It seems like every other article or guru tip you read praises a different programme as the best way to improve your internet marketing business. In reality, there are a lot of ways to improve your business online, like writing articles, optimising for search engines, getting incoming links, and so on. But what about forums on the Internet? Do you really want to spend your time, energy, and money on them?
The answer is actually very simple: YES! If you want something that works and wants to improve your web presence in a big way without spending a lot of money, forums are the way to go. One of the best ways, which is often forgotten, is to join as many forums as you can that are related to your business. Participating in forums often can help you get more links back to your website, be seen as an expert, get more people on your mailing list, sell more of your product, get new affiliates to sign up, and make new friends. The list of benefits goes on and on.
But there are a few things you should think about before you join a forum. Your main goal is to show that you know what you're talking about (even a guru of sorts). You do this by following the rules and being polite. Here are some tips on how to behave in a forum:
Things that will help your business (these are the GOOD ones):
- Find out more about each forum before you join. Make sure it has something to do with your business and check to see if the people who are going are in your target market. Look at how many people are on the forum. How crowded is it? There's no reason to join a forum with almost no posts.
- Read the rules of the forum before you post. On some forums, you can post ads for your business, but on others, you can't. Check to see if you can add a signature to the bottom of your posts.
A short bio with a link to your business website is a great way to get more people to your site and get more links to it.
- To get the most out of your time on the forums, limit the amount of time you spend there each day.
- Be nice to everyone and treat them the way you want to be treated. Even though you don't meet people in person, you can still build good relationships if you take the time to answer questions well, help people, and respect their opinions. And each time you answer a post, your reputation goes up. People will soon think of you as an expert if you use your posts to give real, useful advice instead of just to promote your business.
- Only read the posts that interest you and are relevant to you, and answer them quickly before moving on. It's easy to spend all day on forums and not get anything else done.
- Don't be afraid to ask for help. No one knows everything, and you will need help sometimes.
Things that will hurt your business:
- Don't ever use a post to advertise your business in a clear way, especially if the forum rules say you can't. Spamming a forum is the fastest way to hurt your reputation.
- Don't ever get into an online fight (this is when a heated conversation on a forum boils over and degenerates into nothing but an exchange of personal insults). It might feel good to say what you think about someone, especially if they've been getting on your nerves, but think about what other people will think of you if you do.
- Don't look through the list of forum members, collect their email addresses, and send them unsolicited mail. At best, you'll be kicked off the forum. At worst, the owners might tell your Internet service provider about you.
In the end, treat people online the same way you do in person. Think of it as a networking event that's happening on your computer, and don't forget that the other posts on the forums are written by real people with real feelings. You already know how to meet new people and make friends in person. If you use what you already know to network online, you could have a lot of success with people all over the world. Before you know it, you'll have gained a huge amount of information, knowledge, networking contacts, friendships, and possible business partners for the future. You will be surprised at how long a list of forum exchange's benefits can be.
