Forums, if you haven't been to one yet, are more or less what used to be called bulletin boards. They are online discussion areas where you can post a comment and read everyone else's comment. Because forums are gathering places for people who have an interest in the forum topic, they are an ideal place to pick up new customers. With intelligent discussion of issues and generous sharing of the knowledge you have, you can become well-recognized in your forum community.
Forums are also a great place to work at becoming an acknowledged guru of your topic. When people read your comments and either agree with them or learn from them, you gain the trust and respect that are crucial to having your expertise recognized. One very good way to become a star in your forums is by posting links to exceptional articles you've written and asking for feedback.
Never post an entire article to a forum; this is considered rude. You can, however, drive traffic to your site from a forum by synopsizing your article, asking what others think, and posting a link back to it. Always put your URL in your signature line, too.
Discussing Articles in Your Own Forum
But forums aren't just places where you go to talk about things; they're living communities based around a central theme, and with the free software available today, there is no reason you couldn't arrange for your own forum for your customers. It puts you in the position of being a community leader; it gives you control over at least part of what's being discussed in your niche market; and it gives your customers the opportunity to interact with you and with one another.
Forums may be time-consuming, too, so before you start your own, consider a trial run. Take about ten friends, put a forum together in the way you plan to run one, and see what happens when people start talking on it. If it's too much to handle, you're better off using other forums. If, however, you enjoy working with it and it doesn't suck up all your time, it might be worth considering. Be sure to schedule time to administer it, if you do decide to run with it.
Anyway, it's not just forums that make you and your articles discussable.
Using Blogs As Forums
Blogs today are amazingly easy to use, and the programs that compile them often come with a built-in "comment" feature. This allows those who have read your blog to post their own feedback: whether they think you're full of something, are in awe of your mighty wisdom, or have something to add or correct, they'll let you know.
And it doesn't matter what the feedback is, as long as not everyone calls you an idiot. A couple of negative comments can stir up some controversy. And intelligently stated negative comments are an invitation to you to either rescind what you said or to clarify it in a way that makes the negative positive.
"Ask The Expert" Features
Once you've established yourself as an expert with your articles and blogging, you might find a lot of questions coming your way. If so, it's time to establish an FAQ or Ask the Expert section on your webpage. In either instance, you can use forum technology to set up a simple question and answer format. You can also set up an "ask a question" form on a secondary page, and simply restate the question and answer it in an FAQ blog.
Ultimately, when you're building an online reputation, everything works together. Intelligent articles gain you credibility. Getting others to link to you gives you credibility as well, plus it gets free eyes to look at your website. Running an FAQ, a forum, or an interactive blog all give you the status of expert. You should try to do at least a little of all these forms of online marketing, and ensure that at least a short mention of your site shows up in every medium.
Do searches in forums for yourself frequently when you start publishing articles online. There's a good chance that eventually you'll find someone who waxes enthusiasm about your article; at this point, you can seize the moment and start a conversation about the article, promoting yourself and your website at the same time in a very soft-sell sort of way.
