Being a contributor in forum communities by posting to other sites’ forums can be a powerful way to promote your site, but care must be taken to not cross the unwritten boundaries. Here I’ll look at what you can do, and what you shouldn’t do. And if you want to know more about affordable website promotion services, just follow the link!
First, promoting your site in other peoples’ forums doesn’t mean spamming every forum you come across. Done properly, it is subtle and no-one will object. In fact, the people who own the forums you are posting on will be benefiting from an active member. Done incorrectly and everyone will complain and you will be booted off the forum.
So what shouldn’t you be doing on someone else’s forum? Unless the topic of a forum is ultra-relevant, you shouldn’t open new forum threads with the idea of promoting your web site. Moderators will quickly close the thread. If you suffer this too often, you will probably lose your membership.
You should also not be replying to open threads just with the purpose of name dropping your site. This can also upset the moderators and they are likely to remove your web site name and its links. They might even remove your posts and your logon.
So what can you do? If your website is very relevant to the forum then you might be able to announce a new product within the forum. If in doubt, mention it first in an existing thread and see if anyone minds you opening a new thread.
But the main time you can get a site mention is in open threads. Look for people asking questions and in need of some help that your web site or your experience could provide for them. Maybe you offer accommodation around an event and they are looking for that. Or maybe they are looking for hard to find presents and you sell a suitable idea. A mention of your website name in these instances is (usually) allowable. If in doubt, just post the name of the website, not a hyperlink. You should be less likely to be accused of spamming this way.
Also, many forums allow you to use a signature in which you can mention your web site name. Or as part of your forum nickname maybe your web site name is relevant. If so, then try it out. I’ve seen both of these done well and no-one minds. In signatures, the forum may block the link to the website from the search engines, but whenever you are posting replies your signature is seen. If you are posting often and become seen as an “expert”, then it’s likely that people will want to read more about what you say and that’s when the signatures come in useful.
Just don’t go randomly posting links to your sites in random forums. Use forums well and they can be your friend. And if you are looking for more tips to get traffic to your website, then don’t forget to check out the blog for more tips!
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