Showing You The Results Of Forum Postings

Forums Are A Little Under Rated But Very Powerful When Used Properly

Forums, otherwise known as Question & Answer Notice Boards, are one of the few things the "so-called" GURUs fail to mention and/or go into detail about when talking about website traffic.....even though a forum post is worth ten times as much as an Article Post for example. Sometimes I feel as if these "so-called" GURUs do not want you to succeed!

In this section I will be showing you some of my forum post results and explaining some of the DOs and DON'Ts with regards to forum rules.

A forum, such as a Website Forum, is a place where you go to find answers on a given question or topic and also a place to help others by answering their questions. Either way there is an opportunity for you to put your website link into that forum.

REGISTER  WITH  A  FORUM

Before you can post a question or answer someone else's question you normally have to become a registered member of that forum. This is a simple process that requires you to fill in a few details (Name, E-Mail Address, etc) and agree to some Terms & Conditions.

In this first example I am demonstrating part of the Elated Forums registration process. If you were to register with this website you would begin by clicking on the REGISTER link found at the top of a specific forum's web page. With standard websites that include a forum, and forum specific websites, they normally have their forum REGISTER link on the home page.

Fig 1.0  Click on the REGISTER link to begin

After clicking on the REGISTER link you are then asked to read and accept the forum's Terms & Conditions in order to then be able to post messages (ask your own questions and answer other people's questions). The registration Terms & Conditions, and registration process in general, can differ between forums because of the forum software they use.

Fig 1.1  Read the Terms & Conditions and if you agree with them click on the AGREE button

Once you have agreed to the Terms & Conditions you are then asked for registration details. These details might be short (Name, Email Address and Password only) or lengthy (Location, About You, Gender, Country, Time Zone, etc) depending on the forum requirements.

Fig 1.2  Give yourself a Unique Username and Website Signature

When you have filled in the forum registration details click on the REGISTER button to continue. Doing so will either take you to the main forum web page (main forum home page) as a logged in user or display a message that informs you that you need to confirm your email address before continuing any further.

LOOK  FOR  A  SIGNATURE  FEATURE

One of the most important details to look for in a good forum registration is the ability to create a Signature. The signature is very important as it is shown whenever you create a post or reply to a post. Therefore your website link should be in the SIGNATURE edit box somewhere.

Unfortunately the signature feature is not supported by all website forums, so finding a website forum that does support it is like gold these days! You will know if a website forum has a signature feature by looking at one of its posts and/or by clicking on someone's Bio/Profile link (which might require you to be a registered member first!).

SUPPLY  A  UNIQUE  USERNAME

What I mean by Unique Username is; Try and use a name that links back to you, your branding or other website. I normally use Yoingco as my username because then whenever I post something I get a link back to this website, in the signature for example, and maybe get a link back to my yoingco.com website via a search engine listing that has latched onto the yoingco association with the post.

DO  NOT  SPAM

One of the golden rules is not to spam a forum. This means you are not allowed to self-promote or advertise in any way, shape or form your own website or someone else's website. Doing so can get you banned from that forum.

Fig 1.3  Is this SPAM or a genuine post?

The above self-promotion would normally be classed as SPAM, if it were not for the fact that I was invited to post it.....using the forum's YOUR SITE message board.

LOOK  FOR  A  "YOUR SITE"  MESSAGE  BOARD

Finding a forum that has a message board on it called YOUR SITE is also like gold dust. These kind of message boards (forums) allow users to tell the forum community about their website, and for that community to criticise your website! This is one of the payoffs for allowing the submission. Be warned though - The community will attack!

With the above self-promotion I would normally do an outwrite/blatant advertisement, explaining the benefits of my website in bullet style for example, but in cases where there is a YOUR SITE message board you have to respect the community (even though they may heavily criticise your website!) and PLAY BY THE RULES. If your site description (message/post) comes across as too blatant/spammy you may get a warning or ban from the forum administrator via a Private Message (Internal Email) or standard email.

BE  HELPFUL  WHILST  SELF-PROMOTING!

Another way to sneak in a self-promotion is to reply to a post by mentioning your website as the helpful resource but also to refer back to a quality product and/or service.

In the example below I have replied to someone who wants advice about a good quality HTML (Website) Editor/Builder. I have mentioned this website but also referred back to Web Easy Professional as a preferred website editor/builder. That way the post has been satisfied as a genuine answer/reply.

Fig 1.4  FlyerTalk Forum: A reply I made, as TraceyK, for someone looking for website help

Although I mentioned using a Unique Username above, in some cases you need to do the opposite - Use a bogus username and email address simply because not all forums are user friendly in the sense that they bombard you with SPAM email. So being a bit sneaky/spammy works both ways! In other words, be aware of their double standards. FlyerTalk did not bombard TraceyK with SPAM email. In fact they did not contact her at all.

NO  LINKING  POLICY

Another thing to be aware of is that not all forums allow you to insert a link into your posts until you have posted at least 5 standard, no-links, posts. To get around this you may need to take out the http:// and/or the www. from your link. Again, this can be classed as sneaky and spammy but what can you do! Your objective is to get a link into a post, as fast as possible, in return for helping the masses. You do not have the time to go through ten forums for example posting 5 standard, no-links, postings. You need visitors!

WHAT  IS  SPAM  AND  JUNK  ANYWAY?

At the end of the day it is about what you class as SPAM and JUNK. For example. You get a leaflet through your door about Double Glazing or Pizza Delivery and call it JUNK Mail, but at the same time you accept the Yellow Pages book through your door that contains the same Double Glazing and Pizza Delivery ads. "But the yellow pages ads are from bonafide companies" you cry. So are those door-to-door companies. It's just that they choose the cheaper option of door-to-door leaflets.

The point I am making here is that you do not need to feel guilty about a sneaky, spammy, self-promotion. The forums cannot have it their way 100% whereby you help their users without any return. You are a money maker and/or website promoter first of all, and not a volunteer. The good forums realise this, hence why they offer YOUR SITE message boards and the SIGNATURE feature.

CLASSIC  SNEAKY  SPAM

One popular sneaky, spammy, tactic is to make up a question (from Bogus Bob for example), let a couple of genuine replies be posted (from genuine forum users) before you then post a self-promotion as yourself (a genuine forum user). This is how that tactic might be executed:

Bogus Bob: Post - Does anyone know of a gardening website that is specifically aimed at the absolute beginner to Gardening? I am just starting out by growing a Rose Bush and need plenty of ongoing advice through this season to help my rose garden bloom and avoid the disaster of dead flowers.

What bogus bob has done here is to plant (pun intended!) many keywords within his post - Gardening Website, Absolute Beginner, Gardening, Growing A Rose Bush, Season, Help, Rose Garden, Bloom and Dead Flowers.

Genuine Forum User - They will post some gardening advice and give links to famous websites.

Bogus Bob will allow a couple of days to pass, enough time for the genuine users to post more advice and website links, and then reply under his genuine username (i.e. Jane). Jane is perfect because she bonafides herself purely by being female - Men love to flirt with and hear from women users whereby they think "I'm in with a chance here" (Read my Articles - Basic Realities section - It explains the "Sex Sells" method).

Genuine User Jane (You): Post - Hi Bob, I don't know about Rose Garden websites but this website (www.allyearplanthealth.com) is the website I used when I was a green fingered novice! I had difficulty planting my rose bed, and other plants, but found All Year Plant Health very helpful. Try them out.

What Jane has done here is plant a few more keywords - Green Fingered, Novice, Rose Bed and Plants. This is good because the forum will use these keywords to tag the post (make it searchable in the future using those keywords/tags). On top of this the search engines will also pick out those keywords.

The website will also linked, because she is a genuine user who is allowed to post links, which she then mentions as wording (keywords). If a man was to write Jane's reply suspicions might be aroused. Remember. When a woman posts a reply, or even creates a new post, the man thinks of a gorgeous woman who he "has a chance with". The man's fantasy is not of a fat cow with glasses and bad breathe, let's be honest! Hence why her posts will have more chance of being accepted.

Note: The genuine user here is Jane, but that does not mean Jane (YOU) is female! Jane could of been created as a genuine user by Bogus Bob! Now imagine what can be done with many bogus users and bogus-genuine users. This is the reality of what happens within forums, so do not take all posts as honest.

THE  BENEFITS  OF  FORUM  POSTING

Below are some of the viewing figures from my own forum postings, using pen-names in some cases, which were taken between 2009 and 2010. Today's date is Tuesday 18th May 2010. I have rounded each time scale (length of time passed since creating the post) into Days or Months to make it easier for you to calculate the viewing figures with the time scales.

As with Article Submissions, Forum Posts follow a similar pattern. Meaning, you get popular forums whereby your viewing figures are great but you also get popular forums whereby your viewing figures are bad. This could be because of the title you used, because the subject matter is niche and so on.

One thing to note here is that forums are much more Administrator managed than article websites. Even the forum members will report you to the administrator and/or to a forum moderator if they think your posting has hints of SPAM inside it.

IGNORE  YOUR  RESULTS!

As you can see with my viewing figures; the Estetica Design Forum visitors have viewed my posting 300+ times in 1 month compared to HTML Forums visitors who viewed my posting 600+ times in 15 months!

These results should tell me to target Design forums more often, but doing a little more research into the forums and posting on a few more forums will give me a better idea. In other words, just because one design forum did well does not mean they all will. Hence why I try different forums with different subject matters. And this is what you should do too.

So ignore your results in this respect and concentrate more on "What are my website's subject matters" and "Which forums cover my website's subject matters". With this website for example I can post in Programming Forums, Web Design Forums, Website Creation Forums and Software Forums for starters. If I had a cooking website I would post in the Cooking Forums, Kitchen Utensils Forums, Cookbook Forums, Supermarket Forums, Food & Drink Forums and Health Forums. There is a forum out there for virtually any website subject matter in other words.

Another thing to remember with forum viewing results is that these are the number of people clicking on the title of your post and therefore viewing the post's content. It does not mean they have clicked on your website link. Also, the forum with the lesser viewing results could be the one with the highest number of people clicking on your website link. So appreciate those smaller results too.

FORUMS  CAN  BE  TOO  POWERFUL!

Because forums are so powerful, in the sense that a forum posting can last years on a search engine, you have to be very careful what you post and the username you use. Meaning, use a pen-name and/or bogus email address when first dipping your toe into the forum arena.

One bad side of the forum arena is that you get Know It All and Perfectionist members who take their role too far. For example. If you make a loose comment about something without giving specific, technically correct, details you may get slaughtered for it. You will know these forums because eventually a new member will come along and post "Hi there, I'm a newbie so please be gentle.....". So avoid technically correct, specialist, forums if you do not feel comfortable with technical detail.

When you are more familiar with the workings of forums that is the time to use a username that is associated with you, your branding and/or your website. This is when you have more authority with the forums and its members, but it does take time and patience! The benefit though is that you have an instant audience of thousands.