Getting
Free, Targeted Traffic to Your Web Site using Online
Forums
by: Norio De Sousa
Online forums are a great place to meet people, learn
things and, most importantly, build traffic for your web
site. You can build heaps of traffic to your site by
just following these few, simple guidelines.
Help People Every Chance
You Get
Whenever someone posts a
question to the forum, answer it. Challenge yourself to
see how many people you can help in an hour or try and
see if you can be the first person to answer.
Be honest and offer real
advice. Don't just post a quick line asking them to call
you for help. People who use forums want answers -
TODAY. They're banking on having anywhere from 5 to 500
people on the forum ready to answer their question.
The better your answer,
the more likely they'll click over to your web site!
Answering questions will
help you to build a reputation for yourself as the
expert in your field. The more information you give
away, the more you prove that you know what you're
talking about.
Don't be afraid to give
a lot of information away. You might feel that you risk
losing work this way but, really, you risk losing work
by failing to prove that you know your business.
Be Friendly Towards
Everyone, Even if You Disagree With Them
Heated arguments are
commonplace in forums - learn how to express your
opinions without being rude or insulting.
When someone disagrees
with you, present your views and then, as Dr Stephen
Covey says, agree to disagree, agreeably. Agree that you
feel differently about the subject and then agree not to
argue about it any more.
Eventually, people will
come to know you as "the nice person that knows a lot
about ...". That sort of reputation can earn you lots of
traffic as well as lots of sales!
Contribute to the Forum
as Much as Possible
Whenever you come across
something you think will be useful to other members of
the forum, post it. Let everyone know how you found it,
where it came from and write a short summary of what
they'll find if they follow the link or download the
article.
This might sound like a
lot of work but, in most cases, it's really easy.
You establish yourself
as the professional in your industry. This really helps
people feel confident about doing business with you.
Confidence equals clicks and clicks equals Sales!
Use a Compelling
Signatur
A signature is the space
at the end of every post where you can provide your
personal information like a name, email address and web
site address. You usually just have to configure it once
and then it will automatically be added to every post
you make.
People often use
signatures to "advertise" themselves. The key here is to
make it short and compelling.
For example, "We create
web sites" is short, but not compelling. You probably
won't get any clicks with such a boring signature.
Offer a solution to a
problem or pique their curiosity with a question-based
link. Make people curious or excited about what they'll
find if they click on your link.
Here are 2 good
examples:
"Are you losing sales
because of these 10 critical web site mistakes?"
"Discover the secrets of
online marketing with my free course"
As long as what you're
offering is relevant to the forum or discussion, you'll
find a lot of people clicking through to find out more.
Link Back to Your Own
Web Site
Whenever you post
something, try and find a helpful way to link back to
your web site. For example, if someone asks a question
on how to finance their start-up company, give them a
tip or two, and then link to an article on your web site
for more information.
This is called
in-context linking and is, by far, the best way to build
your web site's traffic and search engine ranking.
This works because
search engines like Google decide how important your web
site is by how many different web sites link to it!
Essentially, by being active on forums, you're voting
for your own web site in a very effective & ethical way.
Bonus :)
By following these
simple steps, you'll soon find hordes of people clicking
through to your site to learn more about what you do and
how you can help them.
