Lesson 9 - Free Traffic With Forum Marketing

A very effective way to get targeted traffic is to do a search on Google and Yahoo to find discussion forums related to the product you are selling or niche that you are targeting. The great thing about this is that you are tapping into communities who are specifically interested in what you have to offer. Many forum users are respected experts and bloggers in the specific topics covered by the forum making the information extremely valuable for market research.

Similar to blogging, you can tailor what your offering and how you’re offering it depending on the discussions taking place. In other words, forum participation is an exceptionally valuable resource to get to know your market.

Forum users are also generally net savvy and open to making online purchases. Forum marketing is a high ROI (Return On Investment) strategy because making a good impression in front of this savvy and influential audience can help your marketing message turn viral. However, forums aren’t marketplaces. During the last few years, forum marketing has been perceived as a valuable and free method for online advertising, but because so many marketers crowd forums purely with the intention of bombarding members with advertisements and to some extent propaganda, their actions cause the exact opposite of the desired effect.

Due to the lack of respect from so many novice marketers, many forums have recently developed strict rules designed to protect their members from abusive or overly aggressive marketing tactics. Marketers must respect that the purpose of a forum is to be a platform to exchange ideas on a given topic. It is not there to advertise products and services. By focusing on the topic and posting questions and answers, a marketer’s reputation will grow and this creates the potential for sales naturally. Abiding by all the rules will eventually create trust and your reputation, as a business professional will solidify.

In order to succeed with this kind of marketing, actively participate in the forum discussions and where possible try to find and post answers to questions that people have raised. Do not directly promote your product or website if you try to help people initially, they will be naturally drawn to visiting your website in your signature file, or mention that you have some information that will be of benefit to them.

The first requirement is to take a personal interest in the main topic of the forum. Not only does that mean visiting it regularly, but it also means developing a good relationship with both other members and the moderators, as well as taking an active interest in helping others.

In order to be successful using forums, here are some tips:
1. Join relevant forums that are in some way related to your line of business.
2. Choose popular forums. Look for page ranking and the amount of active members.
3. Choose forums that allow signature tags.
4. Keep your signature tags short and update it regularly - A link to you landing page or website.
5. Never create posts that promote your business, advertise a product or service, etc…
6. Be an active member on the forum. Plan to spend at least an hour each day there and take the time to get to know the users and form relationships.
7. Stay away from drama! Don’t participate in heated discussions, you may ruin your reputation.

To your online success,
The v-Fusion Group