In the first part of this article, we looked at how to find specific forums on the topic of any ClickBank product you might be promoting. The second part is about the actual process of posting messages on forums to generate visitors to your website and, ultimately, buyers of your ClickBank products.
It’s important to note that when you visit a forum for the first time, the last thing you want to offer is a hard sell, people don’t like being sold to by newcomers, and perpetrators can be banned from the forum. Successful forum marketing calls for a ‘soft, soft’ approach in which the newcomer makes themselves known to the community and makes a few non-threatening posts before providing substantive suggestions or advice to other members. It is generally best not to place a link to your website in your first few posts unless requested by other members.
After those first benign posts, it’s time to take off the gloves, it’s time to become an expert on the forum, it’s time to offer advice and information, it’s time to do a little marketing after each post.
You should create a signature file or selection based on the type of advice and information you might be offering. A signature file is a bit like the PS that goes after the signature in most postal letters and is used in the same way in emails. On forums, the signature file follows posts and encourages members to visit your website or blog to see what other fascinating information you have to offer. The signature file shouldn’t be a full front-sales message, it should be innocuous, more like an invitation to contact you if members feel it can benefit them more.
So this might be a good signature file on a dog training forum:
‘Email me if you’d like my ’10 Ways to Take the Pain Out of Dog Training’ report. You’ll find me at (email address).’
This is not such a good signature file for the same forum:
‘Billy Blogs is the world’s leading trainer of dogs of all breeds. He can read about all of his acclaimed best-selling books at (website url). Go now and you’ll get 25% off all orders valued at $100 and up. These books make great gifts, for Christmas, buy one and I’ll send you a free dog gift basket, buy two or three or more and ………. and so on and so on us.’
Try to provide useful information and write as completely as possible. This means writing a few sentences, bluntly, instead of giving the occasional ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ or the like. So let’s say someone asks:
‘Does anyone know the best words to train a dog to follow?’
This is a bad answer:
‘Yes, look for the information in one of my books at (website url)’
This is a good answer:
“There are actually a number of good words to use, but it’s not really the word itself that matters when it comes to getting your dog to respond. It is much more important to use the same word each time you give the command and also to use the same tone of voice. And you should always use body language to accompany the command, such as pointing with your hand to where you want your dog to come to. The worst thing someone can do to train their dog is to use different words every time, like ‘heel’, ‘here’, ‘come’, it just confuses the dog and creates distress for you and your pet… .
(Signature file is still here).’
And that’s all there is to forum marketing! Is not easy? But it has to be an ongoing process, a post every month won’t make you rich, a daily post might!