Forum posting is an effective way of advertising your website if you use it properly. People join forums for a number of reasons—to socialize with others, to find information that they need, or for the purpose of marketing either their website or a specific product that they are selling. Unfortunately, because they go about it the wrong way, more often than not the end result is that not only do they not make a sale they also lose their credibility resulting in a loss of potential future sales as well.
A major reason for this is that most people jump into selling mode right off the bat in complete disregard of the principles of marketing, namely creating your name so that you create credibility and in the process gain the goodwill of people. Thus, in order to successfully market via forum posting it is important to build up your credibility by gaining the people’s trust and confidence in you, and eventually in what you would be marketing.
It’s actually easy to accomplish. First, be honest when forum posting especially when you are just new to a forum. Share who you are with the other people in the forum--properly introduce yourself to them and tell them who you are. Do not do anonymous forum posting. If you won’t believe someone who won’t give you their names, why should anyone believe you if you do the same thing? Not only will it not create credibility for you, it will actually flag you as a very suspicious and doubtful person—not something you would like to happen.
So give them an idea of who they will be interacting with. Create a picture in their mind as to the type of person you are—write a short description about yourself and what you do if related; post a smiling picture of you if allowed. Don’t ever put yourself out to be an expert in the field, especially when you’re not.
They will find out eventually that you were lying through your posts especially by the real experts and you will wind up not only being ostracized but also being banned and blacklisted from the forums--the end of your purpose to advertise through forum posting. If you’re knowledgeable then simply share the information you have by helping anyone that needs it.
Make sure that what you are answering is either based on your actual knowledge or something that you have researched prior to posting. If you will be sharing information that was already researched by somebody else or if you found the answer in somebody else’s website say so. Either you share the name of the person who created the information you’re using or post the link to their site in your forum posting.
The last thing you want, after you have painstakingly built up your credibility, is to have someone cite you for plagiarism—a surefire way of losing everything in one go. Acknowledge who needs to be acknowledged. When forum posting, be polite and courteous and treat others as you would want them to treat you—a simple thank you will go a long way.
The goodwill you create will boost your online business and catapult you to the top.
The author of this article, Menno Spijkstra, is an underground Internet Marketer who has been successful in selling products online for many years. Let Menno teach you how to Build Your Own Website For Free.