Before You Begin

Forums are simply places where targeted communities gather to share their love and passion (not to mention debate and beat into the ground...but I digress).

You can certainly make money via forum participation, but NOT via drive-by postings!! A drive-by posting is just a message whose sole purpose is to get one's link on the Internet...and generally is not received well at all.

If you want to make money with forums, consider these helpful tips.

Tip 1 - Be useful.

Don't join a forum and immediately start posting drive by links! Instead, first see if there's a Welcome section - post your introduction there. You don't even have to include a signature at that time....just present a brief blurb about yourself and how you are looking forward to contributing to the community.

Then look for topics in which you can join and present useful information. For example, let's say that you are selling trumpet gear. You probably have solid opinions on what model is best, how to improve one's range, etc. ... you can post responses to beginners' questions, argue the merits of custom jobs verses Bach Strads, etc.

After you've become part of the crowd, you can:

Tip 2 - Add your link to your signature

Just about every forum lets you add your signature to your postings. You can advertise your own products, or sometimes affiliate products...this is an excellent use for DAPLs as well!

Want to know where to post? Look to:

Tip 3 - Useful forums

You can find a list of the Top 100 vBulletin forums and look for relevant places in which to join.

Big Boards is another helpful directory of popular boards too.

An easy way to find forums is to simply query on your favorite search engine:

topic forum

ie,

internet marketing forum

affiliate marketing forum

porsche forum

trumpet forum

By simple searching like the above, you can really zero in on your targeted audience.

Above and beyond

You can start your own forums of course...but you do need to consider the costs. Maintenance, moderating, followup....and there's also the big catch 22 of people like posting when they see a community is active...but for it to be active, people have to post!

Here are some good resources for that:

Community Building

Building a Community

I hope you've found the above useful! Please feel free to share it with your friends.

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