Now that you have your blog set up, as well as ideas on how you can get content to it, it’s time to think about how you will be getting some visitors to it. There are some ways to optimize your blog in order to receive the maximum amount of traffic, without spending money on advertising. Some of these ways are actually quite simple and can be implemented on a regular basis. Here is how you can get some high quality readers to your blog and keep them coming back:

• Research Your Keywords

This applies to both your blog post categories, as well as the posts that you will be making. Research the keywords that you would expect readers to search for on search engines like Bing and Google. Do a comparison of the different keywords, such as their search volume and competition level. Select the right keywords to describe your categories. For your posts, include the keywords in a natural way. This is very important, as to ensure that your posts stay legible and not simply stuffed with keywords, you will need to include them in a fully natural way.

• Include Sharing and Bookmarking Options

Integrate the “big three” social media buttons, such as Google+, Twitter and Facebook with your blog, by having like buttons for your blog itself as well as for individual posts. If there are other social networks that are popular among your readers, include their buttons as well. You should also put in social bookmarking links, such as Digg, Stumbleupon and Delicious, which will further allow your visitors to remember your blog as well as share it with others. An RSS feed would also be a good way to keep your readers loyal by letting them know when new content has been posted to your blog.

• Submit Your Blog to RSS and Blog Directories

There are plenty of free blog directories that you can submit your blog to. Take advantage of them. Even if they may not bring you too much exposure in the beginning, a few visitors a day could rapidly turn into hundreds of visitors if your content is engaging enough for these visitors to share your content with others online.

• Distribute a Press Release Regarding Your Blog

When you’re just starting out and have started adding some content to your new blog, distributing a press release about your blog could be a good way to get some attention. Press releases are often held in high regard by the “News” section of search engines, especially Google. You can find plenty of free information online on how to write an effective press release, what information to include in it, as well as where to distribute it so that you will get maximum exposure for your blog. This is one of the best ways to get some attention going to your new blog and can very well get you your first loyal readers if they like the topic of your blog and its content.

Previously, we’ve touched on some ways to keep your visitors loyal by providing content that will be relevant and useful to them, in addition to keeping your website updated on a regular basis. But there are also a few ways to not only attract website visitors to your site, but to keep them coming back for more, thus increasing the profit that you can make from your visitors. Here are some more methods that you can use as a webmaster:

• Use Social Media Buttons

Social media is all about staying in touch. While the primary purpose is obviously staying in touch with people, social media can also be a very good tool for businesses that want to stay in touch with their customers or visitors. Take a look at any website for a large company. You will often see a “Follow Us On Twitter” or “Check us out on Facebook” type of link and a social media button. If the top companies in the industry are doing this, why shouldn’t you? It doesn’t take much. Simply create a social media page on the networks you want to use and then place the buttons on your site. Interested visitors will then follow you on these social networks if they want to.

• Maintain a Blog on Your Site

It may not always be easy to highlight new updates, depending on the configuration and layout of your website. But a blog is perfectly designed for that. Simply including a blog on your website will allow visitors to see recent updates, as well as get information on things that are relevant to your niche. It also has some great benefits for SEO. People see blogs as a more “personal” way of communicating, so they are more likely to read them than the content of a “commercial” website.

• Add a Forum to Your Site if You Can

Of course, this will not be a solution for everyone, but it will work for many webmasters. Create a forum and add it to your site. There are plenty of free forum scripts available and many webhosts already include a few in their web hosting packages. Set up a discussion forum on your site which will contain categories such as FAQ’s, new announcements, industry discussions, etc. You can populate the forum with stickies containing tutorials on how to use your products or services, frequently asked questions about your business, etc. Your website users can then create threads if they have questions or if there is something that they do not like about your website or business. This gives you an insight of what your visitors think about your site and also opens up another avenue of communication with them.

These are all excellent methods if you want to make your visitors come back to your site often. But the main element that you must remember is this: give your visitors what they want. If they like your content, they will naturally want to come back.

The internet is known to be an excellent place for consumers to find out information about a company that they have done business with, or have the intention of doing so soon. This has given the rise to various websites, such as consumer advocacy sites, industry review websites, complaints boards and various discussion forums and social media groups.

Many of these sites have also become places for people who are dissatisfied with a certain company to voice their their displeasure and make it known to others. So, how do you, as a business owner, deal with this? Here is some useful advice:

• First, conform to standards of good business practices and ethics

Whether you run a physical business, or one that is strictly online, you really need to have good relationships with your customers if you want to avoid complaints and negative information about your company appearing on various websites and blogs.

Make sure that your prices, policies and service terms are clearly indicated on your website. Provide good support and customer service and respond to inquiries in a timely manner. If someone is not happy with your company or its products, make sure that you take action and correct the situation, or at least make a genuine effort to negotiate a solution with the affected party.

Also be aware that your actions as a business can affect your corporate image very quickly. News spreads very fast in the online world. So obviously if your business is involved in things like disloyal competition, dumping toxic waste, selling weapons to dictators, well, be prepared for the fallout because the news will soon be on dozens of websites.

• Monitor any information posted about your business regularly

This is not hard to do at all. Do a Google search for your business name, or the name of one of your products if applicable. Add the words “scam”, “ripoff”, “sucks”, “is evil”, well you get the idea,  to your name and see if you get any results. Browse social networks and see if there are any posts or discussions about your business. Check out YouTube. Search for your business or products on consumer advocacy sites like RipOffReport or ComplaintsBoard. Of course, you don’t have to do these things every single day if you don’t have the time for it, but depending on how big your business is and how many customers you have, you will need to do so regularly enough. Know that the more customers you have, the higher the probability that one of them could be unhappy, and that, even if you think you do everything well. By being aware of what is written online about your business, you will then be able to take the necessary actions to respond to it and prevent it from affecting your online reputation in a negative way.

Tomorrow we will take a look at what to do, and what not to do, if you find complaints or negative information about your business on various internet sites.

In the past, we have talked about what a great tool social media can make when you are trying to promote your business online. But in order to get good results from your campaigns, you will need to do things the right way, rather than simply plunging into the social media world unprepared.

We have already made a comparison between paid and free social media marketing. While there are some differences between both types of advertising, the following tips will be valid for both paid and free advertising on different kinds of social networks. Here are some things to keep under consideration:

• Will you do things yourself, or hire outside help?

Social media marketing is not complicated. However, just like any type of online project, it will require that you spend some time on it and acquire the necessary knowledge to do things right. You may want to spend about half an hour to an hour a day checking up on your campaigns and updating your pages. If you can’t do this, you may want to hire some outside help, either from a dedicated online marketing firm, or from a freelancer that is knowledgeable on social media marketing for small businesses.

• Which networks will you use?

There are plenty of social networking sites out there. Twitter, Facebook and MySpace are some of the most popular ones, but there are also some small and emerging networks that are used by many people. Some of these smaller networks could be quite popular with people residing in a certain region. What you need to do is to figure out who your targeted audience is, and what networks they frequent. You will then be able to focus your marketing efforts on the social media sites which are most popular with your target audience.

• How will you keep your audience interested?

Remember that social networking sites are places where new content is posted all the time, ever single second of every day. While users come to these sites to learn things and inform themselves about what their friends and local businesses are doing, remember that these sites are not an encyclopedia or business directory. As such, you need to keep your content fresh and interesting for your readers. This can be achieved in various ways. For example, if you run an auto customization business, you may want to put up pictures of work that you have recently done on customers cars. You can also put up info on upcoming promotions or events related to your business. While you don’t have to update your page every single day of the week, you will still need to put up updates on a regular basis.

By keeping these tips in mind, you will be able to draw a much bigger benefit from your presence on social media sites. It is always good to have a strategy in mind, but you might need to make some changes to it if you realize it is not giving you the desired effect, or if you want to try using a new social networking site that has just become popular.

A lot of businesses, both big and small, have realized the importance and the virtually unlimited potential that social media marketing has. Of course, participating in social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Myspace is good for any business. However, you social media marketing campaigns need to be done properly in order for them to net you the maximum benefit. There are certain things that are best avoided. Here is an overview of the most common mistakes that businesses make when using various kinds of social media sites:

Excessive Advertising

When establishing a presence on social media sites, the first thing that any business owner needs to keep in mind is that these sites were never built to be used as advertising platforms for businesses. Rather, they were created with the goal of providing a place for people to connect with others. Therefore, if all you do is bombard people with commercial messages, they will either drop you or simply not pay attention to what you are saying. Advertisements, such as posting promotional Tweets or Facebook wall messages should be done in limited numbers.

Not Updating Your Page

Social networks are places where users constantly post new information about themselves for the world to see. Your business page should be no different. Make sure that you update it regularly. Even if you don’t have any new products or promotions, you could always make some interesting posts related to your business, such as industry news, information on upcoming product launches, or general advice that is related to your niche. Let’s say that you are in the business of selling vacuum cleaners. You could post information on how to select the best vacuum cleaner, etc.

If you have a page that looks “dead” because it wasn’t updated in a long time, users will gradually lose interest in it as there is nothing new for them to see.

Not Spending Enough Time on Putting Together Your Page

Your business page on social networks is there to reflect your business. As such, its design and message should be consistent with your existing website. If possible, choose a color scheme and font that resembles closely to the one on your main website. It is important that your social media page looks interesting and well made. If you put something together that looks like you made it in 5 minutes while watching TV, it will give it a “cheap” look that reflects poorly on your business.

If you need ideas or are having trouble improving your page, there are plenty of guides that provide details on using specific social networks that you can buy or download for free online. There are also various social media marketing forums that can provide advice or design a page for you. Remember, while building a social media page is not difficult, you will still have to put in a decent amount of time and effort into it if you expect it to bring you good results.

Everyone notices that the world around us is always changing at a fast pace. After all, we don’t live in the dark ages anymore, so technology, culture and society are always evolving. The same can be said for the internet and especially social media sites.

If your business is not on social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter, it is the time that you consider joining them and create a page for your business or website on these social networks. It doesn’t cost anything and it can be done in less than an hour if you are not the most computer savvy user, or a few minutes if you are an internet expert.

But how do you truly take advantage of all the social media sites? To do this, you need to be aware of one thing: the social media world is always evolving as well. Let’s take a look at Facebook. It currently has over 500 million active users around the world. But there is a fact about the site that very few people actually know. At first, Facebook was only designed for students who were currently enrolled in a college or university. The site then opened up so that anyone could sign up and also create fan pages for businesses. This created a wealth of opportunity for business owners to promote their offerings on the site.

Besides the most famous sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, there are plenty of smaller social networking, social bookmarking and video sharing sites that, while being used by thousands of people, are often ignored by marketers. Not expanding your reach to the smaller sites out there could be a big mistake. Here’s why:

1. The potential for growth

The internet world can be quite unpredictable at times. There is obviously no way to predict whether a certain site will one day detrone Facebook or YouTube in terms of popularity. But it could happen. By creating a profile and being active on various social media sites, you will be one of the first ones in should a site explode in popularity. And it doesn’t take much time: creating the pages and making regular posts only takes about an hour each day. You can outsource it if your schedule is really tight and you want to save time.

2. These sites still have traffic

Even if they aren’t as popular, smaller social sites still have people who visit them, otherwise their owners would simply close them down. Even though having a presence on a certain site may only bring you a few hits a day, this is still good traffic that is going to your site. With online traffic, you never know which visitor will be profitable for you. Out of these few visitors that you get from small social sites, one of them could become a great client who makes regular orders, or could turn out to be an excellent business partner who could help your company get even more online profits than it is doing now.

Many people who are new to CPA marketing are wondering whether it is possible to get approved for a CPA network account even though you don’t currently have a website to run offers on. The answer is definitely yes. A lot of experienced marketers don’t even have a main website. Rather, they either directly link to the offer’s page or build a dedicated landing page for each offer that they run. CPA networks understand that there are various ways to promote their offers that don’t necessarily involve having a website.

Even though you may not need a site, it is still recommended to get your own domain name to use for your email address. The domain name could be the name of the business that you’ve set up for your online marketing activities, such as AcmeMarketing.com. If you are just starting out and don’t want to register a business for your online activities, you can simply use something such as RobSmithWebMarketing.com. You would then have an email address at your own domain name. This looks a lot more professional and serious than using a free email service such as Hotmail or Yahoo. You are also more likely to get approved for an account this way, as CPA networks tend to view registrations with no web site and a free email address with suspicion, due to the fact that the majority of fraud comes from users with free emails.

When you sign up, you will be asked how you will be advertising the offers that the network has. Since you don’t have a site, it is important for you to be as specific as possible when describing your plans here. If you are planning to run pay per click campaigns, you would indicate that you are a PPC marketer and tell the network the PPC networks that you would be using to run their campaigns like Google Adwords, Bing, Yahoo Search Marketing, etc. If you would be promoting offers by social networks, describe your strategy for doing so, such as which social networks will you be using and how you plan to draw traffic to the offers.

CPA networks will also ask you about your overall experience with internet marketing. If you have run any affiliate or CPA offers before (even if you weren’t that successful), list that on your application. For example, if you have promoted Clickbank products, you would mark that down under your experience. The networks are typically looking for people who at least have an understanding of how internet marketing works and prefer people who already have acquired some experience, even if you have only made a few sales.

Once you submit your application, expect to receive a phone call form the network within a few days. They will want to confirm the information on your application and will ask you some questions regarding your past experience and your objectives with regards to internet marketing.

Advertising on social media has been a topic that is widely discussed in internet marketing circles. Given the fact that social networks are receiving millions of visitors daily and have hundreds of millions of active users around the globe, it is no wonder that internet marketers are trying various ways to make profit from them. It is, of course, possible to create a page for your business on social networks and have people add you to their profiles. While it can be quite effective if you run a local business, such as a bar or restaurant, or otherwise provide a very unique and interesting product, this may not always be the best choice when trying to market something on social networks.

There is an alternative, however. Social networks such as Facebook and MySpace have an advertising platform in place where you can pay for ads on a cost per click (CPC) or cost per thousand impressions (CPM) basis. The way that these advertising networks operate are similar to the Google Adwords content network, but with a few differences. First, your ads are only distributed on pages in the respective social network’s site and not on third party sites. You also have the opportunity to include a small graphic next to your ad text.

One of the main things that makes buying social media advertising attractive to internet marketers is that you get the ability to targeted various groups of users with your ads. You are not limited to simply targeting people based on their location. You can choose things such as gender, age, relationship status and interests in order to better target your ads.

But one question remains and is subject to a lot of debate among internet marketers: is it really possible to make a profit when using paid social media advertising? Well the answer is yes. It actually HAS to be. You see, if no one was profiting from these ads, advertisers wouldn’t pay for them and social do networks would lose their source of funding.

The main consideration for an internet marketer using social media ads would be what type of offers you would be running. Remember that those visiting social networks are usually not currently on the lookout for things to buy. Check out the social networks for yourself and see what kinds of ads are being served on their pages. You will notice that most of them are offers that do not require the user to buy anything, such as ads for survey sites, dating sites, coupons, credit card applications, insurance quotes, etc. These are the types of offers that typically are the most successful when promoting via social networking ads. A good strategy would be to check out the ads that you get served with while browsing the site. Ads that stay there for longer than a week or so are usually the ones that are bringing in some profit for the advertisers.

Two different methods of internet marketing, each with their own advantages and disadvantages, are pay per click (PPC) advertising and organic SEO. Let us take quick look how to affectively use them and what some of the benefits and drawbacks are.

PPC Advertising

PPC is exactly what it sounds like, you pay every time somebody clicks your advertisement, the most popular PPC network is Google Adwords but there are many different providers of PPC programs. The most obvious benefits to PPC advertising are immediate exposure to your market, flexible plans for spending (theoretically the more you spend, the more traffic you get) and quite a bit of control over the whole operation. Using PPC advertising networks can be tricky but there are rules and guidelines that you can follow that will almost guarantee results.

PPC Adwords is based entirely around keywords, an advertiser bids on certain keywords so that every time their ad is shown and clicked, they pay a certain their bid amount. The tricky part is choosing quality keywords that will ensure your ads are being shown to people who should be seeing them. Let us say that you are selling a book on self help, what keywords would you bid for? Some will be obvious but out of your price range, for example “self help books” might be a bit above your budget, so you have to get creative. Try to put yourself in the mind of an internet browser who is looking to buy a book on self help; would you be searching for something like “ways to be happy” or for a product like “self help book to make me happy”? Figuring out what your target market wants is essential to a successful PPC campaign.

Organic SEO

Another option for advertising online is organic SEO, this is traditionally viewed as ranking for your keywords in search engines but has also recently referred to building reputation on social networks, for now we will focus on the benefits of ranking for your keywords.

Similar to PPC advertising, establishing an organic position in search engines is dependent on keywords. You want to target and optimize your website for keywords that will bring in visitors you want to have visiting your website, i.e. visitors who want to buy your products. There are many different ways to optimize your website and begin ranking online for your keywords, fortunately most of them from building backlinks to article marketing, be creative and use the internet for research, you will have more tactics than you know what to do with before too long.

PPC advertising and organic SEO are both viable and important options, both challenging, both potentially rewarding and can both bring you visitors, invest some time learning about them today to start converting more and earning more.

Image Source: Seolair

Starting a social media page is a great advertising method and has numerous advantages over other types of web marketing methods. But in order to make the most out of it, you need to take certain actions that will increase both your visibility and popularity on social networks. Sure, there have been some pages that were receiving virtually no traffic and then went viral when a user stumbled on them and shared it with his friends. However the odds of your page going from zero views to millions of them without action on your part are roughly one in a million. Here are some ways to promote your social media page:

Have a link or button on your main website.

If you have a quality business that brings in recurring customers, having a link to your social media page on your main site is a great idea. This will let your customers see your page and add it to their profile (i.e. “liking” your page on Facebook or “following” you on twitter.) In turn, this can generate an increased amount of traffic to your social media page as their friends see you and decide to check it out. They may also add you to their profile for THEIR friends to see and so on. Companies, big or small, are including a social media button or link on their site in increasing numbers. What are YOU waiting for? It only takes less than a minute to paste in a snippet of code.

Hold attractive promotions on your social media page.

This could be in the form of a discount, a free trial, a 2 for 1 special, etc. The possibilities are quite endless. If you own a brick and mortar retail business, such as a clothing store, you could also include a printable coupon for some merchandise. Many big name stores have started this practice, so why shouldn’t you? The amount of profit that you will make from increased sales due to a higher number of people finding out about your social media page will quickly surpass the small loss that you will take as a result of offering discounts.

Include it in your email newsletter.

If you have a mailing list and send out email communications to your users, you could include something about the launch of your social media page in your newsletter. Then, in subsequent newsletters, just include a small footer saying something like “Join ABC Inc. on Facebook!” or “Follow us on Twitter!” You might think that your users will be reluctant to use your social media page because they’re already receiving an email newsletter from you to keep themselves updated. This may be true for a few users. A good strategy to use then is to follow point number 2: offer them a unique promotion for joining you on a social network.

If you own a small business, you may have heard about the possibility to use social media in order to increase your bottom line. While this is certainly true, there are a few things that you need to know about social media before you jump in. It is always important to have a properly made marketing strategy in order for your efforts to be beneficial for you.

The first thing that you would need to consider is what social network to use for your marketing campaigns. There are various networks out there and they all have their unique advantages. For example, Facebook has a demographically diverse user base and the highest number of users. This makes it a good all around choice to promote your business.

LinkedIn is more geared towards business users. It’s main purpose is for individuals and businesses to connect to each other and share information. This makes it a poor choice if your goal is to promote your products or services online. However, it can help you find qualified employees who are looking for a job. It could also be a great tool to network with other business owners and vendors. This will allow you to form partnerships with other businesses and individuals that could have something useful to offer you. For example, if you need your main website redesigned, you can network with a web design company that can do it for you.

Twitter is a network that lets users post Tweets, or short message to keep others in the know as to what they are doing. It is often used by people to share some information about their lives with friends. But it does have significant advantages for businesses as well. You can post updates about your products or services, or announce a new promotion to your followers. It is also possible to put your website link in your Tweets to drive additional traffic to your website.

Despite the fact that social networks can be a powerful tool for the promotion of your business, remember that their main purpose is for users to be entertained and share information. After all, people do not log in to a social network just to be bombarded with advertisements and promotional messages. If your postings consist of nothing but that, it is quick way to simply get ignored. Offer your users some useful content that doesn’t sound too promotional. For example, you can post how to guides or links to news articles that are related to your industry and that the users will have an interest in.

Also remember to update your page frequently with fresh content. People always want to see something new and if you don’t post anything to your social media page in a while, they will simply lose interest in it rather quickly. Do everything possible to make them want to visit your page on a regular basis.

Commenting on other blogs in your niche is essential in order to get readers to come over to your own blog and to build relationships with other bloggers. This is sometimes an overlooked area of internet marketing and promotion for your website, and usually, it is done horribly wrong.

Readership

When going for readership with your commenting, make sure you create engaging and thoughtful arguments and conversation on the blog. If you disagree, disagree politely and state why you think it is wrong and what you think is right. Engage in the conversation. Don’t simply write “nice post,” but instead give insight into the topic, add to the list of reasons “x is so great” and offer some sort of value. If readers always see your name popping up next to smart responses they will be more likely to click on your name to see what you are about.

Build Relationship

Building a relationship with the author is essential. Reach out to them on social networks, on their blog comments, and through their contact form. Introduce yourself and state that you are in a similar niche and really like their work. Creating this relationship will help them recognize you on the blog, be more likely for them to subscribe to your blog, and will increase the chances of them linking to your blog and adding to your conversation as well.

Great Content

Give the people what they want – great content. It is no different than creating content on your own blog, give value and you will get value in return.

Real Name

Don’t use your niche or keywords as your name, you can on some occasions but trying to be more personal can go a long way. Don’t hide behind an alias, as you will have a hard time getting any response from that. If you want to use your keywords, insert them into your reply, or leave a link to your website in it’s entirety at the bottom of your post (make sure you have awesome content or you will risk being marked as spam, and even some spam bots will register you, so be careful with this one).

Never, Ever Spam

Don’t spam other bloggers. Think about how much you hate when you have people spamming your articles on your blog, so don’t do it to them. Create engaging content that will create a sense of urgency and interest in checking out your own work.

So you just launched a new website, and you want to generate some positive attention for it. Generating buzz or hype isn’t as hard as you might think. You just have to follow a few simple steps, and you’ll be on your way in no time.

Start off by using social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to talk about your site. Don’t just talk about the site using your social networking accounts, but encourage your friends and family to talk about it on their own. In order to generate buzz, the positive attention your site is getting on social networks has to appear natural. If other users suspect that you’re just trying to generate hype for your site, then you will actually achieve the opposite effect of damaging your site’s reputation. Try to get a group of your friends and family together that can start spreading the word about your site for you. As they talk about it, their friends will go to your site. Some of those friends will talk about it too, and slowly, but surely, you’ll begin to build some buzz around your site.

Consider volunteering some of your services to another website. If, for example, you have launched a site about technology, consider doing a guest spot writing for another tech website. This will give you the chance to introduce yourself to another audience, and get them excited about your site.

Don’t underestimate the power of physical items. Get some T-shirts, pens, and buttons made up with your site’s information on them. Hand these items out generously, and give some to your friends and family to do the same with. As these items spread, so too will your site.

Give out your business card whenever you can. If you’re out to lunch, leave your business card on the table along with the tip. If you see a bulletin board at the grocery store, pin your business card to it. This might seem a little futile, but remember, everyone who sees your URL might visit it. Everyone that visits it might tell a friend.

It’s important to remember that, while these methods can help, the amount of buzz your site generates will be directly related to the content it holds. For example, if you run a plumbing supply website, don’t expect to generate a huge amount of buzz. Plumbing supplies are great when you need them, but on a day to day basis, they’re just not very exciting.  If your content is interesting, and you follow these steps, you’ll start to see buzz for your site in no time.

Online forums are sometimes overlooked as a means to market your product or website to a large audience, but in reality, forums are still alive and thriving no matter the newest social network which comes along.

The reason forums are still a mainstay online is that they are very niche offerings. Sure, you can go to Twitter to talk about internet marketing, but 1/2 your audience might not care. On a forum dedicated to Internet Marketing such as Warrior Forum, everyone there is there to work on their internet marketing business or to learn more about internet marketing. Social networks are great for a broad market, but to get very targeted “social” interaction a forum still remains the top choice. You see the difference?

One of the main ways to use forums as a marketing tool for your website is to use the signature allowed in your posts that you create. This signature which usually can allow links (and usually dofollow links) will allow you to create numerous backlinks to your website. The more you post, the more times your link appears on different pages of the website. This is good for two reasons mainly, 1) that your link will gather you some Google “juice” (aka backlinks) and 2) that your fellow forum members might happen to click on it.

The two are very different, one is traffic for the future and the other is traffic now. It is very important however, to make sure you are providing relevant content and not spam. Forum members hate when new members come into their forum and start spamming comments that are generic or add no value to the conversation. Much like a social network such as Twitter. Make sure, for your future readers sake and your reputations sake, that you do not come off as spammy, that you promote your site in a respectable way and that you provide some sort of value to the other forum members.

Another minor way, but another way that might be important are forums with “websites” in their profiles. So when you are signing up and a forum asks for your personal website, put your product website there that you want to promote. That will provide you with one backlink at least for your effort, better than nothing, right?

Good luck and don’t be a bad forum member – make sure you follow the rules and add value to the conversation.