Forum Marketing

Forum marketing is a simple way to get traffic to your website. It involves using a sensible marketing strategy that will enable you to build relationships and establish yourself as an expert in your field. Forum success, then, hinges on you approaching things in the right way.  

You can locate different forums in your niche by going to Google and putting ‘your niche + forum’ in the search box. 

 It’s essential that you target the large forums in your niche – the ones receiving many visitors and where new posts are made daily. You’d be wasting your time posting in forums having few active members and whose members are not related and relevant to your niche.

Avoid selling to forum members. A forum is a place where knowledge and information is shared. Help members out, answer questions, and by engaging with other forum members you will begin to build relationships. By using this approach, you’ll turn some of the members into customers without even trying.

Once you’ve answered some questions you can start your own thread. Use the members if you need a question or issue addressed. At the end of your post, ensure you initiate a call to action. You don’t want an issue to dry up, you want to create and foster discussion.

Remember to complete your profile details. If people enjoy your posts they’ll be sure to check out your profile in an effort to learn more about you. The profile category will allow you to post a link to your website, so do that and include a biography to let people know what you are about. You’re entering the forum not as a marketer, but as a participant.

In answering people’s threads, remember to subtly suggest that they private message you. This strategy helps to forge personal relationships.

If you decide to implement forum marketing, you’ll need to do it regularly. Set aside a half hour or so daily to visit your chosen forums. Don’t spend most of your time just reading. You’ll need to post also to be able to participate fully.