Marketing Your Work From Home Web Site with Proper Use of Forum Signatures
One of my readers prompted me to write about the use of forums in marketing your work from home web site or products/services that you offer. Believe it or not, forums can provide terrific targeted traffic as well as long-term natural search engine traffic.
I’ve always been a fan of forums. They provide an enormous wealth of information that is completely free. You can get any question answered by those more experienced. These two benefits alone are well worth the time of getting involved in forums.
An even bigger benefit that some overlook is the marketing aspect that forum participation can bring. The marketing doesn’t come from your posts, but instead from your forum signature. This aspect, that is built into most if not all forums, is not used to its full potential.
Forum signatures should be designed to grab the attention of other forum members who read your posts. This can be tricky as you usually have limited space to create a signature, but it can be done.
A forum signature usually consists of your favorite links to websites that you want to share with others. These can also be your own websites, and that’s what this post is going to focus on.
Here’s an example of one of my signatures… http://www.warriorforum.com/members/alan-mater.html. Click on the About Me tab and scroll down till you see the Signature section.
Notice how every website or web page contains a phrase that is hyperlinked to go to the corresponding URL. For instance, I have Professional Proofreading Services linked to go to http://www.replaceyoursalary.com/proofreading.html.
The mistake I see many make is that they ignore the keyword aspect of forum signatures and just enter the URL for their website, and sometimes they don’t even have it hyperlinked! That’s fine if you’re focusing on direct traffic from the forum, but you’re missing out on the larger aspect of natural search engine traffic.
Note: Most forums have different signature rules and require specific code in order to create hyperlinked text. Be sure you know what is required when setting up your signature, otherwise it won’t turn out right.
You see, using keywords in your signature links will create backlinks to the web pages those links link to for your given keyword phrase and also boost those pages rankings in the search engines. This will create long-term search traffic, which should be your ultimate goal.
Forum participation is a great way to get your name and business or work from home web site noticed by others. But, you want to get noticed by the right kind of people. What I mean is that you want to pick forums that are related to what your business or web site offers. You want your direct traffic to be as targeted as possible.
The last MUST is providing value when posting in forums. This will ensure you get noticed and bring more clickthroughs of your signature links. Below I’ll provide a list of forums I actively post in that are related to the Internet Marketing and Work From Home niche and get a great deal of traffic from…
Alright, now get to work and start getting involved in forums!
Tags: backlinks, business, entrepreneur, forum members, forum participation, forum signatures, forums, Internet Marketing, keyword phrase, natural search, niche, proofreading, proofreading services, search engine traffic, targeted traffic, traffic, warrior forum, web page, web pages, work at home, Work From Home
Related posts...
Filed under: Forum Marketing • Niche Marketing • Search Engine Optimization • Work From Home • online business
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
Hi Alan, this is a great post. A lot of people forget about the benefits that can be gained by posting in forums and having a proper signature. Tim Stokes
[Reply]
Alan Mater
Twitter: AMater
@Marketing Business Online, Hey Tim, thanks for stopping by.
You’re right. Forums are a great way to build your business when used correctly. I actually get most of my proofreading work through forums.
It’s amazing how much traffic and optimization people lose out on simply because they don’t have clickable links in their signature.
[Reply]
Twitter: DennisEdell
says:
The very first marketing method zI learned, and am now starting to get back into it.
The keyword thing for the SE’s will only really work on do follow forums though, right?
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..100 Marketers Give 100 Strategies – Recommended!
[Reply]
Alan Mater
Twitter: AMater
@Dennis Edell, Yes, Dennis, that’s correct. I actually provide links to do-follow forums in an earlier post which can be found here… http://www.replaceyoursalary.com/work-from-home-blog/internet-marketing/building-a-successful-online-business-forum-marketing. I guess I should have clarified in the post. Thanks for bringing it up because that’s a great question.
[Reply]
Twitter: DennisEdell
says:
Thanks for the resource list, I’ll add it to others and mix/match.
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..100 Marketers Give 100 Strategies – Recommended!
[Reply]
Alan Mater
Twitter: AMater
@Dennis Edell, Sounds good, Dennis
[Reply]
First off awesome article. I totally agree, I been using forums to drive traffic to my blog for months now. Since I have a very helpful personality, I help others in the forum which get people to click the links in my signature
Great posts + Signature = Traffic
KushMoney’s last blog post..How To Get Started With Affiliate Marketing
[Reply]
Alan Mater
Twitter: AMater
@KushMoney@Build a blog, Hey, thanks for visiting my blog.
You’re right, it’s all about providing value and helping people. The direct traffic that posting can bring is great because it’s usually very targeted.
[Reply]
KushMoney from Build a blog
@Alan Mater, How much traffic you get monthly from forums?
[Reply]
Alan Mater
Twitter: AMater
@KushMoney@Build a blog, Great question. Last month’s stats indicate I received close to 5,000 hits from the forums I’m actively involved in.
[Reply]
KushMoney from Build a blog
@Alan Mater, I am not that active in forums to get that much traffic. You doing great with them.
KushMoney’s last blog post..Poker Training Weekly Launch Today!
[Reply]
Alan Mater
Twitter: AMater
@KushMoney@Build a blog, It takes time and being active is the key. Thanks
[Reply]
“The mistake I see many make is that they ignore the keyword aspect of forum signatures and just enter the URL for their website…”
I practiced putting my keywords in my signature which I’m ranking from the very beginning. But now with the recent Google Algorithm changes I’m not sure if this is tantamount to keyword over optimizing since they will appear on hundreds of your posts.What do you think? BTW read up my guest post (on WFHB)by Nicolas Prudhon on Google Algorithm changes.
[Reply]
Alan Mater
Twitter: AMater
@Peter Lee, Hmm… you have a good point. But, as long as you don’t make too many posts within a short period of time you should be okay. I see it as the same as blog commenting.
Is Nicolas’s post the same as the one he did on Dennis’s blog?
[Reply]
Peter Lee
@Alan Mater, No Alan, Nicolas’ post is different. Well check it up….Peter
[Reply]
Alan Mater
Twitter: AMater
@Peter Lee, Just read it, and it’s awesome. Not that I expected less. It does make me think a little more about my linking strategy. Perhaps my on-site optimization may be what made me slip to the third page in Google. Your idea for forum signatures might just be the ticket now. I’ll have to try it and see what happens.
[Reply]
on this article i learned the difference between work at home and probably your job.so it is very interesting for me.
[Reply]
Alan Mater
Twitter: AMater
@bored what to do, Hey, thanks for stopping by and the comment!
Yes, there’s a big difference, although working from home takes just as much, if not more, time and energy.
[Reply]
I agree Alan, I do get attracted by the signatures of users in the forum and some of them are quite interesting. People after having read a constructive and helpful post on a forum does check that user’s signature so if used properly it can help drive to your site a lot. I don’t visit forums much other than for some help regarding software otherwise I use google.
[Reply]
Alan Mater
Twitter: AMater
@Alan Barker, Hey Alan, thanks for dropping by and commenting. I appreciate your input and look forward to seeing you here more often.
[Reply]
Forum signatures are a great way to get big traffic on our blog/site, if we are able to be active on the forum and give useful answers, people will like our answers and like our blog.
It is much better to join a forum which has a topic related to our blog.
Thanks for your article.
Sushie@ diet plan´s last blog ..To lose 4 to 6 pounds
[Reply]
Alan Mater
Twitter: AMater
@Sushie@ diet plan,
Yes, most definitely. Getting backlinks from forums is most effective if the forum is related to your blog. This also helps with getting direct traffic from the forum as well.
Thanks for commenting. Hope to see you around more often.
[Reply]
Twitter: dtopmark
says:
You are absolutely right. If you do not use keyword anchor text you are wasting a free anchor text backlink.
marcus@Money making ideas´s last blog ..Ideas for making quick money – $1800 in 10 days
[Reply]
Alan Mater
Twitter: AMater
@marcus@Money making ideas,
Exactly. Although it doesn’t hurt to have plain links every now and then, anchor text links with your keywords will help move your site up in the search engines.
[Reply]