How To Use Forums To Build Your Subscriber List ... At Little Or No Cost

If you think the only people to frequent online forums (or discussion groups or bulletin boards as they are also called) are spotty faced techno geeks, you are wrong...

Successful people (and some of the wealthiest) use forums and they do so for 4 major reasons:

1) They are looking for advice - people like to ask for opinions about products before purchasing (NB - not everybody dives straight into the next opportunity to poke its nose over the horizon; they like to conduct a bit of research first).

People also ask for help on using the multiplicity of ideas, tools and services available on the internet.

2) They are on a search for new products - the replies to people looking for advice often contain links to new ideas, tips, tools and services, making forums a great place to search (and just as great a place for you to promote your list).

3) They are searching for ideas for their own products - the types of questions asked, and the number of people asking similar questions often leads to the creation of a successful information product.

4) They want to make contact with others - quite often the people who own the complementary tools and services recommended to people searching for advice will set up joint ventures with each other.

This is good news for you as a list owner if you frequent forums related to the topic of your list, because in no time at all you will be able to post numerous helpful replies to other forum user's questions.

Without much effort you can brand yourself as an expert especially when you post professional replies to commonly asked questions like:

Where can I find ___
How do I ___
What do I need to ___

When you answer your replies MUST be:
- factual
- on topic
- sensible
- easy to read
- neatly formatted
- spell checked

Don't write long winded replies, you want your message to get the reader to visit your site (and join your list), not bore them to death.

A good way to do this by not completely answering the post you are replying to. Create an air of mystery (for example - you could tempt the reader to click your link by using the phrase "This is just one of three ways to ____").

No matter how enticing your reply, NEVER break the forum rules for advertising, and it is worth remembering that most forums do NOT allow advertising in any post or reply...

So just how do you get people to click your link?

Nearly all forums allow you to use a signature file at the end of your post which should include:

- Your name
- One or two benefit laden lines of text describing your list
- Your website or opt-in form URL

Any Email address you include will be collected by Email harvesting programs, so if you're bent on leaving an email address, replace @ with AT (for example colin AT list-building-tips.com)

To keep your posts "evergreen", vary your descriptive website text from time to time so regular readers don't become over familiar and start ignoring it.

Not only can you grow your list, you can make money from every forum posting - if you know what you're doing. Unfortunately, most people don't -

John C Vincent

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