How,Promote,Your,Website,Inter DIY How To Promote Your Website On Internet Forums

When starting a new work at home business it is very easy to become consumed by it. We spend so much time trying to get the business up and running that we may end up becoming burned out and lose our motivation. There is so much to learn and Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in

Alot of people who start websites wonder how they can promote them withoutspending a lot of money on advertising or pay per click campaigns. One triedand tested free method of promoting a website is to join a few Internet forumsand contribute to the conversations that forum members participate in.  What is an internet forum?AnInternet forum is a membership website that supports user generated content. Inother words, anybody who joins the site by filling in a quick online form willbe able to read and respond to the messages that are posted on the forumwebsite. If you want to post a response to a message, you can click on the “PostReply" button. A new screen will appear at the bottom of the message whereyou can type your response. When you have finished you can check it by clickingthe "Preview" button and when you are satisfied with your effort youcan post it by clicking the "Submit" button. Your message will nowappear at the bottom of the page. As people read the previous comments and respond to them, the conversationgrows longer and can extend over several pages. Each conversation is referredto as the "thread". Any member can begin a new thread by clicking the"New Topic" button in the relevant section of the forum. No matterwhat area of business you are in, there are sure to be a lot of forums thatdeal with your niche market. Obviously, it makes sense to build a name foryourself on the forum that is relevant to your line of business. If your websitesells tennis gear for example, you would want to join some forums dedicated todiscussing everything to do with tennis. On the other hand you might also wantto participate in some forums dedicated to Internet marketing so as to pick upsome useful tips on promoting your website. Finding a forum is simply a matterof doing a search on Google or some other search engine. Again, if you selltennis gear a quick search for "tennis forum" should yield some goodresults. How do I promote my website on a forum?When you have found a suitable forum to join,imagine that you are entering the forum more like a guest at a dinner partythan a bull in a china shop. Remember, somebody has set up this community, and other people go there everyday to share information. They do not want to see spam on their forum. If you post a comment that is nothing more than an advertisement for yourwebsite the post will most likely be removed, and you may be penalized orbanned from the forum because you have not only been bad mannered but you havealso broken the forum rules against blatant spamming. The way to get links to your website from forum posts is to use the signaturefile. You can set up a signature by clicking on the "User ControlPanel" inside the forum. A signature is simply a brief sentence or twoabout who you are or the services you offer plus a link back to your website. On many forums you can add an avatar, a small picture or photo that will appearon each of your posts. It is a good idea to use a real photo of yourself toshow that you are a real, friendly, human being! Similarly, it is a good ideato use your real name to show that you are a real person behind the realbusiness. Some of your biggest marketing assets on a forum are yourauthenticity and credibility. Now, you are ready to post your first comment. A brief introduction to who youare, where you're from, what you do and what you hope to contribute to theforum will be sufficient. Again, do not post any links in your comments but letyour signature to the work. Now, you may have a lot to contribute, but don't start spouting from the getgo. You don't want to appear like a big head that knows it all and has nothingto learn. The best way to ease yourself into a forum is to contribute to someongoing conversations. Feel free to ask questions, provided that they have notbeen asked hundreds of times already. In a short while you will have built up some familiarity on the forum, and youcan begin to offer more in the way of content and initiate some conversationsof your own. Keep your focus on what other people want, be generous in givingout information, tips, useful website addresses and so on. What you are doingis building up a name for yourself as an expert in your field by helping other peoplewith their problems. Each time you post, your signature file will be quietly pointing people back toyour website. And as your reputation grows, so more people will be interestedto find out more about you. In other words, when it comes to forum marketing,as with so many other things, if you want to get something you first have togive something away.