Newbie Blogging Tip
Posting comments on blogs and participating in forums is a free and pleasant way to promote your business online.
Ideally, you want to comment on blogs that are “do follow” as that provides a live link for your own blog or site. You can use google to find lists of blogs that allow “do follow”. Identifying this characteristic is becoming a bit more difficult as the latest Wordpress blog release is reported as being set to “no follow” by default. Some bloggers have disputed this but it does seem to be the trend for new blog releases.
There’s really no downside to commenting even on blogs that do not follow your link. By using your name (or the pen name used in that niche) you are someone who speaks from experience and you are gaining name recognition. That’s not a bad thing at all.
Forum marketing is a little trickier. There are some long running, excellent marketing forums that are free to join and some of them can provide you with a fresh source of customers. This is true only if you approach forum marketing in the right way.
On a forum, your name recognition is of utmost importance. You may well be totally unknown when you join but by posting useful and helpful comments you can build a reputation as a trusted marketer.
If you are experienced in using Wordpress you can answer questions about customizing, plugins and themes and become the “go to” person for questions on the subject. It only makes sense that should you decide to develop your own themes to sell, you have a ready market on that forum.
If you are a brand new marketer with no experience and little knowledge you can still build a reputation on a marketing forum. Ask questions that clearly show you have tried to find an answer. Don’t post rudely or make useless comments that add nothing to a discussion thread. Above all, don’t post about not being able to earn any money – while displaying a link in your signature that says “I earn $500 a day doing this and so can you”.
The trick to success in forum marketing is planning your answers, showing patience and respect and posting over a period of time (often months) to build name recognition.
Don’t confine forum marketing or blog commenting only to sites aimed at marketers or making money online. If you have a dog site, find and join a few dog forums and participate in them. Start slowly by asking a question or providing a solution or telling about a personal experience with dogs. Ease your way into the membership and you will be accepted as part of the group. Always read the terms and conditions of any forum you join – you don’t want to break the rules or be labeled a forum spammer or troll.
By the same token, search out blogs that focus on the craft, hobby or game you have selected for your niche and comment in a helpful way. Don’t be argumentative, critical or rude and follow a plan of becoming part of the group rather than trying to get fast attention for yourself. These are long term marketing strategies that can pay off well for marketers in any niche.
Learning online marketing with you,
~ Julie
