Okay - I better come clean.
I used to the think that hanging out on discussion forums was a complete and utter WASTE OF TIME!
In fact, I even had a - never before published - private definition of precisely what a forum was:
"A forum is a place where people who love to procrastinate can go in order to meet others who prefer to waste their precious time, rather than getting on with building their own successful businesses."
After all... how many times have you visited a forum, read a few posts, maybe posted something back and before you know it - you've run out of time to do anything constructive on the internet today?
SO WHAT'S CHANGED MY MIND ABOUT THE FORUMS?
Three things have fundamentally shifted my personal view on the worth of forums.
1. MORE PEOPLE
USE THEM, AS SPECIAL SOFTWARE IS NO LONGER
REQUIRED.
Discussion forums have come of age. Partly because most discussion boards no longer require the reader to install "newsgroup" type software to get access.
For the most part forums are now as accessible as any other website and so they're being read by far more people.
2. WHAT YOU WRITE
TODAY WILL BE INDEXED BY GOOGLE.
The average forum is now just like any other website, and all the posts are liable to end up being indexed by the search tools.
Wait a minute... this is a huge bonus for someone posting to a forum.
If you write a message today, the chances are that in 6-8 weeks, that post will have been indexed by the king of search tools Google.
That means that people will keep reading what you've had to say for months and years to come!
To take advantage of this fact, it's important that you use a signature at the bottom of your post. This is a link back to your own website. Find out how to create your signature here >>> http://www.howtocorp.com/forumprofits
As a result, months after you make a post on a forum, you'll notice new traffic coming to your website via that source.
So suddenly posting on discussion forums is seeming like a great use of your time.
3. I CREATED MY OWN FORUM AND.... WOW!
My view of forums was already shifting, so I went ahead and set up my own 'How To' marketing discussion forum.
I made it free for everyone to come along, read and post. Here it is >>> http://www.howtocorp.com/forum
The forum went live just before Christmas and my discussion board quickly turned into a buzzing place to hang out and discuss all manner of internet marketing issues.
Suddenly I could see it first hand. Forums worked!
WARNING: NOT ALL FORUMS ARE CREATED EQUALLY.
Two quick checks before you go and post:
1. Only post on busy forums. It stands to reason that you'd like what you wrote to be read, so make sure the forum has a steady number of recent posts before wasting your time.
2.
Find out whether the board owner allows search engines to index
posts. Forum software restrictions can also mean that posts never
get indexed. You want your post indexed to help drive visitors to
your site in the future. So email the site owner and ask or do a
search on Google using the forum address and see if other posts
from that board
appear.
So forums can be a terrific place to meet similarly minded people,
get questions answered and build long-term traffic for your own
website.
So go and post - but remember still not to get sucked into spending hour-upon-hour on the forums while ignoring your own online business development.
To your online success!