Often, when you think of your blog traffic strategy, you think of guest posting, blog commenting or SEO. Perhaps some of you might even think of video marketing if you are into youtube, or perhaps like Ms. Ileane (and myself lately…) you might think about your podcasting as a traffic source.
However, for over a year and a half, NONE of these was my primary source of traffic, leads, or sales for my blog. In fact, my biggest blog traffic strategy is one that many people fail to even consider:
Forum Marketing!
I started using forums early on in my career. In fact, the whole reason I started IMRelations was because I wanted a place to centralize the forums I was already using.
(Did you know that forums are one of the oldest forms of social media still in use today?)
At the time, I was just starting out in affiliate marketing, and I was active in about a dozen IM forums, mainly learning from other people, and networking with people.
So, I started up a blog to share my experiences. I never really expected it to take off. In fact, for over a year and a half, ALL my links were coming from forums and a few blog comments. I wasn't really trying to make money on that blog, it was just a place for me to hang out and talk about marketing.
I really didn't even care if anyone was listening.
But, because of what I was doing in the forums, it did take off, and (surprisingly to me…) people were listening.
Why Forums Can Be Your Best Blog Traffic Strategy
Ever since then, forums have been one of my biggest sources of traffic, leads and sales. I have used them to build my authority in a wide range of niche markets, and to this day, they are still one of my top traffic sources, (second to guest posting on blogs).
Yet, as I go around, most people are telling me that forum marketing doesn't work as a blog traffic strategy, or that it is too labor intensive. The funny thing is, these are also people who are heavy into social media, which is a lot more labor intensive than forum marketing is.
In fact, this blog traffic strategy was so successful for me that many people started coming to me and asking me how I did it. Now, like any good affiliate marketer, my first reaction was to go out looking to see if I could find a product to promote….
NOPE!!!
No luck there. Most of the guides I could find were about profile linking, spamming threads for links, and other terrible advice. They were killing people's reputations without them even realizing it. That doesn't really work for a good blog traffic strategy, so I had to keep looking. I never did find one though. Instead, I went to work showing how to use forums as a traffic strategy and brand building tool.
I created my own blog traffic strategy guide using forum marketing!
Now, I didn't just run right out and write an ebook for the fun of it. In fact, several people had to BEG me to do it. I never really wanted to get into products. I am an Affiliate after all!
So, recently I finished up my Forum Traffic Sweeper guide, where I shared all my forum marketing tips and tricks to generating leads, sales, and most importantly authority through using niche forums.
Today, I thought I would share a little trick with you guys that I learned along the way.
How To Get Better Results From Forum Signature Links
A few months ago, I did a post over here about using landing pages for your guest posting bio box. I got a lot of great reviews and comment on the post, but most people don't know that I actually learned how to that particular blog traffic strategy through forum marketing.
You see, in forums, you get a “one size fits all” link in your signature file. This means you really can't target that link to a specific problem really easily. After all, today, I might be answering questions on SEO, while tomorrow, I am answering questions on plugins for WordPress.
So, instead, I started testing landing pages. In these landing pages, I would talk about my experience within the forum, talk about the forum owner's products if they have any, and invite people to my email list.
I found by doing this that it increased my engagement and even improved my opt-in conversions by 75%.
So, if you want to get the most out of your forum signature, use a landing page, instead of just a random page on your blog. You will get better results, and you can target the landing pages to the people specifically coming to you through that one forum. This could be the best blog traffic strategy that you implement, as long as you don't fall down the dark path and become another forum spammer.
Point well take James.
I was huge on forums a while back, a real fixture on Warrior. Then I moved toward social media. Recently I started chats on forums, on a few ning sites. Even though the forums are not nearly as active as well-traveled groups I still received a nice bump in traffic.
Something about sharing your expertise and establishing authority on forums. The more freely you give the more readily individuals will opt in to your list, or seek out your home based opportunity. All because you chose to help them out, to give freely, with no strings attached.
Thanks for sharing James.
That is absolutely true Ruyan. I give a lot to the people in forums, but it always pays for itself in new leads, opt ins, and more. not a week goes by that someone doesn’t PM me asking for an affiliate link to a product that they want to buy, or getting messages asking for a site review.
I have gotten a lot of clients from forums into my coaching services by doing a quick 30 minute review of someone’s site and recommending them to my services for a full in depth review.
Super tips James, thanks for sharing.
I don’t think forum marketing will help a blogger too much. It’s better to concentrate on SEO and facebook and Twitter stuff. #mypersonalopinion
Hey Bushwajeet, thanks for sharing your opinion. We will just have to agree to disagree. although SEO is important, if you give all your eggs to google, you have no room to complain when they crush them and throw them away.
I tried SEO, it didn’t really work for me. forums are actually easier to use and get traffic from than most social media sites because they are focussed and highly targeted to your niche, unlike twitter which is so full of random noise you can’t see straight.
I get some traffic through twitter, but honestly my forum traffic is better targeted and converts better into leads and buying customers.
Forums can be a very good traffic source and a place to interact with potensial customers. I have used forums a lot and i still come back to a few favourite forums like V7 and digitalpoint now and then. Havent created special landing pages for my forum signature links, but that sounds like a very good idea.
Hey Rick, that is right on. Glad to see you have had some luck with forums too.
The landing page idea came from PPC, and when I tested it out, it converted a lot better than a general page. Also, a lot of the forums I use now days are private paid forums, and those are never indexed by Google, so linking for SEO is out anyway.
this is one marketing strategy that I haven’t been really using. I have thought about this as I noticed that people in forums LISTEN. I think this is what you are trying to say here. And I think I do get that. I am dying to push this strat on my team. Now, this makes perfect sense as how I’ve perceived this to be.
Hey Mike, there is no time like today to try something new. Forums are a great way to engage your customers. I do recommend having someone on your team do a lot of it for you though, because it can be really time consuming. Now days, outside of the IM niche, I am paying someone to do most of the forum marketing for me. I do pop into a few that I am personally involved in, but most of it is letting my team handle it.
However, it is also critical in the early days to follow up and make sure your team is doing it right. I have had to teach my team what I expect them to do and not do, especially when it comes to anything that directly engages my potential customers.
Thank you very much, James! I appreciate the insight very much. This is a great and new learning for me. 😉
Yeah, having a team to help you out can really be beneficial, as well as if you put a team into your SEO strategy.
Interesting perspective, I never really considered forums as a way to drive traffic (there are so darn many spammy ones!) but I can see the point. This is a great tactic if it’s something you enjoy and can get involved in. People say it’s a lot of work/time? Ha! That’s all of marketing! You’re right, social does take a lot of time and if you do it right, it’s a lot of work, too. It can also be a big spam fest unless you’re paying attention and finding the right people. I think the really important thing is that any marketing idea can be hard, take a long time, be work, etc… but you’ve got to find one that works for you and your lifestyle and business and one you can totally get behind. Lots of people are involved in forums anyway, so why not take advantage of those opportunities? Great tips here for doing that!
Actually, breaking the spam techniques is one of my reasons behind the book I just wrote. Every traffic guide mentioning forum marketing that I could find was all about spamming them for SEO.
Forums actually will drive you a lot more traffic by focusing on the crowd of buying customers than spamming them will do you.
Yesterday, I listened to a video on youtube By Gary Vaynerchuk, and what he said was spot on. Social media isn’t about talking and trying to make a sale, its about listening to your customers.
Forums are the same way. if you use them to listen to your customers, and take time to show that their needs being met is more important to you than closing a sale, you will get more sales in the long run.
I always concentrated on social media And SEO and never tried form marketing , For you it is one of the best way to get traffic so i think i must give it a shot .
There is definitely no exact science to marketing. too much of it depends on an ever changing online climate and your own personality. However, once you find something working for you, KEEP DOING IT! One of the biggest mistakes people make is doing something that works, and then dropping it because some Guru gave them a new toy to play with.
hey AAtif, if you are successful with social media, forum marketing is a lot the same. Provide some value, share good tips, and listen to people. They will in turn check out your site and buy stuff.
The details might get a bit more complicated than that, but that is the general idea of what works in forum marketing.
Hi James,
I can really see how that can be an effective way to market because I’ve seen some great results using Yahoo Answers to bring in traffic to my blog. It’s not the same as forum marketing obviously but it does have it’s similarities.
Thanks for sharing this strategy and the tips to be most effective!
Stacy
Hey Stacy, social media, answer sites, forums, blog commenting and guest posting, just about anything social in nature really all have the same basic principles. If you can do it successfully in one format, you can do it in another.
on a side note, Love to read your blog. You are really inspirational to me..:)
Hi James
Agree with you in Past forum was great stuff for getting traffic but now a days it’s totally covered with spammers and bots so I think best way for getting traffic now a day is social media site specially Facebook ,Pinterest and video marketing was good enough for getting really traffic towards blogs.
some forums are actually not loaded with spammers and bots. in fact, there is a huge movement in forum communities to limit those. I adress that concern in my guide actually.
One thing to realize is that forums ARE social media sites, tageted more to a specific niche and with a lot less distracting noise than FB, Twitter, or Google Plus.
I agree with @james,
Some of forums are not loaded with spammers and bot they are really big forums and no-follow. But if you use them in right way you will get huge amount of traffic from those forums.
Thanks.
Hey James,
Great to see you over here at Ileane’s place.
I never did well in forums and I have a hard time finding any for my particular niche that don’t do anything but spam. I just got upset with the search so I quit. Now most of them seem to be geared more toward Ning sites which I don’t happen to like at all.
Happy to hear though that this has been a great source of traffic for you. Maybe someday someone will create some forums that I can become a part of. I do love to help people solve their problems.
Appreciate you sharing and congratulations on the product. I have no doubt it will do very well.
Thanks Adrienne. Congrats on your Win,( Ileane is still choking on your dust…) In Barry’s video contest. awesome job there.
Finding forums is often the hardest part. either they have been overridden with spam bots or they are so strict against aNY FORM of self promotion that they are hard for normal people to get involved in a conversation.
However, they are available if you look. recently was looking into a new niche that people have been asking me to work on, and I spent 2 days to find 1 forum that would allow me to link to my site and wasn’t overrun with spammers.
However, even ones that don’t allow linking can be beneficial. I don’t just use them as a place to
… get links. I use them for research, networking, and direct engagement with people…
Forum are the places that can be helpful for generating traffic for a site but links from signature are very useful for SEO purposes. Links form do follow blogs are very useful to enlist the site in organic searches.
This is one of the many lie that the gurus teaching SEO spew at you. Sadly a lot of well meaning newbies who don’t know better buy into the lies and hype, and thing Google is the end all of free traffic.
forum are not for SEO . the forums that are allowing this are usually worthless for real engagement anyway. although you can get some value from them, if you are focused on SEO then you are ignoring the crowd of eager customers right in front of you, and most likely you are DESTROYING your own reputation with people who have a lot of influence over your target customers.
the best forums to use often are not even crawled by Google and any links you get would never be seen.
@James I am thankful to as you have diverted my attention towards the actual might and main of forum
sorry if it came off a bit harsh. was having a stressful week with other things and was doing comments pretty quickly. However, that is also one thing I am really passionate about when it comes to forums. most people are just following what the gurus teach and most of them focus on SEO to the exclusion of how what they do affects the actual sites they use for links.
Forums are way more beneficial for direct traffic than SEO links. some of my best forums are paid forums that google can’t even see the links on.
While I agree with much of what you say James, forum postings can help SEO and it that is not a lie. Companies that tout it as a quick way to success are certainly exaggerating. However, making insightful posts with relevant signature links, such as the type you reference can often help improve a website’s link profile. I understand you are passionate about this, but you are overlooking a market segment by not considering SEO. Certainly, you should not rely solely on Google and reputable SEO company will explain such. However, it is SEO is certainly a tool that when used properly can pay significant dividends.
Hey James, When you are utilizing forums for traffic, do you think it’s possible to achieve optimal results by just interacting as a regular user and asking questions? Or should the goal be to become a moderator (authority figure) to truly make full use of a forum’s potential?
well, if you just interact as a regular user, you will build authority.
I am just a regular member at AFfilorama. I am not a moderator, but I am the biggest authority figure there next to Mark Ling, who owns the forum. I have the highest post count (over 4400 posts) , just because I have been there engaging people, and answering questions almost every day for close to 3 years.
Define authority. authority is having the trust and respect of the community, and being in a position where people look up to you.
I have earned that trust and respect by showing real advice with people. I have had people tell me that they started making money because of the advice I gave them for free. I even had one guy get mad because I shared more with him for free in the forums than the “Marketing Coach” he was paying $1500/month.
thats insane. I do it because I love it. It also helps that I monetize most of my Im sites by promoting tools and services rather than training, so I don’t have to put limits on what I am willing to teach for free. There are only a small handful of training programs that I put my name behind as an affiliate.
Oh wow. I completely forgot about forums! I’ve been concentrating so much on my blog and my other forms of social media, that I completely forgot about the original social media…. forums! I wonder how well that would work out for me. I’ll have to try it and see. Thanks for the tip.
hey Robert, back in the days before Facebook and Twitter, I was on forums building my reptutation and engaging people. Now days, my entire social media strategy comes from what I learned in those early days, and now they are still one of my top traffic sources. they are well worth your time investment if you really want to succeed.
Forums are being used since the discovery of computers. Everyone knows how to use them and that makes them a perfect target for advertising.
Also, if you manage to get a good reputation, people will read your post just because you are well-known in a forum.
More readers leads to more advertise, more advertise leads to bigger and better blog.
Well, I wouldn’t say they have been around since the discovery of computers, but they definitely have been a key tool online for a long time. They are one of the original “social Media” sites, and one of the few early versions that have been able to adapt to the changes in the web to continue evolving.
I totally agree with forum posting, you can really get a community backing you up if you develop beautiful relationships with other posters. I post on a variety of forums and I think I’m going to use your advice and use it to bring more traffic to my sites.
hey Addrianna, thanks for commenting 🙂 Glad to see you have had some success with forums. its really not that hard , if you do it with the right mindset. how long have you been using forums, and what kind of results have they given you?
Signing up for a niche forum that allows you to put links in your signature is like a goldmine for any affiliate marketer.
It can be, but your signature file is just a small advantage to forums. In fact, 90% of my forum strategy has nothing to do with links.
Hi James,
I have recently got back in to forum posting after an absence of a year or so. Previously I had gone out and targeted a broad range of forums while now I am focussing more on forums within my area of expertise and generally within my geographic area. I find that if you go into the forum with a mindset of adding value you can get quite a lot back in terms of traffic and potential business.
I like your idea about having a landing page specific to your forum signature. I’ll have to give it a try.
hey Neal, that is the right way to go about it. provide a ton of value up front, and target the most specific niche you can. recently, I posted another blog where I talk about some of the biggest benefits to highly targeted niche forums for your marketing efforts.
Well, well. Isn’t forum marketing one of the SEO strategies that we use today? I’ve tried forum marketing before. You have to build your name and reputation and make sure that you just don’t drop by to post your link. You have to engage on forum threads and interact with other members.
-Holly
It can benefit SEO, but you should focus on the community, and branding yourself there, and not worry about SEO. I use no follow forums, and low PR forums a lot more than most people because I often find they have a better community and less spammers than forums that allow Do Follow linking.
Hey James,
I haven’t thought that you should use specific landing page for your forum visitors, but certainly seems to be interesting idea. I think this way you can generate more conversion and target your goals.
It can help to target your readers better, and if you are using private forums that aren’t indexed anyway, you don’t have to worry about what it does for SEO. often these links aren’t even indexed but they bring the most targeted leads that you can find.
This seems like a great technique to brink traffic to a blog, but I doubt that the conversion rate will be encouraging. Now, I’, not generalizing, but in my case the results were appalling. However, I’ll give it another shot, this time using your tips and I hope it will work much better.
James could probably speak to this better than I could, but can see how using his method would improve email opt-ins, even if it didn’t convert as much to direct sales. But if you had built up the authority, then recommended a product, I could see how that recommendation would hold more weight with forum members than might otherwise happen.
Since reading his book, I’ve gone back to a few of the forums I hadn’t been to in the last few months and started re-engaging people. I’m just getting started, but I have gotten at least a few clicks to my site. I haven’t fully set up my system like his yet, but I’m working on it.
James, great post! I think I just picked up on something here in your post that I may have missed when I looked at the Forum Traffic Sweeper. Now I know what I need to do for one of my landing pages 😀
Grady is right about that. Yes forums do take some work and effort. anything that builds relationships directly with customers will. I didn’t start out making a lot of money from forums directly. it took time to build my reputation and authority. however, with time, you really can. I make 2-3 sales/ week through forums alone and by getting involved in a couple of product launches and leveraging my forum reputations, I have done over 5,000 in sales in a single day through forums alone.
that isn’t typical results, but it is possible if you put in the hard work that most people aren’t willing to do.
Hi James,
I totally agree forum marketing is one of the proven though old school traffic method. The traffic from the forum is extremely targeted and almost instantaneous. The downside is we need to spend time to contribute to the forum.
One of the way I love is to start a highly useful thread to get thanks and views. Eventually, that will become a great permanent traffic source that keep sending visitors to you in months or years. Though I am not as active as I used to be in the forum, I still do get sign up from the forum, which is a great thing!
Cheers,
Ming
great tip, that is really true. it does take time to do right, which is why most people won’t do it. Most people are looking for a get rich quick method and don’t take the time to do things right. you really can’t automate forum marketing so most people don’t think it is worthwhile. but, with only 1 hour/day you can be making a consistent income pretty quickly.
I know people who used those spam tools for years, never seeing a dime with the get rich quick methods that the gurus teach, yet I see others making consitent money within weeks of starting out in the forums. When done right, and focussing on the engagement, it is really powerful.
Forum marketing I have never attempted. Truly there is a spike in traffic if you continuously are a part of the conversation. I participate in a couple of lawn care forums solely run on their own. LinkedIn has thousands of groups related to almost every niche that is very beneficial for traffic.
Honestly I have found you do not need to make much of an effort(compared to social media)with groups & forums, just engage in the talk and the rest will work itself out.
Thank you James!
there are loads of forum communities, and each one is different. however they can be a good source of steady leads and traffic if you engage people. Yes, it does take some time and work, but it doesn’t take as long as other methods.
Hey iliyane ,
nice to see basicblogtips with new logo . may i know who is the designer of your logo ?
Hey, I might interject here. Ifham from MashDesigning.com (see my CL link on this post) did her new logo. On her recommendation, he is also working on my new logo for my RelationshipMarketingConversations Podcast, and he has done an awesome job for both of us.
Like Bryan, I haven’t used forum marketing. I think the main reason I haven’t done it because I’m working on my brand and I want a consistent message wherever I go. But I do have a question, though: Should I let no having a brand hold me back or should I just hit the forums?
Forums are all about branding. BUT…
ITs not about branding your business, it is about branding YOURSELF!!!
You don’t WANT to be promotional in forums. if you know your niche, and want to join conversations with people who WANT what you have to sell, then you should be on the forums.
I will take your advice and start branding myself in forums. Thanks for that.
i m also started to participate on forum dicussion to get some little traffic to my blog and also build high quality backlinks.
Hey Shenoy, thanks for stopping by. forums are all about getting into tthe discussions and sharing ideas, if you can do that, you will succeed in building the trust and authority, which will lead to sales.
Great tips. I didn’t know that I was missing such a huge amount of traffic. Will surely follow these tips and will remain active on forums as well from now. Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work. 🙂
Your Welcome. they can lead you to lots of traffic when used right. just stay away from using them for linkbuilding. instead focus on engaging the community. I got over 4,000 posts in one forum by joining the conversations and not worrying about how my “link profile” on the forum looked.
that gave me a lot of authority with the forum community, and the forum owner is now one of my good friends. having multimillionaire gurus on your online friends list is always a good idea….
It’s been my experience that sig links do not come close to providing you the number of visits that links in the actual posts do. They’re still good for link authority though…
It all depends on how you approach the forum members. if you focus on the right threads, and have good link calls to action, you can get better results. it also will vary based on the rules of the forums. many don’t allow you to link in the posts.
Really informative post, thanks for sharing this with us, forums are the one of the best ways to get traffic. I use them too 🙂
wow, I never even considered forum marketing before. This is because, as you noted in your article, that most people talk about spamming links to forums. I’m never thought it was possible to get something out of participating in forums. Some forums are quick to delete posts too – even if they are good ones that just happen to not be agreeable to some – but no less true.
Thanks for the good info
Forums are awesome strategy but because people started to engage more on newer media and services there is a risk and I’m already a victim of it. I was much active in two forums mazzako.com and ddboard.com. The forms were best, the first one Nepali forum and the second one was international about domain names. It was a nice surprise that my PR was increased and traffic through those two forums. One of my site psexam.com reached up to PR 6 and others were in 4,3. The misfortune happened when both of those forums were closed for unknown reason. It might be because they did not find it profitable for them. This resulted in heavy loss of back link. My traffic was dropped down and PR shamefully down.
So, it is wise while choosing a forum to look for longevity.
Hey Suuresh, Like anything, I recommend diversity. forums are just one of the many traffic tactics I use in my overall strategy. I have always said that you should never rely on any one site for traffic or links. Usually I am talking about google, but the same is true with forums.
I am generally active in 3-4 forums at any time. also, I have seen really good forums disapear overnight, and some change their format or policies for unkown reasons. One thing I recommend in my guide is to diversify the forums, and not get too attached to any particular forum.
I was active user digital point and warriorforum But now hardly i visit forums. In my new blogs, No single link is from forum. Anyway nice post You are doing great job with forum.
Personally, I never liked either DP or the WF. Both of them are full of scammers and have been taken over by people who are a lot of fake experts.
One thing I always recommend is looking for credibility, and neither of those have that.
This is one of the marketing strategy that i am not using and also unaware of. We find lot of info that is useful in forums and use the content from them. I think forum marketing might be one of the best marketing strategy that can be used for making money online.Thanks for sharing!
Forums are my one stop shopping for everything I need in marketing:
use them to:
find keywords,
research niche content
engage customers,
get links
network with other business owners
find information on popular products in the niche
directly monetize your business through classified ads or forum special offers
etc…
just about everything you need for your business can be found on forums.
Yes James !! Forum posting is one of the best way to get genuine and targeted traffic !! This is the place where you make relations with the people. And from my point of view blogging is all about relations. If you are able to convince or help anyone in the forums then there is more probability that he/she will be your client very soon !!
Thanks for highlighting the points !!
absolutely right on. forums and blogging are all about the relationships you build and getting involved in conversations. monetization of those sites is secondary.
Thanx.. for sharing.. the precious info..
i am aware of forums.. but it can be a great source of.. traffic… amazing..
now gonna utilize the previous work done in forums… with traffic. to web…
really lovable article… 🙂
This information is awesome and the importance of forums is well known after reading article so thanks for sharinh these tips gonna use them to generate traffic.
Hi James,
Very nice post, no doubt that forums have been one of my biggest sources of traffic. I’m active member on big forums like digtalpoint, sitepoint. But I did not used your landing page idea. What is the main purpose of landing page ? Do you use product pages ?
Thanks for sharing wonderful post.
mine is to get them on my list. I am working on trying to build email lists more and more with my sites, and use my email lists to market products over time.
If the forum owner has their own products though, I might promote them if I have personal experience that I can share.
often, I find a low point in their product, and offer a bonus to the forum members that I don’t offer elsewhere. this gives me direct sales from the forum itself and I get them on my list by requiring an opt in to download their bonus.
That is so interesting. I was literally just thinking, today, more about forums. I used to participate a lot more in, er, years past. Thank you for this post, just what I needed to take that next step. Forums, anyone?
I would love to know more about the “rules” of forums. I had joined some in the very beginning of our online business and got thrown off one and from then on I have stayed away from them.
Hey Lisa, every forum has its own unique rules that you have to follow to be a member of their community. One of the first things I look for, in fact when looking for forums to join is their members rules page.
they usually include rules on linking in signature files, posts, and private messaging and self promotion. These are the really critical parts to pay attention to.
Most forums will work with you, as long as you show that you are genuinely trying to help people. One thing I like to do is post at least 40-50 good posts before ever considering linking to another site through a thread or my signature. this is usually enough time to get to know people and learn the rules of a particular forum when it comes to linking.
I also shared in my book some of the ways I work around the “self promotion” rules that many forums have, without breaking them and still providing a lot of value to the community.
Hope this will work for me this time, thanks a lot for this Sir James
Interesting. Although I haven’t been active in forums for a few years the thought has crossed my mind that it could still be a way of building a following or at least getting more interest.
Hey Matt, they are still a great way to engage people and find news within the niche. I also work a lot with Product specific forums because they are full of proven buyers. Product support forums and private membership sites as forums are a great way to engage people and get proven buyers. since these forums aren’t indexed by Google, SEO doesn’t matter, and that was where I started working out the concept for this type of landing page.
Nice blog traffic tips. Been using forums for quiet some time now mainly for back linking purposes and not for traffic. Looks like I needed more time and interaction in order for me to see those spikes of traffic into my blog. Thanks for the tips.
I love forums. My favorite isn’t really blog or marketing based, but the conversations are still there nonetheless. Forums can really give you a voice that your website might not because of the help you can offer others with advice and just plain conversations. Some might be where your niche has some impact and others can be just to network and build relationships.
However you use them, use them and network with others like you. This was excellent advice and thanks for creating your ebook.
hey Sonia. I agree. I wrote the book because many of my readers wanted to know how I did it, and I couldn’t find a single guide about forum marketing that wasn’t teaching how to spam them. I wanted to break the mold of the forum marketing myths out there and get people to understand the truth about how to make it all work.
I never thought of it like that, but it does make sense. I used to be a lot more active in forums, so maybe I should revisit them again. Besides, I have a new blog design and I’m on my own host now, so it is like a new blog! It’s worth going to a forum to have people check it out again.
just be careful. often going back to forums after a long time away, you should get in, and rebuild your authority before chunking in links to your new site. Often, you will be seen as a spammer if nobody knows you.
A lot of forums have a fluid members base. many of those members will come and go.
This is one of the best way to express yourself to find great traffic. I like a lot about forum traffic. Thanks for the share!
Hi James,
In my strategy, I also invest more time on forums to build traffic and I found it very beneficial for my website and thanks for sharing the trick, it is really helpful.
Traffic is really hard to get if you’re not working smart on blogging. Great traffic for me, requires great content and huge amount of shares for your blog posts. It really boosts your brand and gets you recognized by readers and people with the same niche as you are.
I really agree with Forum posting as your traffic generator strategy. At first, I didn’t thought that it can make me meet people with the same niche as I am. I really recommend to do Forum posting if you are really in need of traffic for your site.
You have to get in the right forums, but when you do, it really can be an awesome traffic tool for your business. Most people do it wrong though, and they fail to see how it works.
When done right, they can be one of your top traffic sources, done wrong and you can ruin your reputation with people who often have a lot of weight and authority in your niche.
What I love about this blog is you tell it how it is , your not selling some mystic black art to success , I use forums and signatures alot and it certainly helps generate traffic , but i have never thought of using landing pages , its a very clever idea and i am sure the webmasters from the forums appreciate the positive spin on their forum . Thanks for the tips i will be trying to implement them this month
Hey Victoria. I started testing this because I was using a lot of product specific forums. Since those are usually paid members only, and not indexed by Google, there was no SEO benefit to the links anyway, so I started testing different ways to improve conversions with those proven buyers.
Over time, I found that it worked with the public forums as well. If I am in a public forum, and I am allowed 2 links, I will have one to my home page or an article relevant to the forum members for SEO purposes, and one link to my landing page. IF I am only allowed 1 link, I usually do the landing page, even if it hurts my SEO in the long run.
SEO is a benefit to a good website, and link building should focus more on the customer experience than Google rankings. At the end of the day, Google doesn’t pay my bills, my customers do.
Forums are really good platform to bring traffic to websites. I have tried them out and they have proved beneficial both in terms of bringing in traffic as well as for SEO.
I heard about this forum posting thing recently and wanted to give it a try, but i felt it as more time consuming..as we have to make accounts, validate them, find the best place for posting…..but i know its really helpful in one way or the other.
I really haven’t been using forums too much to generate traffic. After seeing how it apparently is working for some people, I may put more of my focus on that. Thank you for your post.
Never used forums for promoting products or anything like that,though we have used forums to get some backlinks in bulk.
Thanks for sharing your tips though.
Hi James,
Thanks for sharing this information, but forum posting is really time consuming. I started warrior forum for generating leads. I did not get any benefit.
Hi Rena,
How long did you use the WF? Did you try using any other forums? it does take some time. the WF is so loud and full of fake experts, you have to prove yourself before people will trust you. I don’t waste my time their myself. however, there are hundreds of forums that you can still use. but they do require some time and a commitment to the community. ANY type of marketing that works on relationships takes time, just like real relationships.
Great Post James!
I must say that I was not a big fan of doing the forum commenting but reading your article I start thinking about it.
James, Can you suggest me few forums where I can start commenting related to my niche?
That will be great if you suggest me any. Thanks again for sharing a nice information.
Forums allow the ‘get-together’ of blogs! This actually acts like a roundup. The discussion/commenting on the blogs increases knowledge for both the parties – the blogger and the commentator. I believe they’re a good strategy.
of course as you say, forum marketing has got its benefits if you really know how to optimize your signature links. Looking forward to read your GUIDE soon.
Forums are something that I have not really gotten into, but have touched it a little.
I just can’t do everything. I find social media as a better RIO for your efforts.
I’ve posted on a few webmaster forums and have seen some traffic to my site, but unfortunately my site is just too off topic. I run what is basically a humor blog although it could be seen as a travel blog as well and I have been unable to find any active forums that would drive the kind of traffic that would enjoy my blog. It’s too bad, because the results I’ve gotten from posting on off topic forums suggest this could be a very effective strategy.
Hi James,
I have not really given serious consideration to forum posting as a traffic source. In the past, I used forums but after some time, I had the feeling the web was moving on so I jumped ship. 🙂
Would have had thousands of posts on multiple forums if I had stayed on…
It was nice to know about how to boost blog traffic through forum but i also read comments by other on this post in which some of them said forums are not that much helpful. it really made me little bit confuse. should i go for it or not? give me some logical answer.
thanks
Correct James! Forums are really great sources of traffic. However, in order to get consistent traffic from it, we need to be always active. I have seen that when we post more on forums that day we get more traffic compared to the day, when we didn’t post anything.
Thanks for sharing useful tips with us!
Here at Merrill Technologies we have been considering on using some sort of forum marketing. I think really the strategy ultimately comes down to a mix of things. Also, we’ve never thought about using a forum signature link. That in itself is huge and extremely valuable information for anyone that is really just getting into digital marketing. Whether you’re a consultant or a major company. Thanks for the article! A Great read for sure.
Great post! I actually got my first big break participating in a forum regularly. The link juice in my signature make all my posts rank until they changed how they do it. It was enough to keep me in the game though!
Forum posting can be one of the most effective parts of your overall marketing plan, if you utilize it properly. Establish yourself through forum sites and genuinely participate in those discussion which are related to your business.