Promoting Your Business on Message Boards
Posted in Watkins Business by Eldon on January 28th, 2007 Often, new associates joining my group in Watkins are looking for economical ways to advertise their business. One excellent way to promote your business (long-term) is through the use of message boards and user groups. This is a long-term strategy, because it takes time to build a presence and establish credibility in an online community.
Here are some do’s and do not’s for effectively promoting your business with message boards and online communities.
DO pick a community where you have a common interest with others in the community, and knowledge to share. Many people go immediately to home business and “work from home” type boards, because they feel the best prospects are there. This is fine, if you have information to share. This leads to my next point….
DO NOT join an online community message board with the intention of promoting your business. Huh? Yes, that is what I said. Your intention must be to participate and share. You must build trust and relationships with other users. If you go in with your focus being to advertise your business, that will come across quickly and you will not be particularly welcome in the group. Go in with an attitude toward helping and contributing to others.
DO create a signature line that has a link to your business site. Be sure to check the message board or forum rules FIRST, because the type of signatures allowed varies. Some boards don’t allow signatures until a new user has posted a certain number of times. Be sure to get this right - don’t get off to a bad start in the community.
DO try to visit the board daily, and post daily. This keeps your name in front of others and establishes credibility.
DO NOT make “garbage posts” just to get your link out. For example, if someone makes a good point, don’t just post something like “good point!” and let that be your entire post. Add some substance or your own take on the point. Again, think in terms of contributing something useful with each of your posts.
The main thing to keep in mind is - be professional. The amateurs go into message boards and start posting things that are obvious promotions, even if they are veiled. Trust me - other users can see through that quickly and credibility is lost.
One more point - the popular message boards have a lot more “lurkers” than contributors. There are lots of people watching you, and many over time will click your link if they enjoy your posts and like your style. This is what makes contributing to online community message boards a powerful strategy.
Try it! Remember….it takes much patience and consistent contributions to make the strategy work right.
About the Author:
Eldon Beard is a Watkins Manager with Associates All Across the USA and Canada
