Eclectic Collectibles Forum

[countryjoe]

Read a pretty neat article the other day on using forums to get traffic to your website,

How To Use Forums To Drive Laser Targeted Traffic To Your Site In 7 Steps
By Iyabo Oyawale (c) 2008

There is no doubt about the fact that Forum posting works when
it comes to driving traffic to a site. On many occasions, I have
successfully used posting to forums to gain exposure to my
affiliate landing page, squeeze page, sales page, etc.

I tell you, if you're really smart, the goal of every forum
post you make is to get as many people to subscribe to your
list! Posting to forums is a very fast and powerful way to build
your list of subscribers in as little as 30 minutes. Below is a
step-by-step guide:

Step 1 - Find Forums About Your Niche Very Easily

Just Google the following:

+"your niche" +forum
or
+"your niche" +"discussion board"

For instance, if I am looking for Forums in the Internet
Marketing field, I type +"Internet Marketing" +forum. The
results show the top Internet marketing Forums such as:

http://www.im4newbies.com/forum,
http://www.warriorforum.com
http://www.forums.digitalpoint.com

Step 2 - Join the Forums and Set Up Your Signature

Remember to include your website address in your signature.
Signature is another name for your resource box. Your resource
box is just like an 'about the author info'. This appears at
the end of every post you make and drives traffic to your
website.

Step 3 - Read the Rules and Regulations of the Forum Before Posting

This ensures that your posts are not deleted by the
Administrators of the Forum. Now, don't go about spamming all
members of the Forum with your website advert. In fact, I will
advise you not to post an obvious ad. It's a pure waste of time
because it will be deleted.

So, what's next?

Step 4 - Ask for Input

Approach from a weak man's position. Assuming you've written an
article on your site entitled "13 Ways to Drive Traffic to a New
Site." You could make a post asking folks to check out the
article and see if you missed anything. Or you can ask for
additional points to add to your article. Of course you'll have
your opt in box at the end of the article with a compelling
offer.

Let's say you've written an article on meeting the right
partner. You could post a message like this: "If you had a
chance to learn how to meet your right partner now, what would
you do?"

It's a great way to get the attention of forum members to your
article. You also get them engaged in the article by asking for
their input. And who knows, you may also get other publishers
who would use your content in their ezines, thereby getting more
exposure for your site

Step 5 - Ask for a Critical Assessment

If you are the type that is not easily hurt by honest feedback
even when it hurts, you can go to a forum and ask for a honest
critique. You may think this will not make people sign up for
your list, but I tell you, many people will end up subscribing to
it. It's a more indirect and acceptable way to ask people to
check out your site without blatant advertising.

Plus, the feedback they give you may help to make your squeeze
page even more compelling. Ask them if it would persuade them to
give it a try, assuming they were in your target market (of
course, you already know they are by the forum you selected).
And, if they say no, ask them why. You can get valuable
information on what they want (and don't want) this way.

There are two types of forums where you should ask for
critiques: the niche forum itself and a marketing forum. You'll
likely get more sign-ups from the niche forum and good advice
to test out from the marketing forum (although you'll get some
opt-ins there as well).

Step 6 - Ask Your Target Market What They Want

Unknown to most people, this is one of the best ways to develop
products and services. And most times, Forum members are ready
to tell you what they'll buy and give you ideas for articles,
auto-responder content, your blog posts, whatever you need.
People guess the products their target market will want and
create them only to discover no one is interested in the product,
but with this approach, you have real people telling you what
product they want, how they want it and how much they are
prepared to pay for it.

The way you would use this technique to get them to subscribe
is to post something like, "what's your biggest question about
loosing weight?" Or "what's the single most important thing
you'd like to know about building a business?"

Don't forget to ask if they're willing to pay for solutions to
their problems and have them give you an indication of how much
they would be willing to pay. Powerful stuff!

Let them know you've already answered 10 questions (your 10
step mini-course loaded in your auto-responder), for example.
Then they'll be more likely to sign-up. Make sure you point out
that you'll add to your mini-course with the answers to the
questions they've provided, and that they'll get answers to the
existing questions in your mini-course PLUS the new ones when
they subscribe. Everybody wins!

Step 7 - Offer a Step-By-Step Guide or Video Tutorial

If someone asks how to create an ebook, give them a list of steps
they can take. Or, make a Camtasia tutorial video showing them
how. Now that you've got them to your site, you'll want to "make
them an offer they can't refuse."

Offer a List of Resources and Websites

In addition to checklists, resource lists with website URLs
make a great site for them to bookmark! Make sure you supply
more than just links. Make it a huge info-page of information. A
collection of resources, links to everything you have -
articles, video, audio, your blog, other useful sites, tools,
you name it.

Solve a Problem for People.

If someone asks for help or asks a question, offer your
experience and try to help them. But to maximize your odds of
getting both the asker of the question and everyone else who
reads the post to subscribe to your list, try to phrase your
answer in one of the following two ways:

1. Give them tips, techniques, shortcuts, secrets, or anything
that offers both the promise of exclusive information and fast
results. A shortcut to success.

2. Whenever possible, supply them with specific results. Think
about it. When you want to learn how to make money online, you
go to someone who is making money online to guide you. This
quickly establishes you as an authority in that area.

And by helping them, maybe - just maybe - they'll click on the
link in your signature to check out your website. If you direct
them to a blog post or article you wrote to answer their
question, they'll be even more likely to investigate.

That's all there is to it but at the end of the day, it's a
failure-proof way to drive serious traffic to your website using
Forum Posts. Apply it and see your traffic soar through the
roof. Don't say I didn't warn you!
================================================================
Iyabo Oyawale is an established Internet Entrepreneur. Discover
The Top 10 Guaranteed Ways to Make $100 Daily from the Internet
from her FREE ebook! Visit http://askiyabooyawale.com for
instant download!
================================================================

Copyright ? 2008 Jayde Online, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
SiteProNews is a registered service mark of Jayde Online, Inc.

See ya, Country Joe

[The Wiz]

Neat article! Thanks for the info.

[bammarg]

Thanks Joe: whatever you did worked. I also read the Drive traffic to your shop and it is very interesting and I think I will try to work something out. I have been busy getting some things ready for a sale to a dealer so I have not had time to do much of anything. But I will see as soon as I get finished with that dealer and some more clean-up of debris from the hurricane Ike. We still have some more clean-up to do. Marge