|
|
| www.1001TopWords.com |
|
|
Using Forums to Promote Your Business
When is work not really work? When it's fun! Using online forums, also called message boards, can be a fun way to promote your business in a low key way. Benefits: You cultivate relationships with others You learn about all kinds of topics Your marketing message is presented without screaming advertisement By answering questions related to your topic, you are positioned as an expert in your field How to Use a Forum for Promotion: First, find a forum that is of interest to you and frequented by people in your target market. A great place to start is to go to ezboard.com and search for forums by keywords that reflect your target market. Next, I suggest you "lurk" or just watch the activity for a few days to get a feel for the tone of the forum. When you feel confident this is an appropriate place to represent your business, introduce yourself. Often message boards have a 'New Members' type place to post your first message. After you have been welcomed, scan through the topics and post answers to questions others may have about your area of expertise. Repeat daily or weekly. Tips: Of utmost importance is to have a signature line that is added to the end of each message you post. This is like your calling card, and is what makes this method so subtle. You may be posting a famous recipe, but everyone who checks it out will see your business name. Most forums have an account setting or options area where you can set up an automatic signature or you can cut and paste your signature each time, but this is much more cumbersome. Don't spam boards by visiting once and posting an advert everywhere. It will give you a bad reputation - not what you need to increase sales. Check the regulations of the board to be sure signature lines are allowed. Some forums strictly prohibit marketing of any type. Revisit your posting frequently to address any replies. Also, add new postings of interest every few days to keep your business in the message board's eye. Message boards and forums can be a very valuable marketing tool. While you're at it, be sure to check out the fun topics, too! About The Author Megan Corwin is a personal coach who enjoys helping work at home professionals grow their businesses while maintaining an organized household. Download Megan's free ebook "How to Market Your Small Business Online for FREE": http://marketonlinefree.wahwoman.com
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
6 Forum Management Essentials If you are tasked with managing a forum, congratulations to you. If you find yourself weighed down by mundane management tasks, you are not alone. Let's examine some essentials to help you run an effective and vibrant message board community without the hassles of micromanagement. Some Quick Tips to Easily Improve the Success of Your Forum! It is difficult to define a 'successful forum'. However, all forums deal with information and so the amount of information that is transferred across a forum is an indication of its success. The most effective way to boost the transfer of information is by boosting your forum's traffic. Make Money From Forums If you have a website about a topic you enjoy, you can make money from discussion forums. Talk, post links to your site, get traffic. Traffic means money, right? If not, try different affiliate programs or Google Adwords. The worst sites should get a couple cents per visitor. Now here's how to talk and make money. Chat Forums and Blogs: The Unofficial Internet Posting Rules Have you been hanging around in internet forums and/or making blog comments lately? Public posting is growing ever-popular. One thing I've noticed, is that if you use it for business purposes and you accidentally blurt the wrong thing, it can get ugly pretty quick. A remark that was never intended to be malevolent turns out to offend somebody, and next thing you know, you're engaged in yet another public forum ping pong match. This can be downright exhausting. So is there a 'proper' way to conduct oneself on the network, in the forum, and on the blog? From what I've seen so far, I have to say yes. Why You Should Use (Not Abuse) Forums to Increase Your Traffic There are dozens of reasons why you should look up the forums that are related to your market and post to them often. Here are 3 to get you started. Milton Keynes - A City For The Future? The two main features of Milton Keynes which distinguish it from older towns are: Get Traffic & Sales Using Discussion Forums Message boards, discussion forums and newsgroups can all produce very profitable results for you and your business. Most of us already participate in one or more of these and the more you participate the bigger the benefits to you and your website will be. 5 Reasons Why Participating in Forums can Benefit Your Business Did you know that by simply participating in various forums and posting your various views and ideas, can potentially bring new growth and life to your online business? 5 Proven Techniques to Build a Profitable Web Forum You may have heard that having a web community is a great way to increase sales, customer loyalty and word of mouth for your web business. In fact a web community itself, if large enough and targeting an affluent demographic (or one that advertisers like to target), has the potential to bring in revenue. Commonly people use a web forum as the centre point for a web community. However building a popular forum is no easy task and requires patience and dedication. Internet Forums - Six Ways To Avoid Disaster Internet Forums are highly popular, they cater for all tastes and deal with every topic imaginable. People visit Internet forums for a variety of reasons, the most common being the search for information or entertainment. The Internet forum is a safe environment if you behave sensibly but you can find yourself in dangerous territory if you ignore the following warnings. Marketing Via Messageboards & E-mail Discussion Lists - An Alternative View One of the most suggested means of getting traffic to a site in the early stages is to get involved in messageboard and e-mail discussions on your topic of choice. The idea is that you can show your expertise and therefore get traffic to your site via your signature file (most discussion lists allow you to include your signature file with your post - a few lines with your name, site address and maybe a very brief description). Whilst this is a valid tip, I don't believe that the real reason for why you should do this has been investigated far enough previously. Promoting in Online Forums Forums can be a useful tool if you`re doing business online. You can learn a lot by reading the content and actively taking part in the discussions. Reading a forum's archives can be a great way to get a basic knowledge about a topic, and it can also give you pointers about the changes in trends and opinions through time. It is always very important to read the terms and conditions of each particular forum for a basic guideline as to what is acceptable. It`s also a good idea to read archived posts in order to see the guidelines in action. If you don`t, you could end up doing something wrong, like spamming the forum, and that could seriously hurt both your name and your business. Taking an active part in forums can help you gain recognition in topics you show some knowledge of, and may even result in some great business leads and contacts. Read through posts, and answer any questions you are able to in a polite, friendly and helpful manner. It`s a brilliant way to get your name and services known, but you have to be aware that different forums have different rules in regards to self-promotion. Some won`t allow any hint of self-promotion, some are specifically aimed at self-promotion, and a lot of them fall somewhere in between, allowing either signature files or URL's to an off-the-page member profile. The in-between ones are the best ones to use for marketing yourself, especially as the ones aimed at promoting usually end up more like "spam boards" than anything else. See if you can choose forums that allow a sig file, which is basically a short block of text about you and/or your services which can be automatically attached to the end of every post you make. No matter what you do, never EVER post a reply to a 'legitimate' topic with nothing but spam in the body of your post. This will annoy forum members who are seeking valid answers, and kill your credibility as an online marketer almost instantly. "Netiquette" is a must-have if you`re planning to use forums. What is netiquette, you ask? Basically the same as offline etiquette. It is essential to have a good understanding of acceptable ways to communicate with other forum members. That`s why it`s so important to do a LOT of reading in the forums before you start posting messages yourself. This is where good moderators come into play. They check the forums for inappropriate posts and spam, they keep the boards clean, and make sure everybody plays by the rules. Forums without moderators tend to turn into ghost-towns, with nothing but spam bots visiting them. A nice clean board needs good moderators to keep it that way. In the worst-case scenario, if you break the rules in a forum, by maybe spamming, or using inappropriate language or behaviour, either the administrators or moderators may well end up banning you from that particular forum. If that happens, they will most likely delete each and every post you`ve made, whether it`s good or bad. Happy Visiting and Posting. 5 Reasons You Should Market Online If you've got a website you'll need to let the world know about it. This is called internet marketing. Believe me, it wasn't too long ago that I didn't know a single thing about this concept. However, ever since I committed myself to learning about the ins and outs of online marketing, my sales have dramatically increased. Marketing online is a completely different challenge than offline marketing but it has its benefits. If you want to take your website to a different level, drive more traffic, and increase your sales, you need to consider the benefits of marketing online. 8 Tips for Starting and Maintaining a Successful Online Forum Nothing promotes a business online better than staying in touch with prospects. The more interactive the continued contact, the more of a relationship that is built with a potential client. How to Build a Forum That Doesnt Fall Apart Two Months Later, Part 1 If you can get a big enough following from customer lists and newsletters you might want to start your own forum. But I always see people trying to start a forum and it falls flat on their face, mainly because they make it too big and they never promote it. Search for Business Partners Effortlessly With the internet revolution ushering in new modes of communication everyday, building contacts is no longer an arduous, time consuming job. In fact, if you are looking for effective and easy ways to search for business partners, the internet provides a ready answer. Today we have a number of successful and friendly ebusiness platforms which allow us to build networks of contacts, search for business partners and establish business communications effortlessly. Seven Must Follow Rules While Participating In Message Boards Participating in message boards (forums) discussions is a great way of self promotion. It costs you nothing. Not even a penny. All you have to do is allot sometime for this type of promotion. Forums ? Should You Have Them On Your Website? Forums have become a common feature in many websites. With good free scripts available, and paid scripts being relatively cheap, it seems that every new website has its own forum(s). But is it wise to add forums to your website? Whats The Deal With Discussion Lists? (Part Three) Why Do People Start Writing Discussion Lists? Using Online Marketing Forums to Jumpstart Your Home Business One of the most wonderful things that I have discovered about the network-marketing world during the past few months are online forums. These forums offer so much to enrich both your online working life and your knowledge of this sometimes confusing, often frustrating world of home-based business, internet marketing.
|
| © Athifea Distribution LLC - 2013 |