3) Restrict your time in forums by setting up some sort of schedule or time limit for visiting them. You can sometime lose track of time reading and responding to topics. Obviously you need some time for other business tasks so you don’t want to use it all up in forums. Trust me they can get very addicting so this is an important step.

4) Do not post just for your own benefit. It is important to offer useful advice and information to others. By offering valuable comments you will get people to notice you more thus increasing chances that they will do business with you.

5) Take full advantage of signature paragraph that most forums let you set-up. This is where you do get to do a little advertising. Tell about yourself and/or your business. Provide a link to your website or product so people can get to it easily. Your link will also help with your search engine popularity and ranking.

6) Be respectful and polite to others on discussion forums. Even if you don’t totally agree with someone it is best not to attack them. People will notice if you are rude and obnoxious. It is better for you to just keep your unnecessary comments to yourself.

I regularly visit quite a few discussion forums. I have found that they are fun to read and post in and can be very rewarding. Some are better than others but all can be beneficial when used properly. You just need to find forums that fit what you are looking for. Become a “regular” there and you will be rewarded.

Here are some of best business forums that I visit frequently, in no particular order:

Open Forums (don’t require registration): http://www.ablake.net/forum/ http://www.howtocorp.com/forum/ http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/184615 http://www.homebusiness-websites.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi http://www.ozemedia.com/cgi-bin/webbbs/webbbs_config.pl http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/11488 http://www.williecrawford.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi http://www.friendsinbusiness.com/board1/index.cgi

These websites have forums that require you to register before you post but it only takes a couple minutes and doesn’t cost anything: http://www.wilsonweb.com/ http://www.infoprofitstalk.com/ http://www.siteownersforums.com/ http://www.associateprograms.com/ http://www.webproworld.com/ http://www.workathomenetwork.com/discussionboards.htm http://www.mom101.com

I am sure that is good enough to get you started! The above list consists of many of most well-known business forums as well some lesser known ones. Pretty much all of them get good traffic and none of them allow spam or blatant advertising.

Now it is time for you to go and Post Your Way to Success!

You may then want to sign-up with an affiliate program, like ClickBank or Commission Junction, so that you have more than one source of revenue. Be careful to balance affiliate programs without taking away from your main initial business. Be patient. You'll work hardest first few months. Nothing great happens overnight! With some work, planning, and learning, you are on your way to success.

----------------------------------------------------------- This article may be reprinted providing it is published in it's entirety, including author's bio and link to URL below. ----------------------------------------------------------- The author, John Baker, is editor/owner of best-home-business-ideas.net A website dedicated to making money and starting a home business. For more free info please visit: http://www.best-home-business-ideas.net