Using Forum Marketing as a Traffic Tactic
It’s another Traffic Tactic Thursday! Today I’ll be discussing an old school technique if done right still works today. That method is using forum marketing as a Traffic Tactic. This tactic is free to do financially, but will require that you invest in a little bit of your time. If you have the dedication and time to spend surfing through the forums, then this method will be excellent for you.
Remember when starting out as a new member to ANY forum you join, you will be looked upon as a newbie until you post enough comments that help out other members in the forum. Once you have invested the time and depending on the amount of effort you put into the forum by the number of quality posts you submit, your authority will increase.
The reason for this initial reception in forums is because of the number of spammers that show up in them who just want to push their products. Do not become one of these individuals or you’ll be wasting your time and can damage your reputation.
Be mindful that forums have groups of highly informed members that are connected and can easily see through the B.S. So if you are planning on going to the forums with the intent to just sell your products, then this method will not work for you.
However if you go there with the intent of developing relationships while participating in these forums, then you will also develop a super targeted list of customers for life from those relationships.
Finding an active forum
To get started in finding an active forum that you can join in your niche, just do a Google search typing the keywords for “your niche” followed by “forum”.
Make sure the forums that you decide to join are actually active. For example, the best and most well known forum for the Internet Marketing niche would be the Warrior Forum.
You’ll find all sorts of IM’ers active in there that know and share their stuff. And because of it, they sell a lot of high quality products that can help you in your online marketing efforts.
Once you find and join the active forum, make sure that you read and adhere to the forum’s TOS.
Here are some tips to help you decide on what forums to join
(1) Make sure that the forum rules will at least allow you (at some point) to setup a link to your site or squeeze page on your forum profile information.
(2) A better advantage would be if the forum allows you to set up a signature line that are shown on your responses or comments you make with a link to your site.
(3) Just be sure not to spend all of your time in the forums! It would be wise to spend your time with other traffic generation methods as well.
How often should I post or comment?
A reasonable goal would be to post 3 to 5 comments in a forum on a daily basis. By doing this will actually mean you’ll end up having close to 100 posts per month! In turn that translates to nearly 1,200 posts on a yearly basis.
Imagine what that would mean having your link to your site with that many posts in a year, as to the kind of traffic benefits you would receive!
There are some forums which will offer you a section in the actual forum to “buy, sell or trade”. You’ll typically find these types of forums in the webmaster forums.
If you do find a forum that allows you to do this, then take advantage and post some of your product offers (again after you have developed relationships with forum members) in the community want areas. Also you can look in to the posting in the classified section of the forum if they offer that option.
Final Thoughts About Forum Marketing as a Traffic Tactic…
Forum marketing can be an excellent source of targeted traffic for your website or blog. Be sure to follow the rules when engaging with other members while in them. To be most effective, visit the forum on a daily basis. However, I would recommend investing no more than 45 minutes to an hour each day when in the forums.
This will allow you to deliver the highest quality information in your posted comments that you have to offer and will give you a time management schedule for you to follow so that you are not eating up all of your time in the forums.
Believe me, like Facebook, forums can become pretty distracting and addicting. It’s easy to become really active and get involved in a number of discussions. To stay focused and on track, just remember how much money your time is actually worth. It’s beneficial for you to stay no longer than the 45 minutes in the forum and you’ll do just great!
As always, I encourage you to leave a comment, observation, or question in the comment section below 🙂
