Forums, if you haven't been to one yet, are more or less
what used to be called bulletin boards. They are online
discussion areas where you can post a comment and read
everyone else's comment.
Because forums are gathering
places for people who have an interest in the forum topic,
they are an ideal place to pick up new customers. With
intelligent discussion of issues and generous sharing of the
knowledge you have, you can become well-recognized in
your forum community.
Forums are also a great place to work at becoming an
acknowledged guru of your topic. When people read your
comments and either agree with them or learn from them,
you gain the trust and respect that are crucial to having
your expertise recognized. One very good way to become a
star in your forums is by posting links to exceptional articles
you've written and asking for feedback.
Never post an entire article to a forum; this is considered
rude. You can, however, drive traffic to your site from a
forum by synopsizing your article, asking what others think,
and posting a link back to it. Always put your URL in your
signature line, too.
Discussing Articles in Your Own Forum
But forums aren't just places where you go to talk about
things; they're living communities based around a central
theme, and with the free software available today, there is
no reason you couldn't arrange for your own forum for your
customers. It puts you in the position of being a community
leader; it gives you control over at least part of what's being
discussed in your niche market; and it gives your customers
the opportunity to interact with you and with one another.
Forums may be time-consuming, too, so before you start
your own, consider a trial run. Take about ten friends, put a
forum together in the way you plan to run one, and see
what happens when people start talking on it. If it's too
much to handle, you're better off using other forums. If,
however, you enjoy working with it and it doesn't suck up all
your time, it might be worth considering. Be sure to
schedule time to administer it, if you do decide to run with
it.
Anyway, it's not just forums that make you and your articles
discussable.
Using Blogs As Forums
Blogs today are amazingly easy to use, and the programs
that compile them often come with a built-in "comment"
feature. This allows those who have read your blog to post
their own feedback: whether they think you're full of
something, are in awe of your mighty wisdom, or have
something to add or correct, they'll let you know.
And it doesn't matter what the feedback is, as long as not
everyone calls you an idiot. A couple of negative comments
can stir up some controversy. And intelligently stated
negative comments are an invitation to you to either rescind
what you said or to clarify it in a way that makes the
negative positive.
"Ask The Expert" Features
Once you've established yourself as an expert with your
articles and blogging, you might find a lot of questions
coming your way. If so, it's time to establish an FAQ or Ask
the Expert section on your webpage. In either instance, you
can use forum technology to set up a simple question and
answer format. You can also set up an "ask a question" form
on a secondary page, and simply restate the question and
answer it in an FAQ blog.
Ultimately, when you're building an online reputation,
everything works together. Intelligent articles gain you
credibility. Getting others to link to you gives you credibility
as well, plus it gets free eyes to look at your website.
Running an FAQ, a forum, or an interactive blog all give you
the status of expert. You should try to do at least a little of
all these forms of online marketing, and ensure that at least
a short mention of your site shows up in every medium.
Do searches in forums for yourself frequently when you start
publishing articles online. There's a good chance that
eventually you'll find someone who waxes enthusiasm about
your article; at this point, you can seize the moment and
start a conversation about the article, promoting yourself
and your website at the same time in a very soft-sell sort of
way.
