[Mary Murtha]

There are so many ways to make money online, but if you are looking for an effective way to leverage your time and money into profits, forum marketing is one of the first things you should consider. This is particularly true for people who are just starting out in internet marketing.

Why?

Because customers buy from people they like and trust and there are three main ways to develop that kind of trust - through forums, your own ezine or a blog.

Not everyone feels cut out to run their own newsletter or blog, or maybe they think they don't have the authority yet to write one, so this leaves us with forum marketing. By interacting with like-minded people over a sustained period of time you can develop relationships that will stand you in good stead in your business ventures. That is not to say you should cultivate these forum relationships purely as a business strategy. People will quickly see through this and you will find yourself friendless.

Successful forum membership is based upon respect. You should have respect for the forum owner (remember you are only a guest there) and for the other members.

How can you demonstrate this?

By giving and contributing without calculating any return on your investment. Some stupid people advise affiliates to promote their products by joining a related forum and spamming the members. That is not only a surefire way to destroy your reputation but could end in the product owner getting banned by their hosting company. Unfortunately, this kind of short-term thinking is all too common online and in the long term it will NOT make you money.

Think of a forum as your friend's house. If you want to keep that friendship, when you visit their house you abide by the rules they have. And remember a friendship is a two way street. If you help them, they will want to help you.

Once you have become a valuable member of a forum and earned the respect of the other members, earning money online becomes an almost organic process. People give you their products to review, offer you joint ventures and generally go that extra nine yards to help you out.

If you are on a marketing forum, like the Warrior Forum, you are allowed to promote your own products and websites in your signature file. If you have status in that community, people are more likely to click on your links and MUCH MORE LIKELY to buy from you. And many of these people have friends or a list they are happy to recommend good products to.

Just to give you a real world example of the power of forums.

Paul Myers, publisher of the Talkbiz newsletter, is a long time and highly respected member of the Warrior Forum who gives unstintingly of his time and knowledge. If you look at the Warrior Special Offer forum you will see lots of hyped headlines and pages and pages of long sales copy. When Paul makes an offer on one of his products he uses a simple headline and an offer that is sometimes as short as a couple of paragraphs. Does he sell his products? You bet he does, because he has such a good reputation that people don't need to be sold. As soon as they see the word 'Paul Myers' they just reach for their credit cards.

That is the power of forums. Give and ye shall receive. Give more and ye shall receive more.

[Jeffery]

Agreed. There are about a dozen people who I look up almost daily in different forums. Actually, I have folders on my PC that represent each of those individuals. Inside the folders are shortcuts to their forum profiles. Most forum profiles have a link to their posts and I read those posts. Not everyone posts everyday, so I go through my folders in about 30 minutes. On good days that 30 minutes can be better than 30 "days" of mindlessly browsing random posts by other members. Next, I hit their blogs and membership sites if any. MarysHeadlines.com is one of my favorites :-)

Jeffery 100% :-)

[Mary Murtha]

Hi Jeffery,

Aww .. I'm flattered now. <Bushing>

I remember I was hunting down a domain name for a new blog. You happen to suggest that one.

I've been seriously thinking of revamping that blog or selling it off.

Hate to say this, but I lost focus with it, and haven't had time to give it it's just due. BUT I sure as heck value my readers. Many of them have been staying with it.

Who knows, maybe I'll freshen it up, and start freesh on it again.

Thanks ...

[aakay4u]

Yes this seems to be the most suitable method of earning online.I was almost hopeless with nothing working out for me.However,your idea has something authentic to rekindle my spirits again and give online earning another shot.Thanks a lot for the post.

[piya84]

I agree somewhat with you.I have tried it several times but didnt have much success.According to my experience its a temporary traffic.I mean to say if your blog/product/website has some solid matter then people will visit no matter where it stand in surf engine list.Much more depends upon "market need and demand".But if your website is just like other websites eg now a days there are numerous websites giving advise on relationship and sex and peole on net are fade up with this matter.One more blog/website on same subject is going to draw crowd rarely now.