Forum Marketing Techniques

Today I’m sharing some forum marketing techniques I’ve been using on my new Make Money Forums to achieve top ranking in Google for some very lucrative keywords.

For those of you who have read any of my books or have been following me, you know I’m normally a pretty modest guy. However, getting past that, today I’m going to gloat a little about my latest achievements and hope the Big G doesn’t put the slap down on me.

Below is a screenshot I took today of my new forum that I started on May 31st 2007. You can see that the site achieved first page of Google out of 188,000,000 competing pages for the term ‘Make Money Forums.’.'Make Money,’ is like the grand-daddy of all internet marketing keywords, and is highly competitive.

If you’re unsure if the keyword you’re targeting is valuable, a good way to tell is by looking for the sponsored links on the right. If you see a full page of sponsored links, you know you’re on to a profitable keyword.

A better way to find out if a keyword is valuable and check it’s popularity is to take a look on Spyfu. Enter in any keyword you want to compete for and determine if it has good search strength and profitability. SpyFu is great because in addition to showing you how many clicks a keyword gets per day, it also tells you the approximate cost per day to target that keyword in a Google Adwords campaign.

Ok, if you researched your keyword on SpyFu then you’ll probably want to double check on a few other sites to get a better glimpse of daily traffic. For this I use the suggestion tool over at DigitalPoint.

Like I’ve said many times, it really pays to do your research and determine the most profitable and highly trafficked keywords before you take the time to optimize your site for them.

So, that’s all well and good you say, but how did you achieve top Google ranking?…Here’s how to get your forum to the top of Google in weeks not months for valuable keywords…

First, bottom line, use Vbulletin software with VBSEO. Just to warn you though, the two of them are not cheap. The cost for both will run about three hundred and ten bucks. If you’re serious about starting a forum that will rank well in the search engines, the results they give together are worth the cost.

Here’s an example of my forum, putting keywords in the URL. Many people will argue that keywords in the URL does not make a difference and that dynamic PHP type URL’s are Ok. Well I’m fine letting them think that and letting them have their sites show up pages back. For now until I see otherwise I’m going to recommend you attempt to create HTML static URL’s like the one below.

This serves two purposes. First anyone can tell exactly what page they are on from their browser. Second, it serves a great purpose when other people link to your site and use those keywords as reference in their link back, giving you additional keyword weight.

On a related side note… Adding forum into the name of your forum site will increase the amount it is found in searches for forums. This is a good way to dominate your niche for forum related searches.

Once you’ve got a strong foundation for your forum in the form of it’s software, then you need to concentrate on content. In order to get your forum off the ground, adding quality content is mandatory. You’ll want to focus on using strong descriptive keywords in the subject post title tags, and strive for posts of 300 to 500 words.

Next on the list is getting some PR juice or ‘linkbait’ from some authority sites. The best way to do this is to create superior content that someone links to. Sure sounds easy in theory. There are many ways to go about this. Here are a few linkbait techniques I’ve used successfully:

Create a top list of the best people or sites in a particular niche. This one’s pure gold if you do it right. You’ll need to let the people know their on the list by commenting on their blog or emailing them. If successful they will return the favor and give you a link to your top list from their site.

Another valuable tactic that often ruffles a few feathers is creating controversy. This stuff gets people to take notice every time.

Other linkbait ideas include using contests, quizzes or tools. You can create a video with Camtasia, give away a free report or offer an audio you created. In addition to those ideas you could uncover something new to share, use humor or motivation in your content to encourage participation and link backs.

When you’ve got your content in check you’ll want to use some social networking and bookmarking sites to get it more exposure. My favorites at the moment are Digg, StumbleUpon and Reddit. Have people Digg and Stumble your pages for instant traffic and a links.

Speaking of StumbleUpon, I’ve used that site to get hundreds of visitors a day to my new postings and you can too. The users over at Stumble are a savvy bunch and if you’ve put together a well thought out and non-spammy post, they will frequently blog about you in return.

Here’s my StumbleUpon page. Add me as a friend and send me a link to your site. If it looks interesting I’ll stumble it. Of course, I’d like it if you returned the favor :)One other great forum marketing technique is to submit it to directories. Here’s a link to a free directory submitter that will help you stream line the whole process.

If you’ve written articles related to the topic of your forum, submit them to sites like Ezinearticles or Goarticles. These sites allow a linkback in the authors section at the bottom. This in time will give you PR linkbacks from the main site as well as whenever someone places the article on their own site.

One tactic that is a winner every time is to promote your site with your blog. Blogs are loved by the search engines because of the new content they provide. I’ve especially had good luck getting to the top of the results with Wordpress blogs. Use them to promote your forum to receive traffic and link backs.

Last but not least, you’ve got to network with other people. Use blog sites other forums, social networks like Myspace, Linked In and Facebook to network with others and funnel them into your site. Go to other related forums that allow signature links and add them. Begin answering their questions and people will begin seeking you out on your own forum.

This is just the foundation of a solid forum marketing strategy. While there is no easy automatic solution to building a successful forum and achieving top ranking, there is a solid plan for success.

Don’t forget to stop by my new Online Marketing Forum and say hello!

Posted in Internet Marketing, Link Building, Marketing Strategy