How to Sell Your Product on the Forums?

How to Sell Your Product on the Forums?

by: Radhika Venkata

1. Your signature file:

Most of the forums allow you to carry a 4 6 lines of signature files with your name. So these files appears below your name when you answer a forum thread.

Most people advertise about their product. Don’t do that. Always offer some free ecourse or trial product. Personally I prefer to offer free ecourse than an ezine because, we feel that we gain more in short course of 7 days rather than a chain of endless ezines.

Second you can offer free product or free trial software or free membership.

Always hyperlink the email or web page link, so simple click will take the reader to the destination page.

2. Use the section กSpecial offers to Forum Membersก Forum:

You may see a seperate forum like กSpecial discount to Forum membersก. Here you can advertise your product or offer special discounts to forum members.

Tips while posting in these type of forums

Add an image of your product.

Use the html code to highlight the benefits.

Hyperlink the web page or product link.

State your discount in bold letters.

3. Seek partners for joint ventures:

Choose a forum appropriate for your product or business. For example if you are selling reseller hosting service then choose web designers forums.

Most web designers prefer to host their clients on own servers, so there will be more chances for you to get partners here.

Tips on seeking joint ventures

Let your partner get equal benefits from your proposal.

Be polite in asking partnership.

Leave the selection or decision making to the person whom you are going to ask a joint venture.

1 or 2 emails. If you didn’t get any response, no more emails. May be he/she doesn’t like these type of ventures.

4. Banner advertising or sponsoring:

Some forums sell advertising space and look for sponsors to sponsor the forum categories. If you want to act as a sponsor, you pay them like monthly or yearly and they put your web site or product link on the forum index, at the sub forum you choose.

This sponsoring is very cost effective way of advertising than banner advertising.

For example, you are selling search engine ebook. You can sponsor the sub forum กSearch engine promotionก in the list of forums. Your ebook link will be placed on that category of forums.

About The Author

Radhika Venkata

Webmaster Resource Directory: List Your product, ezine or web site free!

http://www.webmasterscentral.com/

Subscribe to กiNet Marketing Ezineก to receive solid articles, tips and real facts on Internet Marketing. Get Ebooks with Resale rights Free!

http://www.webmasterscentral.com/subscribe.shtml

This article was posted on January 21, 2004

by Radhika Venkata

Software Promotion

Software Promotion

by: Sharon Housley

Software Announce

Creating amazing software is only half the battle. Telling the world about your software is the other half. With working capital, consider employing someone who specializes in software promotion. To work with an established reputable firm can esure success when marketing software. Two promotional companies that know the software industry, and can provide valuable marketing advice and insight are:

Shareware Promotions http://www.sharewarepromotions.com

Dr File Finder http://www.drff.com .

Outside of hiring professionals to market software, there are still a number of options for marketing software, in most cases, the only investment will be time.

1. Post Press Releases to Online Resources

If press releases or product announcements are sent out, consider posting the announcements to websites, there are a number that allow for press release posting free of charge. The releases on these sites are occasionally picked up by publications looking for information or filler content. Another side benefit to these listings is increased link popularity, which helps with search engine ranking. A list of sites that allow for press release posting can be found under กpress release postingก A number are available at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/pressreleases.html

2. Post Announcement on Usenet

A number of Usenet groups allow for posting of announcements or press releases. Most of the announce groups in Usenet contain กann.ก in the domain address. To locate topic specific announce groups consider searching Newsguy.com. A list of common software announce groups are listed below.

comp.software.shareware.announce

fm.announce

3. Post to Forums

Forums also contain sections in which you can post announcements. If the application is niche product, consider searching for topic specific forums in addition to the general software announce forums listed below. Be sure to post any announcements in the appropriately marked กannounce forumก

http://www.smallbusinesssoftware.net/forum/

http://forum.mypdacafe.com

http://forums.digitalsea.com/

http://download.net/forums/index.php

http://www.developersforum.com/

http://v2.tlab404.com/forum

Topic specific software announce forums are also available, such as http://www.messagingsoftware.com/forum only messaging related announcements are welcome

4. Search Usenet

To determine if there are recent inquiries regarding related software or your products and to post appropriate responses search Googleกs Forum directory (by date): http://groups.google.com/

5. Present to Local User Groups

User groups are filled with technically savvy individuals who have an interest in technology and software. Consider attending and presenting software at a local user group meeting or a SIG (special interest group). The targeted audience will often share information, about software that impresses them, with friends or other user groups. To find local user groups search the database located on the Association of Professional User Group (APCUG) website at http://www.apcug.org or post an inquiry to the user group forum on http://www.smallbusinesssoftware.net/forum/

6. Partner with Other Developers

Consider a developer newsletter exchange. Complimentary products often do well when presented properly. Provide a discount or affiliate exchange to sweeten the offer of a mention.

The extra effort expended to make potential customers aware of products can go a long way to ensure the success of a well designed application.

About The Author

Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc. http://www.notepage.net a company specializing in alphanumeric paging, SMS and wireless messaging software solutions. Other sites by Sharon can be found at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com , and http://www.smallbusinesssoftware.net

This article was posted on April 20, 2004

by Sharon Housley

Forums… What They Are And WHY They’re Essential

Forums… What They Are And WHY They’re Essential For Anyone กConsideringก Starting An Online Business

by: Cory Threlfall

Well… first off, letกs define exactly what a กForumก is so that youกll be able to relate to what Iกm about to explain within this article.

The simple definition of a กForumก is… itกs a online community with a open discussion that allows you to กPostก questions or queries related to a specific topic.

You can find กForumsก online related to any topic under the sun, so it doesn’t matter what the question is that you might have because thereกs a กForumก out there with hundreds, if not, thousands of members ready and willing to give you helpful Tips and Advice to the questions you have.

I can’t stress this enough, especially if you’re New to Internet and Internet marketing.

Now, for the last segment of this article on want to focus on WHY forums are essential for Anyone who is considering starting an online business.

Well, the main reason is this… Forums are a great way to research your market you are considering developing a product or service for.

Why, you ask?

Simply because this is where people go to post there questions about a certain problem they’re dealing with and the กRule Of Thumbก is… when creating a product or service (no matter what kind of product or service it is) make sure it solves a กProblemก.

This is the KEY to the success of your product or service.

Seriously, take a look at all the กPostsก from the members and see which ones share common threads.

If you see alot of common treads, that means thereกs potential for a product to be developed.

By doing this simple task it will save you Time and more importantly… Money, because who would spend the Time and Money developing a product or service if there was no demand for it. Right?

You see how this works.

It Pays to do a little research.

And ‘researchก is the KEY ingredient for a successful product or service and Forums are simply a great place to get started, especially for anyone considering starting an online business.

Now, with that said, all you need to do know is figure out what you would กEnjoyก doing as a online business and start a business plan from there.

Go to your favorate search engine and search out a few forums within the area of business your interests lie and become a member.

A great forum I recommend to get started at and be apart of is… The Warriors Forum. http://compactURL.com/zrgt

Here youกll find some of the greatest minds on the Net to help you on your way with ANY business you might be considering.

You can also go to the all famous Google and join the Googe Groups community at http://groupsbeta.google.com/ and find almost any topic you might be looking for.

I truly hope this article opened up your mind to the endless possibilities that await you, no matter what business your considering. We all need answers and Forums are simply the best place to get them answered.

(c)Copyright 2005 by Cory Threlfall

About The Author

Cory Threlfall is the Editor and Publisher of a Internet marketing newsletter called the กInternet Wonders eZineก.

http://www.internetwondersezine.com ; He also recommends

Russell Brunsonกs กForum Fortunesก software that allows you to Surf and Post to multiple forums all from one browser.

http://www.internetwondersezine.com/forum_fortunes.html

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 07

by Cory Threlfall

5 Free Steps To Online Income

5 Free Steps To Online Income

by: Darren Power

If you are new to the online business world and would like to get involved without risking any of your hard earned cash then this article will show you one way to get involved for free.

We are going to discuss ways to promote affiliate programs without your own site and without spending any money.

Best of all if you choose a program related to your interests then it won’t even seem like any work is involved.

The 5 steps are aimed at promoting a product while you go about your normal daily surfing activities.

Before we get on to step 1 you need to locate and join an appropriate affiliate program.

This program ideally should be 2 tier, which means you get paid for sales made through your link as well as for the sales made by affiliates that you refer through your link.

To find an affiliate program search at Google for กaffiliate directoryก then visit the directories and search the directory for a keyword related to your interests.

Once you have joined a program you will receive a link to promote, you may also receive a second link to promote the affiliate program itself which can be used to recruit tier 2 affiliates.

Once you have a link take the following steps to incorporate the affiliate link into your surfing activities:

1. Add a signature to your emails, this will mean that every mail you send will have a tag line at the bottom which, in this case, will promote the service that you are affiliated with. Check the help files in your email program for instructions on how to do this.

2. If you already visit forums related to the product add a signature to your profile. This means that every time you post your link will be added to the end of your post.

Locate more forums where people interested in the product might hang out. Do a search for a keyword followed by forum at Google.

Try and think of all the different related subjects that might have forums and identify as many as possible.

Once you have identified your forums visit them all and join the ones that allow posters to add a signature file to their posts. Then get involved in conversations be useful whenever possible and every time you post an item your affiliate link will be displayed. This will be a lot less like work if you are promoting in a niche that is of interest to you.

3. If you have an eBay account then create an About Me page and include details of the affiliate program there. Click help once logged in to eBay and search for About Me to find instructions on creating your page.

Whenever you list an auction include a line at the top of the description that invites viewers to visit your About Me page.

4. Locate sites that have visitors that might be interested in the product that you are affiliated with especially those that have a mailing list or an ezine. Then contact the site owner and suggest that they join the affiliate program. If they join using your link you will earn a percentage of any commissions that they earn.

5. Repeat, Repeat, Repeat. With so many things success comes down to numbers. The more site owners you contact and the more forums that you post at the more commission you will earn.

Do all of the above and you will earn money for no investment, it may take time and might start slowly but it will happen.

Copyright 2004 Darren Power

About The Author

Darren Power is the author of The Money Seed, your quick start guide to making money online. You can join his affiliate program at http://www.themoneyseed.com/affiliate.

This article was posted on October 01, 2004

by Darren Power

Why You Should Use (Not Abuse) Forums to Increase

Why You Should Use (Not Abuse) Forums to Increase Your Traffic

by: Tinu AbayomiPaul

There are dozens of reasons why you should look up the forums that are related to your market and post to them often. Here are 3 to get you started.

1 Get to Know Your Market as both an Associate and An Expert

The research alone is a good enough reason to at least sign up to some forums and read. Just by reading posts in forums, you can hear what your market concerns are, straight from consumers. Youกll be able to find what their pains are look particularly for frequent questions that don’t appear to have solutions.

For example, if you sell timeshares, and you join travel communities, you may often hear questions asking for the best times of year to visit a certain region or locale. With this information you could start a section at your site for every listing that tells the cheapest time to travel for that area, the best time of year for good weather, and other special bits of information a traveler might want.

When you’re comfortable enough to begin posting, after watching the conversation for a few days, or perhaps even a week, you might find that new people have questions that you can help them with. By consistently becoming the goto person, you increase your credibility as a knowledgeable expert, and people begin to trust your ability to provide information.

2 Increase Your Siteกs Visibility With More Targeted Links Back to Your Site

Many forums are run by hobbyists who aren’t so much concerned with marking money from their visitors, as having an established community for discourse on certain issues. These forums will often allow you to leave a link to your site in every post. The ones that are open to public viewing for visitors are also frequently spidered by search engines.

If you set up your link correctly, youกll then have topical links back to your own forum. Even if the search engine spiders can’t see these links at forums that can be viewed by registered users only, you will also find that once you become a part of the community, other members will click your link out of curiosity or because they’re looking for something specific that you may have at your site.

Even forums that exist to gain more sales of their own products often allow you to post your link, especially if it isn’t to a competing site. For example, internet marketing forums run by people who sell doityourself SEO products may allow infopreneurs who sell a different type of product, such as an autoresponder service, to post their link freely.

The focus here, at all times, is to help other members, not just to promote your product. Your link is in your signature, so unless someone asks you a specific question, you get far better results from being helpful than you do by posting forum spam that gets deleted anyway.

3 Lurk, Listen and Learn

If youกve been around forums at all, you already know that there are often 8 to ten times more people registered and not posting than there are people who actually visit and participate.

Reading without ever posting is commonly known as กlurkingก. I usually suggest that at least for the first week, you should monitor the community you wish to join in this way, just reading posts, and learning the personality of the forum youกd like to post in this keeps you from committing any faux pas that might have you corrected by another member, or even worse, banned.

Sometimes youกll find a forum that is appropriate to read, but doesn’t seem like the right place for commercial posting. Or you might find that you’re there to learn and not to teach or maybe you just don’t have the time to post as youกd like to. You can still learn a lot by being a lurker.

When lurking in forums, your primary job is to listen (figuratively speaking) and learn. Again, pay attention to questions that come up repeatedly over the course of a month or so. Be on the look out for rumored product or technology developments. Find out who is the resident expert maybe this is the key person for an interview you want to do, or an affiliate program you can join.

The most important thing you can learn from this exercise is what annoyances your market is experiencing. If you sell cat furniture, and you find out that a common complaint is availability in remote markets, maybe you can change your shipping policy to add international ordering and increase the scope of your business.

Anywhere you can fit a solution to a problem can bring you the sales you need. You may find out that you need to change your product, to enhance it, or perhaps to take out features your prospects just aren’t interested in.

This is a good solution when you have the time to visit forums and post or read. As you become more busy, youกll find yourself at the forums less and less as a poster, so this isn’t necessarily a permanent solution. However, if you follow these steps correctly, youกll soon have the traffic to foster more community relations at your own site as well.

Copyright 2005 Tinu AbayomiPaul

About The Author

Tinu is a website promotion specialist who posts free information on a variety of traffic tips in her blog at http://www.freetraffictip.com.

This article was posted on April 23

by Tinu AbayomiPaul

Ten Steps To A Well Optimized Website Step 10: T

Ten Steps To A Well Optimized Website Step 10: The Extras

by: Dave Davies

Welcome to part ten in this search engine positioning series. Over the past nine weeks we have covered the nine fundamental steps to a proper search engine positioning campaign. From choosing keywords and writing content to optimizing your pages and building quality links we have covered the required steps to attaining solid rankings that will last. In part ten we will cover the extras.

The extras consist of tips, tools and resources that you will want to use to keep you on the cutting edge of who’s who and what’s what in the search engine positioning arena.

Over this series we have covered the ten key aspects to a solid search engine positioning campaign.

The Ten Steps We Have Gone Through Are:

Keyword Selection (http://www.beanstalkinc.com/articles/searchenginepositioning/keywords.htm)

Content Creation (http://www.beanstalkinc.com/articles/searchenginepositioning/content.htm)

Site Structure (http://www.beanstalkinc.com/articles/searchenginepositioning/structure.htm)

Optimization (http://www.beanstalkinc.com/articles/searchenginepositioning/optimization.htm)

Internal Linking (http://www.beanstalkinc.com/articles/searchenginepositioning/internallinking.htm)

Human Testing (http://www.beanstalkinc.com/articles/searchenginepositioning/humantesting.htm)

Submissions (http://www.beanstalkinc.com/articles/searchenginepositioning/submissions.htm)

Link Building (http://www.beanstalkinc.com/articles/linkbuilding/linkbuilding.htm)

Monitoring (http://www.beanstalkinc.com/articles/searchenginepositioning/monitoring.htm)

The Extras

Step Ten – The Extras

The first nine steps in this series cover the true nutsandbolts of a solid SEO campaign. These are the crucial steps you need to take to attain top rankings that will stick. That said … there are ขthe extrasข, the icing on the SEOcake sotospeak. Those little things that will bump you up from number 4 to number 2, or help you hold your positioning through an algorithm change.

Some of these things have been touched on in previous articles while others are completely new. Either way, these are the things that will give you that little oneup over other ethical SEO’s who know their stuff.

Tools

One of the most important advantages you can gain over your competition comes from the tools you use and more importantly, how you use them. Some people blindly follow the advice given to them from socalled ขSEOsoftwareข. This is never the right decision. Taking the information these good tools can provide, and knowing how to turn that information into advantage is the key.

Here are the tools that many successful SEOs use to build solid rankings for their clients and why:

Top Optimizer Pro (http://www.beanstalkinc.com/resources/recommended/top.htm)

I’ve noted this one in the article on link building and it’s definitely worth mentioning again. Never before have I found a tool that can tear apart your competition so thoroughly for such an affordable price and in such an easytounderstand manner.

This tool with take a look at the top 10 for a search phrase, and give you:

their position

their PageRank

their Alexa rank

the total number of backlinks to their site as seen by Google

the number of their site pages indexed by Google

their keyword density for the targeted phrase

their title

their H1 tag

This is the overview it gives you. You can then select one of the sites and view more detail including:

the backlink URL

the backlink domain

the IP address of the backlink

the PageRank of the backlink from that page

the specific anchor text use for that backlink (or a note whether it was an image)

the title of the page linking back

the Alexa rating of the page linking back

the top three keyword focusก of the page linking back

the number of links pointing to that page

the number of outbound links from that page

Right below that there is access to a breakdown of the sites backlink’s that gives a summary of:

the specific anchor text, the number of times that anchor text was used, and the percentage this represents of the total backlinks counted

where these links come from. This will give you great information as to how many of these links are coming from the same domain, which is generally accepted in the SEO community as holding less weight than the same number of links from different domains

a PageRank breakdown of all the links

At $247 from TopNet Solutions it’s a bit pricey but worth every penny if you only use it on one campaign.

PR Prowler (http://www.beanstalkinc.com/resources/recommended/prprowler.htm)

A necessity for any search engine positioning campaign that requires link building. This tool, also developed by TopNet Solutions, doesn’t do all the fancy things that Top Optimizer Pro does however it does do one thing VERY well – it’s seeks out quality relevant link partners with high PageRanks.

If you’re not in a competitive industry and you just want to save time on link building (and I do mean a LOT of time) this tool will do it for you. You simply set it to find links based on specified search phrase(s) and with a minimum PageRank. You can search for up to 1000 links at a time. Simply start the tool and continue on with other work or go to bed while it’s working for you. Come back and you’ve got some great leads and the best part is, it’s weeded out all the duds so your efforts are focused only on the links that will most benefit your site.

This tool has taken campaigns that would have required many hundreds of links to a point where the same effect can often be realized with 50 and in a fraction of the time spent.

FireFox (http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/)

While this isn’t exactly an SEO tool perse it makes researching and optimizing much faster and more convenient. FireFox is a browser (read: Internet Explorer replacement) that has MANY features that make it more convenient.

I like the tabbed browsing (moving between multiple pages through the use of tabs on one browser screen), the username and password ability is far better and more advanced than Internet Explorer’s and it’s far more secure than the more popular Microsoft product. It blocks popups and spyware just isn’t written for it.

I will admit that for the first few hours I was trying it out I found it a bit more difficult to use but once you realize how much more powerful it can be and that the difficult arises from the instinct to make the task more difficult by doing it the way you would have with IE, you’ll never want to switch back. The next time you’ve got 5 IE windows open to various search engines, another for WordTracker and a couple more to various other pages think of FireFox and you’re world will be made easier. It’s a free download.

You can read more on the advantages of the FireFox browser in a search engine positioning article written by ISEDB Editor Jim Hedger at http://www.isedb.com/news/article/1062.

Search Status (http://quirk.co.za/searchstatus/)

A tool developed for FireFox users giving them access to the Google Toolbar and Alexa Rankings. It can be downloaded and installed free of charge.

A big thanks to developer Craig Raw for a great tool, free of charge, for those of us who want to use something that isn’t powered by Microsoft and that has all the advantages of the FireFox browser.

WebAlerts (https://www.google.com/alerts/signin?hl=en)

You’re doing your linkbuilding, you’re writing articles, or you just want to see what others’ are saying about you. Do you really want to run searches for yourself and for your articles every few days?

Set up a Google WebAlert for a phrase from an article you’ve written, for your company name, for your competitors and/or for a phrase from the description you’re using in your link exchanges and let the most powerful servers in the world do the work for you.

Beanstalk On Tools …

There are definitely some very useful tools out there as noted above. What must be understood is that these tools alone won’t get you the top rankings any more than a map will guarantee you a good vacation if you don’t know how to read it and you don’t know where you want to go.

The single most important thing anyone hoping to attain (and maintain) top positioning on the search engines can do is to keep himself or herself educated. While we noted a few great resources in the last article on monitoring here are some of the key resources I uses to keep uptodate on what’s going on the in SEO world.

Search Engines

This is definitely the most obvious. Run periodic if not daily searches on your keyword phrases and a few others. Don’t just look for your rankings but look at who’s in the top positions and look at their sites and who’s linking to them. Watch for changes and look for what’s different in the sites that are now on top.

Don’t kill yourself trying to figure out every single engine. Google, Yahoo! and MSN are the three biggest and just following these three is more than enough work. Generally I’ve found that meeting the requirements of these three will generally result in solid rankings on most of the other ขsecondaryข engines.

Forums

I can’t speak highly enough about forums. When you’re looking for uptodate information this is where to go. The challenge on forums however is in deciding who knows what they’re talking about and who doesn’t. Further, you’ll need to be able to figure out which members follow your code of ethics when it comes to SEO. Business owners seeking longterm rankings with minimal maintenance should not be taking advice from Blackhat SEOs.

I mentioned a few forums on the last article. A few additional forums worth watching are:

Search Engine Watch Forums (http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/) – There’s not much to say about this one except that it’s a mustsee. Tons of great information, many members so a wide variety of opinions to draw from.

IHelpYou Forums (http://www.ihelpyouservices.com/forums/) – Managed by SEO Doug Heil this is an interesting one. While I can’t say I agree with everything Doug has to say I will give him credit for ethics. If you want to make sure your tactics are squeakyclean then here’s where to get advice. My recommendation: take the info with a grain of salt. Doug tends to occasionally make blanket rulings on tactics that have their place however if you go in knowing this he can be a great source of some solid information.

High Rankings Forums (http://www.highrankings.com/forum/) – Managed by SEO Jill Whalen, this one has some great discussions. Sticking with my belief in giving credit where it’s due I have to advise to pay attention to what Jill says. She knows her stuff and while she definitely falls into the category of whitehat SEOs, she’s willing to discuss a variety of tactics, their merits, and judge them based on their use and worth. Open and honest discussion – that’s what forums are about. Mentioned last week but worth mentioning twice.

The other forums mentioned last week were:

Web Pro World (http://www.webproworld.com/forum.php)

SEO Chat (http://forums.seochat.com/)

Search Guild (http://www.searchguild.com/)

Li’l Engine (http://forums.lilengine.com/)

Conclusion

So here we are, the end of it all. 17,000 words read (thank you) and, if you’ve been following the program, many MANY hours spent optimizing your website.

Will it be worth it? If you have followed these steps, keep yourself updated on changes, and keep working on building your links, creating quality content, and insuring that you’re always putting in 10% more than your competitors then it certainly should be.

I would like to take a moment to thank those of you who have worked through these past ten articles and to wish you the very best of luck in your online promotions. As always, you are welcome to contact me with any questions you might have. Our goal in this series has been to provide you with the information and the resources to do it. I hope we have done just that.

About The Author

Dave Davies and Beanstalk (http://www.beanstalkinc.com/) offer guaranteed search engine positioning. He has been optimizing and ranking websites for over three years and has a solid history of success. Dave is available to answer any questions that you may have about your website and how to get it into the top positions on the major search engines.

[email protected]

This article was posted on December 30, 2004

by Dave Davies

Looking for Free advertising, here it is!

Looking for Free advertising, here it is!

by: Veronica Bath

There are lots of ways to advertise for free but they are time consuming so I guess technically, they are not free because your time is worth something! But if you have the time and not the money this is for you.

I posed the question of ขfree advertisingข to a few forums and they all can back the same, but with new links to check out. It’s basically what I already knew, but it’s nice to try and find new ways of doing things.

For this article that has helpful links in it, Please go to my Website and click on Free Advertising.

Link Popularity:

This is the most important thing and in doing any or all of the below things, you will gain link popularity. Links to your Website, wither you link back or not, gets you ranked good with search engines ( the best free advertising of all) and you will get visitors from other sites that are ขtargeted visitorsข that are interested in what you have to offer, and that my friend is your ขMAIN GOALข

So here is what I know about free advertising and what I have recently learned in no particular order:

Articles:

Writing articles and submitting them to different Website will get you the exposure you need and also build your credibility. It’s not so difficult to do this, just give good advise on a subject you know alot about, hopefully it is somehow connected to the product/service you are selling on your Website. Make sure in your signature that you have your URL or a way to contact you. When you go to submit your article, they usually give you a stepbystep way to do this. You can always go to one of the site first to get an idea of what you will need to write and publish your article. You can also go to my Website and see how I have written them.You can go to Google or Yahoo and search on ขSubmit your article for freeข.

Classified Ads:

Classified Ads are another way of getting free advertising for your business. In this you can highlight the benefits of your site and/or offer a special to get people to come to your site. These have limited space, so you need to make it shortnsweet, and to the point to get them to your site. The key is to have a headline that sells, I can’t give you my source because I buy a program to get this kind of info., but you can do a search on Google or Yahoo for ขHeadlines that Sellข and it will give you some resources. If you would like to know what program I received my sources from email me and I will give you the link.

Again, you can search on ขFree Classified ad submissionข to find places to place your ads.

Forums:

Forums are not only away for free advertising but you can also ask questions from people that have different way of looking at things or just plain have the answer to your questions. You can also answer question for other; it builds your credibility up and gets you exposure for your business. The way to find forums that relation to your Website is to do a search for ข______ forumsข, example: it could be video games forums, cb radios forums, Internet business forums, etc…

Press releases:

Sounds so professional, but you can do it, I have faith! A press release simply tells the World about your company and that you are ready to do business. Most sites you go to will have a temple you can go by to do this, I will be providing that soon, maybe by the time you read this. It’s pretty straightforward and anyone that can type can do this. You can do a search on ข Free Press release submissionข

Link exchange:

Link exchange is a good way to get free advertising and looks good for the search engines. You can do this in a couple of ways but you need to do what is right for you! There are link exchange programs out there that are for free and some you pay for. Stay away for ones that you cannot pick and choose which sites you want to link with. Link farm are very bad for your site and can go against you with the search engines. Link farms are from companies that upload, let’s say 100 links to your site and those same links will be on all the other sites as well. It’s like a generic links pages, way not good. It defeats the purpose of links and shuts you out of search engines.

Paid vs free, Paid everything is done for you, all you have to do is accept links from other sites or go out and request a link exchange with another site with basically a touch of a button. The free link exchange you have to go out and request individual link exchanges manually. Then manually add their links to your site and there is not guarantee they will link back after doing so. It all depends on how much time you want to put into this.

Here are some links you can take a look at:

Good Luck and Please contact me if you need help or have any questions. That is what I’m here for,

Veronica Bath

http://www.homebasedbusinessopportunitiescentral.com/

About The Author

My mission is to help people with their goals of becoming their own boss or just make extra money. I have been scammed big time before and want to help other avoid doing the same thing.

My Website is for this purpose, ขHome Based Business Opportunities Centralข at http://www.homebasedbusinessopportunitiescentral.com/!

Copyright SC Bath Enterprize Fruita

[email protected]

This article was posted on September 29, 2004

by Veronica Bath

How to Increase Your Opt In List by 322% in 28 Day

How to Increase Your Opt In List by 322% in 28 Days

by: Colin Evans

‘the moneyกs in your listก how many times have you heard this statement? Plenty Iกll bet… Ever wondered why itกs been repeated so often itกs like a mantra?

Simple, itกs the truth. Anybody who owns a list containing the contact details of people interested in their products or services, has a high degree of control over sales.

Luckily, there are numerous low or no cost ways you can rapidly double, triple or even quadruple the size of your opt in subscriber list. Here are 3 of them:

1) Increase Your Opt In List Through Ezine Advertising.

Many ezine publishers incorporate advertisements into their emails. Most will charge for this, but there are ezine owners who publish ads for free.

Without getting too involved, here are the three basic types of ezine ads:

i) Solo Ads separate emails dedicated to a single advert, and are the most effective. Unfortunately, nearly all ezine publishers will charge for a solo ad.

ii) Top Sponsor Ads a short classified ad published at the top of an email. Not as effective as solo ads, but most ezine publishers will charge for these.

iii) Trailer Ads these are short ads published in the middle or at the bottom of the email and are the least effective. They are often grouped with a number of other ads, and are the most likely type of free ezine advertising youกll find.

If you are prepared to search, you will find ezines which publish free ads, and many ezine publishers allow new subscribers a free solo or top sponsor ad.

2) Increase Your Opt In List By Posting to Forums.

If you think the only people to frequent online forums (or discussion groups or bulletin boards as they are also called) are spotty faced techno geeks, you are wrong…

Successful business people (and some of the wealthiest) use forums and they do so for 4 major reasons:

i) They are looking for advice people like to ask for opinions about various products or services before purchasing. They also ask for help on using the multiplicity of ideas, tools and services available on the internet.

ii) They are on a search for new products the replies to people looking for advice often contain links to new ideas, tips, tools and services, making forums a great place to search (and just as great a place for you to promote your list).

iii) They are searching for ideas for their own products the types of questions asked, and the number of people asking similar questions often leads to the creation of a successful product.

iv) They want to make contact with others quite often the owners of the tools and services recommended to those searching for advice will set up joint ventures with each other.

This is good news for you as a list owner if you frequent forums related to the topic of your list, because in no time at all you will be able to post numerous helpful replies to other forum userกs questions. Most forums will allow you to use a กsig fileก at the end of your post. This is where you place a brief advertisement and the link to your list.

3) Increase Your Opt In List Through Small Changes to Your Everyday Business Stationery.

A common misperception is to think list building is only an internet marketing ‘thingก. The plain truth is offline businesses also benefit from building their own email lists.

If business is slow, you could send an email to your list containing a กdiscount couponก for a particular product or service you sell. A boring morning idly watching people stroll past your shop window could quite easily turn into a mad rush, which leaves your cash register bulging to the point of busting.

To get people to join your list, you need to make maximum use of every piece of normal everyday business stationery.

On every invoice, statement, packing slip, delivery note, parts list, itinerary, you name it, you must have a brief advertisement and the link to your optin form.

You can build on these three tips and put together a formidable list building arsenal. Don’t sell yourself short by using only one method, use as many as you possibly can and you could build an incredible list in a relatively short space of time.

About The Author

Colin Evans is editor of the List Building Tips newsletter.

Get a free detailed 7 step process to supercharge your opt in list, visit … http://www.listbuildingtips.com.

[email protected]

This article was posted on September 12

by Colin Evans

The Value of Forums

The Value of Forums

by: S. Housley

There are literally thousands of online forums that cover a wide range of topics. Forums provide individuals, who share a common interest, with a meeting place for open discussion, and a great gathering spot for กwater coolerก talk. When used properly forums can be an excellent business tool and resource. By providing well thought out, helpful responses posters can develop a reputation as an industry expert. Establishing a reputation within forums will eventually lead to solid business contacts and relationships.
Forums, online discussion groups, can be found on many websites. Companies, individuals or groups often have their own webbased forums, which are a good source of technical information or just general discussions. They can be closed for private use only or open to anyone to post messages, which are usually sorted within different categories, or topics. Posting to forums is obviously effective when an immediate answer is not required. Forum can be found by searching for topic or subject with the word กforumก or กforumsก. Forums are a great way to participate in a community that is discussing a particular topic, or communicate with a group of people interested in the same topic.
Rules & Regulations
Before you post to a forum its important that you read the Charter or description of the forum and determine what is appropriate. It is probably not a bad idea to monitor a newsgroup for a few days prior to posting. Understanding what is accepted or not accepted in each newsgroup will go a long way in befriending the participants.
Forum Etiquette
Spam is generally frowned upon, if you require information on general forum etiquette Iกd encourage you to read the article at: http://www.smallbusinesssoftware.net/etiquette.htm . Rules and etiquette can vary from one group to another, so don’t assume what is acceptable in one, is acceptable in another.
Some forums require that you register and provide contact information in order to post a message or respond to messages. The registration is typically simple and requires that you submit general information. An email confirmation is required in order to confirm the information; once the confirmation is responded to posting privileges are granted. Some forums do not require registration and you can post anonymously.
What to Look for In a Forum
Because time is valuable it is best to frequent forums that have a lot of traffic, this will ensure that any posts receive maximum exposure for little effort. The most recent posts should be have current dates and it should be clear that there is regular activity on the board.
Moderated Forums
Some forums are moderated, which means posts are approved prior to being made public. This means that if you post to a moderated forum, there will likely be a delay between the submission and the posts appearance in the forum. Moderated forums tend to have a lower กnoiseก ratio and have less offtopic posts. The downside to moderated forums is that like moderated newsgroups they are usually less popular because of the lag time between posts.
Signature Line
Most newsgroups allow for posters to include a signature on any posts. This is your opportunity to mention your products and services. Use this as an opportunity to tell other forum visitors what you want them to know. Be sure to provide an url to your website, as the link will not only refer potential clients but it will help search engine ranking.
Finding Forums
Forums can contain generic information or be very topic specific. Try the following resources to find forums that meet your needs.
Forum Directory http://www.smallbusinesssoftware.net/forumdirectory.htm
Forum Directory http://www.forumdirectory.com
Forum Search http://www.forumsearch.tk

About The Author

Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc. http://www.notepage.net a company specializing in alphanumeric paging, SMS and wireless messaging software solutions. Other sites by Sharon can be found at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com , and http://www.smallbusinesssoftware.net

This article was posted on May 20, 2004

by S. Housley

1 Seldom Discussed Method Of Web Promotion

1 Seldom Discussed Method Of Web Promotion

by: Mark Terry

So youกve made the perfect web site (in your eyes at least) and that allimportant traffic is out there just waiting to visit you. Youกve done your research and followed the usual methods for making people aware about it, and you’re now sat there twiddling your thumbs, regularly checking your traffic analysis tracker in case you get a sudden surge of visitors. Of course, unless you’re a big business with a mass of promotion behind you, those days of overwhelming traffic are quite a way off. So while you wait for your search engine submissions to reap their reward is there anything else you can do to help yourself?

Simple answer. Yes there is and itกs a method that isn’t discussed much. What is it Iกm talking about?

Forums. No don’t run away just yet. Not only will you develop a small amount of traffic in the first few days of launch (a couple of hundred visits easy) but youกll gain a lot of invaluable feedback about your site that can allow you to make changes before the search engines kick in. What could be better than free reviews?

First things first. If you’re unfamiliar with forums they can best be described as the communal discussion area of a web site. If youกve never used one before don’t be afraid they’re not as scary as they seem. Go have a look at a few to see for yourself, read some of the topics and look at the messages people have posted. Nobody is going to jump out at you and ask what you’re doing there. Honest.

Right, now that you’re confident you can post a message on a forum, you should be aware that you can’t and shouldn’t post a message about your wonderful new web site on every forum you come across. If youกve had a look like I suggested youกll notice that most forums are split into sections that cover different areas related to that particular web site. Therefore, if you want to tell people about your site you need to look for forums that will accept this sort of entry.

It isn’t hard to think about where these magical forums might be. Youกll want to look at computer magazine sites, webmaster sites, web review sites, thatกs just for starters, Iกm sure youกll come across more once you get going. The process is then simple; find one of these sites, have a look to see if they run a forum, then check the forum to see if they have a section that allows for your site to be submitted for review by other members.

If you’re new to this then keep things simple with just a simple post at first. Just ask people to look at your site and give you some feedback. The best things to remember with forums are to be polite and friendly in your posts. Most people will usually have something positive to say about your web site despite all the criticisms they may also give. Even if you get lots of praise youกll often be surprised at the smallest tips that you get that can make your site look that little bit more professional looking. Once youกve done a couple of forums and noted the general response, use your different forums to be more specific. Ask about your navigation, ask about the content, ask about the colours, or whatever else may be bugging you.

Some forums ask that you look first at one or two other members sites and give some feedback of your own before asking for yours to be looked at. This can help you in that it may show you how to critique your own site by looking at whatกs wrong with someone elseกs. Also if you do need to give some feedback look at the list of posts and pick someone whose reply count is low or nonexistent. Theyกll be pleased that youกve responded and may pay you the same compliment by looking at yours.

This brings me to another point regarding the reply/view count. Most people who go to the forums (especially newbies) are more likely to look first at the posts that have a decent reply and/or view count. Itกs a psychological thing, the post looks popular so you want to see whatกs so interesting. With some forums you can use this to your advantage (just don’t abuse it). Be aware of the forums that show an increase in the reply/view count everytime someone (including you) adds a message. If you find one make sure you visit your post to respond to anybodyกs comments and add a message to keep the count going. Itกs a bit sneaky I know but like I said don’t abuse it and youกll gain a slight advantage for getting people looking at your site.

Now don’t expect thousands of visitors from the method detailed in this article (unless your site is so good that everybody starts talking about it) but for every person that responds to your request for feedback youกll get loads more that just visit your site who for whatever reason don’t reply. At the end of the day itกs all about getting the ball rolling and anything you can do to proactively promote your web site has to be considered. So best foot forward and get exploring all those forums.

About The Author

Mark Terry is the webmaster of WorkTheSystem. This site provides a series of simple guides that show the different methods of making some extra money on the internet.

[email protected]

This article was posted on September 12, 2002

by Mark Terry

Using Forums to Promote Your Business

Using Forums to Promote Your Business

by: Megan Corwin

When is work not really work? When itกs fun!

Using online forums, also called message boards, can be a fun way to promote your business in a low key way.

Benefits:

You cultivate relationships with others

You learn about all kinds of topics

Your marketing message is presented without screaming advertisement

By answering questions related to your topic, you are positioned as an expert in your field

How to Use a Forum for Promotion:

First, find a forum that is of interest to you and frequented by people in your target market. A great place to start is to go to ezboard.com and search for forums by keywords that reflect your target market.

Next, I suggest you กlurkก or just watch the activity for a few days to get a feel for the tone of the forum. When you feel confident this is an appropriate place to represent your business, introduce yourself. Often message boards have a กNew Membersก type place to post your first message.

After you have been welcomed, scan through the topics and post answers to questions others may have about your area of expertise. Repeat daily or weekly.

Tips:

Of utmost importance is to have a signature line that is added to the end of each message you post. This is like your calling card, and is what makes this method so subtle. You may be posting a famous recipe, but everyone who checks it out will see your business name. Most forums have an account setting or options area where you can set up an automatic signature or you can cut and paste your signature each time, but this is much more cumbersome.

Don’t spam boards by visiting once and posting an advert everywhere. It will give you a bad reputation not what you need to increase sales.

Check the regulations of the board to be sure signature lines are allowed. Some forums strictly prohibit marketing of any type.

Revisit your posting frequently to address any replies. Also, add new postings of interest every few days to keep your business in the message boardกs eye.

Message boards and forums can be a very valuable marketing tool. While you’re at it, be sure to check out the fun topics, too!

About The Author

Megan Corwin is a personal coach who enjoys helping work at home professionals grow their businesses while maintaining an organized household. Download Megan’s free ebook กHow to Market Your Small Business Online for FREEก: http://marketonlinefree.wahwoman.com

This article was posted on December 10, 2003

by Megan Corwin

Seven กMust Followก Rules While Participating In M

Seven กMust Followก Rules While Participating In Message Boards

by: Radhika Venkata

Participating in message boards (forums) discussions is a great way of self promotion. It costs you nothing. Not even a penny. All you have to do is allot sometime for this type of promotion.

Before you getting started you need to know some must follow principles. You want your time to be profitable for you. Right? So what ever time you are gonna spend should bring you some profits.

What are those principles?

***1. Target your promotion:***

If you are search engine optimization expert, then you will be benefited by search engine forums. People coming to those forums need help in their web site optimization. If you are willing to share your knowledge with those people, you will gain their confidence and needless to say few customers too.

***2. Always follow the forum rules:***

In some forums or some areas of forums self promotion is not allowed. At the same time, some subforums are alloted to post your product advertisement. So read carefully before posting your product details anywhere on the forum.

***3. Use signature files:***

Almost all the forums allow signature files. These may be less than 4 lines or less than some 250 characters. This varies from forum to forum. So be concise with your wording.

Most IMPORATNT advice is always offer something free in your signature file. Free report on how to increase sales, free email course on how to design a web site that pulls orders or any topic that focuses on your web site theme. This always beats keeping your product price in your signature file. You can built your optin list too.

In signature files DON’t hide URL with กClick hereก as link text. Let people accustom to your web site name or your product name. If you just use as กClick hereก instead of กSEO tips and tricksก, it looks dull and less interesting.

***4. Change the heading while answering a question:***

If somebody ask a question like กWhat are web site promotion methods?ก.

In reply you can change the heading to what ever you want instead of ‘re:What are web site promotion methods?ก

You can keep an interesting heading to make your post prominent from others. Like กFOUR best methods to start with…ก or กAdvertising with out spending a penny.ก etc. These type of headings certainly attracts peopleกs eyes.

***5. Give respect to others opinions:***

Don’t say harsh words even though you know what other person saying is wrong. Be polite. What you want to say tell it clearly and concisely.

If you don’t know a topic still you want to comment on that, add กin my opinion…, as far i know…ก etc. Point out to resources if you know any.

***6. Follow up the thread:***

If you start participating in a thread, then check the box that says กEmail Notificationก. When ever somebody replies your question, email will be sent to you. So you can post a reply or follow others answers and opinions.

What is the use of this? =You may end up with learning something from that discussion =It could be a topic for your next ezine article or ebook or a report =You can get to know of people of that thread

***7. Every day allot some time:***

Save the forum URLs in your favorites folder. Everyday try to visit them regularly. By this you can know the what is going on around you. You may know good resources and free information links that are useful to you. If you come across any information that is useful to you save them on your computer.

About The Author

Radhika Venkata Subscribe to กEbookBiz Magazineก which is completely focused on ebook business and Internet Marketing. Receive FREE Ebooks with Resale rights every month!

http://www.ebooksworld.com/freetosell.shtml

Webmaster Resources: List Your product, ezine or web site free! http://www.webmasterscentral.com/

This article was posted on November 14, 2003

by Radhika Venkata