Marketing With Discussion Forums

Posted on December 15th, 2008

Participating in discussion forums by helping others with their questions, or asking your own, can have a big impact on the traffic to your website. Use the built-in signature option so that each post will link to your website.

The forums can be any topic you are interested in and familiar with so you can share intelligent information. You should however, try to participate in forums that are related to your business. That will help drive targeted traffic to your site and you will have a better chance of selling your products and services.

The more you participate, the more links you will have to your site and the higher you will be listed in the search engines for your chosen topic. The better your answers are to questions posed by others, the more those members will be interested in checking out what you have to offer.

For home-based business and Affiliate marketing, start by joining in the discussions at the sites listed below. Be sure to read the forum rules on each site regarding posting messages, advertising and links in your signature.

Start with this list of forums to get acquainted with interacting in them. Just watch how others post, read the rules before posting your own messages and remember not to post blatant ads. That is a sure way to get blocked from posting again.

Net Profits Today - This is home of the Super Affiliate Handbook by Rosalind Gardner and my favorite discussion forum. This is a great community where the members all help each other, plus you will get feedback directly from Rosalind Gardner. I recommend you register today, visit daily, or subscribe to the news feed to be notified when there are new posts. I am currently a moderator on this forum and look forward to exchanging ideas with you.
Conquer Your Niche Marketing - This is another favorite because there is a blend of high profile marketers and newcomers, all interacting to learn from each other.
Affiliate Programs Community - Dedicated to discussing Affiliate programs.
Associate Programs - Dedicated to all aspects of Affiliate programs.
ABestWeb Affiliate Marketing Forum - Dedicated to Affiliate programs
Yahoo Groups - A large collection of group discussions on hundreds of topics.
The Internet Marketing Warrior Forum - Thousands of marketers visit here regularly and are very busy with ongoing conversations. Try not to get overwhelmed when you first visit this site. Just pick a topic and start reading.
Work At Home Moms - A different style from the standard discussion forums, made of mostly of women who are either just starting their home-based businesses or are already successful and there to help others.
IM4NewbiesInternet Marketing Discussion Forum - Dedicated to helping people get started promoting Affiliate programs online.
Net Marketing Forum - Operated by Jon Olson, owner of several successful traffic exchanges.

Let me know your thoughts on these and others that fit into this category.

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Why I Like NetProfitsToday Affiliate Forum

Posted on June 24th, 2008

Of all the Affiliate discussion forums I have visited and participated in, few have the sense of community like NetProfitsToday.com. Operated by Rosalind Garner, author of The Super Affiliate Handbook, beginner and veteran marketers come reach out to each other: veterans guiding newcomers; beginners giving veterans fresh ideas; each person having experience in various areas.

Along with the discussion forums, Rosalind writes helpful articles on her Affiliate marketing blog. Many times those articles support the current discussions. Putting the articles into the blog allows Rosalind to expand on each topic more than the discussion forum would allow. Once the article is posted, a comment is made in the forum that links to the article for an in-depth review.

Sure there are much larger forums where tens of thousands of people gather daily. That may be good for experienced marketers, but for beginners it is frustrating to see the conversations move so fast that they are tough to follow. Those are places where ridicule is second nature to some, with disregard to how that welcomes beginners to the community.

NetProfitsToday.com is much more laid back, friendly and sensitive to how criticism is handed out. When someone asks for ideas on choosing a niche market, various members join in with their ideas to help the asker along. Website reviews are honest, detailed and most of all, helpful. By the end of the conversation, everyone involved knows that someone was helped that day.

There are all types of people from many walks of life in multiple countries. However, most of them though are from USA or Canada. To help with forum growth, recent additions to the moderator team were chosen based primarily on their level of participation, interaction with others and knowledge level in various areas.

The invitations to help moderate were not previously announced. Instead, the new moderators were made surprise offers after being watched for extended periods of time. Each one was both delighted and surprised with the offer. Apparently, only two people knew about the selection process: Rosalind and her long-time moderator, Bradley.

With the moderator team in place, NetProfitsToday.com is poised for growth to reach out to even more Affiliate marketers. I am proud to be a member of that team.

Visit today at http://NetProfitsToday.com

Jim Hutchinson

Tags: affiliate marketing, discussion forums
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