Traffic From Forums: Where the Clicks Come From

Forums are great little tools when it comes to finding information you have been searching for online. I have a marketing forum right here on my site for you to check out as an example. Forums are also underestimate by many professional internet marketers.

Before I tell you how these forums bring you traffic, I want to help you find the right forum for you. Just like blogs have a niche, so does a forum. My marketing forum has a niche based on marketing, design, blogging, and other relevant related topics. You can also find forums on parenting where you can learn how to get rid of diaper rash.

It is extremely important for you to sign up and take part in forums that will bring you targeted traffic. Just signing up for any forum will not help you because the community there will not have any interest in your niche. As an internet marketing guy, I take part in forums like DigitalPoint, WebProWorld, and other like-minded forums. This allows me to take part in discussions that I am truly passionate about. I can contribute to those forum threads without hesitation or research, and because I share actual knowledge with confidence, it brings me traffic that converts into readers and subscribers.

You can easily find forums that are related to your niche by searching Google. For example, you can do a search in Google like this: “independent musicians forum”, and a list of free forums will pop up. You can go to the forum to varify that it contains categories and topics you are interested in, and are related to your blog. You can even search for “forum directory”, and track down your desired forum by category.

DRIVE TRAFFIC TO YOUR BLOG

Once you find the forum(s) you are interested in, you can sign up and fill out your profile. It is vital that you fill out your profile before you start posting threads and replies as your profile will contain your website URL and contact information as well as your bio. Just like Twitter, people go to profiles of people that post valuable content to learn more about that person.

When you are customizing your profile, it is important to create a “signature” that follows the forums rules. Some forums allow you to post links. The number of links and what you can link to is usually spelled out by that forum in a “forum rules” section. Follow those rules to the “T” otherwise you can end up banned from the forum. The whole point here is to drive traffic to your blog or niche site, and not to get banned. Some forums require a certain amount of posts before they allow you to use a signature in order to reduce spam.

There are forums like DigitalPoint that allow the automatic posting of your latest blog post by importing your rss feed. This is a great way to drive traffic based on a blog title. It’s also a great example of why it’s important to post a good blog title.

When you have your automatic linking methods in place, and your profile filled out completely, it is time to get noticed. The most important thing here is to add to the community that a forum is meant to be. The last thing you want to be noticed as is a spammer. There are two ways to add to the community.

1. Reply to existing forum threads with a comment that adds to the discussion.
2. Start a new thread with a statement or a question that’s relevant to the category. I will tell you right now that questions get the most responses unless you post a controversial statement.

As long as you follow the rules of the specific forum you are on and you add to the discussion like you would in a blog comment area, then you will drive traffic back to your website.

Do you utilize forums to bring in traffic?

About the author

Brandon Connell wrote 393 articles on this blog.

I am an author, blogger, investor, musician, and internet marketer among other things. I believe that one person can do many things in life. Check out my local search marketing company at Leads2LocalSearch.com when you are done browsing here.

• Blog
• Twitter
• Facebook