[jbolte1976]

Hi all,

Using forums related to your business products both online and offline, is a great way to gain credibility from others in your field, drive traffic to your site, obtain some valuable backlinks, and help you understand what your target market is thinking, wanting, talking about, etc.

- Obtaining credibility will come from you posting good quality posts and that let people get to know you. Never spam or post in ways that appear you're only trying to get people to travel to your site. Post posts that add value.

- The Driving traffic to your site part will come as people start to trust you and become interested in your signature links because (if you post correctly) the readers see you as an expert or at least knowledgable in your field.

- Back links come from your posts getting indexed from search engines. This seems to happen really quickly, in fact my posts for my new blog got indexed almost immediatly, where as much of the actual blog hasn't been yet.

Anyway, just thought I'd touch on the high points of using forums as part of your marketing strategy. It is a stategy that you need to us along with your social bookmarking, article marketing, linking strategy, etc.



Jason

[buffalo]

Very good points, Jason.

Sadly some people seem to think that forum posting alone is all they need. I think you need a well rounded marketing approach, that takes advantage of all kinds of marketing methods, and forum promotions is just one of those methods.

[Admin]

H Jason,

Buffalo is right, you made some very valid points, plus most people do only use forum marketing.

The truth is though, to be a good marketer, whether you are doing Internet Marketing or niche marketing you have to market in various ways. Forum Marketing is just one way in my opinion.

Take these methods for instance. They a simply a small part to a bigger whole:

Articles
Web 2.0 or social networking
Email
Advertisments (in various forms)
Offline
Phone (similar to tellimarketing)
RSS

And the list goes on. I know I wouldn't be where I am today without doing most of these types of marketing. Matter of fact, the only one out of the short list I gave here that I don't use regularly is phone calling. But that's only because I can't stand to get tellimarketers myself, so I don't do it to other people, even if it means less sales.

Plus, people have to remember too that there are different methods of marketing used for different things, so basically people should mix and match methods to suit what they are trying to achieve.

[jbolte1976]

Just thought I'd mention it wasn't a lot of work for me to find 10 beer brewing forums for my new blog. I looked up their PR and found 1 has a PR3 and one is a PR4 while all the others are N/A's.

Anyway just thought I'd throw out there that all it takes is a simple googling to get this.

Cheers,

Jason

[shanec]

I think you're right about the importance of forums Jason. One huge benefit of forums is they give you a 'feel' for a particular niche. They're an excellent way to find out what people want and how they express themselves in a niche. I've heard of people visiting Internet Marketing forums for the first time and feeling like the members are speaking a different language and I think its the same for a lot of other types of forums.

[MrsLolaCastle]

Hello everyone...Jason this is a great thread. Your three basic points about traffic, credibility and back links are well made.

Buffalo, I agree with you. A good marketing program should encompass a couple of different techniques to drive targeted traffic to your site.

I have success using news releases and articles along with blogs and social media to promote my clients.

[jbolte1976]

Hi Mrslolacastle,

I haven't said so yet, so welcome to our forum! Hope you find some useful info and enjoy our growing forum!

Thanks for complements on the forums post,

Something else I should have mentioned but didn't was forums are a great way to identify possible problems you can solve for your niche. You can helps solve these problems or challenges with an affiliate product, an ebook, training course, etc.

Anyway glad you joined us and see you in the posts!

JB

[shanec]

I think if one or two people on a forum discuss a problem they want a solution for, then there is a good chance many more people in that niche will be looking for the same thing. Its just a matter of finding this solution and creating it as a product you can sell easily.

[Admin]

Originally Posted by shanec

I think if one or two people on a forum discuss a problem they want a solution for, then there is a good chance many more people in that niche will be looking for the same thing. Its just a matter of finding this solution and creating it as a product you can sell easily.

Shane,

That's an excellent tip!

The best thing about doing that besides getting ideas, is that you find out what kind of a market you have before you start a project.

[MikeGriffith]

Excellent post, Shanec. In addition to finding solutions to peoples' problems, I have found that forums provide the ultimate learning experience for beginners as well as veterans. I call it learning from the experiences (and mistakes) of others.

[newbyiiir]

I am willing to Start my own online business but I am not known to the technical aspect of it.Pls help me out if anyone knows about it

[Admin]

Originally Posted by newbyiiir

I am willing to Start my own online business but I am not known to the technical aspect of it.Pls help me out if anyone knows about it

Hey newbyiiir,

What exactly are you wanting to know - if you tell us, we will be able to help you more.