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Home » The Famous Blog » 5 Mistakes In Your Forum Marketing Strategy That Cost You Money

5 Mistakes In Your Forum Marketing Strategy That Cost You Money

October 27, 2011 - Last Modified: October 27, 2011 by James Pruitt 1,409

Ever since I started out online, my forum marketing strategy has been one of my most constant sources of traffic, sales, and leads for my email lists. I ran my blog for over a year and a half using nothing but forum traffic, and it was one of the most consistent sites for making sales and building my email lists.

However, most people completely fail to get the best benefits possible out of their efforts.  In fact, most people I see trying to use forums are doing more harm to themselves than good, and they give up frustrated, declaring that forum marketing doesn’t work in their niche.

Trust me, its not the tactic, its how you use it that determines whether it will work or not!

One thing that sets me apart is that I am constantly monitoring everything that I do, and I have a strategy in place. I am not just posting for the sake of having a new post.

Today, I thought I would walk you through 5 of the biggest mistakes that you could be making with forums, that cost you money, leads, and traffic.

Posting for Links

One of the worst mistakes that you can make is to think that forum marketing has anything to do with link building. This might be the most common reason why people fail at it. Don’t take me wrong here, the links are important, but how you get those links is just as important (if not more so…)

In fact, people using forums just for links is the primary reason so many forums have banned any form of self promotion. This makes them harder and harder to use as a place to promote your business. Some of the best forums that I have used don’t even allow promotional links in my profile or my signature. Yet, I still find ways to get traffic from those forums and onto my sites.

Focusing on High PR Forums

This goes along with link building, but if PR is your main concern, then you are wasting your time. Often, the best forums are low PR, but have a highly active membership. Most high PR forums that still allow self promtional links are dying because the link spammers have run off all the real traffic that you could be getting.

Besides, if you actually pay attention to anything REAL about SEO and not the hundreds of FAKE gurus out there trying to rip you off, Page Rank is an OLD and DEAD marketing tactic. Google themselves have publicly stated there are more important things than Page Rank. It does not belong in your forum marketing strategy!

Why? because of the PR link spammers that learned to game the system! Those slimy toads ruined a really great idea just like they ruin everything. I could ramble on all day about spammers and how much damage they do,but, I digress.

On to the next big mistake…

Ignoring Private Messages

Private Messages are a critical part of forum marketing, yet many people ignore them. I get messages all the time from people asking for a personal recommendation for a product, or looking for advice that I can give them. If you ignore these private messages in your forum marketing strategy, you could be losing potential sales. You can also damage your reputation, by ignoring messages from prominent people within your niche.

I have gotten messages that were invitations to do an interview, requests to guest post on someone’s blog, and even people asking me to review their products on my blog. Usually those come with a free copy of the product, which gives me even more content that I can leverage for my articles.

Ignoring the Buyers in Your Niche

You don’t  just want niche specific traffic on your site, you want buyers. People who repeatedly pay for the latest information in your niche should be in your cross hairs and targeted! They are the most likely people to give you a boost in sales quickly, if you treat them right.

(Well, I guess if all you want is a hobby, that’s not always true, but for a real and lasting income, those should be who you focus most of your efforts on driving your blog. )

You can find thousands of forums in a varietyof niches that are free. However, you can also find some awesome forums that are specifically for people who have paid money to get access to them. These are some of the best forums that you can get into. However, if you are looking for link juice, forget it. Google isn’t even crawling the pages, so they do NOTHING for your search rankings. But, do you want bragging rights or buying traffic?

Sometimes you have to pay for them, but often, getting access to them won’t cost you a dime, if you know how to play the social game properly. Get into networking with the forum owners and staff. Become an advocate of their brand, and promote their free stuff for them. If you do that, you can generate a lot of attention, and sometimes they will even give you access to their paid members area for your efforts. ( I have gotten thousands of dollars worth of products doing it this way too!)

Promoting Your Business Through Your Profile

When you join forums, it isn’t about promoting your business. it is about branding yourself as an authority within the niche. It’s a way to network with people, and get on their good side. When you write up your profile, talk about your own experience, not your business, or your company. Use your image for your avatar, not a cartoon or company logo, and don’t link to your own site until you have some good solid posts and begin building your reputation.

If you follow these tips, you can improve your authority within the forums, and generate a lot of leads, traffic, and cash from your forum marketing strategy.

How have you used forums to build your brand online? Not using forums? What is stopping you from using a forum marketing strategy to promote your brand? The comments are open, so share your experiences today!

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Filed Under: Marketing

About James Pruitt

Follow @jmpruitt75

For over 2 years, James has worked to his online business in various niche markets and blogged about Relationship Marketing Strategies that really work. I built my own brand on relationship marketing, and especially using forums and social media. Learn more about the biggest forum marketing mistakes and how to overcome them with this free Forum Marketing Strategy report! (and see Hesham's amazing Thesis Awesome Product Skin in action too)

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{ 38 Responses }

  1. Grady Pruitt says:
    Great post, and this doesn't even get into the very common (and annoying) practice many have of digging up "stale" threads that are months (if not years) old or commenting on a thread adding absolutely nothing new to the conversation because what you've said has already been said at least once (if not a doze times) already. And, I think one of the worst of all, is a "new" member (ie very few posts) asking a basic question about a niche, but having a link in the signature purporting the person to be an "expert". I guess my problem is figuring out how to find these "buying" forums in the first place :D Thanks for sharing, bro!
  2. toddjir says:
    James, Awesome post. It's nice to see you know how to escape a dependence on SE's with forum marketing. Also I think you are very correct, most people don't even monitor their post on forums which doesn't help when it comes to marketing. Plus I totally agree, it's all in the way you use it. Nice post.
  3. Ray Wilson says:
    Thanks James for the awesome article. I think this will definitely help anyone involved in forum marketing. I still see too many newbie internet marketers doing forum marketing completely wrong. It all boils down to creating relationships and using certain persuasion techniques and marketing in general to pull in a new customer. But always remember: "Making 100 poorly written forum posts is less powerful than writing only 1 "word-class" quality forum post". In the end, their forum marketing looks merely as a spam. A problem for other people and a drawback for the IM'er himself. -Ray
    • James says:
      That is right Ray. like anything with any kind of social aspect, if you aren't providing real value to the members, it is just a waste of time.
  4. Kevin Uy says:
    Forums these days are full of spam, there are very few threads that can be considered clean discussion thats why I dont participate much in such except in computer programming forums wherein much of the participants are those who are just asking on how to accomplish certain things in their program / scripts.
    • James says:
      REally, a lot of that depends on the forums you are on, and how well they are moderated. most IM forums are that way, as well as other forums in high profit niches, however, there are loads of really great forums out there that aren't so crowded with link spammers. I use forums all the time, and we have some really great discussions within the threads. some of my best forums don't even allow me to promote my site through a signature so the spammers don't go there.
  5. Wong Chendong aka The Bad Blogger says:
    I don't really use much strategy on forums just basic chi chatting and also helping out some dudes who had trouble and yes, I had been in Warrior Forums (WF) for a very long time, most of the time other then chi chat, I spend my time looking to hire someone in WF and thought had meet scammers and idiots along the way, but seriously I got to admit, if you take forum as a place like Facebook, chi chat with your friends, you not only gain traffic but also authority which is something you can never use money to buy, because that's where people look up for you as an authority figure.
    • James says:
      Thats pretty much how I use forums as well however, I have some strategy involved in how I choose the forums as well as a few techniques that I use from time to time within the forums it increase the chances of people clicking through a link in my signature file or to get someone talking about an issue they are facing.
  6. Greg says:
    I think its pretty clear that there 'are more important things than Page Rank', but I'm not sure that anyone ever argued that PR was the ONE and ONLY "important factor" for SEO and marketing. There also seems to be a movement recently to completely discard Page Rank as a signifier of anything at all. I've seen people make claims like "NO ONE takes Page Rank seriously anymore" etc. It's funny how hyperbolic and fickle we are from month to month. I think the real picture lies somewhere in between the extremes.
    • James says:
      I have ALWAYS ignored page rank as a factor. I have PR 0 sites outranking PR7 sites in a lot of different niches and on some pretty heavy comptetition keywords. I see people all the time spouting that PR is the main factor to look at when looking for sites to get links from. Sadly, most of what these people say is hogwash and their followers never really see the success they are promised.
  7. Susan BizziBiz says:
    This is very interesting information on forum marketing. It is not something that I have tried yet and not sure if I will now.
  8. Madhav Tripathi says:
    When I read the post title about money costing I thought it is not possible but after reading the post wasting time and not getting return is the money lose. The tips you have given mostly people do opposite of it.
    • James says:
      Wasting time is costing money, and many people are wasting time by how they approach people. Forum marketing is a long term investment that can pay off when done right, but will cost a lot when done wrong. One thing that helps is setting goals for yourself such as how many daily posts to do, and how long you will spend on each forum that you use.
  9. Kavya Hari says:
    From here, i gathered a lot of information about Forums marketing strategy on here. so, it will be providing a great tasks on here :)
  10. sudha says:
    Everyday small business owners make drastic mistakes when selling their business and lose thousands of dollars in the process. All their hard work and long-term investment goes down the drain. As entrepreneurs they had once dreamed of owning their own business and building it to success. They then plan to reap the rewards in the form of a successful business sale. Sounds like a great plan! But, making the sale is not as easy as it may appear.
  11. Ming Jong Tey says:
    Hey James, Apart from those 5 mistakes that you mentioned, I would like to emphasize that the key to forum marketing is to add value to the community before you start promoting. First, you add credibility and build up reputation for yourself so it will be a lot easier to gain trust from the community. Second, by doing so, you brand yourself as the authority in your niche and people would love to listen to you, and hence make it easier for you to market your product. Forum is one of the traffic I love. It is so targeted and best part it is free :) Cheers, Ming
    • James says:
      A lot of really great forums are free, but don't limit yourself to just the free ones. Some of my best forums are paid for through either a membership site or as a support forum for buying products. These forums will have proven buyers, and those are people you really want on your email list, so try to get into them when you can, and build your reputation on those. I spend a lot more and give greater detail in my posts on paid forums, because I know it will get those people onto my site, and signing iup for my email lists. Adding value is what it is all about. Unfortunately, that has become kind of a catch all phrase for everything you do online, but most people don't get what adding value means. Different people will consider value differently.
  12. Satrap says:
    Hey James, I love forums and participating in forums. To be honest, I owe most of my (however small ) success with my first blog to one particular forum and the great people who are always helpful. To be honest, when I started, I was going for the backlink thing as well,but after absorbing what the successful members were doing, I realized its all about being helpful. So, now, I dont simply post for the sake of getting a link, I post whenever I have an actual question or whenever I can contribute and answer a question asked by others. The backlinks are juts a great bonus.
    • James says:
      You got that right Satrap! what you give is more powerful than what you get. a lot of my success in various niches has come from getting to know people in forums, and engaging them directly. Also, a lot of the forums I go into are run by product owners within the niche, and you can really get a lot of benefits from them when they notice you helping their members.
  13. Anna says:
    I don't use forums very often as well, because of the spam and viruses. But I think in order to expand my business I must consider it. It will give more contacts!
    • James says:
      The way I look at it is if you don't like spam, don't be a spammer. you can get a lot of value and meet a lot of really great people through forums. if you are blogging in a niche that you are passionate about, you can meet other people just like you in those forums, and get to know a lot about your niche that you won't find through other sources. I use them to engage potential clients, as a source of niche research, and to meet and network with like minded bloggers and website owners who are also using the same forums.
  14. Arthur Pool says:
    I haven't used forums much because as you said they see all kinds of things as spam because they've been inundated by it. I'd like to use it as you suggest. It sounds interesting.
    • James says:
      Hey Arthur, I learned a long time ago that just because others do something wrong doesn't mean that it is invalid. By providing a lot of value and becoming an active member of the community, many forums will welcome you. To me, forums aren't as much about promotion as they are about engagement and building relationships with people. I get a lot of traffic through them, as well as many other benefits, but my primary focus is always on giving to the community.
  15. Martina says:
    This article provides me more knowledge on how to do the actual forum marketing without getting banned from the moderators. I am not really aware what might cause of ignoring private messages in forums.. Thanks a lot for sharing this to us.
  16. James says:
    Hey Ryan, I totally agree.But, just yesterday, I saw about 15 different profiles as I was recording some videos that all had pitches for a product in their profile bio.
  17. Shamelle says:
    Hi, I generally don't consider commenting on forums as a marketing strategy per se'. At least in not a marketing strategy for me. But I think depends on the niche/business area you are in. I do my best to help out and add value. I don't expect anything in return from the forum members. However, I have often noticed that based I do have visitors landing on my blog from a forum I commented on. While its encouraging to see those visitors, I think some people overdue forums commenting by spamming in various ways, or trying to offer products their own or affiliate products they market. cheers Shamelle
  18. Steve says:
    James, Some great tips here. To be honest my forum marketing is slight. I have done a "little" of the bad method and a little bit of it done the right way (possibly by accident) but I have to add this on to the list of things I really need to do more of. Unfortunately that list gets longer and longer and with so many projects I sometimes feel overwhelmed. When are they going to invent cloning already (lol) ;)
    • James says:
      Hey Steve. Seems like everywhere I turn these days, I am running into you :) I can understand exactly how you feel. I actually took a step back recently and started focusing more on ways to consolidate and do less projects. For example, i had a lot of sites on various topics from dating and relationships (even the get your ex back niche, like the one you are working on in your case study), weight loss, wealth building, and of course my make money online blog. Over the last few months, I have consolidated some of those into a personal development site that is funneling traffic to the more niche specific sites. I am focusing my forum marketing more on personal development forums, sending them to my personal development blog, and funneling them into the niche specific sites they need from there.
  19. Jeanie says:
    Some of your advice can be united in one "Be in touch with your potential or current clients!" You should be active and certainly answer to all questions that appear, all private messages etc. It will all make people think that you are interested in it. Generally saying, you have a very interesting article. Let's hope that many people will take these points into consideration)
  20. Chris says:
    Yeah, just like with most other things, forum marketing is all about providing value and building up your reputation. If you take the time to do this properly, it can be a great way to generate more traffic to your site.
  21. Miguel says:
    I hear you loud and clear. I’m still figuring out how to make my email list better. I will have to check out some of the posts you linked too. Nice article, thanks for sharing the info.
  22. Jamie Northrup says:
    You are absolutely right, I used to be involved in a lot of forums in my niche, but then I changed niches and didn't get involved in Forum marketing, but I remember it working great, and think it's time to dive in again. But it only works if you are a real member of the forum, like you said spammers and people just looking for links get nowhere.
  23. Pen says:
    Hi James. Maybe it's high time for me to be serious in forum marketing. I find this a tough work: building relationship and im missing good traffic, i know. Thanks for sharing!
    • James says:
      Hey Pen, Forums are really a great source of traffic and leads. although I have backed off of them some, they are still a huge traffic source for me.
  24. Klaus says:
    I agree with Ryan (above) on this one, good points all around. The best way is to be helpful in the forums and show your true intentions - to help others. If you're just around to pitch and post "fake" comments to get your post count up, the forum users will spot you in an instant.
  25. Dave Lucas says:
    Hello James! I've considered engaging in forum marketing and chanced upon your article here. Karma, perhaps? You are right on target in advising that people networki with forum owners and staffers. That "HUMAN TOUCH" carries a lot of weight, even in today's digital marketplace! Blog On!
    • James says:
      Hey Dave, Thanks for your comments. Networking is what forums are all about to me. I love them, and I always try to meet the forum owners. often they are also the owners of products I am promoting, and by getting to know them, I always have advance notice of new products coming, and updates to their old ones. this helps me plan out my blog posting and guest posting to focus on things that I know are about to hit the market. Gives me a chance to be ahead of the competition on SEO instead of chasing after them as well.
  26. Ryan Biddulph says:
    Pitching in your forum profile is a no-no. Good points all around James. Form marketing, like any form of marketing, focuses on adding value and becoming valuable in the eyes of your market. Thanks for sharing! RB

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