Tips #154 and 170 in my “202 Tips To Increase Blog Traffic” (yes, 202 of them - make sure you print the article and post it on your wall) state:
154. Make friends with forum and message boards addicts.
170. Add a forum.
I have a confession to make: I strongly dislike forums.
As far as I am concerned, they’ve become a mecca of ill-conceived opinions, spam links, and an outlet for the big mouths who have nothing better to do with their days, but to puke on every post they happen to come across.
Why did I still mention forum posting as a viable traffic generation strategy?
Because I do think it has a lot of potential, if you are prepared to put in the time and effort to build yourself up in the forum community.
Forum posting was a “do what I say to do and not what I do” kind of traffic generation strategy as far as I was concerned.
Until that is… I was browsing a BetterNetworker forum about a month ago - not because I wanted to, mind you, but as part as my weekly link building strategy.
That’s when I saw an absolutely brilliant way of using forum posting to generate traffic without much effort - it was so good as a matter of fact that it changed my opinion of forum posting once a for all.
Here’s what the thread I read that day - see if you come to the same conclusions as I did after reading it.
(To keep my post from getting too long, I am posting the comments from the 2 main parties only - David S. and Rachel J. However, there are over 4 pages of comments in this thread, so you see how effective this is).
Fwd: Get over 2,000 Leads a DAY??
David S.
yep…
(link to an article)
(the bait)
Rachel J.
Like …is it really okay to Spam people your “articles”…on BN?
Boo.
David S.
Rachel, we’ve been providing this community with value for years since before its inception..
You did however mimick your own objection by commenting in the same means that you reference. Boo
(the hook)
Rachel J.
What are you talking about David? What did I mimick?
David S.
Hey Sweetie, sorry about the vague comment back to You.. all I was doing was facilitating the string with expected predictable comments - as a means to keep the thread visible mid-day, among many other publicly seen gimmicks as we wrap us sales…
(sorry if you feel like a guinea pic 😉
Anyway, I don’t perceive ANY real friction with You whatsoever, or your comment… in fact, if I stumbled on to my post as an onlooker as You did, I’d agree with You…
(the a-ha! moment)
Rachel J.
I AM SO CONFUSED.
David S.
Ohh.. no worries, we’re (me and the dude’s article I linked to - Jim) have an open *LAUNCH* right now.. and we close TODAY…. so we’re just maximizing the public gossip areas in the industry to ensure people outside of our subscriber list are aware.
That’s all. Thanks for being nice 😛
-David
(the explanation)
This thread is a great example of how to get lots of quality targeted visitors to your blog with just one or a few forum posts.
There is some powerful, yet simple psychology behind this that works beautifully every time IF used properly.
Here are some background facts on why this traffic generation strategy works:
- forums create a sense of community where everyone’s opinion is open for others to criticize;
- people always want to be in the know, so they’ll jump on the bandwagon when they see a thread take off;
- everyone wants to share their opinions whether they know what they are talking about or not.
So what exactly do you do?
You post something semi vague or controversial (but be nice about it) and get forum visitors to give you their opinions on it - just like David did with Rachel.
Here’s another example of this.
Let’s say you’re in a business opportunity.
You could pose a question like:
‘I know some of you may not like ‘XYZ Biz Opp’ but I also know that they started first… which biz opp do you belong to? Why do you think yours is better?’
I am sure you’ll get some heated debate out of this one and many clicks on your signature with YOUR biz opp link in it.
To make sure the thread keeps going, make some comments here and there to keep the flame burning.
It’s as if you are writing a very interactive article on a particular topic, but the content is not written by you, but by other forum users.
By the way, you can definitely turn such threads into blog posts as well; similarly to what I did in this post.
Forum Posting Marketing Takeaway:
Since forum pages generally get a lot of attention from search engines, your forum thread can potentially end up on the first page of Google in no time… and stay there for a long while.
What does the targeted website traffic arriving to the forum see? Your forum signature.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg for ways to generate traffic.
QUESTION: would you use someone, like David used poor unsuspected Rachel, to gain more exposure at a forum?
Comment to show me that you’ve alive!
How Lovers Get More Traffic with This Simple Influencer Marketing Strategy
Hi Ana,
I just discovered you on Betternetworker and came over to check out your blog. I like it and there is a lot of useful knowledge here.
In my opinion in the above idea in forum posting I don’t see a need to do what was done in the above example. I also went read the 4 pages of material.
In my opinion it’s cheap and lacks integrity, no matter what kind of value the original author has contributed to the community.
I have started threads on different forums and kept them going not because I wanted to stay on top but simply because the conversation was worth continuing and the tremendous value that was being contributed from everyone.
If anyone engages in the above mentality for the sake of growing their own pocketbooks then in the end they will loose. Why? Because they are stuck in a lack mentality.
That is my two dimes worth of opinions.
Looking forward to reading more of your 200 plus ideas on driving traffic to a blog.
Appreciation from the Heart,
Richard De Haven
Welcome to my blog, Richard; glad to see someone from BN making their way over here.
I completely agree with you.
I hated the way they used the poor clueless girl - tactless and unprofessional. Did they keep the thread going? Yes. Did it bring them sales? I doublt it.
I still firmly believe that online business should be deeply routed in intergrity and trust and I will definitely not buy anything from those clowns.
On the other hand, it is possible to use a similar tactic in a more professional way. I’ve never tried it myself and never will (just not my idea of generating quality traffic), but it might work.
Thanks for the comment and hope to see you around.
Ana
I use to belong to a forum and posted there regularly. In the beginning, very helpful information was pasted back and forth. I met some very great friends there and we still keep in touch. Soon the forum became another woo woo social network of chit chat and no longer met my needs… so I never went back.
I find it interesting you were able to find a some good in a forum to build traffic. Very clever. However… I still think you have to wade through a great deal of nonsense to get to anything really worthwhile on most forms.
That’s actually pretty smart, I used to use forums a lot when I created my first and only gaming website about “World of Warcraft”. I designed the whole site to based on a massive forum interface using SMF (Simple Machine Forums) but non of the topics I started ever really brought any visitors.
But now that I think about it, It wasn’t until a person made a post about how one of the player classes in the game is better than all the rest, that the forums started to get some real traffic and a lot of people started to engage the discussion, a lot disagreed with his views but it kept the post alive for a few weeks.
Never though of using forums that way though, pretty clever, thanks for sharing Ana.
Hello Sayed,
Glad you learned something from my post. Your experience is a perfect example of what forums can do for our site. Try to start using it again and you will see how it can do wonders. Let me know how it goes.
Hope to see you again.
Ana
Ana,
I’m not going to knock this technique; marketing is what it is. However, I personally would not use it because I feel that my own methods of attracting forum traffic work better for me:
1. Learn for a while, ask questions
2. Share for a while, provide answers
3. Let folks know that there’s much more where those answers came from.
One of the things I’ve learned is that, regardless of the platform (forum, blog, membership site), if I just be myself, some people are going to be interested.
I try not to push products and services beyond what is allowed, like the forum signature. Especially in blog comments, I may mention that I have written an article on a relevant topic but I never give the link unless the blog owner requests it. (That is why I love CommentLuv, I get to pick my post.)
Don’t get me wrong, I love to experiment. I’ve created more stupid websites, Twitter accounts and whatnot, just to try some things. That’s why I don’t knock the bait technique you shared: controversy is one of the main methods for gaining attention.
Cheers,
Mitch
I always love hearing alternative opinions, Mitchell - that’s what makes blogging worthwhile!
I hear what you are saying about forum posting. It’s a more traditional way of going about it; nothing wrong with that.
My personal problem is that it’s hard to find anyone who actually listens vs talks. Forums have changed quite a bit and this technique reflects that change.
I simply don’t have the time or the patience to do it your way for a few visitors; I prefer to find floods rather than drying creeks.
How do you track how many visitors you actually get from forums, Mitchell? How do you know it’s worth your time?
Ana
Thanks for this post!
It’s indeed an interesting way of using forums as a traffic stream. I personnally picked 3 top forums in my niche and reply to some topics each day but you’re right about what some forums have become.Lots of useless link-stuffed comments for sure. But starting a topic and making people interacting by asking a question to the community is a very good idea ’cause Google seems to love forums, some are very well ranked indeed!
Lol, I participated in several forums on my behalf and I could say, besides traffic, they help me much in terms of knowledge and topic ideas. So, forums? Why not?
Indeed, why not?
However, I find blogs much more beneficial for gaining knowledge.
Thanks for the comment, Mike!
Ana
Ana,
Another great post! I have a “guestbook” section on my website http://www.newteacherhelp.com so I guess I could turn THAT into a forum if I wanted to…could I? If not, I could definitely just build links and leads using your great tips! I am always scared when in forums that they can turn “messy” with people getting all stirred up, using put-downs and profanity, etc.
Yes, Shannon - you can easily add a forum to your site. Question is: would you want to? It’s just another thing to monitor and moderate and you can accomplish the same with just comments on your posts.
This technique definitely works best on external forums. I do understand your concern about the volatile nature of some forums. Just make sure you pick the right one, where such things as profanity are not tolerated.
Ana
Hey Ana,
I dislike forums too - they are time consuming. Some people spend hours on end on forums as a traffic generation strategy.
Let us know how this goes for you if you decide to give it a try
All the best,
Mavis Nong
I’ll do that, Mavis, although I am not sure how much time I am willing to dedicate to this.
However, I believe anything is worth a try - once.
Thanks for the comment!
Ana
Ana, I am also not a huge fan of forums. I find that at times you can find Gems there, but it can also be a lot of wasted effort for all the reasons you listed.
I am not sure how much I even like the link building there. I am not sure how effective it really is.
Anyway, this method does seem to be a decent way to drive some of the forum traffic. A little controversy in the mix never hurt. After all there is no such thing as bad press.
Agreed on all points, Steve.
The only reason I would ever give this technique a try is because of how little effort it takes.
I also agree on link building.
I know many SEO pros argue that a link coming from a no-PR no-value pages of a high PR website (like most forums would be) is still considered to carry good value by association.
Although I would never turn down a link like that, I haven’t seen much evidence to support the claim.
Good to have you here!
Ana
You know what they say, Ana - there is no such thing as bad press
Very true, Roy.
If your name appears all day long on the front page of a forum, good or bad, other participants will be sure to check you out.
Appreciate you sharing your opinion with me!
Ana
Hi Ana,
I know some who use forums very successfully for marketing. I do use forums from time to time to get technical advice myself if I have a question.
From a traffic generation point of view I tend to stay away from forums in much the same way as I choose to ignore Brussels sprouts. Both leave a bad taste in my mouth.
~Marcus
I am neutral to both Broccoli sprouts and forums
; however, using this specific technique to drive traffic to a specific post every once in a while sounds like a worth-while effort to me.
Otherwise, I consider forums a waste of time.
Thanks, Marcus!
This is one clever idea. Thank you so much for sharing. I just hope I’d be able to do it the right way. Gotta let my brain think, think, think.
Thanks, Andrew.
In my experience, the only way to truly stand out these days is to either invent entirely new traffic generation strategies or use the tried and old tactics in new fresh ways.
Doing what everybody else does just won’t cut it.
I appreciate you stopping by!
Ana