Forum Marketing Techniques 2009: From A to Z

Forum Marketing Techniques

Ask any online marketing veteran and he’ll tell you that the road to internet prominence is paved by a race to have the most number of back links possible. With Google leading the way among the hundreds of search engines in the World Wide Web, link popularity, or the number of websites linking to your pages, has become a very important ingredient for good positioning in search engine results. The number of back links your website would have will significantly affect your website’s page rank (PR). The higher you website’s PR is, the higher it will place in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Using this known formula, online businessmen have tried to move heaven and earth to ensure the most number of back links possible. Article marketing was developed to boost such a number. Triangular linking was conceived to go around the prohibition against reciprocal linking. Ezine ads and links to high PR sites have been bought to deliver some much needed back links.

One of the most potent marketing strategies of this nature is forum marketing, or, the proper usage of online communities for the promotion of your website. Please take note. The operative word in the definition above is “proper.” Yes, people do tend to abuse forum marketing, and as a result, the tactic backfires on them. So it is very important to know the exact measures that should be taken so that you’d be able to make the most out of your forum marketing campaign.

Here are some pointers.

• Remember to make good use of the signature box that you will have once your account is created. You could include a direct link to your website in your signature box. Some forums even allow you up to five links, so this will be great if you’re promoting just as many websites.

• Do not advertise your links in your posts. Let us repeat that for emphasis – DO NOT ADVERTISE YOUR LINKS IN YOUR POSTS – sorry for the caps lock, but this point is very, very important. Forum members would chastise you if you will do some self-promotion. They will find that very inappropriate, more so if you will be advertising affiliate links.

• The best approach is to post significant replies in meaningful threads. Let your words do the talking, and let them judge your business through the wit and wisdom you could share. Your signature box will appear in every post you will publish, anyway. The trick is in publishing as many substantial posts as you can.

• Be friendly. Build relationships. Such would go a long, long way in building your brand. This is a very welcome addition the benefit of being able to earn some back links courtesy of your posts and your signature box. You could win customers, or even joint venture partners, by just being nice and helpful.

• Learn from your co-members. Keep an open eye about what they need and what they want. Let this aid you in your market study. Pinpointing a necessity or a luxury, after all, is key in coming up with a highly sellable product and an efficient web design.

Forum marketing is one of the most powerful internet marketing tactics in existence today – if it will be implemented correctly. Keep in mind the things we have discussed above, and for certain, you’ll be able to reap a lot of benefits from this technique.

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Written by:

Paul Shuteyev