Promoting Your Business on Forums

By: Melissa Khalinsky

There are a number of ways you can promote your business on forums - just make sure you read any rules first to make sure it is OK.

1. Your Profile - fill in your profile, complete with URL. Make sure what you write is relevant to yourself and your business.

2. Avatar - many sites allow you to have an avatar. Instead of a photo or cute picture, resize and upload your logo instead!

3. Signature - many sites allow you to include a URL in your signature - use it! If they only allow links to personal sites, create a personal site and include a banner, profile or link to your business site. Though be careful about how you do this - make sure the focus is on your personal life.

4. Get involved - the more people read your posts and get to know you, the more likely they are to visit your site. So, get involved in the forums and let people get to know and trust you.

5. Don't push your business - people generally don't like it. Unless someone specifically asks for details about your business, let your signature speak for itself.

6. Don't spam - including private messages, e-mails and unsolicited posts. People don't like it and will ignore not only your promotional message but anything else you may post.

7. Respect the rules - the biggest way to get kicked off a forum and alienate members is to break the rules, especially rules about spam. Read the forum rules & respect them. If you can't find the rules, ask Admin to show you where they are. It is always best to err on the side of caution.

Happy surfing.