How to Market on Forums and Message Boards Without Upsetting Anyone

By: Randy Ray
Submitted: 2007-01-17 13:21:09
Print this article | Tell a friend | For publisher | Social Bookmarking
Rating:
 

Believe it or not, you can market on forums and message boards without pissing anyone off. In fact, not only can you market this way, you SHOULD market this way, and I'll tell you why later in this article. But for now, I'd like to point out that the reason I'm writing this article is because someone on an affiliate forum that I frequent got kicked out of an affiliate program for spamming a message board community. He'd posted his opinion of the affiliate product in the "personal opinions" section of the board, and the moderator of the community reported him to the merchant, who then kicked him out of the affiliate program.

There's a big difference between expressing your opinion and marketing a product. Often the difference can be discerned as easily as discerning the tracking code in an affiliate URL for a product. I moderate at several forums online, and I despise dealing with spammers who think it's okay to blatantly market to my readers without contributing anything of value to my community. So here are my rules for marketing on forums without pissing anyone off.

1- Participate in a forum that allows links to your website in your signature. If the discussion board doesn't allow links in your signature, go find one that does.

2- PARTICIPATE in the forum. Ask pertinent questions. Make pithy observations. Answer others' questions if you know the correct answers. Try to post something daily, maybe more often. Just be sure that you're not just participating to get your link in front of people; participate in the forum in order to add value to the members' experiences there. The rewards in terms of higher click-through's and conversions are well worth it.

3- Include a link to your website in your signature file in a normal sized font.

That's it. That's all there is to it. How does this help your marketing? Well, you should be participating in forums at least partially related or of interest to the people who hang out in a forum. So some of them will click on your signature link just out of interest. And, if you post intelligently and often, you will gradually become recognized as an expert in that area. And that will make you more attractive. You'll begin to get link exchange requests, links, and requests for help from indviduals on the forums. This is when you know your strategy is working.

Marketing on forums and message boards isn't for the faint of heart, or for the lazy spammer. But if you're willing to make appropriate effort, you'll get appropriate returns.

The author is a full time affiliate webmaster who manages and promotes several sites in several industries. You can read more about his exploits at his Affiliate Marketing Programs Blog and see an example of one of his sites at Major Millions Jackpot

Article source: Expert Articles

Most Recent Articles in Forums category

  • Is the Internet Better than Real Life? - By: Sandra Prior
    Whether it's flirting in chat rooms, blowing people up in online gaming arenas or arguing in newsgroups, the Internet is home to a vast and varied population. With such a range of activities available, is the Net better than real life?
  • Promoting in Online Forums - By: Anna-Marie Stewart
    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.
  • How To Get Free Advertising By Participating In E-mail Discussion Lists - By: Julia Tang
    Posting messages to e-mail discussion lists is a great way to get free advertising. An e-mail discussion list is a group of people connected together via e-mail that can communicate with one another. When you post a message to a list include your signature file at the end.
  • What's The Deal With Discussion Lists? (Part Three) - By: Danielle Hollister
    Why Do People Start Writing Discussion Lists? Angela Gillaspie, who owns Southern Angel, says she created her list for a very simple reason. "I started the list because there were so many folks that wanted to read my writing, and I had a hard time remembering everyone's addresses.
  • What's The Deal With Discussion Lists for Writers? (Part Two) - By: Danielle Hollister
    What Are the Advantages and/or Drawbacks of Subscribing to Discussion Lists? "I learn a lot about publishing houses, editors, etc., and we're like one big happy family," says Dotti Enderle, who belongs to several lists - the biggest being the Children's Writers List.
  • What's The Deal With Discussion Lists For Writers? (Part One) - By: Danielle Hollister
    Are they really free? Are they actually helpful? Why do writers subscribe to these lists?
  • Unlock The Power Of Online Groups - By: Corey Morehouse
    Yahoo Groups: I see countless marketers on shoestring budges turn to traffic exchanges for free traffic. If they would spend the time creating online groups rather than clicking for traffic they would see much more quality traffic. By no means am I saying throw in the towel on traffic exchanges as I use a number of them.
  • Get Traffic & Sales Using Discussion Forums - By: Jean Sutherland
    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.So let's find out how to make this a profitable venture for you.
  • 8 Tips for Starting and Maintaining a Successful Online Forum - By: Vishal P. Rao
    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.This business principle of continued contact and business relationship building has given rise to the popularity of online business forums, and of course, "theme-related" online forums.
  • Business Forums - By: John Kovacs
    Forums are a community where a group of webmasters can post a discussion on different topics, like running an online business, web promotion, marketing, web design, etc. You can post questions asking for advice and learn a great deal of knowledge from others who participate. You can also participate by answering questions that you are well versed on.