Best way to use a forum?

[Kerry]

Hi there,
I have some really basic questions that have been bugging me!
We had a big wakeup yesterday and realised that our site is not nearly salesy enough and now I realise that there are lots of other ways I should probably be spreading the word and missing lots of tricks.

So firstly I'm vaguely aware that I should be trying to do some sort of marketing for our site when I'm posting on forums - not necessarily this one as it's in a different niche. (though there are some ways that our site and product will help people run a more efficient business by being able to sync their email anywhere) but in general what is a trackback and what is it for, what should I be putting in my profile, should I have some sort of special signature with a link or is that just in my profile etc.

Could anyone please give me some tips in this area? ( I don't want to be pushy at all but - part of the problem - but I just mean if people are interested in anything I write about they should at least be able to find our sites... so it would be good to optimise this somehow)
thanks,
Kerry

[Tim Buchalka]

Hi Kerry,

Firstly, when posting in forums realise that actually posting quality info is one of the best things you can do to "brand" yourself as an expert. If you are continually being helpful and are knowledgable, etc people will tend to "look for you" in the forum and click you links anyway. A forum is a great way to build up a presense as people can easily view all your posts to see if you know what you are talking about.

So the more posts you make the better. I would focus on that first and have a link in your signature block. All I usually do is have a photo to make me real I don't do anything "flash".

Hope this helps.

Cheers



Tim

[Kerry]

Thanks Tim. Could you please be a bit more specific? I'd love to know more about the following...
I have a photo on my profile page but it's not on my posts, don't know why it isn't or how to link it.
What is a trackback?
How do I create a signature block?
What am I supposed to put in the visitor page on my profile?
What do people generally do with the friends option on forums?
How do you see all the answers someone has posted? (you say people can easily view all your posts to see if you know what you are talking about.)
Is it viewed as OK to say "please check out my site and give feedback" on a site like this? We've signed up for your coaching programme so will get your feedback anyway but in terms of forums in general is this seen as too much of an overt way to get traffic or is it OK (because we'd love some outside eyes and feedback but I haven't wanted to do this...)

I have been making lots of posts but I only post on areas where I know I have a good answer or an experience to share that might be interesting to others. (I have a lot of "real life" marketing experience so I try to help in this area but I'm relatively new to internet marketing). And I believe our product (an email solution, not an internet marketing product) is ideal for many internet marketers but I haven't introduced it because i'm afraid it's outside the bounds of what a forum is for, so where is the line?!!

thanks,
Kerry

[Kerry]

I'm going to answer some of my own questions here! I got some outside help so here are three of the answers:

1. Signature block - in this forum go to settings, edit signature and type in whatever you want as your signature block. You can use the link button to make your anchor text link to a url.
In some other forums you will need to use a href tag to be able to add a link in your signature. For example:
<a href="http://www.Easy-Email.net">Easy-Email</a>
with the url going in the first section and the anchor text, or the words you want to show in the second section.

2. And to get your profile picture to show on your postings go to
settings - edit avatar.
If you want an image to appear you have to uncheck the "do not show avatar" button.
You can upload a real photo or just add a cartoon from the choices given. If like me you had put a photo on your profile page and were wondering why it didn't show on your postings it's because you need to change the avatar setting.

3. To see all the answers someone has posted, click on their user name and it comes up as an option.

Hopefully I'm not the only one who was struggling with this and it's some help to you.

I still don't know what a trackback is though... any answers gratefully received!

[Tim Buchalka]

Thanks Tim. Could you please be a bit more specific? I'd love to know more about the following...
I have a photo on my profile page but it's not on my posts, don't know why it isn't or how to link it.
What is a trackback?
How do I create a signature block?
What am I supposed to put in the visitor page on my profile?
What do people generally do with the friends option on forums?
How do you see all the answers someone has posted? (you say people can easily view all your posts to see if you know what you are talking about.)
Is it viewed as OK to say "please check out my site and give feedback" on a site like this? We've signed up for your coaching programme so will get your feedback anyway but in terms of forums in general is this seen as too much of an overt way to get traffic or is it OK (because we'd love some outside eyes and feedback but I haven't wanted to do this...)

I have been making lots of posts but I only post on areas where I know I have a good answer or an experience to share that might be interesting to others. (I have a lot of "real life" marketing experience so I try to help in this area but I'm relatively new to internet marketing). And I believe our product (an email solution, not an internet marketing product) is ideal for many internet marketers but I haven't introduced it because i'm afraid it's outside the bounds of what a forum is for, so where is the line?!!

thanks,
Kerry

Hi Kerry,

A trackback is a link back to your forum (or blog) post. Wordpress and some forum software automatically "tell you" when someone has linked to your post. If you approve the trackback a link is placed on your post back to their link (often times its good if you did not original post NOT to link back since this would make a one link from their site become a two way link). But sometimes it's just nice to link back anyway

On your visitor page you put what you want the visitor to know about you. With that said you will notice my visitor page on this profile as being a little bare More a time constraint other than anything else.

I don't know much about friends options with forums, can't say I use them.

Just click a users profile on this forum and see the list come up to visit their profile and view their posts, etc.

If you say "please check out my site and give feedback" then in my opinion your not branding yourself as an expert. You should be a little more assertive and say something "For your free 101 tips on the best email tips ever visit my site www.mybestsite.com".

Look forward to chatting to you on skype and helping you with some coaching

Regarding promoting your product by all means use a signature link, thats what they are there for. It's probably out side of bounds to be creating new posts on here with a "visit my site" but helping other people and having a link to your site is fine.

Cheers


Tim

[Kerry]

thanks Tim,
look forward to chatting to you too,
cheers,
Kerry

[Tim Buchalka]

Thanks Kerry

Looking forward to it as well!

cheers


Tim

[barriemore12]

Nice information out here regarding the forum use,as per mine knowledge forums are make to share the knowledge,your doubts,and the solution of your doubts.Before writing in the forums keep forums net and clean and write what the user as asked...

[mariaronsan]

Best way to use a forum.
1. Picking Quality Forum
2. Good Content
3. Value from backlink in quality Forum
4. Do to Sapm

[ngovgroup]

Avoid spammy posts such as "I agree." or "Thanks for the info." The best thing that a forum has taught me is how to pick informative content and that you actually contribute something to the community, whether it be a cool find on a website or tool for SEO. Good luck!