You've finished building your web site. Now there's all that invaluable traffic, just waiting
to beat a path to your site. You've dotted all your i's, crossed all your t's and followed the
standard to get the word out. You wear a path out in your carpet pacing back and forth, In
between your pacing you check your server logs, hoping for a sudden increase in visitors.
The reality is, unless your corporate America with a huge advertising budget, the days of
staggering increases in traffic are way down the road. Isn't there something I can be doing
while I wait for the search engine traffic to come?
As a matter of fact there is. Yet this particular form of Free website promotion doesn't
make the headlines and requires no software to install, no backdoor tricks into the search
engines, and it's totally free. What is it?
Now, Before I reveal this technique, I want you to promise you won't go near the delete
button and you'll give me a chance to lay this thing out to you. Promise? O.K. The
Technique is "Posting to Forums." In the first couple days of "Going Live," you can hope to
attract a couple of hundred visitors, at the least. This will be small in comparison to the
knowledge you'll attain, by allowing the members of these forums to critique your site.
You'll then be able to make whatever changes necessary before the search engines crawl
your site. Having your site critiqued by experienced marketers, For Free, Well, Let's just
say, "You Can't Beat The Price."
If you've never visited or posted in a forum. Don't be intimidated. These are people no
different than you and I. Merely a group of like minded individuals seeking to get answers
to their questions or providing answers to questions asked. Usually on a specific topic or
topics.
Side Note: Before you Post make sure you read the rules for posting. Read some of the
posts being made. Stay on Topic, You'll get the hang of it in no time.
Once you get the hang of it you'll want to make sure you don't go announcing your new site
to every other forum you come across. This is viewed as Board Spamming and is definitely
a No No. There are boards that will accept this sort of post but on a whole you'll have to
remain on topic and wait for the opportunity to legitimately slide your announcement in.
Sometimes outright and others in your signature.
Finding forums to fit your needs is easy. Just type "forums" into your favorite search box,
you can then refine your search from there. Check to see if the list of sites meets your
needs and go from there.
As a newcomer you'll want to keep your initial posts simple. Remember to mind your
manners. Be polite and friendly and always maintain the prescence of the Business
Professional that you are. When the time is right, simply ask them to look at your site.
You'll recieve a pretty good cross section of positive and critical comments. Don't go
getting your shorts all in a knot because someone has posted, what appears to you to be, a
negative comment. Keep in mind that you've enlisted them to critique your site. Be
prepared for all the comments. On a whole, the folks in these forums want to help.
However, from time to time you may run into those that seem to have nothing good to say
about anything or anybody. Take all comments "Buffet Style." Take what you want and
leave the rest.
Initially you may want to go look at one or two other members sites and supply some
feedback before asking to have yours looked at. This will give you valuable insight. What
you may find wrong with someone elses site, you can apply it to your own and make the
necessary changes. When looking for a site to be looked at, look for the post who has little
or no responses to it. By responding to their post they're likely to express their gratitude
by visiting your site when you ask in your post. This technique may seem a bit sly but
nonetheless effective. Just don't get in the habit of operating in this manner.
You'll not get a ton of traffic from forums but you will have engaaged in an effective form
of site promotion and all forms of site promotion need to be entered into the mix. As has
been said by someone other than myself, "You don't need to get it right, You just need to
get it going." By applying the above you will have "Indeed Got It Going!"
Forums are a great place to make new friends and interact with those that are trying to
accomplish pretty much the same things we are. So keep things rolling right along by
"Posting to Forums!"