Welcome to lesson 15 on blogging.
You notice that it has been 5 days since I last post. Thanks for those who emailed to ask how I am doing. I was actually busying setting up my new blog on streaming movies online. You can check it out if you are a movie fanatic at http://www.amovieblog.com. All right enough of this. I will go straight into today’s lesson on forum marketing.
But before you go on to read this lesson, remember to continue working on posting 1-2 articles to EzineArticles every week. Forum marketing could be the 2nd marketing technique that you adopt to help you in generating traffic for your blog.
What Is Forum Marketing
As the name suggests, forum marketing is a way of gaining traffic from the forums by contributing to the content. There are so many forums available online covering any topics that you can think off. But to think of it, if you stumble across any topics that are not covered by any forums, do let me know (if you know what I mean).
Common Mistakes In Forum Marketing
1) Spamming
There are thousands of people who know that forums are a good channel to drive traffic and focus their attention on it. As a result, they spam the forums with zero value comments and posts. Forum marketing is about quality content rather than quantity count.
2) Not using eye-catching forum signature
Forum signature is an area where you can display text or links of your choice. This is the link you want the forum readers to click which will lead back to your blog. But often, I see casually written signature display on it which doesn’t create any urge for the forum readers to click on it.
Achieve This Before Linking To Your Blog
As a rule of thumb, try getting up to 50 posts first before even recommending people to read your blog. Always give before thinking of receiving. Avoid being seen as a spammer by forum members as it will hurt your credibility in the long run. In most cases that I have seen, the easiest way to get banned by a forum is to start posting links to your website on your very first post and this is what I don’t want it to happen to you.
Post 1 unique entry on your blog and put it as your forum signature. This increases the chances of forum members clicking on your link. Make the link description as compelling as possible. You can read my previous post here on how to create compelling headline.
Leveraging From Forums
My advice is to concentrate on 1-2 forums by posting regular comments as well as articles for better results. Find threads that you can add valuable comments on it and do it everyday. Build up your forum profile and you can easily leverage from it. Alternatively, you can start a new thread to share on your experiences of the topic and at the same time provide a lesson for the forum members to learn from your story.
Participate in forums that have active members and fresh threads are being created everyday to discuss on different questions. In this way, you are exposing your content and at the same time being more productive when you leave comments on the thread.
Tips To Improve Forum Marketing
1) Use compelling forum signature
There are simply too many signature links in a forum and how do you make yours attractive for the forum members to click on it? You can use my technique by creating a unique article and post it on your blog. Include the article link on your forum signature to drive traffic to your blog.
2) Use real name
You should be trying to get your name out to your topic market as much as possible and thus using your real name in the forum is a must. You notice that I am trying very hard to tell you to build up your credibility because we are living in a cruel world.
People only follow and believe what you say after you have carved a name for yourself. They will then be all out to get your attention because they hope to get some benefit out from you. I know everyone goes through the same process but shorten the time frame needed to build your credibility online.
3) Post only constructive comments and articles
Contribute only when you can add to the value. Do not post for the sake of increasing your post count in the forum. I need to stress on the importance of quality in forum marketing because there are simply tons of competition in it.
I am confident that forum marketing is very effective if keep posting quality comments and articles on the forum. Adopt the giving mindset and it will benefit you in the initial part of your blogging. Get to your first 300 readers and it will be easier for you to leverage from it.
If you are already into forums, share with me the ones that you are already participating in the comments below.
Tasks for lesson 15
1) Participate in at least one forums with active members and post 5-10 comments everyday.
2) Post a unique content on your blog and use the forum signature to link to it.
3) Do not neglect article marketing as yet. Keep on submitting articles every week to EzineArticles.
Subscribed to my blog now to get updates for every of my coaching lesson. Next lesson will be introducing to you on comment marketing. Stay tune for it.
Connect with me on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/felixgoh
Wei Liang
ABloggerBlog.com
October 28th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
“Post only constructive comments” - I get a kick out of the ‘me too’ comments. I am on one writing forum and there is a lady that reviews everything (EVERYTHING) submitted and gives the highest possible rating to every post. No one has fault in their writing, and by many writers she is seen as a good reviewer (I am honest, hence a bastard) and she is seen as senior because she has nearly 3000 posts, where the average is 300.
this is one thing (forum marketing) that I do very poorly.
Richard McLaughlin´s last blog post..Virtual-Team Management
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Wei Liang Reply:
October 29th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Hi Richard,
Sometimes we just have to accept the fact that people are afraid of finding fault with someone that is already famous in a particular subject. Thousands of other people will debate over what you say on the famous person. Its rather hypocrite i know but its human nature.
I believe you will find another forum that will accept your criticism.
Wei Liang
[Reply to this comment]
October 29th, 2008 at 4:55 am
There are also forums set up JUST FOR marketing your blog or website. Like MINE for example
http://www.forumfinder.net/SMF/
Jules´s last blog post..Cleaning Palm Trees
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Wei Liang Reply:
October 29th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Hi Jules,
Thanks for letting me know of another existing forum. Will check it out when I have the time. Hope to see you around more often.
Wei Liang
[Reply to this comment]
Ben Pei Reply:
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:31 pm
@Jules, Thanks. I’ll check it out too!
Ben Pei´s last blog post..Is It Easy To Create Your Own Ebook?
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October 29th, 2008 at 5:15 am
Hi Wei Liang,
I’ve heard a lot of good stuff over the last few days about forum marketing but this tops them all!
Could you put up a list of the best forums for bloggers please if you get a chance?
Webdesi3´s last blog post..HTML Tutorial: How to create internal linking
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Krish Reply:
October 29th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
@Webdesi3, Here are few forum which we bloggers can use -
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/
http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/forumindex.php?
http://www.neowin.net/forum/
http://www.big-boards.com/
Cheers
Krish
Krish´s last blog post..How To Pump Traffic To Your Blog
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Wei Liang Reply:
October 29th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Hi Krish,
Thanks for the share on this. I owe you one for this. Do you have any experiences on forum marketing in which you would like to share here in ABloggerBlog?
Wei Liang
[Reply to this comment]
Krish Reply:
October 30th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
@Wei Liang, Hello Wei, well I havent got too much of experience on forum marketing but yes have spend some time analysing to improve my understanding.
By the way I have now included a section on how forum can bring traffic based on your suggestion given in my post.
Krish´s last blog post..How To Pump Traffic To Your Blog
[Reply to this comment]
Wei Liang Reply:
October 30th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Hi Krish,
That would make your post more concrete now =) Do let me know if you have any new findings on forums.
Wei Liang
Webdesi3 Reply:
October 29th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
@Krish, Thanks a million, I’ll head over now and check these out:)
Webdesi3´s last blog post..HTML Tutorial: Keep readers on your site longer
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Krish Reply:
October 30th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
@Webdesi3, No problem. I have added a small list of forums in my post. Credit goes to Wei for suggesting me to add a section on forum marketing. Hope you find it useful.
Cheers
Krish
Krish´s last blog post..How To Pump Traffic To Your Blog
[Reply to this comment]
Wei Liang Reply:
October 29th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Hi Webdesi3,
Look at what Krish has post. He has 2 of which I visited often and they are DigitalPoint and SitePoint. Apart from this, I do participate in BloggerForum as well.
Thanks for giving me an idea on the list. I might come out with this list and a dofollow blog list this weekend. Will let you know if I manage to get it done by this week.
Wei Liang
[Reply to this comment]
October 29th, 2008 at 9:40 am
Hi Wei Liang
I like Yahoo Answers, but as you say, you must make sure you give relevant and helpful answers.
Maz´s last blog post..Site Rubix Website Builder - Free With Wealthy Affiliate
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Wei Liang Reply:
October 29th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Hi Maz,
don’t really know what you mean but have you tried participating in forums before? Share with me your thoughts.
Wei Liang
[Reply to this comment]
October 29th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Hmm I haven’t tried Forum Marketing before. Which ones do you go to?
[Reply to this comment]
Wei Liang Reply:
October 29th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Hi Daniel Richard,
I usually frequent DigitalPoint, SitePoint and BloggerForum. These are the few good forums for webmasters. Do try forum marketing and let me know your views on it. Could even consider to guest post in ABloggerBlog on your findings.
Wei Liang
[Reply to this comment]
October 30th, 2008 at 12:40 am
Wei Lang, nice post. It’s so true, that content is king, no matter whether it’s article marketing, forum posting, or blogging. Always give more than you intend to receive, be consistent, and it will come back to you.
Steve Borgman@Success Factors´s last blog post..Why Can’t I Make Money Online? Imagination To the Rescue!
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Wei Liang Reply:
October 30th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Hi Steve,
Glad that you agree with me. That will be a positive mentality to adopt and will be beneficial in your journey of blogging. Thanks for dropping by my blog again. Hang around ABloggerBlog for more lessons.
Wei Liang
[Reply to this comment]
October 30th, 2008 at 2:18 am
Better focus on 1-2 forum, if we choose more than 2, probably we won’t have the time to build our credibility in forum. I goes for one first, coz doesn’t have enough time to go for two…
[Reply to this comment]
Wei Liang Reply:
October 30th, 2008 at 7:10 am
Hi Sayz,
I absolutely agree with this. It is always better to focus effort on 1-2 forums and post quality comments rather than posting on 10 different forums with short and non constructive ones.
Wei Liang
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October 30th, 2008 at 3:47 am
I’ve done a lot of forum commenting too. Sometimes I find it hard to go do it everyday but I do manage to get it done even if it just on one or 2 posts.
Here’s a couple of more forums i’ve checked out besides for the ones already mentioned
http://www.namepros.com/
http://www.v7n.com/forums/
Bruno Auger´s last blog post..Search Enigine Optimization Markets
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Wei Liang Reply:
October 30th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Hi Bruno Auger,
I believe even 1 or 2 posts per day will suffice if you posted constructive comments. Welcome to ABloggerBlog and I hope to see you around more often.
Wei Liang
[Reply to this comment]
October 30th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Hi Wei Liang,
Found your website the other day and found your posts as an excellent guide for people who are into blogging. A blog-driven website has been proven to be the trend for modern Internet business and your blog is an excellent resource for people who want to get started or people who are already into the world of blogging.
To our success
Aaron Lee´s last blog post..Online Business Blueprint - The Automation Stage
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Wei Liang Reply:
October 30th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Hi Aaron Lee,
Thanks for the compliment. I will continue to produce interesting content and different resources on blogging. Hope to see you around more often. Cheers.
Wei Liang
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October 31st, 2008 at 3:09 am
Great advice regarding FM… I can’t stress enough the importance to first give, and ask after…
I’ve seen that the “50-post rule” starts to appear on more and more IM related forums…
[Reply to this comment]
Wei Liang Reply:
October 31st, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Hi Codrut,
Forums existed as a channel for saturating a group of similar interest to start sharing their knowledge. Instead, people are using forums as a form of promoting their products or website instead of its purpose of existence. Therefore, the 50 post rule starts to be implemented nowadays.
FM is more like a long term leverage for traffic. Devote some time into it and you will see great results in 1-2 months time of participation.
Wei Liang
[Reply to this comment]
November 1st, 2008 at 11:29 pm
As an avid forum marketer myself (a little lagging in recent days) these are some excellent tips.
It’s a shame that what should be common sense and etiquette, needs to be repeated so often.
Btw, new reader/subscriber here.
Dennis Edell´s last blog post..Oct.’08 Post Round-Up for Direct Sales Web Marketing
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Wei Liang Reply:
November 2nd, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Hi Dennis Edell,
Reminders are necessary to keep the etiquette preserved. It could be something new to bloggers too. But I pretty agree with you that this are pretty common sense stuff though. Hope to see you more around here then.
Wei Liang
[Reply to this comment]
November 2nd, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Great Post Wei, I am a forum visitor and poster my self. I have seen the mistakes the “spammers” make. I was spammed myself a couple of times. Like Dennis said above
“It’s a shame that what should be common sense and etiquette, needs to be repeated so often”
Larry´s last blog post..Successfully Marketing Your Blog: An Overview
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November 2nd, 2008 at 8:22 pm
[...] Forum Marketing - another interesting blog post about forum marketing. [...]
November 2nd, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Very nice post. I definitely agree with the idea of linking to a quality post and promoting it in your signature. I just recently got into the idea of specific linking. As well, it’s proven that the more active and informative you are, the better reputation you have, and the more people will want to know you.
Corey Freeman´s last blog post..First of the Month - The Good, The Bad, and the Coming Up!
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November 3rd, 2008 at 7:40 am
Good post. Forum marketing when done correctly and not by spamming can bring good results.
[Reply to this comment]
Wei Liang Reply:
November 4th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Hi Boosh Online,
Indeed. Forum marketing is one of the great channel to build up your online presence as well. This would be a great source to leverage on and increase readership count.
Wei Liang
[Reply to this comment]
November 4th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Like most forms of promotion online writing a compelling title is one of the keys to success, once you have that nailed you can spend your energy getting the title in front of people.
Danny Cooper´s last blog post..November Case Study - Blog Contest!
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November 7th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
I had read somewhere recently, how important it is to promote your blog to get noticed by potential visitors. The same thing applies to forums as well and also it will compel us to have some marketing skills which we can learn to a great deal when we indulge in it.
[Reply to this comment]
Wei Liang Reply:
November 8th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Hi Vol Cars,
Copywriting skills are thereby very essential in any context when we talk about marketing isn’t it? People often learn why do marketing but not the how to do marketing segment.
Wei Liang
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November 8th, 2008 at 1:18 am
Very nice post. I definitely agree with the idea of linking to a quality post and promoting it in your signature.
I’ve done a lot of forum commenting too.
MoneyBlog´s last blog post..Learn how Sean Made $42,356 in 3 Months
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Wei Liang Reply:
November 8th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Hi MoneyBlog,
Linking a quality post to forum signature is definitely having a better call to action effect. By the way, first time seeing you in ABloggerBlog. Would that mean that I will see you more often on my other post as well?
Wei Liang
[Reply to this comment]
November 9th, 2008 at 5:58 am
Wei, you’re crazy!! lol
Your article on digital point — the one on how you got 15k stumbleupon-related traffic in one month — got up to 120 comments and up to 8k page views…
That’s crazy… all my forum posts combined since I started (active) forum marketing in 2005 got less than 100 comments, and you did more in just one post!
How are you doing it? I mean, do you have other strategies or tactics (besides the ones in the above article)?
[Reply to this comment]
Wei Liang Reply:
November 9th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Hi Codrut,
I didn’t hide any techniques in there. =x
I just put what I have said into use. Create a thread that will provide great value to the forum members and it will definitely lead to a lot of discussions and page views. Make sure this post is so special that it will lead to a lot of attention.
I did monitor the type of threads in DP that got hot in discussions and I steal that idea and put it into my own. And it works. Apart from this, I apply copywriting techniques into use as well. A compelling headline is the key to getting people to start reading the article.
Wei Liang
[Reply to this comment]
November 13th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Forums are a great source of traffic when used properly but far too often people over-emphasize the importance of the links from signatures.
As long as people treat posts on forums like comments on blogs they should be fine, but obvious spam will be just as easy to catch on a forum if not more obvious.
James Spinosa´s last blog post..How to Get your Site Indexed in Under 2 Days
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Wei Liang Reply:
November 15th, 2008 at 8:46 am
Hi James Spinosa,
Spams are always not encouraged on anywhere in the Internet. Post only when you have something to add on to the discussion. Forum links adds to the number of backlinks in Yahoo but not Google.
I am more concerned of the call to action of the signature to bring visitors into my blog. Like what you mention, forums are indeed a great source of traffic and I know there are quite a few readers in here are directed from DP forums.
Wei Liang
[Reply to this comment]
November 18th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
am not into it - I had a forum to support readers at my site. Still not find any time to activily participate in forum discussions. Gimme few forum where i can jump and pump my traffic.
Shanker Bakshi´s last blog post..Sneak Preview Video of WordPress 2.7
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November 20th, 2008 at 12:36 am
As you mentioned in the second para of your article that continue working on posting 1-2 articles to EzineArticles every week As i have registered there but it has passed a weeks time but still my post is under review.. Can you help me out to know that generally how much time it takes to get that article live ?? And also so let me know that have you ever posted any articles at EzineArticles ?? and how much time it has taken for approval ??
[Reply to this comment]
Wei Liang Reply:
November 20th, 2008 at 9:19 am
Hi Cars for sale,
They generally take 1-2 weeks to approve your articles if it is your first time posting in there. Once you hit at least 10 articles, the time taken to approve your articles will be shorter. Yes I have posted articles in EzineArticles and it takes 2-3 days to approve. Do check on your mail if they have reject your article due to certain violations or perhaps some editing. If not, then you just have to wait for 2-3 days more.
Wei Liang
[Reply to this comment]
November 23rd, 2008 at 3:07 am
[...] Forum Marketing Lesson [...]
November 29th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Just wanted to say HI. I found your blog a few days ago on Technorati and have been reading it over the past few days.
[Reply to this comment]
Wei Liang Reply:
November 29th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Hi Ben Waugh,
Thanks for dropping the comment in here as well. I appreciate it and hope you will find the lessons fruitful. Feel free to contact me should you have any questions.
Wei Liang
[Reply to this comment]
December 1st, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Nice post u have here
Added to my RSS reader
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December 2nd, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Hi Wei Liang,
We share the same technique by creating a unique article and putting the article link on your forum signature to drive traffic to your blog. It has worked well for me when I used only compelling titles.
In fact some of your suggestions are true in general like using your own name. I’m amazed that there are still people who used the name ‘admin’ shown in their blogs.
BTW you’ve got a nice blog. I’ll definitely be coming back again for sure.
Peter Lee
Make Money Blogging´s last blog post..How “Work From Home Ideas” Made Google Top 10
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Wei Liang Reply:
December 3rd, 2008 at 8:01 am
Hi Peter,
Great mind thinks alike right? Forum has been a great source of traffic for me but I have gone inactive recently. Time to get back onto it.
Thanks for the compliment and you can expect to see me in yours too.
Cheers
Wei Liang
[Reply to this comment]
December 10th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Hello
I’ve just registered to say your site is very useful and nicely done!
Thank you very much for your work.
Cheers!
Sorry for offtopic.
[Reply to this comment]