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.