Forums

Forums or bulletin board are discussion areas on websites, where people can post messages or comment on existing messages asynchronously – that is, independently of time or place.

Before blogs developed, email lists and forums were the main means of conversing online.

Forum discussions happen in one place, and so can be managed and facilitated in ways that blog conversations can't because these are happening in many different places controlled by their authors.

A forum allows you to interact with other people on a regular, continuous basis.

This is where you should be spending quality time. Forum posting is answering people's questions, comments or reviews. You leave your opinion, ideas or comments to help solve the posters problem. When done right can drive some profitable targeted traffic to your website or blog.

Make sure you post in the right category and when you post make sure that you are posting something that is contributing to the discussion and not spamming or blatant advertising.

Showing your genuine interest in the discussion and promoting your business as a natural assertion within the discussion for example, if you're participating in a discussion about Internet marketing, mention matter-of-factly that your site has a collection of proven marketing secrets

Just like an email marketing campaign, write an effective title for your posting - this is what will attract other members to read and post to your thread. Keep this in mind, most forums have a little box at the bottom that says: Notify me when a reply is posted - check the box! Why? Because then you can track any response and reply back, keeping the thread going.

The stronger the thread, the more reader will come and more eyeballs will hit your link to your website. Plus active thread are posted at the top of the forum/forum.

Working forum/ bulletin board posts into your marketing plans, both posting and commenting will help build your credibility and status from your readers, leading back to your website and leading to possible profitable future contacts.

Budget: $100 - $500 per week