How To Promote Your Website On Internet Forums

A lot of people who start websites wonder how they can promote them without spending a lot of money on advertising or pay per click campaigns. One tried and tested free method of promoting a website is to join a few Internet forums and contribute to the conversations that forum members participate in.
 
What is an internet forum?

An Internet forum is a membership website that supports user generated content. In other words, anybody who joins the site by filling in a quick online form will be able to read and respond to the messages that are posted on the forum website. If you want to post a response to a message, you can click on the “Post Reply" button. A new screen will appear at the bottom of the message where you can type your response. When you have finished you can check it by clicking the "Preview" button and when you are satisfied with your effort you can post it by clicking the "Submit" button. Your message will now appear at the bottom of the page.

As people read the previous comments and respond to them, the conversation grows longer and can extend over several pages. Each conversation is referred to as the "thread". Any member can begin a new thread by clicking the "New Topic" button in the relevant section of the forum. No matter what area of business you are in, there are sure to be a lot of forums that deal with your niche market. Obviously, it makes sense to build a name for yourself on the forum that is relevant to your line of business. If your website sells tennis gear for example, you would want to join some forums dedicated to discussing everything to do with tennis. On the other hand you might also want to participate in some forums dedicated to Internet marketing so as to pick up some useful tips on promoting your website. Finding a forum is simply a matter of doing a search on Google or some other search engine. Again, if you sell tennis gear a quick search for "tennis forum" should yield some good results.

How do I promote my website on a forum?

When you have found a suitable forum to join, imagine that you are entering the forum more like a guest at a dinner party than a bull in a china shop.

Remember, somebody has set up this community, and other people go there every day to share information. They do not want to see spam on their forum.

If you post a comment that is nothing more than an advertisement for your website the post will most likely be removed, and you may be penalized or banned from the forum because you have not only been bad mannered but you have also broken the forum rules against blatant spamming.

The way to get links to your website from forum posts is to use the signature file. You can set up a signature by clicking on the "User Control Panel" inside the forum. A signature is simply a brief sentence or two about who you are or the services you offer plus a link back to your website.

On many forums you can add an avatar, a small picture or photo that will appear on each of your posts. It is a good idea to use a real photo of yourself to show that you are a real, friendly, human being! Similarly, it is a good idea to use your real name to show that you are a real person behind the real business. Some of your biggest marketing assets on a forum are your authenticity and credibility.

Now, you are ready to post your first comment. A brief introduction to who you are, where you're from, what you do and what you hope to contribute to the forum will be sufficient. Again, do not post any links in your comments but let your signature to the work.

Now, you may have a lot to contribute, but don't start spouting from the get go. You don't want to appear like a big head that knows it all and has nothing to learn. The best way to ease yourself into a forum is to contribute to some ongoing conversations. Feel free to ask questions, provided that they have not been asked hundreds of times already.

In a short while you will have built up some familiarity on the forum, and you can begin to offer more in the way of content and initiate some conversations of your own. Keep your focus on what other people want, be generous in giving out information, tips, useful website addresses and so on. What you are doing is building up a name for yourself as an expert in your field by helping other people with their problems.

Each time you post, your signature file will be quietly pointing people back to your website. And as your reputation grows, so more people will be interested to find out more about you. In other words, when it comes to forum marketing, as with so many other things, if you want to get something you first have to give something away.