Blog Promotion via Forums
Blog promotion strategies are sometimes so simple that some shy away for fear of looking, well, foolish. Yet it is often the simple campaigns that will reap the longest lasting rewards and the most satisfying results. Earlier we spoke of guest blogging, this post will deal with forums.
Using Forums to Cast a Net
Bob has a camera shop in a mid-west city. He conducts workshops online and off and has recently implemented a blog to supplement those workshops. When Bob first began casting his net for his online customers and communities, one of the methods he employed was to join and participate in all of the photography forums in the region.
Long story made short, without being a shill for his own store, and by virtue of his knowledge and willingness to share it, he quickly rose to the status of expert in those forums. With a link to his blog incorporated into his signature, it wasn’t long before forum members were participating on his blog and via RSS publishing , Bob soon had a healthy amount of subscribers to his blog.
Do some research and Google the forums for your niche market. Determine if they are a robust and active forum. That will be evident by the number of posts and replies.If the forum doesn’t have daily activity, pass it by.
Forums are Where You’ll Hear Customer Conversations
After choosing your target forums, start introducing yourself and dive into the conversations. Here is the often overlooked benefit.These are your customers. The market research that can be garnered from listening to their conversations is worth the price of admission alone. It is similar to the successful community experiments P&G have built with their women’s sites. If any entity knows marketing, P&G certainly does. They always have their ear next to their customer’s mouth. A forum gives you the same ability.
Start contributing. Again, don’t shill. Just answer questions, introduce topics and in time your expertise will be recognized and you’ll note increased traffic to your site. More importantly, the locals know where to find you and you will have the beginnings of a solid community.
Tags: active_forum, blog, blog-promotions, customer_conversations, niche_market, promotion_strategies, RSS-publishing, target