Many people, in a rush to spike sales through the roof, think too big and end up completely missing out on one of the best free marketing opportunities on the net: discussion forums. Instead of focusing on individual sales, they go immediately for ads that promise thousands of visitors, pay-per-click search engines that could potentially expose them to thousands, and even sloppily-produced and sometimes fraudulent spam submission programs.
Even though it is essential to increase your rating with search engines, to purchase pay-per-clicks, and to participate in link exchanges and banner exchanges, discussion forums can often provide an extra, non-conventional sales medium to your campaign that allows you to quickly pull in customers with personal contact and conversational presentations of your product.
You can find these boards by searching for the specific product you sell and then adding the word "messageboard" or "forum" or "discussion forum" after it in quotations. For instance, I sell marketing tools and online business-builders on one of my websites, so when I look for forums to market my products in, I go to google or overture and type in "business messageboard" or "marketing forum." Find as many of these highly-trafficked forums as you can and sign-up. Some of them will require you to confirm it through your email address.
Before you begin actually posting on the boards, you need to lay down some general rules of approach. I would suggest the following methods, but you can decide for yourself what you think is appropriate for your business and situation.
These are my rules:
When I market on discussion forums, I always try to provide more for the board than I take away from it in potential sales. Not only is it ethical, but it's also good business. When people ask questions, I use the expertise I've gained from Internet business-building and marketing to legitimately answer their questions. If I signed up for every board I could find, and then slapped a boilerplate marketing pitch on every site, I'd just get ignored or banned.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to legitimately get involved with the forum community. It is definitely a goldmine for highly-targeted customers and it is possibly the fastest marketing medium on the Internet, but it is also very important to respect that it doesn't primarily serve as an ad host. If you stay low-key and helpful, people will respect your opinion more and will want to see what you have to offer. This is where your signature comes in...
When you create your account for most boards, they will give you the option of creating a signature, which they will attach to the bottom of every post you make. This is the best way to pull customers from messageboards--by alluring them with your signature. Write something catchy or intriguing and then slap a link to your site or email address on it. Remember: the more helpful you are (the more times you post advice/hints), the more times your signature appears... and the more potential hits you'll get to your site.
Next, you'll want to decide when it's appropriate to market outside of your signature. I personally only market in three situations outside of my signature in forum discussions. If a person asks a question about a specific product or service I market, then I'll respond because I'm qualified to do so and because I truly believe they should use my products to achieve the best possible results. If there's a discussion thread where everyone is marketing products and it is generally accepted, I will market my product if a) it is related and b) I have already posted several times on the messageboard. Also, I will market my product whenever there is a forum solely dedicated to marketing your products.
Last, you'll want to decide how much original content you want to post and how much you want to be boilerplate. You'll want to find a healthy combination of the two to avoid being called a spammer or wasting too much time marketing on forums. I personally have several boilerplate ads that I have saved for signature files, ad-only forums, and personal product marketing discussions. I keep them all saved on a word file and I pull them up to copy-and-paste when I'm spending a night of advertising on messageboards.
Discussion forums can drive buying customers to your site faster than any other marketing medium. Do not abuse them, establish a reputation in your forums, streamline the process. . . and your work will come back to you quickly in profit.
Isaiah Hull publishes Work At Home Right Now, a fresh and informative newsletter about making money on the internet and using proven methods to increase your site's traffic and profitability. If you're looking for time-saving and money-saving tools, as well as honest business advice, come by and subscribe at http://www.workathomerightnow.net
limousine chicago serviceVirtually all website owners concentrate their efforts and energy into... Read More
Reading the postings in different Newsgroups it becomes clear that... Read More
1. Create a free ebook directory on a specific topic... Read More
Every web business should be using testimonials. Testimonials are extremely... Read More
Now that you've built your new website you can sit... Read More
I created my first website in 1995 - it was... Read More
Most webmasters are familiar with the concept of reciprocal linking.... Read More
Would you attempt to use a cell phone with a... Read More
We have a running joke in our office that one... Read More
If you have a website promoting any product or service,... Read More
If you are website owner and you have begun exchanging... Read More
Do what I did. Learn these 10 insiders' ad writing... Read More
So you have a new website but the phone isn't... Read More
After you have built your website the next natural step... Read More
Well I started out with seven, Free and low cost... Read More
The Internet can be a confusing place to do business.... Read More
How would like to have an email list of thousands... Read More
Promoting a Website is not an easy task. New Website... Read More
The internet has the capacity, sometimes, to divorce not just... Read More
Would you like to prevent Internet users from visiting your... Read More
At present there are over 3.3 billion pages indexed by... Read More
How to improve conversion rate for your website? How to... Read More
Good Ideas.They are the stuff that form the foundation of... Read More
Measuring and understanding your Website's success is a critical process... Read More
One of the great advantages of advertising and marketing on... Read More
exterior led flood lights beta led street light Pete's produce ..Bring those visitors back for more, applauding you and saying... Read More
Joe Nogood owns a small but thriving gift store. He... Read More
If your website is not generating a lot of sales... Read More
When webmasters have created their final master piece, their next... Read More
If you are not getting traffic at your website and... Read More
If you have a website and desires to attract traffic... Read More
Record keeping measurements for Internet marketing Record keeping tracks money... Read More
Virtually all website owners concentrate their efforts and energy into... Read More
Making money with your web site is the dream and... Read More
Here's a fairly obvious Multi Linking Strategy that is probably... Read More
In many cases when you start a new website you... Read More
You might have heard that banner advertising is dead. Nothing... Read More
Web site owners are realizing Jack Humphrey's Power Linking isn't... Read More
1. Directory Linking Create a directory of web sites on... Read More
It's easy to forget the fundamental components of Web site... Read More
Almost anyone who has tried submitting to free-for-all sites will... Read More
Web Site Awards are given from other sites to reward... Read More
Promoting a Website is not an easy task. New Website... Read More
If you are a small business owner with a website,... Read More
Everybody Loves A Freebie!It's true! Who doesn't like to get... Read More
The following traffic generating ideas do not require costly set-up... Read More
Website promotion is certainly a main focus of all business... Read More
Web site traffic promotion on the cheap is labor intensive... Read More
Benefits of Website Localization Maximising profit today... Read More
What is the accepted standard for signatures? Who sets these... Read More
Web Site Promotion Web Site Promotion |