Is there an art to generating free prospects on a forum? Oh yes, it most certainly is an art - but it is not one that requires years of training and practice to perfect. In fact, once you have read through this article, you will know exactly what to do and more importantly, what NOT to do if you want to generate unending, highly targeted and qualified leads from participating in public online forums.

To preface, I must tell you that I have been generating leads from forums for about 2 ½ years. At first I did it absolutely the WRONG way. I went into any forum I could find and I SPAMMED them! I took my well planned ad, started a new thread and stuck it out there. I was even rude enough to go back a day later to respond to my own thread to bump it up! As you can imagine I got a lot of terrible responses from the active participants of the board, and NO leads. Let that be a lesson to you. You never, ever want to go into a discussion board and open a thread with the express purpose of advertising your business. Each and every forum that is business oriented will usually have an advertising section. That is the ONLY place that it is appropriate to post your ad. If you post your ad elsewhere, or hijack a thread about a competitors program, that is considered SPAM. If you include your link in the body of your message, that is also against forum rules and etiquette.

There is only ONE place for your link, and that is in your signature file. Most forums will have a 'profile' section that you can access to upload a thumbnail picture (highly recommended), and to add your signature file. Most, but not all, forums use USB codes so that you can link your text. That is, you can create a one-line ad and hyperlink it so that it goes directly to your lead capture page.

Once your profile is set up correctly, and your signature file is a clickable text link, you are ready to 'go'.

Go where? Go into the forum and look for threads that have been viewed many times and/or have many replies. These are the threads to spend your time in. Unless that thread is about something that is directly of interest to you, if it has very few page views or replies, then it's probably not someplace to spend your time. Once you have found a decent thread that is on a topic that you feel you can speak on- then add your 2 cents to the discussion. Again, you are joining the discussion in progress, and your comment is relevant to the topic. You want to write at least a few sentences that are relevant at well. Just typing in 'me too' or 'I agree' is NOT the way to go. You want to be respectful and respectable, to watch your grammar and spelling, and have FUN! I know your mother told you that if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all? Well, this is particularly true on a message board. You NEVER want to get into an argument on a forum. You want to spread good will, helpful advice, and to instill confidence in YOU as a leader. That last part may take a little time, but it's incredibly important to your success at this. If you are going to spend ANY time attempting to generate leads this way, then you must be effective at this. If you become a 'regular' on the boards and have a presence that people respect, then you can and will generate endless leads. This is "Attraction Marketing' in action.

What kind of boards should you post on? Forums that relate to your business, or to a topic that has nothing to do with your business, but relates to something else you are either very knowledgeable about, or have a great interest in. The first seems obvious- to find targeted, opportunity buyers, post where they are reading. The second is under utilized and therefore even more powerful! If, for example, you are a gourmet cake maker, find a board where other cake makers worldwide go to discuss the craft. I can virtually guarantee that most of the people on that board will NOT have a business link in their sig file- therefore YOUR link will stand out and will get a lot of clicks because people are innately curious. They HAVE to click on your signature to find out how you are making money online!

Use Google to search for relevant forums. Once you have found a few active boards, save those links in your favorites, and try to post at least 5 different replies on 5 different threads at least 2x per week. By keeping your signature file at the top of those boards, you cannot help but generate leads!

Remember, Time is Money and a Self generated lead is the BEST lead. Spend an hour or so a week posting in forums after you are done with your prospecting a follow up calls for the day. You WILL generate leads from forums and bring more income into your life as a result if you follow the instructions I have outlined!