Over the years, I see a lot of people who think so much about generating traffic, and especially trying to improve search rankings that they fail to utilize the tactics at their disposal, leaving money and traffic on the table.
For several years, forum marketing has been one of my biggest sources of leads and traffic to my blogs, but most people never see the benefits of forum marketing. There are also many benefits other than direct traffic that forum marketing brings to the table. Today, I thought I would cover 5 huge benefits of forum marketing other than direct traffic that comes to your website.
Private Messages
When you get involved in forum marketing, one of the biggest benefits is the authority you gain in the community. For example, at Affilorama’s Forum, not a week goes by that I don’t get a PM asking for my services, affilaite referrals, and advice. Those relationships have led to an interview, my mastermind group, and many free products and services that all saved me time and money for my business.
The private messaging allowed in forums is one of the most underutilized ways of connecting with people in your niche. You should figure out how to utilize this resource and start connecting with more people who are interested already in listening to what you have to say.
Relationships
I have built relationships with a lot of really great people, many of whom I would probably have never met if I hadn’t been active on the forums. My time at the Warrior Forum (although I really can’t stand that place) led me to the great people at Talk Marketing Now, and the ongoing relationships that I have built there are invaluable to the growth of my business.
I have also gotten to know many people who are much bigger than me in the social web, and I found most of them through forum marketing. I have even gotten to know multimillionaire, and super affiliate Mark Ling through the time I have spent helping his members build their businesses.
You can’t put a dollar sign on those relationships. But, they are crucial to the long term success of your blog. The big sites online didn’t get there by spamming links for Google. They got where they are today by networking and building relationships with prominent authority figures around the web.
Niche Research
Niche research is actually what led me to forums all those years ago. When you are starting out especially, forums are a great resource for finding loads of information on your topic, getting to know exactly what your customers need, and finding those all important keywords that you will want to use for your SEO.
Even though I know my target market pretty well, I still get a lot of research done through forums, keeping up to date on the questions that people have about current trends. For example, right now, changes to SEO and questions about SOPA, and how it will affect affiliate marketing are flooding some of my favorite forums. These hot topics are giving me loads of ideas, and the information that is being shared by other people on the forums give me a great source of research data for my blog posts.
Expanding Your Social Network
This all ties into the relationship building, but a lot of people in my social network came from forums. As you engage new people, find them on twitter, facebook, G+, and any other social sites that you are using. On Google Plus I have a circle specifically for people who follow me through specific forums (so if you are following me on Google Plus, let me know how you found me so you end up in the right circle…). I also have lists set up similarly on Twitter and Facebook. This way, all my friends from forums can get the same posts that are specifically targeted to them.
Through networking with people on these forums, I get people to join my social circles, expanding the reach that I have within those niche markets. Especially when many of them are also bloggers, many of whom already have a much bigger reach in the niche than I do right now.
Getting Direct Feedback
One of the biggest problems that I see with people in the blogoshpere is when they don’t get feedback fast enough on their content. Often, I see really great blogs disapear because with a lack of reach into their niche, they didn’t know if they were saying anything worthwhile.
This is another area where forum marketing can help. Whether you are giving bad advice or helping people, you will hear about it in the forums, if you are active within the community. People will let you know what you are doing right and wrong, and it is a great way to test your ideas before taking them out to your blog.
Early on, I would spend more time writing answers on forums, and less time posting on your blog, just to get a feel for the writing style and feedback that you will get.
These are just a few of the many benefits of forum marketing other than direct traffic. How has forum marketing impacted your business? share your ideas in the comments.
This post was written by...
James Pruitt – who has written 234 posts on IMRelations Media.
I Started my internet marketing journey in 2008, as I began building simple affiliate sites. Through the years I have worked as a freelance writer, publishing my own blogs and websites, written several ebooks, and now work mainly to help others build their online business through my marketing consultations, personal coaching, and relationship building.
