Using forums can be a phenomenal way to increase website traffic! If you aren’t already the member of a blogging forum and own a blog, I highly recommend that you join one! To find a quality forum that’s right for you, check out my forum evaluations. Not only are forums an awesome way to help increase website traffic, they are also a great way to learn what’s going on in the blogosphere. Within forums you can find things like free Wordpress themes, helpful coding, and advice on which affiliate program works best! Another great feature of forums is their abundance of quality information and intelligent individuals that will help you critique your website to maximize your success. When posting in a forum, you should always know how to have “good forum ettiquette.” By having “good forum ettiquette,” you will be keeping the forum atmosphere a positive, supportive environment for bloggers.

Check out what I recommend doing to achieve forum success:

  • Use your website name — First of all, when signing up for a forum, I suggest using your website name or something similar. Why? Your name and or website name will be the first thing visitors see on a regular basis. Your forum posting name will definitely get ingrained into others minds very quickly! Relate your forum name to the name of your website!
  • Edit your signature — After registering and preparing to post for the first time in a forum, I highly recommend that you look to “edit” your signature. In your signature, I suggest including the URL to your website, along with your website’s tagline. Here’s an example of what my forum “signature” would look like:

The $10 Million Dollar Website

http://www.AndrewPavelski.com

  • Embolden your signature — I also suggest making your website title and URL “bold” if it isn’t already. By having your forum signature (tagline and URL) in bold, it increases the chances that someone will click on your link! When the majority of signatures aren’t bold and along comes one that is, who’s website do you think will stand out from the crowd? You guessed it, the bold one!
  • Questions first — When stepping up to the plate and making your first post in a forum, do not promote your blog! Promoting your blog on the first few posts that you make may start a bit of controversy in a forum. I’ve had a personal experience with this one: the moderator nearly banned my forum account (which would’ve been pretty harsh). Just to forewarn you all that you will have a great chance at getting banned or really irritating some long-time forum posters if you only show up to drop off some links to your website. When making your first few posts, I highly recommend that you post responses to topic threads that already have been posted for awhile. Answer all questions to the best of your ability! When you answer questions with a quality response, people will definitely be even more inclined to check out your website via clicking on your signature URL. After answering some questions, snoop around the forum to see if it includes an “introduce yourself” area. If it does, definitely check that out and post about who you are and your online goals. By going about forum posting correctly at the beginning, you can definitely improve your chances at driving forum members to your website.
  • Be sincere — It is always helpful to be sincere when posting in forums. People are much more likely to check out your website if you are sincere with your responses and post from the heart. I suggest always making it a point to help others the best you can and to be a good contributor that people can look up to for advice. If you are insincere with your forum responses, it will show — you will bring in less traffic to your website. You will definitely stand out from the crowd by being sincere!
  • Offer helpful links to your blog — You should NEVER be afraid to drop links to your blog. If you have a helpful blog post that you feel will definitely benefit the forum community, by all means, post that link up! Link posting is not considered ’spamming’ if it pertains to the topic at hand. Whenever I see a forum thread asking how to increase website traffic, I am surely not afraid to give them a link to my article “How To Increase Website Traffic.” If the forum members find one of your articles helpful, who’s website do you think they’ll keep coming back to for more quality information? Y-O-U-R-S!
  • Forum posting consistency — I suggest always trying to be an active forum member at least once a day! That means making at least one post daily! I shoot for at least 5 posts on a daily basis and it definitely shows in my Google Analytics by an increase in traffic. If you cannot post once a day, I recommend shooting for at least every other day. By being active, you are able to get your name out there and around every little nook and cranny in that forum! I personally feel that logging into a forum and posting anything less than 5 responses is definitely a mishap.
  • Post an article — If you don’t think as many people are coming to your website via the URL for some reason, don’t be afraid to “repost” an article from your blog onto the forum that people may find helpful. I’ve definitely done it and people will begin to associate you as being sincere and a source of credible information. Sometimes, it may even be necessary to write a mini-post [or a complete post] without even publishing it on your blog! You may get into such a rhythm and groove with typing forum responses that you may write a long response or piece of helpful info. that may not particularly pertain to the contents of your blog. This is definitely good and will help you build up credentials within the forum community!
  • Submit your blog — If there is a section entitled something along the lines of “promote your blog,” then by all means jump at the opportunity! Free blog promotion is not something you should ever pass up! Always submit your blog URL and a description of your blog to the “promote your blog” categories if given such an opportunity! One downfall to submitting your blog to a “promote your blog” category is that most people are only submitting and not checking out any of the blogs that were submitted! What usually works better than submitting your blog to a promotional thread is submitting your blog to a “critiquing” thread. If there isn’t a thread started that allows forum users to submit their blogs for a community evaluation, then start a new one and ask for some constructive criticism on your blog’s theme, content, advertisement placement, etc.

Never be afraid to get your blog name out on the web! Posting in forums is a great way to do it and I highly recommend that you join a quality forum community if you haven’t already! You will definitely benefit from contributing to a forum or several forums on a consistent basis. Follow the advice mentioned within this article and prepare to achieve total forum success! You will definitely be impressed!

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