Internet Marketing forums are an extremely powerful way to build a online reputation FAST... as well as continuing to learn about Internet marketing.

If you have questions about Internet marketing related products or systems just ask the contributors on a good Internet marketing forum. Forums are an indespensible resource for all manner of things, and I use them on a regular basis.

However, like all things marketing related it is critically important that you focus your attention on the RIGHT Internet marketing forums. There is absolutely no point in frequenting Internet marketing forums that:

Have little or no traffic OR do not stay on their theme/ topic

Are not well respected within their niche commmunity, or attract knowledgeable Internet professionals

Attract people who behave in a less than professional manner

Have no moderator to moderate the posts (namely from people who use forums to blatantly promote some product... rather than contributing to the forum itself).

Remember, a good Internet marketing forum is a gathering of like minded individuals interested in learning more about specific topics who contribute to the variety of theme related discussions.

AND... Internet marketing forums (just like mainstream society) have their own culture, so work with those Internet marketing forums which align with your value systems and views of the world in relation to Internet marketing practices.

The computer term GIGO still applies here... Garbage In, Garbage Out.

Forum Etiquette...

Each Internet marketing forum will have its own culture (broadly translated as "the unstated way we do things around here folks").

So, before you actually post to a forum do some creative lurking (otherwise called research).

Look at the subject matter being discussed on the forum

Look at the messages posted by the frequent posters on the forum. Are these people being helpful to other posters, irrespective of the posters knowledge base... or are they using the forum as a digital grandstand for their ignorance? We're looking for a helpful community here.

Is there a moderator on the forum? If so is this person even-handed with their moderations? A good forum has an almost invisible moderator, because the forum itself is self disciplined... and the other posters on the forum will very quickly eject someone who's not playing by the forum's (stated and unstated) rules.

Is the information that's being contributed valuable, or are people just using the forum to promote their latest net product?

Forums and Search Engines...

Okay, so you've found your forum. It's a good forum. The discussions are lively and beneficial to all concerned. You've worked out the culture of the forum, and you play by the unstated posting rules.

How can you translate this forum into a traffic generator for your own web site?

There are three ways...

By posting on a regular basis... contributing to the discussions with considered and valuable information. In other words DON'T post just to get your name in front of people

By optimizing your posts so that they're keyword rich, so that the Search Engines will rank them highly when people search for specific information

By setting up and running your own forum

Posting On A Regular Basis: Now I'm going to contradict myself here... "Less Is More". What I mean by this is that it is better to post ONLY when you have something worthwhile to contribute. Why? Well people can't see you so they "know" you via the quality of your posts on the forum. So, if every time you post you contribute some "gem" then the forum members will eventually recognise you as a person with integrity who has knowledge in a particular area, and they'll seek out your posts. This type of posting will give you immediate traffic to your website.

Optimizing your posts for the Search Engines: Search Engines are in the information sorting and ranking business, so if you give them what they want (good information) they'll give you what you want... long term traffic. Your optimized-for-Search-Engines forum posts will sit around for a long time and bring you long term traffic. To use this technique use Markus Allen's clever Internet Marketing Forum system, 'Yipit'.

By Setting Up And Running Your Own Forum: This may be a very good long term strategy if you have significiant expertise in the Internet marketing area. However, it takes time to get a forum to "run"... and thus you have to invest considerable time and effort to spark a forum before it will take on a life of its own. And... frankly there are already a significant number of (varying quality) Internet marketing forums available on the web.