Archive for the ‘Forums’ Category
Do you need more traffic to your web site, and more sales? If you do, then you need to consider an often neglected side of web site promotion which is called forum marketing.
Most web sites make use of forums to provide the element of response from user to owner and vice versa. These forums take many forms, and include the standard forums, discussion boards, bulletin boards and currently blogs where the visitors to the web site can leave their comments on the site.
Marketing has always revolved around relationships. The basic element of relationship from the aspect of online marketing is to weave an element of trust between the potential purchaser and the vendor or web site owner. Once there is this element of trust, even the tiniest bond that has been sown between the potential buyer and seller, it becomes easier for the potential buyer to take a further step to buy the product. That is why many marketers are establishing forum boards and blogs to interact with clients and to provide support and to answer queries.
These forum boards provide a fertile ground for you to test out forum marketing for your products.
You need to compile a list of the discussion boards and blogs that are related to your product or service line that you are going to market. Then on a daily basis, visit these forums to read their postings. These forums are the best sites where newbies to internet marketing would congregate to seek free resources, or request information or advice from more experienced forumers. When you see a post where you can respond, make a brief informative post, and more importantly make sure you leave a reference to your web site in your signature line. This confers on you two advantages. Firstly, you gain a backlink to your site when you leave your website address in a much visited forum, and secondly, forumers who read your post will tend to visit your web site by following the link in your post.
Some internet marketers channel all their visitors to a squeeze page and not to a sales website directly. This squeeze page is a sign up page where you get the email address of the visitor in return for a free download of a ebook or report or software. By using this squeeze page, you gain targeted leads.
Statistics show a potential buyer would need to be exposed at least 3 to 5 times before he becomes interested to take the next step to purchase anything from you. By getting his email, you can email him on a regular schedule or use an autoresponder to channel your marketing message across.
The most important part of forum marketing is to identify a group of marketing forums and blogs related to your product or services that you are selling, from which you can then launch off. Once you have the list of forums and discussion boards, it becomes a daily affair to spend enough time to visit these forums and to post to them. Beware though, forum reading can be addictive, and you can be spending a whole lot of time on reading and posting to forums. Track your leads, and as you continue to do your forum posting daily, you will see a steady increase in your web site traffic and your sales.
Remember when email seemed so quick and convenient? You could share your thoughts with a friend or group of friends within a period of a few minutes. Then the technology of instant messaging was developed, and with it, message boards. Website builders quickly picked up on the use of message boards, seeing how these boards allowed instant communication between everyone viewing their website.
A message board can be found in several different formats. Some websites require visitors to create an account, with a user name and password, before they can post a message on the board. Other websites have message boards that are open to anyone to post anonymously. Their post will show up instantly on the board. Sometimes, a message board will be watched over by an editor, or moderator, who can reject or delete posts based on whether the content of the post is appropriate for that website. On these boards, posts are often delayed for a brief period of time so that the moderator can read over the post. Some message boards are divided up by topic. These are also referred to as threads. Visitors to the message board can pick a topic, and when they post their message, it will appear under that topic.
So what is the benefit of a website having a message board? Some websites are actually built around message boards. An example of this type of website might be a hobby website for people who like to paint scenery. The site would have a message board where artists could come to talk to other artists to get ideas or tips, or to find out about a specific topic related to painting, such as where to buy a certain type of paint or brush. Other websites have message boards to encourage traffic on their site. Think of a music group, for example. By providing message boards for their fans, they are encouraging their fans both to visit their site and to spread the word about their group, which would in turn increase album and merchandise sales.
If you are looking for information on any topic, a message board is a great place to visit. And, if you are building your own website, consider adding one; there are many benefits, and it will be appreciated by everyone who visits your site.
Post relevant information to forums and genuinely contribute to discussions. And have your signature along so that your link will be there. When you visit sites with guestbook, forums, or blogs make posting leaving your link behind. And people will click it and find your site and shop.
Go to http://www.big-boards.com for a list of forums.
But all the forums are yelling, “Don’t abuse forum rules!” What are forum rules? They don’t want you to post a link, even if it offers help. If you do, the moderator will delete your entry immediately and have you banned. If your signature is even allowed, nobody reads signatures. Ask this: when is the last time you personally read a signature?
It is only when your comments and discussion is so powerful that people will trace you. Like most traffic techniques, fun comes in first.
You should just try to help other and have fun while posting in forums and leave your signature so that anyone interested in you can find you.
Because of the anonymous nature of the internet people are generally more skeptical when it comes to doing business online. Owing partly to famous internet scams sensationalized by the media and to bad personal experiences online, people are less likely to trust a party whom they’ve never met in person.
As an online marketer, you face the challenge of building trust and loyalty without the benefit of a physical handshake, a face-to-face meeting, or even a smile. To this end online forums can provide an excellent way to build meaningful relationships with people and attract new customers.
By joining a forum in your area of expertise, you gain access to a community that shares your interests as well as a pool of potential customers. There are countless forums dealing with just about any topic imaginable. The vast majority of forums do not charge you a fee to register or post messages. Many allow you to include with your posts self-promotional “signatures” that you can use to promote your business and link to your website.
A good way to locate a forum relevant to your line of business is to do a keyword search using one of the major search engines. Why a major search engine? A Google search for “website marketing forum,” for example, will not only return dozens of relevant forums on website marketing, but will also give you an indication of how highly they are regarded by the search engine giant, as gauged by how high they rank for that key phrase. Forums that rank higher on the search engine result pages (SERPs) are the ones of which you’ll want to become a member.
Forums allow you to share knowledge and gain reputation as an expert in your field. Offering concrete advices that are immediately useful to other people is an especially effective marketing technique. Once you’ve gained credibility in your field, you will be sought after for your professional expertise without your having to promote yourself.
Participating in forums is also an excellent way to humanize yourself and your business. When people deal with you, they’ll know that they’re dealing with a real person, not a nameless, faceless business entity. By staking your reputation online, you demonstrate that you are willing to accept some degree of accountability for your actions.
If you’re a generally honest and agreeable person in the real life, there is no reason to hide behind a company name when conducting business online. The personal qualities that make you likable in the real world will also make you likable in cyberspace. Indeed, establishing meaningful relationships online is a lot like making friends in the real world. After all, on the other side of the terminal is a real person with real emotions just like you.
Another key to meaningful online relationships is to create an atmosphere of openness and transparency. Although you normally use a nickname to start and respond to posts in public forums, you should use your real name in private correspondences. It is good practice to begin your messages with a salutation, addressing them by their real name whenever possible. A little courtesy can go a long way in building loyalty and trust.
Apart from selling your personal qualities, you must have something of value to offer to people– and at prices that are fair to everyone! On a venue where your personal reputation is not at stake, you can price a widget for any amount you want and hope someone will come along and buy it. When you do business on forums, however, you must be extra value-conscious when pricing your product or service. If you overprice your widget, you risk receiving flames from other members that could harm your reputation. This is why it’s so important to research what other members are charging for a similar widget and to price yours competitively. Often you’ll end up charging lower prices to members of your forum than to other customers with whom you have not developed as close a relationship for the same widget.
Building positive relationships is about making people feel important. Just as you want to feel good for having sold your product or service, people want to feel good for having bought it. This is why it is so important to promptly answer their questions and attend to their concerns. Listen to their inputs and incorporate their ideas into your business practices. This is how you make your customers a part of your team. It’s not a stretch to speak of your customer as a member of your team. When you really think about it, no business can exist without its customers. Teamwork is not limited to interacting with other members of your company. It also takes teamwork to build a constructive, mutually beneficial relationship between you and your customers.
New forums are popping up around the net all the time, adding to the thousands of forums on out there already. Many of them will never make it past a few months; some of them become pillars of the ever growing internet community. What makes the difference you ask? The following concepts will explore why some forums become successful and how to turn the success into cash.
Forums are a place for people to exchange ideas. There are two key elements in that simple sentence, people and ideas. You need people in your forum and you need them to be talking about things that matter, things that will get others to join in the fun. This gets you to the first problem, getting people and getting them to talk. People don’t like to join empty forums so you will need to get a few friends together and start posting topic others would be interested in talking about. When your forum is small, you really need to target a niche and get a good core group of regularly posting members. With many huge forums out there you are not likely to succeed with a broad forum. You can always expand later when your users ask you to. Start small with quality content, or if you already have a forum scale it down and find a target group.
If you are good with code or graphically inclined, you should spend some time customizing the forum so people feel like they are part of something special. You need to invest some time into making your forum look professional and inviting to people in your target niche. If you already have a forum maybe it is time for a makeover. Our visual sense is our strongest sense so a redesign will make a big difference.
Traffic, traffic, and more traffic. Every website needs traffic and everybody talks about how to get traffic so we won’t dwell on it too much. We will look at how to make that traffic into cash instead. Now that you have a core group of users and your forum is looking all pretty, let’s see if we can squeeze some ads in there. Affiliate banners such as Adsense probably won’t make you money unless you have massive amounts of traffic so you are better off finding your own sponsors. Since you are targeting a specific niche of people you will have an easier time to find individual sponsors. You can use something like Adbrite where individual sponsors will sign up for your site, commission junction where you can lick niche specific sponsors, or you can implement a custom php solution, what ever you think might work best.
An even better way to make money is if you can directly sell services or products to your members. For example a forum talking about web hosts can offer web hosting directly, a forum talking about travel can offer downloadable wall papers and so on. Also a great idea is to have something like a gift shop where people can order T-shirts, coffee mugs and so on with the forum logo on it. You could also look into maybe a good drop-shipping retailer deal for arts and crafts related forums. The possibilities are so broad that we will discuss it in the next article.
For now the you have lots of work to do, target your forum at a specific niche, get a core group together and start producing some valuable content. If start seeing increase in your traffic you can start looking for advertisers or establish services for sale or get a product line together.
Well… first off, let’s define exactly what a Forum is so that you’ll be able to relate to what I’m about to explain within this article.
The simple definition of a Forum is… it’s a online community with a open discussion that allows you to ‘Post’ questions or queries related to a specific topic.
You can find Forums online related to any topic under the sun, so it doesn’t matter what the question is that you might have because there’s a Forum out there with hundreds, if not, thousands of members ready and willing to give you helpful Tips and Advice to the questions you have making your life and decision making that much easier.
I can’t stress this enough, especially if you’re New to Internet and the Internet marketing scene.
Now, for the last segment of this article on want to focus on WHY forums are essential for Anyone who is considering starting an online business.
Well, the main reason is this… Forums are a great way to research your market you are considering developing a Product or Service for.
Why, you ask?
Simply because this is where people go to post there questions about a certain problem they’re dealing with and the ‘Rule Of Thumb’ is… when creating a Product or Service (no matter what kind of product or service it is) make sure it solves a — Problem.
This is the KEY ingredient to the success of your Product or Service.
Seriously, take a look at all the Posts from the members and note which ones share the most common threads.
If you see alot of common treads, that means there’s potential for a Product or Service to be developed.
By doing this simple task it will save you Time and more importantly… MONEY, because who would spend the Time and Money researching and developing a Product or Service if there was NO demand for it. Right?
You see how this works.
It Pays to do a little research.
And Research is the KEY ingredient for a successful Product or Service and Forums are simply a great place to get started, especially for anyone considering starting an online business.
Now, with that said, what you need to do now is figure out what you would ENJOY doing as a online business and draft up a business plan from there.
This is a VERY important step.
Then, go to your favorite search engine and search out a few forums within the area of business your interests lie and become a member.
Take notice to the main topics and write them down on a notepad so you can look over them later to see if there’s any potential.(Remember, the most common threads)
It’s that simple.
I truly hope this article helped you and opened up your mind up to the endless possibilities that await you online, no matter what business your considering.
We all need Answers and Forums are simply the BEST place to get them answered.
Looking for somewhere online to meet new people, discuss hobbies, plan events, or just have fun chatting? Online forums have been around for some time on the internet and often free and easy to setup. Forums are basically online discussion web sites where people share information and chat grouped around a set of topics. One example might be a local photography club. You could setup topics around types of cameras, locations for shooting, local events and meetings, printing tips, etc. Often there are administrators and moderators that help to keep the discussion orderly and on topic.
Some items to consider when starting an online forum include…
Cost – Often you can find them for free. There will probably be some advertising on the site, but don’t most sites now a days?
Features – Does the forum support avatars, private messages, user levels, themes, etc.
Security – Is it possible to create forums that only register users can post in? Helps to avoid those spammers.
I cannot stress the last one enough. You should be completely able to control who is in your forums. One bad apple spoils the bunch. On that same note, it is common for a forums to have moderators. These are people that help enforce the rules in the forum. Make sure your choose your help wisely. When it comes to administrators, there should only ever be one. Administrators have the keys to the city and can set your forum ablaze.
Finally to make a forum a success you need to attract people to it to join. Obviously if it is for a church or some other established group, this is relatively easy. Tell your friends, family, club members. If you are starting from scratch, do the same. Tell people, show people, invite people. Check to see if your forum site is listed in search engines like google. Once you get past that initial setup and recruitment your will soon be on your way to having a forum that you and your friends can enjoy.
Human beings are social by nature, and online communities or forums are the latest in a long progression of social organizations created by humankind. While many people join forums specifically for the social benefits, there are several good reasons for Internet entrepreneurs to join an online forum. Here are the top seven benefits you and your online business can reap.
The top reason many Internet business men and women join forums is for the search engine benefits. Many forums are tremendously popular with search engines and so not only rank well but also are regularly crawled. Most forums offer an introductions area as well as a signature area where you can promote your web site or sites. In addition, as you participate in a forum that is relevant to your site’s topic there will likely be opportunities to work your site into conversation. All these links can be of tremendous benefit in terms of search engine rankings and relevant back links.
However, if you think that search engine benefits are the beginning and end of the ways you and your Internet business can profit from joining a forum then you are missing out on a lot of learning.
If you are going to join a forum then join a forum that help you learn more about your niche. Even if you are an expert in your field there is always more to be learned and where else to go for that knowledge than a place where others knowledgeable in your area also hang out? That is what is so wonderfully flexible about forums. There really is an Internet community for everyone and every interest. Your task is to find the forum where your peers are already hanging out. Learning more about your niche is a tremendous benefit of joining a forum.
You don’t need to restrict your forum memberships to those within your field. It is also wise to join forums that can help you learn more about how to run your business. Find forums of other small business owners and entrepreneurs. You will soon be able to find folks who are at your level of expertise as well as those with more experience willing to share their hard-earned lessons. Soon you’ll have the opportunity to repay that debt by mentoring other newbies. This sharing and hand-holding is one of the elements that make Internet communities so successful.
You should also seek a forum to help you with your Internet marketing. There are many different approaches to Internet marketing and while some people prefer the scatter-gun approach most choose one or two primary methods. Explore and text methods to determine which you feel most comfortable with and then join a forum focused on that method to help you refine your approach and achieve maximum success.
One of the primary problems with the Internet is that it can be easy to feel isolated. However forums can help bridge the gap of time and distance by serving as a community as well as an information source. Friendships and even love can be found in time and laughter and camaraderie and commiseration can help sustain the person as well as the business.
Forums can also help you find customers for your business. As you participate and share information about your business some folks will naturally express an interest. As you share your expertise and demonstrate your knowledge then you will attract still more. Don’t be a pushy salesperson, simply allow your expertise to showcase your business and you will attract a quality customer relationship.
A forum can also be a great place to find partners to help you expand or promote your business in a number of ways. You might discover some like-minded soul whose business perfectly complements yours or you might discover the perfect joint-venture partner. Even if you encounter people you might view as competition try to view the relationship from many angles to see if there is a way to benefit from a partnership rather than a competition.
Joining forums can provide many benefits to you and to your business but remember that Internet communities are social contracts with rules and guidelines. Make sure you know and understand the rules before leaping into discussions. It is even more difficult to undo a bad first impression on the Internet as it cannot always be erased. Start slow and easy until you are sure of your footing. Also, be very wary about pushing your business too aggressively. That type of activity can get you banned from a forum pretty quickly. Many forums have a clearly marked area for advertising and sales posts and also allow some blatant promotion in your signature, but keep your posts on topic and helpful and you’ll be better off in the long run.
