The Cheapest, Fastest Way to Advertise on
the Internet: Forum Posting
Posting on forums is one of the cheapest and fastest ways in which you can advertise
affiliates products on the Internet. However, in order to do this successfully, you must do
a number of things carefully.
Warning! Simply starting a thread that contains an affiliate link might be a
good way to get banned from a particular forum board, but it will never be a
good way to make sales.
The general procedure involves making multiple posts on a forum board before you even
setup a signature file, which includes a link to your site. Even if the particular forum you
are using does not specifically mandate this, you will want to do this, anyway, as it will
increase your credibility – which is your real goal.
You can start by finding a number of forums for your particular niche or marketing angle.
You can find massive lists of forums at the following two URLs:
http://www.big-boards.com/
http://board123.com/forum_directory.php
The first resource is currently the largest forum directory on the Internet. The second
resource contains lesser directories, but includes some that are not listed on Big Boards.
Now, once you have selected a number of directories that match your specific marketing
angle and affiliate product, you will want to investigate to determine whether or not they
have excess rules regulating signature files.
For instance, some sites do not allow any links in signature files; others, by contrast,
allow links, but do not allow any commercial links. Make sure you know what the rules
are before you post. Otherwise, you are simply setting yourself up to be banned from the
forum.
Next, take the list of forums you have created – that are both relevant to your topic and
allow commercial links – and begin developing a reputation on those forums. Post
regularly, avoid meaningless fights and flaming, and contribute useful, on-target
information to discussions. In a matter of 1-2 weeks, you will have developed a
reputation, provided that the forum receives a considerable amount of traffic.
- 10 -