Forum marketing has always been one of my best marketing strategies to make money at home
. I view it as social marketing and it has been working even before there was a Facebook or Twitter.
There are advantages and disadvantages to doing forum marketing. Let's talk a little bit about those in this article.
1. Target a market. You want to find a discussion forum that relates to the theme of your Internet business.
Since my Team-Schuman website is built around helping people make money online the Warrior Forum was where I started. Over the years I added other discussion forums including Associate Programs which is in the affiliate marketing niche.
When you target a specific market you will be hanging out with people who are interested in what you have to offer. This is a great way to exchange ideas as well as eventually drive traffic to your website.
2. Brand yourself. Initially I didn't really understand the large benefit that branding yourself gives you when you do forum marketing.
Over time you become known as an expert on certain things relating to your Internet business. There is a skill to using discussion forums the correct way to achieve this.
Probably the biggest thing you should understand is you never want to try and sell anything in the posts you make. A better strategy is to participate in the discussions and offer quality information anytime you can. People will come to trust you and you began to become known as an expert in your niche.
3. Signature file. This is how you get traffic to your website. Think of this as a small classified ad where you can tell a little bit about yourself or your product.
One thing I have always liked to do is look at the signature files of other successful marketers in the forum. This is a good way to develop your own signature file. Of course I go visit their sites sometimes so it is working for them as well.
4. Post a lot. It does take an effort to participate in discussion forums.
When I first started I used to spend one hour every morning just participating in existing threads, or starting a new one. Over time you will find yourself making a lot of posts and generating quality traffic from your efforts.
If you are new to Internet marketing forum marketing is definitely worth the effort. You will generate a lot of backlinks as well as quality traffic to your website. Ultimately your goal is to get as much traffic as you can in multiple ways, and forum marketing is a good way to do that to make money online.