Yeah, I know. The title’s not that original, but maybe it made somebody click thru and read at least this far.

That’s the idea, isn’t it? To get somebody interested enough to wander in and look around?

What this is really about is the value of forums to the internet marketing process.

You see, internet marketing CAN be what Ford, or GE, or Verizon does. They have a lot of money and build these big, beeeeooootiful webpages, as Trader Jon would have said. However, I’m talking about you and me. Our budgets are a little bit smaller. Some of us have actually had to go to the extremes of learning a little basic html coding so that we could build our first webpages ourselves because we didn’t have the money to hire somebody to do it for us.

How could somebody like that compete against major corporations?

Obvious answer….They (we) can’t.

There are, however, ways to make your product or service of interest to a large enough audience so as to generate some sales. Using forums is one of these ways. Not only is it an effective way of attracting interested visitors to your website, it falls under the heading of network marketing (here I suggest reading my article, “Network Marketing In Its Purest Form”), which, lo and behold is essentially the easiest way for most of us common internet marketers to attract potential customers. Notice how I snuck that plug in for my other article? That’s actually something you might be able to do in a forum.

In the other article, by the way, I hinted that one of the benefits of network marketing was that you got to make friends. Well, that’s what often happens in forums. You meet people who share your interests. While those interests can be as serious as you want them to be, many forums also give you the opportunity to have a little fun. As I write this article, a forum I belong to has a story being written three words at a time by members who wander by and feel the urge to be creative. I have copied a list of one-liners from one post and sent them to my sister-in-law who cracked up when she read them. From the same forum, I have gathered information on how to use traffic exchanges to generate traffic to my website, I have learned how to use RSS feeds to enhance the value of my website to my visitors, and how to create splash pages to build my email list, just to name a few topics.

I have corresponded with members from Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, and Malyasia. I have watched as other forum members jumped in, one after the other, to explain and clarify a point which confused a member who was having trouble getting a web page set up properly.

I have had the pleasure of seeing articles, comments, jokes, and encouraging remarks of mine appear on the forums I am a member of, as well as reading the articles of others, their comments, jokes, and encouraging remarks as well.

I have gained a lot from being a member of these forums, both as an internet marketer, and as an idividual.

And you know what else? At the bottom of every comment, article, or joke I post, there are links to my websites. That’s another great thing about forums. No matter whether I post a joke, a serious comment, or a thoughtfully crafted and written work of art such as this article, there will be links to one or more of my websites either in the article itself, or in a signature which the moderators of the forum allow me to add to my comments. The search engines pick up these links and follow them back to my website(s). The readers of the comments follow them back to my website.

Talk about free traffic! I get to interact with friends, maybe offer something of value to them, get something of value from them, learn some new techniques, and maybe a few new jokes. Can’t beat that!

The author is retired from the Army after 21 years of service. He has worked as an accountant, purchasing agent, optical lab manager, restaurant manager, instructor and long-haul, over-the-road truck driver. He has been a member of Mensa for several years, and has written and published poetry, essays, and articles on various subjects for the last 40 years. He has been an active internet marketer since 2000, and now makes his living online. To learn more about improving your marketing performance, please visit http://marketingsecrets.xtramoney4me.net You may read “Network Marketing In Its Purest Form” at http://xtramoney4me.net/internet_marketing_links/articles/network_marketing.html

When it comes to quality, how do you choose
the group that matches your expectations?

Defining a quality group is not as easy as it looks. You first need to conduct the research into meetings, type of attendance etc. The next thing you want to know is the size of the group. Size does count as a smaller group will not often have enough leads for each individual. You should also make sure that the level of the person belonging to the group is at the appropriate place. By level we mean: is the person belonging to the group an influencer on decisions or are they the person that makes the actual decisions? Often with these groups, it is the salesperson that attends, and they can only suggest something to the decision makers. The decision maker does not necessarily need to be the CEO, but it is likely that they are part of the administrative executive. Do not waste your time with groups that do not have access to the decision makers.

Influencers can have some effect, but in the long run, if they cannot get you in front of the decision maker, you are most likely wasting your time. Be picky about the quality of the group you may eventually join; if you are to bring leads in and they are to offer you leads, make sure the quality of the group is where you need it to be. For example, do not expect high level consulting business from a printer-paper salesperson. It is not likely they will know who you need to know.

Even though quality is important in a group, quality can be found in various types of groups that you will come across. Quality may be defined in several ways. First is the quality of the attendees and the level of decision making they have in an organization. Second is the quality of the leads that are generated by the attendees. The leads need to be of some value and they need to include an introduction to the company needing your services. Let’s take a closer look at some of the types of groups that could possibly fit your needs.

Group Survey

Name of the group

______________________________________________________________

Where does the group meet?

______________________________________________________________

Day and time of meetings (is it weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly?)

______________________________________________________________

Group Size ___________________________________________________

How many people do you know in the group? __________________

Group Focus _________________________________________________

Decision Making Level of the participants

______________________________________________________________

Are there exclusivity requirements? ___________________________

Number of Leads expected:

Receive in a month __________ Give in a month ________________

Further Comments

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

Bette Daoust, Ph.D. has been networking with others since leaving high school years ago. Realizing that no one really cared about what she did in life unless she had someone to tell and excite, She decided to find the best ways to get people’s attention, be creative in how she presented herself and products, getting people to know who she was, and being visible all the time. Her friends and colleagues have often dubbed her the “Networking Queen”.

Blueprint for Networking Success: 150 ways to promote yourself is the first in this series. Blueprint for Branding Yourself: Another 150 ways to promote yourself is planned for release in June 2005. For more information visit http://BlueprintBooks.com

So you joined Ryze thinking that there would be opportunities knocking around every corner? And yet every time you unleash your best sales pitch, someone slaps you in the mouth. Wasn’t this supposed to be for business networking? Instead, everyone’s just milling around and you’re having no luck.

The problem is, you’re trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

First, Ryze is a horse of another color. Think about this - what if everyone just ran around Ryze posting spam ads? Would you have a reason to choose one of the five bazillion coffee distributors over the next? No. So it’s clear that the straight-sell does NOT work on Ryze.

Second, you need to discipline yourself if you want to make solid Ryze contacts. Don’t let yourself get sucked into a conversation that’s going in circles, or worse, escalating into an argument. ALWAYS remember why you’re there: to share your knowledge and make your expertise known. You’re there to meet marketers like yourself, who have integrity and a strong work ethic. Anyone who doesn’t fall into that category gets a polite nod and privately dismissed as not worth your time.

Okay, now we know the two major points about Ryze. So here’s the plan. If you feel confident leading people, create your own network. Get it going, throw your whole self into it, let a few months go by. And if you do a really good job of balancing web marketing lessons with fun, social interactions with selling, and keeping your network mostly clear of pettiness while fostering motivation and inspiration…

The time has come for a group project. Leverage the power in numbers. If you have a network of buddies that seems like it’s growing stagnant, turn over a new leaf. Put the your group to work for everyone’s business. Dream up a new marketing invention that every single person there can contribute to, feel good about what they added, and use to their advantage, advertising their business to millions.

What types of projects can a group of Ryze Networkers do together?

1. Write an e-guide on any major topic. Try Article Marketing, Blogging for Business, Affiliate Programs, Web Design, Networking… the list is neverending. How to go about it? Simply start with a few posts. The network moderator can encourage members to ask and respond to questions that will initiate productive discussion. Over the course of three months, those conversation starters will have resulted in some mighty powerful info that any new marketer would salivate for! Collect it all for output and you have your instant Group Marketer E-Book.

2. Give back to the global community. A friend of mine, Lori Davis, did a noble thing after Hurrican Katrina devastated New Orleans. She created a new online network where folks who wanted to contribute, vent, share news, grieve, pray etc. could converge and take action together. You can do this for any cause, provided all network members are willing and able to pitch in.

3. Invent a new Web Holiday and Showcase Your Talents on the Website. I’m actually doing this now. After creating an e-book with my Ryze Network that was wildly successful in gaining me and my members better page rank and more exposure, I decided to buy the domain for WebContentAwarenessDay.com. A group of us are working now to create the site’s content and layout as well as advertise with articles and press releases that contain incentives for the new marketer to visit, get to know us and buy our product!

Again, there is incredible power in numbers and incredible value in networking. Start looking at networking in a new light. Be proactive about who you keep your time with and what comes of your discussions. Web forums are NOT just for meeting people. They are a gargantuan content machine that just keeps churning and churning. Make the most of this wonderful free opportunity and start seeing results in your marketing!

Copyright 2005 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.

Are YOU Content With Your Content? Get Top Secret Marketing Tips from the Web’s Biggest Gurus and Expert Authors on The First Annual Web Content Awareness Day on FEBRUARY 9, 2006.

Dina Giolitto is a copywriting consultant and ghostwriter with over 10 years of experience writing corporate print materials and web content. Trust her with your next e-book, article series or web project, and make a lasting impression on your audience of information-hungry prospects. Visit http://www.wordfeeder.com for more details.

There are dozens of reasons why you should look up the forums that are related to your market and post to them often. Here are 3 to get you started.

1- Get to Know Your Market as both an Associate and An Expert

The research alone is a good enough reason to at least sign up to some forums and read. Just by reading posts in forums, you can hear what your market concerns are, straight from consumers. You’ll be able to find what their pains are - look particularly for frequent questions that don’t appear to have solutions.

For example, if you sell timeshares, and you join travel communities, you may often hear questions asking for the best times of year to visit a certain region or locale. With this information you could start a section at your site for every listing that tells the cheapest time to travel for that area, the best time of year for good weather, and other special bits of information a traveler might want.

When you’re comfortable enough to begin posting, after watching the conversation for a few days, or perhaps even a week, you might find that new people have questions that you can help them with. By consistently becoming the go-to person, you increase your credibility as a knowledgeable expert, and people begin to trust your ability to provide information.

2- Increase Your Site’s Visibility With More Targeted Links Back to Your Site

Many forums are run by hobbyists who aren’t so much concerned with marking money from their visitors, as having an established community for discourse on certain issues. These forums will often allow you to leave a link to your site in every post. The ones that are open to public viewing for visitors are also frequently spidered by search engines.

If you set up your link correctly, you’ll then have topical links back to your own forum. Even if the search engine spiders can’t see these links at forums that can be viewed by registered users only, you will also find that once you become a part of the community, other members will click your link out of curiosity or because they’re looking for something specific that you may have at your site.

Even forums that exist to gain more sales of their own products often allow you to post your link, especially if it isn’t to a competing site. For example, internet marketing forums run by people who sell do-it-yourself SEO products may allow infopreneurs who sell a different type of product, such as an autoresponder service, to post their link freely.

The focus here, at all times, is to help other members, not just to promote your product. Your link is in your signature, so unless someone asks you a specific question, you get far better results from being helpful than you do by posting forum spam that gets deleted anyway.

3- Lurk, Listen and Learn

If you’ve been around forums at all, you already know that there are often 8 to ten times more people registered and not posting than there are people who actually visit and participate.

Reading without ever posting is commonly known as “lurking”. I usually suggest that at least for the first week, you should monitor the community you wish to join in this way, just reading posts, and learning the personality of the forum you’d like to post in - this keeps you from committing any faux pas that might have you corrected by another member, or even worse, banned.

Sometimes you’ll find a forum that is appropriate to read, but doesn’t seem like the right place for commercial posting. Or you might find that you’re there to learn and not to teach - or maybe you just don’t have the time to post as you’d like to. You can still learn a lot by being a lurker.

When lurking in forums, your primary job is to listen (figuratively speaking) and learn. Again, pay attention to questions that come up repeatedly over the course of a month or so. Be on the look out for rumored product or technology developments. Find out who is the resident expert - maybe this is the key person for an interview you want to do, or an affiliate program you can join.

The most important thing you can learn from this exercise is what annoyances your market is experiencing. If you sell cat furniture, and you find out that a common complaint is availability in remote markets, maybe you can change your shipping policy to add international ordering and increase the scope of your business.

Anywhere you can fit a solution to a problem can bring you the sales you need. You may find out that you need to change your product, to enhance it, or perhaps to take out features your prospects just aren’t interested in.

This is a good solution when you have the time to visit forums and post or read. As you become more busy, you’ll find yourself at the forums less and less as a poster, so this isn’t necessarily a permanent solution. However, if you follow these steps correctly, you’ll soon have the traffic to foster more community relations at your own site as well.

Copyright 2005 Tinu AbayomiPaul

Tinu is a website promotion specialist who posts free information on a variety of traffic tips in her blog at http://www.freetraffictip.com.