Spokane Forums

Dee Gerrish asked:


What you should know about forums but were afraid to ask.   What’s a forum got to do with it….anyway? Well, plenty actually and not in a good way. When we think about Goldendoodle forums, we should be able to think about a place where one can make doodle friends…share goldendoodle stories with a nice approach..share photos and basically, share common canine information that would be of help to new doodle owners. A forum is also suppose to be a place to meet other doodle owners or others who share similar interests. On the surface, many are just that. However, the reality is, many forums have disturbing motives behind the facade of being a nice place to visit. Many are covered with a smoke screen and many people visit dog forums as a means of possibly finding somewhere to purchase a Goldendoodle or to obtain information about a Goldendoodle, but do not even realize they are being conned by the forum owner/operator and their diehard groupie members , even when it is right before their eyes!

It seems to be a part of human nature to tear another down. In our electronic world where so much content can reach millions in a single day, malicious persons feel empowered through their words whether true or not. People with ulterior motives to seek revenge against another use forums as a way to soothe their media seeking cravings. Many unsuspecting visitors of dog forums do not even realize it when they are duped and conned by these cyber bully, verbal criminals. When dissecting the reality of some Goldendoodle forums, there is a bottom line and that is the almighty dollar. There are two such Goldendoodle forum owner/operators who use their forum in this manner and one of them has been doing it for years…the other one has learned how to master the same game because she, herself, was targeted in the beginning by the other forum owner/operator and has learned how to play the same game by now doing the same thing to others as was done to her. Sad that people stoop to new lows in order to make a profit and a paycheck….but, stoop….they do.

It is always the case that when a business or person begins to grow and becomes successful , there seems to always be more and more people jumping on a bandwagon who feel they are entitled to take that person or business down. Some competitors become uneasy when they believe another has “moved into” their terrirory. As a business grows, they must think of themselves as a “celebrity”. This is because they will now be the target for gossip, rumors and many mythical stories that while hyped up and interesting on a national enquiry level, have no merit of truth to them. Such businesses or persons must just learn to “deal with it”. Or do they? Before we attempt to find out what’s behind the truth at such malicious abuse, you should know that there are newly enacted laws that can and will protect the one being abused over the internet by malicious persons. It was once the belief that cyber bullies could pretty much say and do whatever they wanted inside of forums towards their targeted victim, but times have changed. New laws have been enacted to protect people from malicious persons with ill intent, inside of dog forums or any forum for that matter. This includes building fake websites that causes harm to another in a malicious, slanderous way.

Some believe they can’t do anything about being targeted inside of forums, but think again. One recent example was when a jilted lover went to new levels when she decided the best way to get back at her ex-boyfriend was to create fake pages and advertisements all over the internet making claims he was seeking love in all the wrong places. She also wrote false information about his wife making up horrendous stories and spent countless hours posting the content on as many sites as she could! To my surprise, this story seemed very similar to what my very own sister did to me in 2006. As it happens, this womans’ ex-lover had been her ex for over ten years! But this person still harbored resentment and anger! When phone calls began to pour into their home from women all around the world about his supposesd interest in a pleasurable romp (His ex listed his home address and phone number for people to call, on all sorts of fake websites she built just for him), police were called and the couple turned to an attorney for help with the matter. They were able (Through the help of tracking down the culprits’ IP address and verifying it came from HER computer) to have the woman charged with secondary harassment and a breach of peace. I found this news delightful to my ears! The story was reported on CNN. I didn’t find the story delightul because the woman went to such extremes at ruining someone she had ill will towards, rather I was delighted that Finally, someone who harbored so much hatred towards another person and has done such a terrible thing on the internet to cause massive ruin of a reputation is getting what they deserved! Jail time! Many people believed and possibly still believe that they can hide behind their computers to spew whatever malicious, hateful words they want towards another person over the internet and never get caught! It seems easy enough if you are such a demented type of person who has no life outside of the internet! But times are changing! This type of abuse is making headlines and grabbing the attention of many and people, like myself relish new laws to help protect the innocent!

Thankfully! When I heard about this woman getting charged for being abusive towards another person over the internet in such a horrendous way, it gave me great hope! I for one have been the target of such abuse for years by spiteful, hateful people inside of dog forums who felt the need to create hyped up stories that had no merit, posting lies and ridiculous stories as a means of ruining my reputation and business. Much of it condoned by dog forum owners that are breeders themselves trying to sell their own dogs and being vendictive or jealous due to the rise in competition; other forums allowed vicious postings that  slandered us over the years or allowed malicious, slanderous content to be posted by fictitious persons  and those sites were either NOT properly moderated or were sites that doodle forum owners charge breeders to advertise on their site and by the site owner/forum operator allowing such nonsense to be posted about their competition (breeders who didn’t advertise and pay them for such) on their forum, it kept money coming in to their own pockets. How did this happen?

Unsuspecting and unwitting potential buyers would buy their dogs from the breeders that paid the forum owner/operator to advertise on their site and the forum/operator deliberately allowed bashings on their forum that specifically targeted supposed “problematic” breeders (including blocking IP addresses of anyone who came to the bashed breeders’ defense or by blocking the IP address of the targeted breeder themselves) to continue because it created a facade of supposed issues the problematic breeder had with their supposed potential customers or past customers. This would then cause unsuspecting potential buyers to bypass those targeted breeders and purchase from the breeders the forum owner/operator claimed were “Top quality” breeders when in fact, they were and are merely breeders who pay the forum site owner/operator to advertise! Many breeders pay to advertise on websites that get alot of internet traffic and they pay through the nose for such listings. We quit wasting our money years ago with this sort of advertisement because we got tired of such site owners getting rich off of our hard work. Quality is nothing more than a personal opinion or in this case, how much you are willing to pay the site owner for advertising! While disturbing in more ways than one, most people don’t take the time to find out whether malicious posted information is true or not. They take the information at face value and believe what they read as “gospel” when it comes to forums. For the life of me, I don’t know why…but they do.

Prior to 2006, we took the brunt of abuse by such forum owners/operators and their groupies who hang out and clan together inside of their forums. We let much of it ride because we knew then and still know now what the truth is and there is no merit to anything posted inside of forums harboring such malicious content. We did send letters to those sites telling them to cease the harassment and to remove the content. Some complied while others pushed the envelope. Over the years,  both my husband and I became a target of such slanderous, vicious postings  and endured alot of harassment from an estranged family members,  who to this day, boldly create  fake, abusive websites…company names…user names, etc…just to create smear campaign towards our personal name and business name.  Some of the material  had been posted for up to a year before we had even discovered it!!!  They have gone into hundreds of  forums as well as posting their slanderous comments on my articles and business sites,  pretending to be various people, using various faked email addresses and fake user names making up slanderous accusations towards us as a person and towards our business.  To my  surprise, many people inside of the forums actually believe what they write because they do not know that these postings are merely untruthful accusations by my estranged family members! I have been printing out the comments as they are discovered and I have located one family members’ IP address of which has been forwarded to an attorney general’s office.

People who go to such great lengths to destroy a person’s reputation or business and enjoy what they are doing surely have emotional and mental issues. Such malicious content is verbal vandalism. Many celebrities just brush off such nonsense but when the author of such content goes to the extreme of methodically and deliberately ruining someones’ business or reputation, something has to be done to put an end to it. That is where the newly enacted laws comes to play.

For years, I’ve witnessed female entrepreneurs truly succeed (including myself) and watched as others began to pick them apart; criticize them and sometimes trash them all across dog forums to include writing letters to site owners who sell advertisements to breeders around the world, even when the person who was doing all the trashing and criticizing didn’t really know them at all on a personal level….sometimes not even really on a business level. Have you noticed that too? Ironically enough, it is nine times out of ten other women who are doing the criticizing. Instead of supporting each other not only because they are women who are trying to succeed in this sometimes hateful, difficult world, they do their very best at tearing each other down.

As much as I had to admit, I’ve partaken in that sometimes too, but never on the levels that I have seen that has been taken towards me! Much of my own venting has been at trying to defend myself on the internet “kangaroo court” held by nitwits and wackos inside of dog forums and until I recently discovered that people actually CAN BE held legally accountable for what they do or say about others on the internet, I felt I had no other recourse but to try and defend myself from these nutty forum people by writing about it.

But now that times are changing and new laws are taking place, every site that harbors such malicious content can now be held legally accountable and can not only be sued by the person they are harboring information about, but can find themselves being legally charged with second degree harassment and a breach of peace if it can be shown that the site owner deliberately and willfully harbored such slanderous, malicious content without verifying its authenticity before allowing it to remain on their forum for viewing by the general public. Especially content that harbors malicious material that holds the person’s name and address and phone number or other personal information in a slanderous manner. This is a very good thing for many people across the internet who is going through similar situations. I personally first attempt at calling the site owner and asking them to remove the content. Secondly, send them a certified letter and if necessary, have your attorney send them the letter via certified mail. Thirdly, through legal channels if you are not successful in contacting their IP server.  I personally filed complaints with their IP servers…their host site servers and if that didn’t work, then of course they have get a personal visit. Now that there are laws to protect a person and business from being maliciously targeted by cowardly, vindictive people, charges can be brought up against those who are so abusive over the internet, once caught! I recommend printing everything you find so that you have evidence before you have it removed from the website, once it is found or discovered. If it’s email, then make sure you print out the header information that shows their IP address. Sometimes people can change their IP address but sometimes they can’t. Having supporting evidence is very important. In my sisters’ case, she changed the email content that satisfied her agenda when I replied to her to stop what she was doing. Instead, she kept the heading of my email and then typed her own words and claimed I wrote them. Because email can be modified and rewritten by the person who claims they received this type of email, this sort of internet evidence doesn’t hold much weight. However, when you can print what has been posted inside of a forum, it has the time and date of when it was posted and if the site owner is legally challenged, they have to produce the IP address of the person who posted the derogatory, slanderous information. This is how the “poster” is identified even if they fake a user name and fake an email address. Most IP addresses remain the same.

I’m very aware of the fact some forum owners “archive” malicious content and then they bury it deep inside of their forum as if the content is now hidden inside of a deep, dark, mysterious cave and they then tell others to “email” them for the links of they are interested in learning about their dirty little secrets (webs of lies and lies) …but we’re catching on to this little game as well. Little are they aware of how many people we have incorporated over time, acting as little gobblins requesting their dirty little secrets…..which is how we have come to know about it and are now writing about it. The dirty games played by vindictive people who have an ulterior motive can be very dark and the lows of which people will stoop at destroying another persons’ reputation and business never cease to amaze me. But the fact is, its very real and I think now that it has been happening to so many people over the internet that now people can actually do something about it, pleases me to no end!

If people are criticizing you as a person or a business over the internet, it’s almost never about you or the business. It’s really all about them. The person writing the insulting content. They felt scorned or hurt or “wronged” and so now they are going to “wrong” YOU, the person or the business. Some want you to pay dearly for it! When a person or business put themselves out there in a BIG way on the internet, just realize there WILL be a backlash from those who are jealous, envious, spiteful or who believe they in some way have been “wronged” by you. I believe it threatens or intimidates people when you as a person or business have the courage to stand out a little bit more than your competitors.

Cyber bullies are always in love with their “amazing accomplishments”. Cyber bullies are incapable of sustaining relationships with others outside the internet, so its of upmost importance they establish friendships inside of forums where they can have shallow friendships even if briefly.

If you are being attacked by a cyberbully inside of a forum, there are things you can do to help yourself and your sanity. It’s very frustrating being attacked by people who can create fake email addresses, user names and personal names and use their pen to cause personal harm. It is more frustrating because it’s hard to take immediate action against these persons.

The solution for getting over the fear of criticism from becoming larger in business or by becoming well known over the internet, is to come from a place of compassion and purpose. Compassion because I believe that deep down, people who go inside of dog forums and write content that is malicious and that is written to cause harm to the targeted person they are writing about, are really writing the content because they have stuff going on inside of their own lives that they feel is over-whelming or its something they can’t control. By writing and targeting someone else inside of a dog forum, they are able to generate a feeling of sympathy by people who don’t know them and by people who are not aware that the content they have written is completely not true! That their content is just a facade of lies upon lies. Their own feelings of inadequacy or jealousy or emotional issues that they have not been able to resolve all come into play. So really, the people who go into forums seeking such shallow sympathy are very sad people, indeed.

Their personal issues are not your problem or your issues, so ignore them if you can and with compassion, especially if you’ve been there too at one point. And Purpose. When you stay focused on the purpose for your business (helping OTHERS), then anything else becomes secondary, even if it hurts sometimes. Trust me, when I found out my very own sister was going into dog forums as well as other places and writing nothing but lies upon lies about me, my family and my business, I was dumbfounded! I had not personally seen her since 1996! I had not personally spoken to her in person since 1999 and suddenly in 2006 I find out she has been spreading malicious lies like a fire out of control, one after the other about me and going to the extreme of extremes by posting fake websites using my name, my phone number, stealing photos from my personal website of not only me but my dogs…..going into an ancestry forum and writing malicious content about our family and the list goes on…yes, it hurt me! It hurt my business as well. People out there don’t know the content they’ve read and posted by another is nothing but lies and it hurt me on a personal level because she is, even if estranged from the family, my own sister. But you have to remember that your personal success as a person can’t be removed by malicious postings. None of what my sister said took away from all the merit badges, the awards and my success achieved through out my life! None of what my sister said took away from the fact that over the years, I’ve built up a very large list of happy consumers since 1996 and none of what someone claims inside of a forum can take that fact away. My business has been built from a life long list of skills, sweat and hard manual labor! My business has been built from my own personal knowledge. Those are things, that no matter what someone says with words, can take away. You have to remember that angry words can’t actually remove all of the skills and knowledge you have come to know and learn. They are, after all, just angry words. My business which has served the general public since 1996 in a very successful way continues to grow because of my own determination to succeed and because I am doing something that I firmly believe in. My expertise has helped hundreds of thousands of people across the internet and my web site host  has the tracking numbers to prove it! My personal knowledge and my expertise in my field has served the general public since 1996 for free even though I myself pay for my website out of my own pocket. By my serving others, not by hurting others, allows ME and my business to shine even through the darkest paths some people desire to put in my way.

In a battle between fear of criticism and of helping others, inner courage to continue to succeed even when it seems the odds are against you, will take anyone through the fear and into the path of doing the right thing, despite what snippy people will say inside of dog forums or anywhere else for that matter. Some people are just plain bad and those people need to be hit back when they hit you. Somebody has to hit bad people back and this takes the courage to do so. I don’t mean this in a literal sense of hitting. If someone takes verbal swipes at another person as a deliberate attempt at trying to ruin them as a person or as a business, the targeted person has to have the courage and inner strength to hit them back. I’m not afraid to hit back. I don’t appreciate being verbally hit by bad people nor will I stand by being verbally attacked by bad people who enjoy writing lie after lie as a means of revenge for something they feel I’ve done to them or they seem to enjoy writing fictitious information that doesn’t even describe me in any way shape or form, which by the way, has been blown so out of proportion that I’m still waiting for BIG FOOT to appear or an alien ship to land in my front yard! I’m all about being positive and helping others, not taking them down or taking swipes at people who really deserve swipes, but I’m also not going to stand by and watch nasty people take untrue pot shots at me or the business I’ve worked for 11+ years building nor do I think anyone should stand by allowing bad people to do horrible things to them whether in person or on the internet. Courage and strength is a must to fight these sort of terrible people back. A person will always be successful if you love what you do and as Donald Trump said in his book, you have to have knowledge to succeed in something you love to do. If you don’t love what you do, you won’t take the time to acquire the knowledge it takes to succeed. I didn’t just wake up one day and think that breeding dogs would be interesting. All of my life I have had a huge heart for animals. All of my book reports in grade school was about dogs and cats. In the 5th grade (and I still have what I wrote that my mother saved for me all these years) I wrote an essay about living on a farm and owning multiple animals and raising them and taking care of them. I wrote, as a fifth grader, what I thought my life was going to be as an adult, and I wrote that I would be completely surrounded by animals. What I do has been a life long inner part of me. I didn’t jump on any bandwagon. I didn’t follow in anyone’s footsteps. My personal page at http://www.goldendoodleworld.com is all about what I have spent years researching, doing, learning and understanding. Bad people will always want to try to take away what someone else has no matter what their reasoning is because bad people DON’T reason. They don’t function on an intelligent level nor do they achieve much in their life. Inner hatred has a way of tearing a person apart. Inner hatred has a way of preventing people from moving forward in life in a positive or successful way. My sister and people like her who spend all of their time tearing others apart inside of dog forums or any forum for that matter, are bad people. The bottom line is, the crummy people will go and the the yummy people will stay. That’s all that matters. As Dr. Seuss once said: “Those Who Mind Don’t Matter and Those Who Matter Don’t Mind.

Daniel Silvestre asked:


One of the most effective ways to get a word-of-mouth campaign going online is to use forum posting to market a product. Forums are wildly popular and are often visited by people with very specific interests. There are forums for people with children, for singles, for those who work in certain professions, those who love online games, and more. There are forums that have tens of thousands of members and are teeming with people who have an interest in the general topic.

To use these populations to your best advantage, it’s important to belong to several forums that have some type of relation to what you’re selling. If it’s an E-book about horses, you might choose a forum for horse lovers, one about pets and one about activities for kids. All of the posters at these forums will be potentially interested in what you’re selling.

To start marketing through forum posting, sign up with a user name that sounds friendly and non-promotional. If the regular forum posters see a new member with a name like “buy-horse-E-book,” it may put them on the defensive. Instead, you want to integrate yourself as a part of the community. Choose a name that is friendly and perhaps even funny. Once you have an account, personalize it with a signature file. This is what will occupy the space below each of your posts. A few words about the product you are selling and a link to where forum members can buy it is a good use of the signature space.

Spend some time introducing yourself and talking about the topic before ever bringing up the item you are selling. Forum posting should be a somewhat subtle form of marketing because many forums have policies against posts that are too promotional. Post anytime someone asks a question that can be resolved with your product and you may see a spike in sales. Even when your forum posting isn’t about your product, however, some people will click on your signature link and discover what you are selling for themselves.

One way to hook forum members and make them eager to buy from you is to have some type of deal to offer forum members only. This may be a coupon code that forum members use to get a percentage off the regular price. When offered a special deal that is only available to them, the members of the forum may not be able to pass it up.

One of the most important things to remember when using forum posting as a marketing strategy is to always stay within the rules of the forum. Stay in the good graces of the other members and follow the rules or you will alienate the regular members and build a bad name for yourself as well as for your product. Familiarize yourself with the rules and notice the way people talk to each other on the forum before diving in. This will ensure that you are accepted as one of their own and can use this marketing opportunity to its best advantage.

Richard Shryack asked:


The Vette Forum is to this place for you, Corvette members, and others who share the swirl surrounding our favorite sports car, the Chevrolet Corvette. Everyone will pay from the exchange of ideas and your Corvette good officess by being well maintained and ready for the road. Whether you enjoy a Route 66 classic Corvette or a heart-pounding Z06, whether you’re a racer, a tuner, a builder, a Corvette collector or just a dreamer, NCOA can provide you with resources, services, networking, and special member at worst lend a hands that will enhance your enjoyment and driving experience of America’s favorite sports car, the Chevrolet Corvette.

A community dedicated to Chevrolet Corvette discussion. Beside the forum, the sites taint all newspaper imaginable as regards the Corvette, books, tools, galleries etc. Related sites: Corvette Forum is a third-party website that is not under the control of big-boards. It will be an first-rate opportunity to meet fellow corvette enthusiasts.

Roll into one the online Chevrolet Corvette Forum to intrude with other Chevrolet corvette owners and mechanics. Big-boards makes no representations whatsoever involving any other website to which you may have access through this site and is not responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any feedback pulses, data, opinions, advice, or statements made on Corvette Forum or any other site. This weekend the Corvette Forum is an independent enthusiast site and club. Perhaps the unconditionally interesting aspect of the Corvette Forum is the sheer scrutinize of the community; there are usually hundreds of people online simultaneously in respectively sub-forum. The Corvette Forum is an admirable site for getting and sharing Corvette acquaintance. In keeping with being a member of the Corvette forum for appreciably a few short weeks I think I can safely say we are ALL chap BIG Happy family hitherto.

I’m actually just breaking into the Corvette community myself but what I can do is sweat it out the threads I’ve started over on the Corvette forum and see what happens. Whether you are looking for a Corvette part or a Corvette for sale (like the an featured on this page), a Corvette forum is a perfect place to pick up on end useful experience and tips. I hope this sharing of intimacy encourages you to object your very grant Corvette Forum regional cruise-In.

Forum software and all trademarks are the pelf of their respective owners. What a brobdingnagian time to meet your fellow forum members and put faces with screen names. They can help in getting control signals close upon the extent of how much the forum itself can help. Talk with your forums regional coordinator for guidelines involving the extent that you may use the forums name in promoting the event.

So, when the prospectus first gets into your head to have a forum Regional Cruise-In. When you?re Regional Cruise-In will not be ?sanctioned" or "sponsored" by Corvette Forum. Again, your forum regional coordinator is the person to contact. And when we never stated that forum membership was required, we encouraged non forum members that contacted us hereabout the event to log on to Corvette Forum and become a member; reminding them that there were no costs involved.

Big-Boards track the leader active message boards and forums on the web. Please check out the submission page for chickenshit on how to get your forum faster into Big Boards. Every origination of the renowned car has its recognize section, forward with a technical area, parts and classifieds, and localized forums. If you can’t figure out that varying people on this forum are CAR enthusiasts and can appreciate aplenty types of fingering cars (including the Z06) historically you need to read threads other than this all.

Take out membership the online Chevrolet Corvette Forum to prattle with other Chevrolet corvette owners and mechanics. Big-boards makes no representations whatsoever surrounding any other website to which you may have access through this site and is not responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any denunciation, data, opinions, advice, or statements made on Corvette Forum or any other site. This weekend the Corvette forum is the particular group on the Calendar.

Jeremy Gislason asked:


Forum marketing is the act of using web forums to gain traffic to your website. Using forums to market your site can also result in more sales of your products or services, depending upon what type of website you are promoting.

The key to utilizing forums as a promotional tool is to do it in a subtle manner. More and more forum administrators are becoming open-eyed to spam users who exist solely to promote their website in their signature.

For this reason many forums now require you to have a certain number of posts before you can add a link to your signature. This is a fair compromise and gives you a chance to post and build up a positive reputation before you start exposing your link to other forum members.

Forum marketing is a very powerful promotional method when carefully executed.

Why are forums so effective?

Forums contain a high concentration of people interested in a certain topic. If you have a website related to the forum niche, you are immediately exposed to a large group of people on the forum who may be interested in your website.

You can also gather information from forums such as problems people are having, and then use this data to create new products to address the needs of the community.

How to do forum marketing

Forum marketing must be undertaken with the utmost care. First, it is vital to have at least 50 quality posts before you even think about promoting or mentioning your website - even if the forum allows signature links before 50 posts.

Get a reputation, make some friends and then you can subtly introduce your website either in posts or in the signature.

All your posts should be of high quality, not too short, and have an aim to help people. Start by just replying to other posts with helpful responses.

Signature files

Signatures should be interesting rather than written as a sales pitch. Arouse curiosity by telling your readers about a secret that is revealed on your website. Or mention a free ebook offer - this is a great way to get visitors and have them sign up to your mailing list too.

You have much more chance of making forum marketing a success if it looks like you are helping people rather than selling them something. For this reason, your website itself must be relevant to the forum niche and contain useful information.

Results of forum marketing

You can have amazing results by using forums to promote your site. It can result in traffic, newsletter subscribers, joint venture partnerships, expert recognition and trust building that is hard to gather from any other source.

Forum marketing is a highly effective way to get exposure and traffic to your website. Once you have established yourself as a valued member on a number of different forums in your niche, you will be able to promote your website in a more upfront manner without upsetting anyone. This can result in great increases in traffic and of course, increased sales.

Marige Obrien asked:


Forum marketing has recently been touted as a type of free, organic marketing. But because many marketers go into forums purely with the intention of marketing, their actions and atittude unwittingly causes exactly the opposite to its desired effect.

Forums, after all, are not marketplaces. But when used as such, the marketers’ actions become offensive and will only inspire the wrath of fellow members and marketers, not to mention the moderators.

Before a marketer can effectively market on forums, they must first understand that this type of marketing — in order to be effective — carries a certain degree of commitment, responsibility and respect.

To successfully market on any forum, the first requirement is to take a personal interest in the main topic of the forum. Not only does that mean visiting it regularly, but also developing a good relationship with both other members and the moderators, as well as taking an active interest in helping others. And, of course, it means abiding by any and all rules that exist. By doing this, one develops a reputation and, since it is human nature to work with a trusted colleague, business will naturally develop from this.

Because this type of marketing has already suffered some abuse, many forums have recently (and rightfully) developed stringent rules designed to protect their members from abusive or overly-aggressive marketing tactics. One forum, for instance, grants .sig files only after a member has created 100 valid posts; another has disallowed ads in sig files altogether.

Marketers must respect that the purpose of a forum is to be a platform to exchange ideas on a given topic, NOT merely to advertise their wares. And, contrary to what might be thought, this is especially true in marketing forums, where EVERYONE has something to advertise. But by focusing on the topic and posting responsible questions and answers, a marketer’s reputation will grow. From this, the potential sales/sign-ups will naturally follow.

Also, there are different types of forums, beyond the obvious topical types, of “marketing” or “special interest”, etc. These are examples of one type of forum, referred to as “open forums.” But there are also business and professional forums, which do not operate under the same rules and, more often than not, disallow any and all types of advertising or self-promotion. Forums created to support the membership of a particular program are especially adamant on this topic and often request that all members check their adverts at the door. They ask this because advertising other programs — especially to newer marketers — can often compromise the very program the the forum was created to support.

With all that said, it is still possible to successfully market on forums. But in all cases, a pre-requisite for success is developing a good reputation and a good relationship and maintaining both. So, while this is a free form of advertising, it does require a certain amount of investment as far as time and energy are concerned, not to mention subtly and finesse. Below are seven practical suggestions to successfully market on forums.

DO YOUR HOMEWORK Prior to joining any forums a certain amount of research is required.



Join relevant forums or forums that are in some way related to the promotion’s primary sales market. For someone involved with a health related product, for instance, many types of forums — from holistic medicine to mom’s at home — could apply. But to join a forum about punk music, for instance, would not be very productive.



Choose popular forums. Page ranking and the amount of active members are two good ways to check for this. This ensures that the forum will have enough members to remain active. Because forum marketing requires a certain amount of time invested, this also ensures that it will be there beyond tomorrow.



Choose forums that allow sig tags. If it’s possible read the rules before joining and pay close attention to them. Your time is important, too. It is better to discover if a forum does not allow posts of any kind prior to joining.



YOUR FIRST DAY 4. Read and follow the rules. Every forum is different. Some allow links only to your own website. Others only allow a certain number of links. One forum allows no more than five lines in a sig file, for instance. Beyond .sig files, respect all the rules and be a model member. Complaints will also give you a bad reputation, whether you’re aware of it or not.



Keep your signature tag short and update it regularly. Ideally, limit yourself to one link, preferrably to your main website. It presents a much more professional appearance and is less offensive to members and the moderators.



NEVER, EVER create posts that are nothing more than an advertisement. This is an all-but universal rule and only displays the marketers lack of experience. At best, the post will soon be edited, and, if left on the forum (although an author can always delete their own posts), will only serve to hurt the marketer’s reputation. At worst, it could be grounds for being banned.



Some forums have a special Advertisement Section, an area where all members can post ads, though they are usually limited to no more than one per day.

If no such section exists, after being a member for at least a few weeks, a marketer can send a Private Message (PM) to the moderator(s) and politely suggest that an advertising section be added.

Point out that this would mollify any members from putting links in their .sig files, while allowing them a place to post their link. And, too, the advertising could become a service, since it would at the members’ discretion to view them. Of course, they may refuse, but at least you made the attempt.

Work the (for)room. That is, be an active member on the forum. Plan to spend at least an hour each day there and take the time to get to know the issues and other members. Depending on the forum’s topic, both new and experienced marketers can introduce themselves well with intelligent questions.

As a marketer becomes a regular member, they will develop a (hopefully) good reputation and, without saying a word about their promotion, those interested in their product or promotion will approach THEM.–mo

BJ Norman asked:


Searching for a free forum???

Most Multi-level-marketing or Network marketing teams need a place to meet, share information, and recruit members. Creating a Forum or social networking site is the best way to network with your team, and also a good way to create more sales and recruit members.

Recently, during a phone conversation, with a top Mary Kay Consultant, from the Hampton Roads area in Virginia, the idea and opportunity for Free Forum Forums was created. For those of you not familiar with Mary Kay, it is a cosmetic, skin care, beauty consultant opportunity that has been around for decades.  Mary Kay affords many people the opportunity to work from home, creating a wonderful source of income.

Free Forum Forums, is an opportunity for medium to large networking teams, are provided a Free Forum for their communication and recruiting needs.

 

Benefits of a Free Forum Forums membership?

As a team member if you have at least 50 to 100 active people on your team, you can easily qualify for a Free Forum Forums program.  Starting a Free Forum for your team will serve many benefits to the success of your business.



Free Forum Forums, give you an open forum to communicate and network with your team and others.

Free Forum Forums allows you to direct people to your websites URL using a forum signature, which will create a link each time you post.  This results in moving your site up in google search engines.

At your Free Forums the more you post and use related keywords on your forum, you build your forums visibility in search engines, for potential recruits to more easily find your forum.

The free forum forums created for you will be using master search engine optimization techniques, to ensure that your forum reaches top page ranking in search engines.  This means that your site will get more visitors, bringing more potential recruits to your free forum site.



 

The best benefit is that your forum is FREE…………

The company pays your domain fees, your monthly hosting fees, plus optimizes and maintains your free forum weekly.

 

Your contribution to your free forum???

Register your team for FREE Forum Forums and let them start posting using the keywords needed to build your forum and bring you more recruits.

 

Uchenna Ani-Okoye asked:


Have you ever visited an online forum, one that is highly active with engaging members? One that you enjoyed because of the sense of community you experienced while there?

Have you ever visited an online forum where everyone seemed to be trying to get a one up on each other, where that sense of community didn’t exist and everything seemed chaotic?

Have you ever thought of the possibility of running your own forum and now you think you’re ready to step into the deep end?

Online forums today, are very popular and that is primarily due to the reason I describe below:

1. They are a new method of acquiring new members or clients

2. Excellent Advice

3. Excellent information or support

4. They are an excellent place to advertise your products and/or services.

But, you may have stopped to think about what it truly takes to get a forum up and running? Starting a forum is one thing, anyone can do it. However, on the other hand, to setup a successful forum, one that people enjoy and keep coming back to, where your members feel at home, a sense of community, that requires extensive planning, research, patience and more patience.

Ask anyone who is currently running a forum online if it is or is not a satisfying or profitable venture and they will inevitably say yes. Running your own community online can be very fulfilling and, if done correctly, very lucrative. However, executing your online forum can be a very difficult task to accomplish effectively. Most visitors to frequent ‘just launched’ forums, tend not to stay or engage or become members to what they may see as a quasi community without any consistency.

There are at least five basic reasons why people may seek out an online forum:

1. To seek advice or ask a question

2. To give advice or answer questions

3. To gain recognition or status or get support

4. To collaborate with forum members on project or to play games

5. To do business or acquire new clients (or subscribers/members)

If we consider that these are the primary reasons forums exist, then we can understand why no one stays - no one likes taking advice from themselves. While the vast majority of forums online continue to be free, there are more paid, private membership type forums coming online each day. So the big question is, how does one launch and establish a self sustaining and thriving online community?

Community vs. Forum

A forum is, pretty much, a community and starting a new community, whether off line or online, takes time to build up. But, while it may be true that a forum is a community, a community is not a forum.

As I mentioned before, people tend not to join empty and inactive forums. In fact, one of the primary factors in running a successful web-based community is activity. Since there are literally tons of forums on any given topic online today, people have plenty to choose from. Why would they choose to join a forum that’s empty and/or inactive? The most logical action is for them to join an online community that they perceive to be successful. In most cases, people join forums that have a large membership base, are more active and have a greater number of interesting posts. Remember, people seek out forums because of their needs, they maybe searching for a specific resource, they want advice or they need support whether emotionally or otherwise.

The bottom line to it all is that, no matter the reason, a successful form requires human interaction and participation.

Arun Pal Singh asked:


Forum meant a public square or marketplace in Roman Empire that was the assembly place for judicial

activity and public business.

Dictionary defines forum as public meeting place for open discussion.

Internet forums had the same objective of discussion on various topics when they were started. But now they are also good and effective marketing channels.

A place where crowd gathers would sooner or later become a marketplace.

Web forums, message boards, discussion boards, discussion groups, discussion forums, bulletin boards are the synonyms that are often used for forums.

By definition, internet forum is a web based application that is used for holding discussion on user generated content.

Forums are not a new thing to web. Since basic objective of web was communication, forums came into existence quite early. Earlier forums had simple structure and functionality.

From historical point of view, forums have become quite evolved.

Because forum users often visit the forum regularly, discuss matters, they get to know each other and sense of community develops.

A forum would typically consist of forum administrator(s), moderators and users who are also called members. A forum is generally divided into several sub forums. Depending upon the access granted a user may use all or few of them.

When you go to a forum, you would need to open an account which is usually free. A few forums however have paid access. So you would need to check.

After you register, you become a registered member of the forum and allowed to post content and ask questions if you need to.

A forum is a community indeed. You would find different level of users. There would be newbies and there would be old guns who are generally very much respected in the community.

A forum administrator is the top in the ladder. Forum administrator typically has the power to edit, delete, move or modify any thread on the forum, change major software items, change global skins, modify the board, and ban, delete, or create members.

Moderators have few of these powers including editing, deleting, and moving threads, mass pruning, warning members for offences, and changing minor forum details. Usually there are more than one moderators who are chosen from the users.

Forums are present all over the net and almost in each niche. You can search for the list of forums in your niche in your favorite search engine.

Each forum has its own set of rules and guidelines which you need to abide by when you use that forum.

It is good step to join a forum. You would find answer to the problems you face and would build a rapport with your fellow members.

This in long run would prove quite productive for your business.

Bob Withers asked:


Forums are one of the lesser-known marketing techniques that can increase traffic and sales on your website. Forums are an instrument used to communicate and collaborate with others. They are like social mixers, where everyone is on an equal level, socializing and discussing with others. You must be registered to post in forums and some of the forums are not seen unless you are logged in.

Internet forums are also commonly referred to as Web forums, message boards, discussion boards, electronic discussion groups, discussion forums, bulletin boards, or simply forums. Messages within sub-forums are displayed either in chronological order or as threaded discussions. Discussion forums are also referred to as “threaded discussion lists” or “bulletin boards”.

Forums differ from chat rooms and instant messaging in that forum participants do not have to be online simultaneously to receive or send messages. Forum etiquette can vary on different forums and they have become a common feature on many websites. They can be “closed” or “open” in terms of membership.

“Closed” means an administrator decides who can participate, while “open” means anyone can sign on to the forum. Forum categories represent a collection of forums as well as other categories. They are the areas where individual discussions take place as a listing of topics. Posts are easy to search and to read through. You can find just the posts you want very easily.

One significant difference between forums and electronic mailing lists is that mailing lists automatically deliver new messages to the subscriber, while forums require the member to visit the website and check for new posts.

Because members may miss replies in threads they are interested in, many modern forums offer an “e-mail notification” feature, whereby members can choose to be notified of new posts in a thread, and web feeds that allow members to see a summary of the new posts using aggregator software. Client software aggregators are installed applications designed to collect Web feed subscriptions and group them together using a user friendly interface.

Users sometimes post versions of a message that are only slightly different, especially in forums where they aren’t allowed to edit their earlier posts. Multiple posting instead of editing prior posts can artificially inflate a user’s post count.

In many forums which have editing allowed they have rules asking people not to make multiple posts, and also use a common plug-in to merge double posts, without an administrator/moderator having to manually delete or merge the posts. You do have to Register for many features and functions such as E-Mail Digests, Notification of New Posts and/or Threads, Personal Messaging and downloading of Post Attachments for them to work.

As crazy as the forums are, it is a real community builder that I doubt will ever be replaced. In order for forums to disappear entirely you would need something just as effective to replace them. Forums are a place where users of all types come together to discuss issues, trivial or serious. They are just what the word means, a place to gather ideas from varying and differing points of view, and it’s OK if not everyone agrees.

Francis Githinji asked:


Your forum of choice should have a difference. This is because there are very many forums which might not suit you best. There are several things that you can consider, if you want to participate in your forum of choice. First, it is vital for you to know what you are interested in. You need to consider what problem you have and, the kind of insight you are looking for. For example, if you have a medical condition, you can visit a medical forum that will play a major role in your recovery and knowledge of the condition. If you want a forum that will provide support, there are many support group forums that are dedicated to providing you with all the information you need. Many times, we are interested in a variety of forums. Do not seek to participate in, all at once. If you do not want to get overwhelmed, dedicate some time for each forum and, you will be in a position to gain the most from these forums. Apart from considering the topics or subjects, you need to go a step further. You will find that there are very many forums for a single topic.

Your forum of choice will be attractive to you. For example, if you are joining an online forum, their display of information and topics will play a major role. There are forums which have a very complicated theme and, display of information. The last thing you want is to be stuck in a forum that you do not find inspiring. Your forum of choice needs to have the right content. By going through the information, that is posted and what people are saying, you will have the opportunity to gage yourself and see whether this is the right information for you to be taking in. Forums that are of your choice need to have experts who can guide the discussion to the right path. Qualified specialist should give their insights as to what they really think on a particular topic.

Your forum of choice should inform you on issues that are factual. You should also have the opportunity to state what you really think in regard to the particular topic. Above all, you need to really feel at home and safe in a particular topic. Take time before you decide which forum to join. If you are not comfortable in an online forum, you can always participate in forums that are not online. There is so much to gain from forums but, you will even gain more when you join forums that are inspiring and pleasing to you. Let friends recommend the kind of forums you need to join. This is because you can get to learn so much from friends. If you find that a particular forum is not serving you in the right way, you can always shift to another forum. This is the best thing about forums. Make sure you have fun and, if you realize that you are not having fun, you better look for another forum to be part of.