PDA

View Full Version : How NOT to Promote Your Website on Forums


Lori
10-10-2006, 03:53 PM
Internet entrepreneurs, work at home moms, network marketers... you're all fed the same hype about how to promote your website, get leads, recruit members or what have you.One of the first things you will be told is to post your ads on forums. Lots.
This article is a guide to proper forum etiquette so that you don't waste your own and many other peoples time.

The first thing you need to know is that forum owners deal with a ton of spam. I could easily spend an hour a day cleaning up spammy posts in the forum and deleting and banning
members that don't abide by forum rules. It's unnerving to have to waste my time doing that rather then engaging in conversations on the forum and providing my members with useful information.

So from the forum owner perspective, spam is a very bad thing. On the other hand, to help out forum participants and to try to deter them from spamming every forum in the message boards, most forum owners will provide an advertising forum of some sort where you can post an ad.

If all you are planning to do is post ads on forums, then look for this particular section of a message board. Especially don't post an ad in the introduction section of a forum.

But here is the thing about ads. Nobody really reads them. Your time would be far better spent actually engaging in conversations on the forums you frequent. You will gain the trust and loyalty of the forum population if they get to know you. They will much more
likely decide to sign up for a biz op under someone that they talk with in a trusted forum then from some fly by night forum spammers post. Doesn't that make sense?

You will be taught that posting your website link on many forums will help to build your websites backlink popularity which will in turn increase your websites ranking in the search engine results. The truth is, your post is most likely going to be deleted as soon
as the forum owner or moderators find it. All you really will have done is wasted your time.

How you can be certain that you will build your backlinks by forum posting is by putting your website link in your signature on a forum and including your signature in your quality posts. The website owner will be happy to have you posting and in turn will be happy to
allow you a small advertisement in your signature when posting.

Another trick you might not know is this. If there is a keyword phrase that you would like to rank well for in the search engines, use this as the 'anchor text' in your website link. That means if you want to rank well for a term such as 'ameriplan business opportunity' - then you would type that into your signature and have that link to your website.

Keep a folder of forums in your favorites folder on your browser and spend some time every day going to each of the forums. Make it a goal to leave at least one quality post and a few welcome posts to new members.

Informative and engaging comments, coupled with a well optimized signature will win you far more traffic and prospects in the long run. And you might even pick up a thing or two through your engagement on the forum

sarahon
10-13-2006, 04:51 PM
:flower: Thank you for that information! Very useful!

born2write
10-22-2006, 12:02 AM
Thanks alot for the kind advice.

Lori
10-22-2006, 08:46 PM
You're very welcome! There are so many effective ways to promote our websites... I'll be happy when more and more people start seeing what a waste of time spamming is :)

lisamommy
11-06-2006, 02:58 PM
You are so right. They teach you to just go post your ad somewhere and you will eventually get your clients. I think it makes so much more sense to write and engage in sincere conversation. It also makes sense to have a place to post the bus. opportunites so the spammers don't have to just pick a spot, but they probably still post everywhere anyway. Thanks for the wonderful tips, I think this is one of the best training tips I have received since I have started with my company Work At Home United..
Lisa Mommy

Lori
11-17-2006, 10:45 AM
Hi Lisa,

Thanks for your comments. You're right, they do pretty much post everywhere. LOL.

But I know it's mostly from not understanding - that's why I wrote the article.

How is Shali going for you?

Lori

You are so right. They teach you to just go post your ad somewhere and you will eventually get your clients. I think it makes so much more sense to write and engage in sincere conversation. It also makes sense to have a place to post the bus. opportunites so the spammers don't have to just pick a spot, but they probably still post everywhere anyway. Thanks for the wonderful tips, I think this is one of the best training tips I have received since I have started with my company SHALI.
Lisa Mommy
WellnessFamilyBiz (http://www.WellnessFamilyBiz.com)

babytalkhomemaker (http://www.babytalkhomemaker.blogspot.com)

sjfroh
11-17-2006, 04:09 PM
That was SO well written Lori!

Thank you!!!!!

JennyW
05-13-2007, 09:24 PM
Clear and concise and so understandable!
Do you have a list of general guidelines like these for those just starting out? Thanks!

tndballard
05-16-2007, 06:45 PM
Thank you, Lori!

I'm learning so much everyday about running my Virtual Assisting Business. Marketing is not my strong point, but hey I've never done anything in my life like this so I'm learning it now. DAY BY DAY!!!!

I will certainly make sure that I'll never post my advertising in the wrong forum... Thanks for pointing all of us in the right direction..

:work:

PowerMallWorks
05-19-2007, 06:54 AM
I have to agree. I have only been with MPM for one month and really didnt have much to do with marketing anything, however, I do recommend many things to my team, one of which is posting on forums. I have found that becoming friends with people and networking really works much better than posting an ad in a folder for everyone else who is hungry for business. Even posting on classified ads gets me commercial responses!

Krazyklown7070
09-10-2007, 11:16 AM
Ok good to know, just let me know if i do something wrong.

thank you

Google