Bob's Home Business Blog

Forums are online meeting places for people who share a common interest or a common goal. They basically, as their name suggests, provide a forum for people to exchange ideas on a certain topic. They’ve also been called bulletin boards, chat rooms and message boards however no matter what you call them they all serve the same purpose and they remain as popular today as they’ve ever been.

If you’re just starting out on the web with your home based business forums are a great way to introduce yourself to your particular market or niche. These chat rooms can also benefit your Internet venture in other ways including, but not limited to, providing these 4 advantages:

1. These bulletin boards are great places to get advice on different aspects of your business where you may be having a problem. Other members are usually very helpful especially if you’ve been contributing value to the forum on a regular basis.

They realize they’ve been where you are right now and they know what you may be going through. However you should be aware that you have to contribute to the conversation and not to expect something for nothing.

2. These are great places to network with other home business owners and to form lasting relationships with an eye focused on eventually creating business arrangements with these people such as joint venture agreements. Networking on the Internet is just as important as it is for any offline enterprise and you should take advantage of any opportunities to do so whenever they arise.

3. Chat rooms aren’t only great places to get advice but they’re also a tremendous resource for getting new product ideas and for gathering information about new tools that may help you with your venture. People who frequent these message boards are usually on the cutting edge in terms of knowledge pertaining to their industry and they are usually willing to share it with their cohorts.

4. Finally, you can use these Internet gathering places to promote your website and your home based business. After you’ve been a member for awhile and you’ve contributed valuable information to the group on a regular basis you can add your website link or your sales page URL to your signature file so other members can check out your merchandise.

Whatever you choose to call these online meeting places they still provide a valuable service to their members and if you take advantage of their presence you may take your Internet enterprise to a new level on the Web.

Bob Withers

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Online forums, also known as chat rooms or bulletin boards, are gathering places for people who have a common interest where they can share ideas and make new friends and meet new business associates.

Internet marketing forums are widespread online and if you’re just starting out with your online home based business you should seek out and sign up with a couple of the most popular chat rooms in your particular niche.

Here are 4 reasons why these bulletin boards should play a vital role in your Internet marketing campaign:

1. Networking plays just as critical a part in your online marketing efforts online as it does offline, and forums are incredible places for meeting other Internet business owners. These people are better established on the Internet marketing scene and they may be willing and able to give you the insight you need to get started quickly.

These are also great places to form other business relationships such as joint venture agreements which can help you build your list quickly and to make those extra sales we all need to make when we’re just beginning.

2. When you’re new to Internet marketing you’re going to run into problems which can slow your progress and cost you time and money. However, being a member of one of these bulletin boards allows you to post your problem on the website so you can ask others if they have a solution to your dilemma. You can also get advice related to other areas of your home business which can also give you a head start as a newcomer to the world Internet marketing.

3. Just by visiting these chat rooms on a regular basis and reading what other marketers are saying you can come up with new ideas for products, discover original advertising tips and perhaps get some insight on new innovations or new tools which can help give you an edge over your competition.

4. Finally, Internet forums provide an excellent opportunity to promote your Internet enterprise. By adding a link to your blog or your product offer in your signature file you can attract hordes of targeted prospects to your home page as well as add new subscribers to your email list.

In order to attract these visitors however you must contribute valuable content to these chat rooms so these people will want to visit your website to get more of your information.

So as you can see Internet forums offer many advantages for your online home business when you use them correctly and treat them with respect by making valuable contributions on a regular basis.

Bob Withers

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Forum marketing is a great way to create back links to your online home business website. When you’re just starting out on the web with your Internet enterprise driving targeted traffic to your product offer should be a top priority and by regularly visiting and posting to online forums you can bring the interested visitors you need to your web page.

The question now becomes how do you find suitable bulletin boards to provide the people who are looking for what you’re selling? The first thing you can do is make use of your favorite search engine and enter your key words to find chat rooms that are most relevant to your topic. Examine the results of your search and visit each website to find out if they have a related forum that you can post your comments on.

There’s also a tremendous resource you can use called “forum list” which is a guide to the top Internet marketing forums online and also helps you find other types of discussion boards you may be searching for on the Internet.

When you believe you’ve found relevant forums be sure to examine each one individually before posting your remarks to ensure it’s worth your time and effort to add your comments. You should first discover whether or not it’s a chat room with regular posters who respond to other people’s comments in a timely fashion.

If you see a remark which was added 6 weeks ago that hasn’t attracted a response it would be best to avoid such a website and continue looking for one which is much more active. Also look at how many comments a day are posted to the particular forum you’re investigating which is also a good indication of how popular it is.

Try to find out how many members have subscribed to the discussion board you’re researching as well as how many readers or viewers it has per day. This will tell you whether or not the potential audience provided makes it worth your while spending time trying to get your message across in order to attract other members to your website.

Be sure to read some of the posts made at the forum you’re considering joining to make sure the content being added is relevant, topical and valuable to other members. You should avoid bulletin boards where the primary objective is advertising and where members don’t provide valuable information for other subscribers even though they may have posted looking for answers to their questions.

Research is a very important aspect of many areas of your online home based business and Internet forums are no exception. Always look at these chat rooms individually before you invest your time and effort trying to attract targeted visitors to your home page by posting your comments because as you’ll soon discover your Internet marketing time is too valuable a commodity to waste.

Bob Withers

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Forums, chat rooms, bulletin boards or whatever you choose to call them, when used correctly, can be a very important marketing tool for your online home based business. These social media outlets provide a great opportunity, especially if you’re just starting out online; to promote your Internet enterprise, while at the same time, help you meet more experienced Internet marketers.

With this being said, let’s take a closer look at how this online social outlet can be advantageous to your new web based venture. Here are 4 reasons why you should take advantage of this socializing opportunity:

1. First of all, as I mentioned, if your just beginning your Internet marketing career you’ll undoubtedly run into road blocks and you’ll have questions about how you can overcome these obstacles so you can begin making money online. Forums are a great place to ask for help with anything related to your niche that you don’t understand. Most people are more than willing to help so don’t hesitate to ask.

2. These places are tremendous outlets for advertising your online business. By adding a link to your website in your signature file people who enjoy your submissions can visit to learn more about what you do and perhaps buy something while they’re browsing.

However, you must be careful to add valuable content to these chat rooms by returning the favor and helping other people with any problems they may be having with their enterprise. In this way other Internet marketers will begin to appreciate your participation and will be more than willing to help you with your questions.

3. By participating in these bulletin boards on a regular basis you can discover ideas for new products, get suggestions for new ways to make money online, get advice on how to solve your latest problem or find out about the newest Internet marketing tool that’s available to help make your day to day work on the web a little easier. These discussion areas offer a wealth of information to anyone who’s willing to participate and who’ll make an effort to help others as well.

4. Through the social contacts you make with other participants you may be able to form business arrangements with other home business owners via joint venture proposals for example. This is especially beneficial when you’re just starting out online because if you have a product you want to promote but you don’t have an email list then this type of agreement can help you get established and help you build your list very quickly.

By providing something of benefit to your business partner they’re in dire need of they most likely will give you access to their list so you can promote your merchandise and as a result you can both profit from this affiliation.

As you can see forums are a great way to build relationships, to promote your online home based business, to solve problems with any aspect of your venture and to boost you sales and profits. So as a result you can’t afford not to take advantage of this social channel to help promote your enterprise on the web.

Bob Withers

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There are several compelling reasons for creating a forum or a discussion board on your online home business website. First of all, if you’re just starting out online it’s a great way to entice people to interact with your content so they stay longer on your home page. After all, our main objective when driving traffic to our site is to keep people there long enough to examine our product offers and become paying customers.

Forums allow your prospects to communicate with one another thereby creating the opportunity for them to establish relationships. This is a tremendous way to generate return visitors to your website which will increase your chances of converting your guests to clients because the more often people visit your web page the more likely they are to buy something and become a customer.

These chat rooms are now easier to create than ever because many hosting services such as Word press have software available which you just plug-in to your website to produce your discussion board. C-panel or your website’s control panel facilitates management of your new feature allowing you to control which comments and posts are allowed and which should be removed.

One of the secrets to creating a popular forum from the start is to promote its establishment prior to the launch date. You can announce it on other people’s blogs and forums, you can tweet the day and time via your twitter account and you can post it on your facebook wall just to name a few advertising techniques.

You can also get the ball rolling yourself by posting a few threads about controversial topics of the day which may encourage some of your visitors to join the discussion. This way you’re more likely to have a well populated and active chat room instead of a desolate and silent space which can be embarrassing to you as the webmaster.

After you’ve fashioned your discussion room you shouldn’t forget about it. In order to keep people interested you have to find new ways to engage them in this activity so they’ll keep coming back to add their input.

There are several ways you can encourage their participation such as asking your subscribers to use the chat area to make suggestions about your home business and your website. You can persuade them to use it as a comment box by leaving both negative and positive feedback about your Internet enterprise.

Another advantage of having this discussion area on your website is you can use it to promote new products you may be introducing and encourage members to check them out. You can also add a customer survey to this space at regular intervals to question your members on different areas of your venture that may be a concern for you as the owner.

So as you can see there are many advantages to having a separate area on your home business web page for your visitors and your customers to voice their opinions and their concerns as well as socialize and establish relationships with other forum members. This engagement by your subscribers can only help reinforce customer loyalty and assist you with maintaining an active and happy email list of prospects and current clients for many years to come.

Bob Withers

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Online home business owners, otherwise known as Internet marketers, are always looking for new and innovative ways to drive targeted traffic to their websites to help increase the size of their email list and to increase sales and profits. Online forums are just as popular as ever or maybe even more so because of the explosion of social media sites on the web, and they present a unique opportunity for attracting their members to your web page.

If your website theme is home based business opportunities online, for example, you can conduct a Google search in order to find the most popular forums on the web related to your topic. Once you have your list of the top ten discussion boards related to your theme you can then subscribe to each of them and begin employing the following 5 techniques to attract these pre-qualified visitors to your home business opportunities.

1. Whether you’re new to Internet marketing or you’ve been on the web for quite awhile ask the other forum members to visit your site to offer some constructive criticism on your website design and layout. This is a great way to get people to visit your home page without having to openly pitch your product offers to them.

This can provide a two fold advantage for your home business because these targeted visitors will subscribe to your list and if you don’t mind being critiqued you can receive some invaluable Internet marketing tips for your website conversion. You can make it a point to ask their opinion on the effectiveness of your squeeze page by inquiring how they would improve it. This could also help you increase your list size faster and more effectively.

2. If someone asks a question that’s in your area of expertise create a video explaining all areas of the topic and add a link to it in your forum post telling people about it and where to find it. Even if the subject isn’t up your alley you could research it and then produce your video. Once you have them on your home business site you can then advertise your products and make some sales.

3. When you visit a forum try to find out what the hot button topic of the day or week is and then write an article, perhaps playing the devil’s advocate, to attract the attention of the other members and post it on your website. Try to solve the problem if there is one or address directly what’s being discussed in your editorial and post part of it in your forum with your back link attached of course to lead those who are interested back to your website.

4. If you’ve just created or you’re in the process of creating an Internet marketing product make mention of this fact and advertise in the forum for beta testers for your merchandise. Explain that you’re looking for 50-75 volunteers to test your product and provide feedback about its performance.

Tell the other forum members that those accepted for the trial will be rewarded with the product, to keep free of charge, for their participation. Also explain that the application is on your website for those interested to fill out and provide the link in your signature file. This should attract a lot of attention and many targeted visitors to your home business page.

5. If you’re new to Internet marketing and doing business online you could ask for advice and or suggestions on the best way to get started with list building. You can explain that you’ve written an article on the subject and then post it in the forum and ask the members to go check it out to see if there’s anything they would add or if there’s any misinformation contained in your piece. At the end of your editorial you will have a compelling offer with your opt-in form attached so the other members can subscribe to your list and check out your product.

Before attempting any of these tactics make sure you read the user’s agreement in each forum to discover what’s allowed and what’s not permitted to insure you aren’t barred from the discussion board by the moderator. Targeted or pre-qualified traffic is like gold and is the life blood of any home based business online and there’s no easier way to find and attract these people than at online forums or discussion boards related to your website topic or theme.          

Bob Withers

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When you first begin a home based business online you’re always looking for new ways to advertise your website and to get established as a recognizable entity on the World Wide Web. Forums or chat rooms or discussion boards or bulletin boards as they are also known are a great way to help you accomplish these goals. First of all, what is an online forum?

According to wikipedia: “An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are not shown in real-time, to see new messages the forum page must be reloaded. Also, depending on the access level of a user and/or the forum set-up, a posted message might need to be approved by a moderator before it becomes visible.”

Forums have established themselves as a vital component of the new social media 2.0 and many Internet marketers and home business owners online participate in these social gathering websites and here are 5 reasons why:

1. If you’re new to Internet marketing and home business ownership online these platforms provide a great opportunity to get free advice from more experienced and more successful marketers on the web. If you’re having difficulty understanding some aspect of Internet marketing or you’re looking for more effective ways to drive traffic to your home business website then join a forum dedicated to Internet marketing.

Once you get established participate in the various discussions and post your question. If you’re wondering how your website looks ask one of the more experienced members to review your home page and offer opinions on how you could improve your presentation. If you’re considering purchasing an Internet marketing tool or program create a post asking for opinions as to its effectiveness for other marketers who may have used it.

2. These discussion boards also provide a chance to promote your home business to the other members by adding a link to your website in the signature file of your posts. If these people like what you have to offer in terms of your participation then they may click on your link to check out your opportunity. This is a great way to increase traffic to your home page, build your email list and drive sales.

3. Forum participation is an excellent way to establish your home business online by building your reputation as a helpful and knowledgeable participant who is trustworthy and honest. By trying to offer thoughtful solutions to people’s problems on a regular basis people soon begin to view you as an expert in this area and they respect you for being an authority online. This opinion soon starts to spread on the web via word of mouth and your raised status will soon impact your home business by way of increased traffic and sales.

4. These chat rooms give you the chance to discover ideas for new products to create for your enterprise which will introduce another income stream for your business. As most Internet marketers on the web will tell you the largest profits and biggest opportunities result from owning your own merchandise.

5. After a period of time you will begin to create relationships with other members of the forum and this can lead to business opportunities for your Internet venture.  For example, you can approach more experienced Internet marketers and ask them to join you in a joint venture idea you may have. By associating with highly recognizable and successful Internet marketers both you and your home business’s reputation will be enhanced and you will be viewed as a business entity to be dealt with online.

These five benefits of forum participation should convince you that this is an avenue you shouldn’t leave unexplored for the sake of your online home based business and for your long term success on the Internet.

Bob Withers 

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You’ve created your home based business website online and you’ve decided which products you’re going to promote and now you’re focus is on developing your Internet marketing strategy. One Internet marketing technique you should seriously consider is forum marketing. First of all what are forums and consequently what is forum marketing?

According to wikipedia: “An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are not shown in real-time, to see new messages the forum page must be reloaded. Also, depending on the access level of a user and/or the forum set-up, a posted message might need to be approved by a moderator before it becomes visible.”

Forum marketing is the process of using these discussion sites to promote your home based business and your merchandise by joining and posting messages to these message boards. Forum marketing is a popular Internet marketing tactic because of the popularity of these discussion websites and the potential audience you can reach. There are 5 major benefits of using forums to promote your home business including:

1. Posting to forums on a regular basis provides the opportunity to establish yourself as an expert in your particular marketing niche. For example, if your home business theme is Internet marketing and your niche is driving traffic you can target specific discussions in Internet marketing forums related to traffic generation and display your expertise by addressing different topics which are being discussed or start a discussion yourself. When you provide quality content on a regular basis your reputation within these forums will grow and people will begin to view you as an authority in your field.

2. You can create back links to your home business site by adding your link to your profile as well as your signature file. As a result every time you post a comment to these various discussion sites you will be leaving a link to your home page so people can check out your business and your merchandise.

3. The more forums you post to the more back links you will create and the more traffic you will generate to your home business website. By gaining the trust and respect of other members and by participating by adding quality content on a regular basis you will soon see the fruits of your labor in the form of increased traffic and as a result more paying customers for your enterprise. Some of these new visitors will also come from the major search engines online as they find relevant links to your website on the many forums you participate in.

4. As a result of the previous three advantages both you and your home business will become recognized online as a trusted and respected entity to do business with and forum members may begin approaching you for answers to some particular Internet marketing problem they may be having. This will also go a long way toward increasing traffic to your website and help to build your email list of potential customers on the web.

5. This increased recognition brings with it the potential for relationship building online which in and of itself can provide major benefits for your enterprise. By creating friendships with other Internet marketers you create the opportunity to establish joint ventures and other cooperative business ventures on the web. This will again increase your website traffic as well as your sales and help add to your email list

Forum marketing is one of many Internet marketing strategies you can add to your arsenal to create a formidable home business presence on the web and help you build a lucrative income for many years to come.  

Bob Withers

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Before getting into the advantages of having a forum on your home business website we should make sure we understand what forums are. According to Wikipedia: “An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site. It originated as the modern equivalent of a traditional bulletin board, and a technological evolution of the dialup bulletin board system. From a technological standpoint, forums or boards are web applications managing user-generated content.”

Simply put forums provide your home business website visitors the opportunity to discuss different topics and to interact with one another online. These discussion boards provide several opportunities for the home business owner which cannot be overlooked and may be the reason why so many are springing up on different websites today.

First of all these meeting places provide the chance of increasing traffic to your site because people often return to continue a discussion they’ve been involved in or to continue to interact with someone they’ve met through your home page. This also provides the opportunity for more paying customers for your home business because the more time someone spends on your website the more likely they are to make a purchase.

Secondly, online forums allow you to increase the size of your mailing list. You’re able to capture information about your guests including their email addresses and personal details. These visitors will also be targeted traffic because if they’re spending time on your home business site then obviously they’re interested in your opportunity. As any Internet marketer will tell you the money is in the list so any chance to add targeted visitors to your list is a major benefit.

Third, forums also provide the opening to create or establish relationships with your potential customers. The more they get to know you and the more comfortable they feel visiting your website the higher the probability they’ll convert to paying customers.

A fourth advantage to having a discussion board on your home business website is that it’s a great way to continue your Internet marketing education. Owning and marketing your home business online is a continuing education process and the forum allows you to interact with people who have been there, so to speak, and may know what works and what doesn’t work Internet marketing wise. This may help you avoid certain Internet marketing failures and save the time and money involved as well.

Finally, forums are very cost effective to establish when you consider the potential for return as discussed above. There are free opportunities available through some of the major search engines such as Google. Google will provide you with the code you need to add to your website and you’re up and running in a matter of minutes.

So as you can see these open forums are a great way to enhance the visibility and credibility of your home business website and can be another contributor to your online success.

Bob Withers