Having considered, in the previous article, the various factors that we need to look into carefully before joining any forums … Today we’ll move to actually joining the forums that we think will suit us the best for promoting and marketing our blog(s). This is the 2nd article in the series Using Forums to Build Traffic at your Blog.
Joining the Forums:
Joining any forums is as easy as A-B-C! Simply look for the register or the sign up button which is generally located in easy reach along with the other navigation buttons like the Home, etc. When you click on the register or the sign up button, you are taken to the account registration form where you can fill in your personal details for registering an account, and choose a user name and a password.
However, if it was all this simple, what is the point of discussing “Joining the Forums” in such detail that it requires a whole article for itself? Actually, it is not the process of signing up that is of a great importance, enough to reserve a whole article for itself but the things you must keep in mind before you decide to join any forums.
What are these? Let us now see.
- Read the Terms and Conditions of Usage, carefully, before you sign up. Reading through the Terms and Conditions is not a waste of time! The terms and conditions is actually a compilation of guidelines which you agree to follow as code of conduct when participating in the forums. Any violation can lead to a negative reputation or even a ban from participation.One such often overlooked part of ToS (Terms of Service) is regarding receiving notifications and updates about the forums from the administrators and moderators. When you sign up, you agree to receive notifications and updates via mass email. However, I have seen many people complaining about these mails in the forums! Well, if you’re not comfortable with this feature, you shouldn’t join any forums though most of the forums provide an option to control notifications via mass email through the admin-panel.
- The first thing you should do after signing up is to manage your profile. You can enter your personal details like your name, location, contact information and website address in there so that it’s visible to other members. This gives your website more exposure at every step of your activity in the forums.You can also add a signature, which can be defined as a space appended to the end of every post you make in the forums which can contain short pieces of text, and sometimes even images and website addresses. Yet another step towards blog promotion and marketing. We’ll discuss it in a future article in this series.
- The next thing you should do before you post your first thread is to go and read the Forum Rules and Regulations. The name says what they are all about. They are as important as the Terms and Conditions which we discussed above. Any violation, again, can lead to negative reputation and/or a ban! This can negatively affect your blog promotion and marketing movement, so avoid indulging in any kind of unwelcome activity at the forums.
- With that being said and done, you are ready to make your first post. What should your first post be about?The best idea for making your first post in the forums is to Introduce Yourself. When you sign up for any forums, the forum members including the moderators and administrators want you to tell them a bit about yourself so they get familiar with you. Introducing yourself helps you get into a friendly and somewhat informal relationship with the rest and makes it easier for you to convey yourself through the discussion threads by making you easy with other members and vice versa!
With this, you are ready to rock ‘n’ roll with your blog promotion and marketing campaign using forums. In the next article in this series (How to use Forums to Build Blog Traffic) we will learn how to introduce yourself in the forums and use your introduction to build some traffic for your blog and along with that learn the basics ethics of participation in the forums.
Leave a comment and share your opinions about using forums to increase blog traffic by effective blog promotion and marketing. It’d be lovely to hear some tips and ideas from your side.
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