Earn from home

Online forums are a fantastic reminder of the influence the internet has had on society. Using forums to connect with your market is a natural progression.

Forums are online communities where individuals can discuss topics ranging from fly fishing to breast feeding to internet business. Discussions are conducted by posting notes to the forum. A single discussion is called a 'thread' and most forums have several - even hundreds - of threads going at any time.

What is truly remarkable about the use of forums is the personal quality of the discussions. Read some of the posts on forums such as ivillage.com and you'll soon see that the members become more like neighbors (and even friends) than strangers connected only by the keyboard and monitor in front of them.

Where brick and mortar businesses used to prosper based on their involvement in the community - online businesses now have a neighborhood all their own - online forums.

How can participating in a forum help YOUR business?

NETWORKING:

Online forums are a fantastic place to connect with others who are knowledgeable about your business. You probably cater to the same audience and share a common interest. If your businesses compliment one another you might just find a highly profitable partnership or joint venture.

Even if you don't find a working relationship you may find the referrals or discussions highly beneficial.

TRAFFIC BUILDING:

Along with the referrals you may get when you've developed a trusted online presence with other members of the forum, you are also likely to attract targeted visitors to your website.

If the forum permits you to post a signature (your website URL) onto the posts then you can be sure that some of the members and quite likely some of the 'lurkers' (people who view but don't post) will come check out your site.

EDUCATION:

Using the forums wisely can open you up to a great education. Whether it is from fellow entrepreneurs in your field or experts and other posters - you are participating in an 'inner circle' type discussion that may open your eyes to new developments and opportunities in your business.

ADDICTIVE:

The only downside is the highly addictive atmosphere. With members posting from all over the world it can be difficult to reign in your viewing time on forums.

On the flip side, other members are hopefully as interested in what you have to say and you may quickly develop a reputation as a reliable source for information.

Be very cautious to follow forum rules. Never spam a forum - your aim should be to participate in a conversation, not interrupt it. Have fun and watch your business grow!

Michael Paetzold is the owner of MP Marketing and specializes in helping people to earn an income on line. You may reach him at mike@mpaetzold.com or vist his business at MPaetzold.com.

News of interest

Lots of changes happening in the traffic exchange arena. PTP or paid to promote pages have become quite a bone of contention as to whether or not they should be allowed to be shown. There has also been some changes in the downline structure of a few exchanges. Advertising Know How and Click Crazey have eliminated down line referral credits from their exchanges and instead added commissions on purchases from your downline. They have also reduced the cost to buy credits and so far my tracking shows a nice jump in their hit delivery. I will be following this closely. To keep on top of what is hot in the traffic exchange industry check out Net Marketing Forum.

Hits Connect, my preferred tracking service has made a few changes this past month too. They have added a rotator service that tracks at the same time and is traffic exchange friendly. Also partners can track all the way through to the sale to find where your sales not just your hits are coming from. The rotator can be used to split test different pages for the same product. Last month I mentioned that I was a co writer of an ebook. We used this function to test 2 separate pages for results. If you click here and then reclick the page you will see 2 different versions of the page. These stats allowed us to use the better performing page for our launch. Think about what that would do for your conversions.

Hits Connect has a 30 day free trial. However, as a subscriber of mine if you are willing to forego the 30 day free trial, you will get the service for a 30% discount here. This will save you almost $100 a year for the partner option.

Program Updates

Profit Rally - Growth has slowed a bit over the summer but still on a consistent growth pattern. This is a great tool for getting people into your sales funnel.

Kiosk - Joel has been hinting at new things coming soon but no announcement this month. Kiosk continues to improve its Hot Conference software and is adding features regularly.

Empowerism - Has stopped using Pay Pal which is a bit of a concern at this time and will be keeping close tabs on this. Still provides plenty of tools for the cost. The search engine submitter alone is worth the monthly cost and its long history should keep it viable but have to add a caution to this now.

Niche Marketing Tools

Infogoround - Continues to be an excellent source of private label articles. This and blogger together can allow you to create a niche site with very little effort, minimal HTML knowledge and quite quickly all for $24.95 a month. To see how this can work for you check out this article here.

Click Spy - Knowing which of my niche sites are getting Google clicks, which Click Bank, Amazon, Commission Junction and Link Share links on which pages are being clicked is invaluable. If you are building niche sites this tool is invaluable.

Blogs and RSS Feeds

Blogs have become a hot topic. I have been blogging for 8 months and run a blog exchange (Blogazoo). I use blogs to get my niche sites spidered, to promote various programs discretely and finally to let my feelings out. Personally my blog (The Old Bald Guy) was a God send to me back in February when my Father passed away.

This month I want to explain a bit about Blog ettiquette. If you are a marketer and I will assume because you are a reader that you are, (yes I know what assume stands for but after all I am old and bald so will take some liberties) then the first thing is that a blog is not a sales page. You must have content that people want to read. Putting up an advertisement will get you snubbed by the general blogging public.

However, if I am talking about the latest seminar I have scheduled and mention it in my blog as part of what is going on in my life then the readers will be curious and may click through to get the information. A friend of mine opens a new program and I happen to talk about that in my blog and have a link to their program. These types of links get clicked and even get clicked 6 months later.

Next month I will talk about using a blog to get your site spidered.

Thats all for this month and feel free to contact me if I can help you on any way.

Have a great month and thanks for being a subcscriber.

Michael Paetzold
938 E Center Street
Mahanoy City, PA 17948

01-610-871-0546