Dave Fullmer   Internet Marketing...
The Power of Browsing Forums Effectively
by Dave Fullmer

Forums are great places to get information about most anything. Sometimes called communities, they are a place where people can come together and share information on any subject that they share an interest in. Forums with subjects about most anything can be found and what ever interests you can be found somewhere on a forum.

Most forums are a place to share information. Questions are asked and there usually is someone on the forum that can and will answer the question. Sometimes, several people will answer the question and give a different slant to the answer.

My hobby is restoring antique tractors and I first started browsing the forums because I wanted to discuss ways to restore my favorite brand of tractor.. Sometimes, I had answers to questions posted on the forum that I felt I could share and I started building relationships with people on the board. Even though I hadn't met them outside of the forum community I felt I had made friends. I even had one friend who looked up my phone number and we had many conversations over a period of 3 years.

Although he only lived about 75 miles away, I never met him until one day he called me and wanted to give me a tractor that had parts I had expressed an interest in. So the board not only served as an information source, but it also served as a social thing.

But what are the reasons I browse the forums today? If I only were looking for information exchanges or a social place to bond together, I would not venture out from more that 2 or 3 forums.

What I do on the forums is watch for people who are asking questions that I can help with. By being helpful I can build a reputation of being someone who is knowledgeable in Internet marketing. And this helps me build relationships. Does that mean I think I am an expert? Not at all! I have much to learn and as I browse the forums, my knowledge increases, usually on a daily basis. Every one knows something that someone else may not know. Everyone has ideas that have been given them or have been thought out through experience and teaching. I am striving to position myself as a leader who is knowledgeable and confident in his ability to lead people to success in the Internet business.

That's why I browse the forums. It is a place where I can find people who are struggling with their businesses and I have been able to help them with answers that will help them find solutions to their struggles. It has given me a chance to develop a reputation of someone who cares and I have had people tell me that they joined my program because of the trust they had directly due to what they read on the forums.

Finally, forums are places where you can do some free advertising. No, I don't mean spamming people with your ads. However, most forums allow links in the signature files. This is a subject for a different article, but let me say here that those links should be limited to advertising a free gift or newsletter or something to intice people to fill out a form with their name and email address. If you establish relationships on the forums, people will start to click on your links in your signature file and you will be well on your way building your own opt-in mailing list.

If you are not regularily posting on the forums, you are missing a real opportunity to make yourself known. Put your picture up so people can see you are a real person. Put your full name and phone number in your signature file so that people will have confidence in you. Just be yourself. You don't have to be a great writer, just write like you talk. Have fun while you write. Ask questions if you don't feel you have answers. You will soon have answers.

And before long, suddenly someone will sign up on your free trial and tell you that the reason they signed up was they just felt good about you as a person because of your thoughts on the forum.

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Dave Fullmer is a semi-retired manufacturing automation programmer. These are really just big words for the job of making manufacturing equipment run automatically. Dave also has 7 years of Internet Marketing Experience and has had both unprofitable and profitable experiences. He understands the frustration of any person just starting out in Internet Marketing because he has “been there and done that”.

http:/./NewbiesCanMakeMoney2.com
Jun 18th 2007 22:25