Be A Forum Star With Great Articles

Forums, if you haven't been to one yet, are more or less what used to be called
bulletin boards. They are online discussion areas where you can post a comment
and read everyone else's comment.

Because forums are gathering places for people who have an interest in the forum
topic, they are an ideal place to pick up new customers. With intelligent
discussion of issues and generous sharing of the knowledge you have, you can
become well-recognized in your forum community.

Forums are also a great place to work at becoming an acknowledged guru of your
topic. When people read your comments and either agree with them or learn from
them, you gain the trust and respect that are crucial to having your expertise
recognized.

One very good way to become a star in your forums is by posting links to
exceptional articles you've written (or got from article broker like
www.YourOwnArticles.com ) and asking for feedback.

YourOwnArticles.com

Never post an entire article to a forum; this is considered rude. You can,
however, drive traffic to your site from a forum by synopsizing your article,
asking what others think, and posting a link back to it. Always put your URL in
your signature line, too.

Discussing Articles in Your Own Forum

But forums aren't just places where you go to talk about things; they're living
communities based around a central theme, and with the free software available
today, there is no reason you couldn't arrange for your own forum for your
customers.

It puts you in the position of being a community leader; it gives you control
over at least part of what's being discussed in your niche market; and it gives
your customers the opportunity to interact with you and with one another.

Forums may be time-consuming, too, so before you start your own, consider a
trial run. Take about ten friends, put a forum together in the way you plan to
run one, and see what happens when people start talking on it.

If it's too much to handle, you're better off using other forums. If, however,
you enjoy working with it and it doesn't suck up all your time, it might be
worth considering. Be sure to schedule time to administer it, if you do decide
to run with it.

Anyway, it's not just forums that make you and your articles discussable.

Using Blogs As Forums

Blogs today are amazingly easy to use, and the programs that compile them often
come with a built-in "comment" feature. This allows those who have
read your blog to post their own feedback: whether they think you're full of
something, are in awe of your mighty wisdom, or have something to add or
correct, they'll let you know.

And it doesn't matter what the feedback is, as long as not everyone calls you an
idiot. A couple of negative comments can stir up some controversy. And
intelligently stated negative comments are an invitation to you to either
rescind what you said or to clarify it in a way that makes the negative
positive.

"Ask The Expert" Features

Once you've established yourself as an expert with your articles and blogging,
you might find a lot of questions coming your way. If so, it's time to establish
an FAQ or Ask the Expert section on your webpage.

In either instance, you can use forum technology to set up a simple question and
answer format. You can also set up an "ask a question" form on a
secondary page, and simply restate the question and answer it in an FAQ blog.

Ultimately, when you're building an online reputation, everything works
together. Intelligent articles gain you credibility. Getting others to link to
you gives you credibility as well, plus it gets free eyes to look at your
website.

Running an FAQ, a forum, or an interactive blog all give you the status of
expert. You should try to do at least a little of all these forms of online
marketing, and ensure that at least a short mention of your site shows up in
every medium.

Do searches in forums for yourself frequently when you start publishing articles
online.

There's a good chance that eventually you'll find someone who waxes enthusiasm
about your article; at this point, you can seize the moment and start a
conversation about the article, promoting yourself and your website at the same
time in a very soft-sell sort of way.

Click here for more info: YourOwnArticles.com



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Cody Moya writes about Article Marketing in his free 50 parts
course on Article Marketing. You can sign up for his free
Article Marketing Course and get additional information at his
website: http://www.articlemarketingcourse.com