketing tool.
Links in the signature block can help in several ways.
• PROMOTION - The signature link acts just like roadside advertising, especially
if it is done in such a way that it doesn't annoy. In other words, no animated
smileys. The repetition of the link and the helpful information above your
signature are an effective and long-lasting way to promote your company and
your product.
• TRAFFIC - In addition to the promotion which you get from adding your
business web link to your signature, you get the traffic from people who see the
site promoted and follow through by clicking on the link. A link that regularly
appears on a large and trusted forum is often seen as being more trustworthy.
Because the link is visible and the messages are never harsh or divisive, there is
a level of confidence in the web site itself.
• BACKLINKS - Each time you post at a forum you are not only promoting your
web page directly, and adding to the traffic coming to your web site, you are also
growing the number of back links on your own site. When the search engine
crawls the forum site, your link is counted as a backlink, which provides you with
many backlinks, within a very short period of time.
• PAGE RANKING - Increasing the number of backlinks can assist you in
increasing your page rank. Page Rank is Google’s measure of importance that
they put on your page, and will affect how high up the page your website will
appear if a person types your keywords into a search engine. You can easily
increase your page rank without the need of purchasing any links. All you need
to do is include your web site link within your signature. Although not
instantaneous, your signature-based link will soon give you an increased page
ranking.
Set your signature up correctly. For the best result, use keywords that you want to be
found for when people are searching in Google. For example, if your online business
is in web traffic, then use a commonly searched for term – eg, free web traffic, and
then hyperlink that phrase with your website url. Google will then identify your site with
that phrase, giving you a higher opportunity of being found by people who are
searching for free web traffic.
If you are having trouble with the html, don’t worry – most forums use this format. Just
open your UserCP, click on change or edit signature, and put this information into the
box. Depending on the type of forum software that they are using, it could also be in
the profile area.
Here is one that I have made, which will show up like this:
Free Web Traffic
[URL="http://www.traffic-splash.com/?referer=Cindy"]Free Web Traffic[/URL]
You can follow this guide to make your own specific one.
[URL="http://www.yourwebsite.com"]YOUR KEYWORD/S HERE[/URL]
When you are setting it up, don’t forget that you can usually use colors, and add special features
such as bold, italics or underline to make it stand out.
Making your signature look great!
A lot of people get confused by the terms used when trying to make their url look nice. If you have
used html, it won’t look as scary but there are a few things that you can do to make your signature
look good. Just remember that you will need to check each particular forum’s TOS, as some things
that I am suggesting here will not be permitted.
The two most common forum scripts that you will find are vBulletin and phpbb. Each of these
requires a slightly different method for setting up your signature.
Editing vBulletin Signature
vBulletin forums require you to go to the
UserCP.
Most forums will do a bit of customization, so they
might look different colours, and have slightly different layouts, but most of the control panels are
similar. Here is a screenshot at what you should see when you click on the UserCP button.
Some of the forums make it really easy for you, and use a system that is as easy to edit as msWord,
you just type in your keyword or phrase, and highlight it, and modify it as you would like. For
example, here, I have made the font larger, underlined it, centered it and made it bold.
Some will allow you to use a similar editing system, but will show the bbcode as you edit it. If the
default editing style is like this, and you are not familiar with bbcode, then you can click on the button
on the right, to change the edit mode.
Editing phpbb Signature
The term used on the phpbb forum, is ‘Profile’, so you will need click there to change your details.
Editing your signature in phpbb is a bit more difficult as they don’t have an editor, so you will need to
write what you want in phpbb code.
There is a detailed tutorial in the phpbb forum system, so I will not repeat their information. To read
it, you can click on the link demonstrated on the previous page. You will find this page when you go
to post a message. I have provided some examples for you to follow if you are still having trouble.
For your link to look like this:
Visit The Members Forum
Use this:
[url=http://www.themembersforum.com] Visit The Members Forum[/url]
[b][u][i][url=http://www.themembersforum.com ] The Members Forum [/url][/b][/u][/i]
[size=18] [color=red] [b] [i] [u] [url=http://www.themembersforum.com ] The Members
Forum! [/url] [/b] [/i] [/u] [/color] [/size]
Some forums, like
Net Marketing Forum
, allow you to put images in your signature. Using images in
your signature gives you a great opportunity to brand you website even further, allowing the people
viewing your posts to associate a larger image, with your comments.
To make your signature look like this:
Use this:
[url=http://www.trafficbunnies.com][img]http://www.trafficbunnies.com/ref/bunnies1.gif[/img][/url]
Change your keywords
Mix it up a bit. If you are posting in 4 different forums, keep your same web address, but have a
different keyword or phrase for each. Maybe choose 4 different ones and change them each week
so that you can test the effectiveness of both the forum, and the keywords. Make yourself a plan –
eg
Week One
Forum A –
Forum B –
Forum C –
Forum D –
Week Two
Forum A –
Forum B –
Forum C –
Forum D –
Week Three
Forum A –
Forum B –
Forum C –
Forum D –
Safelist Advertising
Week Four
Forum A –
Forum B –
Forum
C –
Post in each forum for at least a month, preferably two months so that you can get a more accurate
view of which forums really deliver the traffic.
Tracking your signature
You should always track where your members are coming from, to save you from spending your
valuable time in places that do not deliver any traffic. My favorite tool to use for this purpose is found
at
HitsConnect
, you can click the link for your free trial. Hits Connect also let you add a feature so
that you can monitor how many people click on your site as well, letting you calculate how profitable
your promotion has been.
As you can guess, tracking is important for determining the value of your posting efforts, but there
can be a drawback because if you are using a tracker, you will be given a tracking url to put in place
of your website url, resulting in the backlink being given to the tracking company.
A good technique to use, is to use your website url when advertising your own websites, and if
promoting an affiliate link use a tracker. If you are concerned about how well a forum is performing
you should probably track it for a while, maybe one or two weeks, and then replace the tracker url
with your own again.
The Power of the Avatar
The avatar is a representation of the internet user of themselves, commonly found in
internet forums. It’s that little picture that goes in the place next to your name. Many
people have caught on to the amazing influence that it can have as you will notice an
increased usage in many applications, including that of marketing or web presence.
The use of avatars on web forums is increasing dramatically, although it is not know
where the practice originated. Avatars on the forums represent the person, their
beliefs, their interests or their business. Using the avatar as another reminder of your
business to other forum users is another way to increase your promotional efforts at no
cost to your advertising budget.
The avatar is usually a small sized, often 96 x 96 pixels to 100 by 100 pixels, box with
an image, text and a border which is place at or near the forum post of the contributor.
Many forums allow for the uploading of an avatar from the web page or other location.
This means the user has the capability of creating or designing an avatar which
embodies the philosophy, message or belief of the company or owner.
It can be as simple as your business logo, which provides continuity for all your
advertising, and in all likelihood has been used on your web site already. However,
other avatars are developed to embody a belief or a philosophy and to attempt to
convey that value by means of an image and a few words. An avatar doesn't
necessarily have to include the name of the business, although you can if you want.
Some forums allow for an auto-discovery algorithm which will extract an avatar from a
preset web page.
Although small in size, the avatar should represent a good deal of thought about the
qualities of your company which you want to portray.
Chapter 4
Commercialized avatar systems allow for a pixelized representation of a person or
creature which can then be modified as desired. Some avatars are even animated,
with four or six different but related views following in sequence. This often will appear
busy which can be a problem if you want your product to reflect calmness and
tranquility.
There is growing recognition of the power of the avatar in internet marketing, to
represent a company image or qualities of a product. Look at the possibilities for your
own business, as many companies are now doing. The avatar can be another way of
expanding the recognition of your product or business without the cost of advertising.
If your website does not have a logo yet, make it a priority because people’s memories
are visually stimulated. They are more likely to recall the name of your site, if they can
relate a visual image to that name.
I would recommend either using your own picture in the forum, if that is commonly
practiced in the particular forum, or using a miniaturized version of your logo. If you
promote multiple products, or affiliate programs then you should use your own photo
so that people can identify you with your products.
Chapter 5
Targeting your traffic
Earlier we discussed searching for specific forums, and finding the perfect ones for you
to participate in. That is a great starting point, but I want to expand on it a little more.
The word ‘niche’ get’s bandied around a lot when discussing website promotion, and
now I am going to talk about it. Don’t shut off! This is important information, because
if you can choose your niche properly, it can really pay off. The key to niche marketing
is to find a need and fill it. Most of the time, the emphasis is on finding an area that not
many people have done and then market it. Due to the fact that this is a world-wide-
web the chances of coming up with a completely unique idea are pretty slim, which is
why I wanted to suggest this.
Let’s take an example of something really general, like Web Hosting, which results in a
mere 261 million search results! If you are trying to compete with the top ranking sites
in this field you have lost before you have even started. So, is it worth doing still?
Well, with forums you can if you use a targeted approach.
Do you have a theme for this hypothetical web hosting site? Let’s say you have
chosen a design with lots of pinks and flowers and pretty things. So, start talking in a
WAHM forum. Find a forum where the room is full of middle aged women seeking to
start out a new at home business.
I know this is controversial, because I am being very stereotypical here, but that is the
point! Think about every generalization and stereotypical genre that might be attracted
to your site and then think about the things that they would be interested in. Find
forums about these topics, and start posting!
Choosing your keywords
This is probably not the right chapter to put this, but if you are stuck trying to find good
keywords I thought I would show you this program. It’s called
Wordtracker
, and you
can trial it for free. It allows you to find keywords that are not just specific to your niche,
but which also tells you which words have the least amount of competition which helps
to find keywords that are going to be more likely to produce decent traffic.
Chapter 6
Becoming the ‘Expert’
Even if you've chosen a niche for your product or company, there is still reason for
further specialization, and this is where you can really shine. If you are recognized
through your forum posts as being the person or company where answers and
information about a certain area can be found, you will have people not only looking for
your posts on the forum, but coming to your own web site to find out even more
information.
The area which you choose should be something that interests you and is likely to
continue to interest you over the long haul. It should be something that relates to or is
crucial to your company business. Finally, it should fit within the purview of the forum
site where you post regularly.
If you find a forum which is a broader treatment of the niche market in which you
participate, and it doesn't have information on your area of specialization, try starting a
thread about the subject and work at increasing interest and participation by the
questions which you ask. You can direct questions to other members of the forum in
order to have them participating. Eventually the thread becomes strong enough to
become a sub forum if that is a feature of the forum where you post.
As an example, Nutrition is a big subject, and there are numerous forums which deal
with the subject. If you are interest in the subject of natural foods, that's an area which
you might learn more about, but if you are in the business of selling exotic herbs from
India, you can be come respected in that specific area, become the ‘Indian herb’s guy’.
Your posts can contain information about specific herbs which boost nutrients in a
needed area or to combat a specific illness. You don't even have to mention your
company in the posts. Your signature and avatar will take care of that.
Visitors to the forum can find the information which you provide and follow the links
back to your personal web site where you can have even more information about
specific products and treatments.
This is just one example of how specialization in one area can benefit your business
and the forum where you post as well. Information which you have should be
presented in a helpful courteous manner without making wild claims or being critical of
other products.
For forums using the vBulletin script, and some that have had modifications they have
an inbuilt reputation system. By clicking on the ‘scales’ icon you can either compliment
or criticize the member’s posts. This system works well to make friends too. Not that
you give positive feedback just to impress someone, but it can be a non-
confrontational way to say, yeah – I appreciated what you had to say there.
When you leave feedback for someone, check that your name is on it. Some forums
will do this automatically, but others don’t. I would recommend leaving messages like
–
“Thank you for showing me that link, great resource – Cindy Battye”
Don’t over-use the negative feedback button. Use it if you think it is really warranted,
but try and be kind and if you have to leave negative feedback, be constructive about
why you felt it was necessary.
You can see how well respected a member is by their reputation points shown in the
panel on the right, next to any of their posts.
In your own UserCP you can have a look at the comments that members have made
about you.
Just because someone gives you a positive feedback point does not mean that you
have to give them one just to be nice. This doesn’t help the points system, as it just
makes the ‘nice’ people look really good – regardless of their skills or ability contribute
to the forum. Keep an eye out for that person though, and look for a chance to
legitimately reward them.
One of the most massive forum etiquette rules is to NEVER beg for positive reputation.
It is the fastest way to lose respect in a forum, and you will probably end up with much
more negative, than positive reputation. To increase your reputation, offer help when
asked. Give reviews, constructive comments, complements (when deserved) etc. If
you contribute to a forum, your efforts will be recognized eventually.
Chapter 7
Posting Frequency – Earning Respect
Once you have selected an appropriate niche forum and prepared your signature so
that it links to your web site; once you've chosen an avatar which represents your
company or your products and you've determined the approach you want to take in
your posts, you are ready to begin posting.
The frequency of your posts will vary according to the size of the forum and the volume
of other posts. You will want to be cautious early in your membership on the forum to
avoid asking questions which have already been asked and answered, but this is
probably a good way to break into the forum--asking questions. You may also find a
thread you are particularly interested in and ask a specific question of a poster in that
thread. Ask for clarification or further discussion on that point. Chances are, the
poster will appreciate the chance to respond and you are contributing information by
asking questions. You can judge the frequency which you should use in early posts by
how eagerly others respond to your posts.
After you have built up the number of posts you make gradually over two to three
weeks or a month, you can then add posts in another thread in the same forum. This
will show that you are eager to learn, but that you can contribute information as well.
Remember, the more you post, the more your name and web site is showing up on the
forum.
At the same time, don't overwhelm the forum with post after post after post with your
name on it. This begins to look like spam. The importance of spacing out your
comments and providing only quality information when you do post is more beneficial
than multiple posts which contain little information. You want readers to look forward to
what you have to say about a subject.
Fortunately it's usually easy to get excited about some area of your niche and your
enthusiasm to share with others will show through in the quality of your posts. Keep
those posts coming so that the forum user won't have to scroll through pages and
pages of posts before one of yours appears. You can maintain the respect by posting
frequently, not perhaps at the rate of several times per day, but at least every other
day, with more frequent posts as the subject and the volume of posts overall on the
forum warrants.
Chapter 8
Wording your Posts for Optimum Results
There are several important things to consider when you are preparing your posts to a
niche forum. Keep these tips in mind and you will increase the effectiveness of each
post and thereby increase the traffic to your own web site.
• CHOOSE YOUR AUDIENCE.
Presumably you've chosen your forum carefully already so that the people who are
members of the forum are those who are interest in the subject which you represent.
Don't waste your time talking about internet marketing if the forum is about raising
roses and expect to get much of a positive response
• INDIRECT APPROACH
If you join a forum of your peers and present only an advertisement for your own
company as your contribution to the subject, you are also wasting your time and that of
everyone else in the forum. First you should prove that you have something of value
to contribute to the groups. If that contribution is recognized, then people will visit your
web site because they trust your information.
• DON'T FIGHT THE TIDE
If you're in a forum promoting the use of pay-per-click, it seems rather pointless to post
about the benefits of newspaper classified advertising, yet some forum posters seem
to take delight in being critical of one or more facets of the forum. There is room for
discussion, but ask yourself whether this forum is the proper location for your particular
post.
• RESPOND TO QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ABOUT A POST
Often a frustrating experience in a forum will be to read page after page of questions
from forum users with no effort being made to answer the questions. Unfortunately the
lack of response, particularly in mature forums is because the questions have been
asked and answered previously and those answers could be found with some effort on
the part of the questioner. On the other hand, sometimes it is useful to review
previous information, perhaps even state it in a new way.
• REPETITION
Try to find a fresh way of making every statement you post, even while you are posting
the same thing. This keeps your signature before forum readers. It helps in the
learning curve for readers too. If you simply repeat the same words over and over not
only do they lose their effectiveness but you are not presenting new information so you
become boring and the forum becomes boring as well.
Chapter 9
Forum Revenue Sharing & Advertising
If you participate in a forum which provides for forum revenue sharing you've
increased your opportunities to not only increase your traffic, but to receive revenue in
the form of cash or credits toward additional advertising. This advertising can be used
on the forum itself.
Most forums use Google Adsense to generate some income, so if you want to have
your adverts show up in that specific forum you can use an AdWords campaign and
specify the fields for a higher chance of them being shown there.
There are some sites such as
Traffic Bunnies
which allow you to create
advertisements in the form of banner advertising, traffic exchange and text exchange.
With a large member base, there is ample opportunity to increase traffic flow, provide
banner clicks and share text advertising. Trafficbunnies is unique, in that they allow
you to earn free text and banner displays, and then display your ads on their forum
Net
Traffic Chat
. By joining this forum you can network with other people who are in the
same interest area, meet and get to know your customers and potential customers,
promote the web site of your own company, educate yourself in new and innovative
ways to attract traffic to your web site, utilize existing traffic generators more
effectively, increase communication with others on the forum via private messaging,
find out others viewpoints on a subject by initiating or participating in a poll.
This forum is designed purely to discuss ways in which our members can generate
more web traffic, so it is also a good idea to check in from time to time and see if there
are any new ideas that people are using, as well as networking with people who are in
a similar situation as you.
With this type of a format, there is no spamming. There is only information sharing by
people who want to receive the information. It is a network of people with similar
interests that of increasing traffic to one's web site, and seeking inexpensive and
innovative methods to accomplish that goal.
Chapter 10
Networking With Peers & Customers
Forum posts are a great way to network with your peers and communicate with
customers and potential customers as well. By finding and regularly using a forum
which is in your niche, you are in the best position to be reading and reaching others
who are in the same niche.
A carefully chosen forum is like an exclusive club in one way. The people who are in
the forum are of two types. First are those who are in the business or niche which is
represented. This group represents those who understand the concepts, the language
and the needs of the niche. Often one or more will have a business which is related to
the subject of the forum. These forum members can and do network with each other to
solve problems, to discuss advances in their area of interest, and to assist one another
in building up the niche over all. There will undoubtedly be competition amongst the
peers, but the forum puts them all on pretty much the same footing. They are peers,
which connotes those who have similar interests, values, ideals, knowledge base or
experience.
The other type of visitors to such a niche based forum is the customers. Presumably
customers have arrived at a forum to find out about a particular subject or product and
were directed to the forum by means of an internet search engine. Communication
with these potential customers is vital. The forum can provide information about
products which will help the customer know exactly which product will be the most
likely to meet specific needs.
The network of peers represented on a niche forum often contains a depository of
knowledge which the customer can tap for information, applications and problem
resolution. While a personal web site rarely is a complete authority on a subject, by
linking to a forum where additional information can be found, the customer perceives
that he's getting better service and answers to questions.
Niche forum marketing works another way to help your customers as well. You can
invite a customer into a forum where they can learn and participate in information at a
deeper level than that found in just one on one communication. Following a particular
thread can spark interest in another facet of the subject, for instance.
So, to use niche forums as a way to maintain good network tools with your peers and
as a way to communicate with customers and potential customers is an effective use
of time and resources to market your product.
Another vital suggestion is to train your own affiliates to use forums.
If you run a membership site, or are part of an affiliate organization where you have
contact with your members encourage them to become active in a few specific forums.
Using the methods that I have outlined, choose some forums for them, and then
remind them on a weekly basis if necessary, to show their faces on the forums.
The benefits are huge!
• It gives you regular contact with your members, some people are a little shy in
contacting their ‘upline’, and will never email you, but if you can ask them things
in a public forum they are sometimes more likely to respond.
• It lets people know that you are real, not just a computer program set up to
earn them money.
• It builds a sense of team work and responsibility. If you are posting a question
to a member, then you encourage a response. It will allow them to feel that they
are a necessary part of your team and promote loyalty.
• Provides accountability. You have a written record of anything that is
discussed, and a whole forum full of witnesses. This brings an ability to not only
have proof in case problems arise, but also allows people to view your integrity
and how you deal in situations of potential conflict.
Another great feature of the forum is their Private Message (PM) function. This allows
you to send messages to people in the forums, which is invaluable for networking.
This should never be used as an opportunity to spam people. Here are some things
that it could be used for:
• Communicating with your customers
• Contacting your affiliates
• Networking with peers
• Planning JV projects (Joint Ventures)
• Developing relationships with like-minded people.
Chapter 11
The Fine Line Between Promotion and Spam
If you follow the principles which have already defined, you won't have any trouble
complying with this aspect of successful forum marketing by using forums.
We all know what Spam is, and most of us have at some stage been on the receiving
end of a whole heap of it. Spam has the connotation of fraud, get-rich quick schemes
and dubious products. It often is a commercial message.
The use of spam on an niche forum has no place. Not only does it not contribute to
information, knowledge, or ongoing discussions, it often so frustrates forum users that
they cancel membership on the forum, or quit visiting it. Spam hurts the forum reader,
other forum posters, the owners of the forum, and even the entire niche where the
spam is occurring.
As a responsible member of the forum, you want to be sure that you are not one who
is contributing to the spam on the internet. Make sure that content of each post is
useful and informative information about the subject, not specifically about your
product or company. Providing company or product specific information can be done
indirectly through the use of your signature link and your company or business web
page.
By providing good information rather than spam, you are helping to build the health of
the entire forum which benefits you directly, but also each and every other member of
the forum. The forum becomes recognized as one which provides quality information
and little or no spam.
The members can help to police the posts, or it can be left up to the forum
administrator. Either way, the forum gains a reputation as a place where information
and discussion can occur without having to wade through acres of spam and thinly
disguised commercial advertising.
Some forums reduce the amount of spam delivered by limiting or banning posts by
new members for a period of 30 or more days following membership. Others monitor
directly by requiring individual approval of all posts. Some monitor posts only by new
members. Forums may ban members who consistently disregard any of the forum
rules, including that of no spam. Most forums have regulations which specifically
prohibit the posting of spam messages, but it may be difficult to determine what exactly
constitutes spam.
By each member monitoring their own content and usage of the forum, it will improve
the usefulness and reputation of the entire forum.
Chapter 12
Last Minute Gold
Now you know the tricks it is up to you to implement them. This ebook really is no
benefit to you unless you get out there and start putting it into action.
So where to start?
• Fire up Google. Find 4 forums that fit into your niche and meet the suggested
guidelines I have spoken about.
• Sign up, add your signature and your avatar.
• Drop into the ‘Introduction’ Forum and say hello to your new potential
customers, and opportunities for exciting new promotional prospects.
And if you have any questions, or want to discuss some of the things you have read
please drop into my forum,
Net Traffic Chat
and let me know what you thought.
I would really love to hear from you,
Cindy Battye