Table
of Traffic Tips
1-10
11-20
21-30
31-40
41-50
51-60
61-70
71-80
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Tip 17: Join Forums and
Contribute!
If you followed the last tip, then you have probably found a few forums
that relate to your website. Now it is time to use those forums and
build a reputation with your fellow members. By helping others and
contributing information to the forum, you build credibility toward
your name and your opinion. The more people who value your opinion and
your advice, the more traffic you can bring to your website.
Building up a reputation isn't something you can do in a day. If you
want people to trust you and listen to what you have to say, then you
will have to be viewed as a long time trusted forum member. Long time?
How long exactly? Well, that varies from forum to forum. In my opinion,
you should have at least been a member for 2-3 months and have a few
hundred posts under your belt before people start trusting you.
The entire time you are posting, giving help, and expressing your
opinion, you'll be building up your reputation and adding valuable
one-way links to your website. Oh, I didn't tell you that you have to
put your website link in your signature, did I? No matter; just put the
link in your signature, add a short attention grabbing description, and
forget about it. Concentrate on contributing to the forum and it won't
seem like advertising "work". After awhile, you'll feel as though you
are part of the community; and that's a good thing. Basically, you're
killing two birds with one stone; getting free one-way links to your
site and building up your credibility with the other members at the
same time.
When posting information and helpful tips for members, be very careful
and make sure you follow the rules. A small mistake could label you as
a spammer and get you banned. Some forums will give you warnings and
others will not. Also, never ever refer to the link in your signature.
This can be seen as spamming and is usually frowned upon. Just follow
the rules and you'll be fine.
Provide useful information, help members, and be honest and genuinely
interested in other peoples' opinions. It won't be long before members
label you as an expert and start listening to everything you have to
say.
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Tip
18: Create a Forum and Add it to Your Website!
Having a forum is an excellent way to get repeat visitors and more
website traffic. Every topic has people that want to discuss it, so
that leaves a big opening for you. You can be the one that allows
people to express their opinion's in a place that is friendly and
focuses specifically on the issue. Sure, there are other popular forums
out there, but why should that stop you? There are other websites out
there and that didn't stop you from creating one of your own, did it?
No, so why stop now?
Adding a forum to your site is not only convenient for visitors, but it
can be profitable for you. There are quite a few different ways to
profit from a forum; like google adsense and selling advertising space.
It's also convenient for you in the fact that it lets you know how many
people are actively visiting your website.
You've seen it in movies; one couple starts to dance, then everyone
starts to dance. Well, it's the same in a forum. A few people start
talking, then everyone else starts talking. But for that to even be
possible, you have to make sure you have a regular amount of daily
visitors.
People that see a dead forum might think "Eh, Maybe this site isn't as
good as I thought" or "No one else is using this site, so why should
I?". Yeah, those are extreme examples, but you never really know what
turns people off. But I guarantee that if no one starts a conversation,
then the forum will fall flat on it's virtual face.
Starting the discussions may be left up to you; so start a few posts,
try to spark some ideas, and then wait for some responses. If you have
enough visitors, then you should see some activity within a few days.
Some people even go as far as hiring others to make posts for a month
or two, just to spark interest. It's not a bad idea, but that's
completely up to you and your budget. Either way, you need to get
people to start talking!
In all honesty, you just have to know how to manage the forum and
maximize it's use. If you can do that, then the money and the people
will take care of themselves. |
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