Tweet

Driving Traffic Through Online Forums

Written by: michelle crossley

Article Overview: An Internet forum is an area for discussion made available on a website for users to post discussions, read and respond to posts by other forum members. Online forums allow members or users to start new topics and reply to existing posts too. Conversations on forums are called threads.

Driving Traffic Through Online Forums

With the advent of the internet, businesses are leaving no stone unturned to promote their businesses online. Among the various other means to market websites online, forum posting is turning into a popular option. To top that, it has been noted that visitors to websites by way of forums are worth more than any average visitor. Why? Simply because, forum visitors are active information seekers and engaged users, who are more likely to be interested in your services. However, you should note that forums are primarily beneficial for driving human traffic to your website. Search engine rankings follow closely and with a signature link with every post, you are assured greater visibility in the search engines too. Here's how you can take advantage of internet forums to drive traffic to your website:

Introduce Yourself: Begin by participating in the ‘Introduce Yourself' section of the forum. Also, don't forget to welcome new members!

Become an Active Member: You could choose forums or topics, which interest you or are closely related to your business or service and actively participate in the discussions. Try solving problems and offer help and advice when required. Don't underestimate yourself and believe that you cannot become a moderator. The effort that you put in to become a moderator on a forum is worth it and you are assured increased visits to your blog as visitors already believe you are a subject matter expert.

Your Signature Tells All: A well-defined signature, with linked text to your URL, is essential if you want visitors to notice your link. Here's an example:

Your website and SEO: Do you know you can drastically increase your traffic with the help of forum postings?

Michelle Crossley, studio1c

Say NO to SPAM: Drop your links in the posts you visit or reply at. But, not in a spammy way! If you are dropping links before you establish yourself as an active contributor, it won't take you long to be ignored or banned!

Know the Forum Rules: Different forums have different and specific rules. Make sure that you have read them thoroughly (usually you can find a post on the forum rules prominently displayed in the forum index) so you aren't banned after you have posted.

Check for typos and missing words before you click ‘Submit'.

While you work hard to increase free website traffic, you should ensure that users find relevant information on your forum posts too! Have you posted on forums? What works for you? Any practices or no-no's to share?

Related Articles
  Benefit From Promoting Your Online Income Website The Best Ways Possible
  Website Traffic - Vital Aspect Of Your Online Home Business Success
  Internet Marketing Forums – Key To Your Success in Online Home Business
  Start An Online Business - Considered Buying An Existing One
  8 Solid Reasons Why Writing and Submitting Articles is the Best Way To Promote

Article Tags: active member, advent of the internet, blog, contributor, crossley, forum postings, forum visitors, human traffic, information seekers, internet businesses, internet forums, market websites, search engine rankings, search engines, signature, solving problems, subject matter expert, visibility, website search engine



Related Forum Posts
Re: I'm A Winner!! - Thanks Tami and Ideasuniversity! Traffic is up. Forums are good places to get your message out. I also do quite a lot of article marketing and blogging etc. Still a long way to go, though, on every front!
Re: What Do You Want To Be Taught? - Hi Jeff Thanks for this forum it is a big help. My biggest problem is very much like GT. Driving traffic to my website and getting more sales. MichelleJ
Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas - [quote="BuzzAroundBooks":1yomg44b] 1.) 10 Recent Posts (takes you to the list of the 10 most recent posts) 2.) Forum Contest & Prizes 3.) How to get started in the EvanCarmichael.com Forums 4.) How to promote yourself in the EvanCarmichael.com Forums 5.) How to start a small business (list of threads with related topics) 6.) SEO Tips (list of threads with related topics) 7.) Better Blogging (list of threads with related topics) 8.) Business Book Reviews (list related forum threads, I know Barbara has tons. We also have threads that list our forum members favorite biz books) 9.) Newest Members (takes you to a list of the newest forum members so that you can help them out or connect with them) 10.) Kevin's Case Studies *I'd think this format would make the forums easier to navigate through, especially for a newbie (which are the main people we're trying to attract to the site).[/quote:1yomg44b] If you're accepting any suggestions for topics -- could SEO tips be changed to Online Marketing? SEO is just a small part of Online Marketing and that would give us some sort of place to zero in on Online Promotional posts. Shri
Signatures can improve your Traffic - Don't forget that in addition to directories that you can post your business URL and details on that you can also utilize signatures in highly trafficed Forums - like this one. Except make sure that your Signature is keyword dense instead of your company's name and that the entire phrase is URL'd to your site. Thought I'd mention this one even though it may be obvious as we were talking about Traffic as well.
Re: Alexa Ranking Goals - LOL, I spoke too soon. Within a few hours of my post, Alexa updated the Traffic Rank on the toolbar. Note however that the 3 month Traffic Rank on Alexa.com has still not been updated...


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

How To Calculate A Minimum Fee For Your Services

Attracting Passionate Employees

Clues to Increase Sales -- Listen to the Buyer

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.