Forums that you frequently post on can be an excellent source of interested contacts as long as you do it tactfully.

First, The Proper Use Of Forum Signatures (sigs).

Putting a small signature on the bottom of your posts in a forum you frequent is a very good way of getting people to your site. Most forum's allow you to specify a sig in your profile or account settings.

There are wrong ways to do it, but no right way written in stone. How you do it depends on your personality and personal style. I will list the wrong ways, then give you some tips on getting the most out of forums.

First the _wrong_ ways:


Do Not spam your sig with a lot of "salesy" copy. Keep it simple and clear.
Do not use ALL CAPS in any part of your sig, it annoys people.
Do not create a post for the sole purpose of promoting your site. Create posts with useful content for the reader, and let them read your sig themselves.


Now some useful tips:

Do try to create a compelling catch-phrase to get people to click, but don't overdo it.
Don't sell. Share. Write your copy like you are sharing this cool product with them. No one likes to be sold.
Advertise either the product or the business. Never both at the same time.
Decide if you are going to promote the business or product based on the people and nature of the forum. Do the users have a work at home mindset? Or are they more likely to go for the product?
More is not necessarily better.


I did a little test of the last fact. I made up two sigs for a forum I frequent. The first was purposely a loud, medium sized sig to draw a lot of attention. I tracked the amount of traffic I got from that sig which had a lot of information, then I changed the sig to this:


Are you a business builder?

::mysitelink::


Guess what? I got slightly more traffic with the second one. Play on people's curiosity. Remember to play with different sigs to see how they perform.

The Proper Way To Post Replies About Your Business:

One final tip about forums, when you answer a post about working from home, or making extra money, it is critical that you don't just promote your business. Mention a few ideas, plus your business. It is fine if your business is the best of the options you provide. The reason for this is to show the person you actually are trying to help, and don't just care about promoting your business.

Here is a breakdown of the steps:

Provide a generic, useful answer that you don't profit from. This does two things, a: it establishes you as a knowledgeable person, b: it establishes you as someone who really wants to help.
Provide your solution, and mention it as a solution to their _exact_ problem. Word it in a friendly, helpful manner.
End with an additional suggestion non-related to your business to regain your status as a helpful, knowledgeable person. Try not to end on the feeling of you selling them something.


Just remember to always treat your MLM or other marketing business like a business, act like a professional and people will notice it and react positively to it.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jeremy Hollingsworth operates a blog educating people on professionalism, leadership, and success in network marketing and internet marketing in general. You can view his blog and many other articles at: http://jeremyhollingsworth.blogspot.com/