Cody Moya’s ‘Internet Marketing Tips’ Blog post titled “Are forums good or bad for you?” is reprinted here. [Blog Post Reprint]


Cody Moya’s ‘Internet Marketing Tips’ Blog post titled “Are forums good or bad for you?” is reprinted here.

Are forums good or bad for you?

Some of comments ask questions like how I started and what are is my advice for newbie coming to internet marketing.

So here we go

I started on forums but before you rush to forum I want to warn you that while forum could be good for you they also may be very bad for you.

Below info is true for at least following types of forums

– internet marketing forums
– general marketing forumd
– making money forum
– affiliate forums including clickbank releate forums
– seo/adsense forums

I have very heavy experience with above listed forums but I can not tell you about other niches because I have not uses them.

First tell me what is wrong and bad with forum.

I will start with bad and then move to good.

There worst this about forum is that 95% of post are either completely useless or plain simple bad advice.

If you do not already know the subject you are not able to differentiate good advice from bad.

This is like blind leading blind straight into the wall.

Unless you know the person and you know that this person is in the know for sure do not take advice from forum.

Other forum is that forum posters are very often like a flock of fish taking last fad and write how great it is.

Just because everybody on forum writes that something is good or bad this does not necessary mean anything at all that reality is like this. This is only forum reality in most cases not real live marketing facts.

Do not get boxed in the forum opinion. There are whole real internet world out there full of people who do not know and do not care what is written on the forum by bunch of wannabe marketers.

Next bad thing about forum is that they rob you blind from your time, time you should spend on money making activities.

Forum could be very entertaining and if you prefer spending time on forum instead of going to the movies, play with family or have nice time together this is fine.

There is nothing wrong with it as long as you are aware that this is your time off and you treat it as joy time instead of working time.

Do you think this example thread I saw yesterday will bring you any money if you read is “The TALLEST internet marketer around is…”

This post was red 402 times and has 25 replies.

Image how much money making time in total was wasted in total on this single post.

Or post a few days ago “Show us your IM room…” red 1866 and has 66 replies. How long you think is total time of people together spend of that one. I bet total of combined time may be a few days.

There are tens of thousand of post like there or forums which counts for years of combined time spend on them.

Again if this is entertainment for you to read such post this is perfectly fine but do not treat this as business unless…

…you use forum marketing which is the different story and Good side of forum.

Here are good things about the forum.

Forums are the best niche traffic sources. When used correctly may help newbie to start business and help increase promotion sale for seasoned marketer as well.

For me forum marketing makes sense only in those two above situation. Forum marketing only make sense to start a business from zero or to occasionally let people know about some big promotion or something really new you just started.

Let me tell you that forum is not good value for your time in other cases. You will be better of working on growing your business not spending time on forum except in cases I described above.

Before I tell you how to use forum let me tell you that there is slim difference between forum marketing and forum spamming. You do not want to spam the forum but you want to market there. Make sure to ready forum rules before you start marketing.

Some forums have rules that you can not put your affiliate link in signature. So in this case make squeeze page hosted on your server and redirect to affiliate offer only after somebody subscribed I had never had any problem with that when I was using this in the past.

I described below how you can get free traffic. In short all you need is to add your link to your forum signature and follow advice below. Remember that this is much easier to giveaway something free than to sell something.

There are several ways you can use online forums to promote link. You should carefully consider the various different approaches and how you want yourself to be viewed before using a forum as a means of advertising.

The easiest way you can use an online forum to promote your link, is by simply adding a link to promoted website in your forum “signature”. Many forums allow each member to create a “signature” that is added to the bottom of each of their posts.

If you include your affiliate link to something for free, it is likely that others you chat with in the forums will become more familiar with the website name and probably even check it out. This is one of the most reserved ways to promote link in online forums.

This is a great option for someone who does not want to be as pushy about the advertising aspect. You can be more natural with the ad delivery by using forums in this manner.

You can even begin visiting forums that you usually don’t, just to get your “signature” out there more frequently across the web.

You can also simply post with link into online forums. This is a more direct way of reaching those that read the forum but be aware of a few things before using this approach.

First, some online forum moderators do not allow direct ad link on their boards. They usually don’t do this to be mean or unreasonable; they do it to avoid the entire forum being filled with advertisements. It is possible that you may be able to sneak an advertisement in without being scolded, but it is better to follow the rules.

Another thing to consider when using direct advertisements in online forums is that the entire approach may seem a little pushy. Many people consider online forums as a place that is personal and free from annoying ads.

Therefore, they may not respond well to a direct advertisement as they may see it as being made by an intruder that is not part of the normal forum “family”. Being bold enough to go this route however will most definitely give your link more traffic, because some of the readers will be prompted to check out more information from your post.

When you post regular post a lot people who are use to seeing your comments will likely respond warmly to your website just because they consider you familiar.

Overall, the more people you reach with your use of online forums to promote link, the more positive results you will see.

Just be sure to consider forum rules and choose an appropriate approach before posting. You don’t want to ruin your promoted website’s reputation or even the reputation of yourself.

But again forums are only perfect for those starting out or for occasional promos only. Do NOT consider it is the long term strategy. As soon as your business is rolling out you should abandon forum time loose.

There is one exception I forget to mention, even if you are successful you should visit most popular forums at least once a month and browse through topics and maybe read some of them. This is very good research tool what people are looking for and what is going on.

There is also little known way to push forum marketing to the next viral level so you will no longer be just trading you time for one time traffic/subscriber but I am burn out now from writing so I will write about it on the next post.

Maybe also I will post link to get forum marketing video next time. I do not promise but I will try.

Make sure to register to get notification about posts and come back to blog at least once a week.

Thanks
Cody

Cody Moya’s Internet Marketing Tips Blog

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Cody Moya writes about Internet Marketing Tips in his Free Internet Marketing Courses. You can sign up for his free Tips and get additional information at his website: www.FreeInternetMarketingCourses.com

*IMNewswatch would like to thank Cody Moya for granting permission to reprint the latest article.