Summary: You can drive quite a lot of traffic to your blog by posting quality information in so-called “niche forums.”

Yesterday you learned how to get a product vendor to help promote your blog. Today you’ll learn about forum marketing.

Most forum owners and members frown on overtly commercial posts (also known as “spam posts”). And that’s why you can’t join a forum and just start blasting ads for your blog.

What you can do, however, is join niche forums. Become a valuable member of the community and then use your signature file to drive traffic back to your blog.

Here’s how:

Step 1: Find Niche Forums

You’ve probably already uncovered several niche forums when you worked on your niche research. If not – or to find more – all you have to do is go to Google and search for your niche keywords alongside forum keywords.

Examples:

• Golf forum
• Golf bulletin board
• Golf discussion board
• Golf discussion
• Golf phpBB
• Golf vBulletin
• Golf SMF

Choose forums that are busy with a large, active membership.

Step 2: Register and Lurk

Next, register on the popular forums, but don’t post immediately. Instead, spend the next several days just reading the rules, reading posts, and getting a general feel for the forum's etiquette and style (they are all a little different). You should also fill out your profile information, including adding a photo. Add your site's URL if you're allowed to.

Tip: Be sure that the forum allows commercialized signature links.

Step 3: Contribute

After you know the rules, start contributing. You do this by answering other people’s questions.

Don’t just post a teaser and then point to your blog for the rest of the answer, as your posts are likely to get deleted – and you may even get banned. Instead, answer all questions thoroughly on the forum itself, without ever directly mentioning your blog (or any of the products you’re promoting).

This approach helps earn people’s respect and trust. And when people start trusting you and viewing you as a good source of information, then they’re more likely to click on your signature file link.

In short, they want to know more about you after you've proven your worth to them and have shown them that you're trustworthy.

As such, your signature file should include a short advertisement for your blog.

Example #1: “Did you like my answer above? Then you’ll love all the free advice you’ll discover on my blog. Click here to discover how to [get a benefit] – you won’t be disappointed!”

Example #2: “Who else wants to discover the secrets of [getting some benefit]? Now you can, for free! Click here to discover the secrets…”

Today’s task: Find the biggest and most popular forums in your niche, register accounts on these forums, and start lurking so that you better understand the rules and forum etiquette.

Then stay tuned, because tomorrow you’ll learn how to promote your blog with email marketing!