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Post Your Way to Success
by Trent Brownrigg ©Copyright 2004

Did you know that posting in Discussion Forums is a wonderful 
way to make a name for yourself and increase the chances of your 
success? Well, if you didn't know, you do now!

It's true! If you productively spend some time in online 
business forums each week you may find it quite profitable. When 
I say "productively" I mean NOT aimlessly posting to any topic 
you can find just for the sake of typing. You should actually 
offer useful advice and information for people as well as 
answering questions that others have. You will also learn a lot 
of useful tips to help your business from other people's posts.

Here is a small list of some of the great reasons to post in 
forums:

1) Exposure to Your Website or Product 
In most forums you can put a small information box such as an 
advertisement below each of your posts. This is a great way to 
tell people about yourself and your business. You will also gain 
a link back to your website to help with your ranking in search 
engines.
       
2) Making a Name for Yourself
If you consistently offer useful advice and answers to questions 
people will begin to notice it. Soon enough you be seen as an 
"expert" in your field. Needless to say, this is very good for 
your business.

3) Learning 
A lot of people frequently post in discussion forums. Many of 
them have been in online business for a long time and know quite 
a bit about it. You can gain vast amounts of knowledge by reading 
other peoples posts. Or you can simply ask a question and you 
are sure to get it answered many times over.

4) Meeting Other People 
Having a home-based internet business can get lonely at times. 
The people in discussion forums can be a bit like your 
"co-workers" at a traditional job. You might even make some 
great life-long friends. 

5) Entertainment 
Often there are quite interesting topics and replies for you to 
read. Every now and then someone stirs things up in a forum and 
it can be pretty exciting to read the responses.

Well, that is just a taste of why it is great to post in forums. 
Of course, there are more reasons and you may even have some 
personal reasons of your own. 

Now lets look at some ways to get more out of them so you aren't 
wasting your precious time:

1) It is best to post to forums that get a lot of traffic. There 
are many forums out there but quite a few of them hardly get any 
visitors. You can get a general idea of how much traffic they get 
just by looking at how many posts they get each day. If it seems 
to be getting a lot of posts everyday then it probably gets quite 
a bit of traffic all the time. 

2) Stay away from forums that aren't moderated or that let you 
post just about anything you want. These types of forums are 
generally full of blatant advertising and spam. Don't waste your 
time with them! You won't really get anything useful from these 
forums. Also, DO NOT blatantly advertise or spam posts. It will 
ruin your reputation and could get you banned from forums.

3) Restrict your time in forums by setting up some sort of 
schedule or time limit for visiting them. You can sometime lose 
track of time reading and responding to topics. Obviously you 
need some time for other business tasks so you don't want to use 
it all up in forums. Trust me they can get very addicting so 
this is an important step.

4) Do not post just for your own benefit. It is important to 
offer useful advice and information to others. By offering 
valuable comments you will get people to notice you more thus 
increasing the chances that they will do business with you.

5) Take full advantage of the signature paragraph that most 
forums let you set-up. This is where you do get to do a little 
advertising. Tell about yourself and/or your business. Provide 
a link to your website or product so people can get to it 
easily. Your link will also help with your search engine 
popularity and ranking.

6) Be respectful and polite to others on the discussion forums. 
Even if you don't totally agree with someone it is best not to 
attack them. People will notice if you are rude and obnoxious. 
It is better for you to just keep your unnecessary comments to 
yourself.

I regularly visit quite a few discussion forums. I have found 
that they are fun to read and post in and can be very rewarding. 
Some are better than others but all can be beneficial when used 
properly. You just need to find the forums that fit what you are 
looking for. Become a "regular" there and you will be rewarded. 

Here are some of the best business forums that I visit 
frequently, in no particular order:

Open Forums (don't require registration):
http://www.ablake.net/forum/
http://www.howtocorp.com/forum/
http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/184615
http://www.homebusiness-websites.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi
http://www.ozemedia.com/cgi-bin/webbbs/webbbs_config.pl
http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/11488
http://www.williecrawford.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi
http://www.friendsinbusiness.com/board1/index.cgi

These websites have forums that require you to register before 
you post but it only takes a couple minutes and doesn't cost 
anything:

http://www.wilsonweb.com/
http://www.infoprofitstalk.com/
http://www.siteownersforums.com/
http://www.associateprograms.com/
http://www.webproworld.com/
http://www.workathomenetwork.com/discussionboards.htm
http://www.mom101.com

I am sure that is good enough to get you started! The above list 
consists of many of the most well-known business forums as well 
some lesser known ones. Pretty much all of them get good traffic 
and none of them allow spam or blatant advertising. 

Now it is time for you to go and Post Your Way to Success!

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Trent Brownrigg is a successful home business entrepreneur, 
webmaster, and author of work at home articles. Secure Your 
Financial Future at: http://www.work-at-home-jobs-iowa.com. Find 
great products & services for your home, business, and family 
here: http://quickinfo247.com/8198358 
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