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When you create your account for most boards, they will give you option of creating a signature, which they will attach to bottom of every post you make. This is best way to pull customers from messageboards--by alluring them with your signature. Write something catchy or intriguing and then slap a link to your site or email address on it. Remember: more helpful you are (the more times you post advice/hints), more times your signature appears... and more potential hits you’ll get to your site.
Next, you’ll want to decide when it’s appropriate to market outside of your signature. I personally only market in three situations outside of my signature in forum discussions. If a person asks a question about a specific product or service I market, then I’ll respond because I’m qualified to do so and because I truly believe they should use my products to achieve best possible results. If there’s a discussion thread where everyone is marketing products and it is generally accepted, I will market my product if a) it is related and b) I have already posted several times on messageboard. Also, I will market my product whenever there is a forum solely dedicated to marketing your products.
Last, you’ll want to decide how much original content you want to post and how much you want to be boilerplate. You’ll want to find a healthy combination of two to avoid being called a spammer or wasting too much time marketing on forums. I personally have several boilerplate ads that I have saved for signature files, ad-only forums, and personal product marketing discussions. I keep them all saved on a word file and I pull them up to copy-and-paste when I’m spending a night of advertising on messageboards.
Discussion forums can drive buying customers to your site faster than any other marketing medium. Do not abuse them, establish a reputation in your forums, streamline process. . . and your work will come back to you quickly in profit.
Isaiah Hull publishes Work At Home Right Now, a fresh and informative newsletter about making money on the internet and using proven methods to increase your site’s traffic and profitability. If you’re looking for time-saving and money-saving tools, as well as honest business advice, come by and subscribe at http://www.workathomerightnow.net