Posting on forums, online groups and online communities can be a great way to generate free traffic to your website. Members of these forums (who’ve seen your posts) will often already be pre-sold by the time they land on your website. Many top personal brands got their start from reputations built in online forums.
So, how do you use forum and group marketing to build traffic?
Find the Right Group or Forum For starters, make sure you’re putting your time and energy into the right forums. Look for forums that have a lot of activity. It should have at least 2,000 members and 20,000 posts. Look for the biggest forum in your industry. That’s a good place to start.
In addition, it may be a good idea to post in a lower traffic but more “buyer heavy” forum. For example, let’s say you own a web hosting company. You’ll want to have a presence in the big online business forums. But you’ll also want to have a presence in smaller forums dedicated just to web hosting. Both are important.
In addition to industry specific forums, look for groups on LinkedIn and Facebook. LinkedIn groups are fantastic for freelancers, speakers and other service businesses. The right Facebook groups can also be a great resource and a great source of traffic.
Once you’ve found the right forums and groups, the next step is to …
Focus on Your Reputation A lot of forum marketers try to focus on raw traffic generated. In the beginning, this is not a good indicator of success. Typically, people on forums are rather skeptical. They can be fantastic customers in the long run, but in the short run they’re unlikely to click on links. They’ve seen too many scams and too many spammers.
Instead, focus on adding value and solving problems. Share your knowledge. Answer questions. Build your reputation. Position yourself as an expert. Then, the selling will become easy.
Write Detailed, Experience-Based Posts Most posts people write on forums tends to be shallow posts. It might be a couple paragraphs long, or a short question. That said, when someone does post high quality content backed by personal experience, they tend to do very well.
Writing for forum readers is different from writing for websites. It should be personal and shared from a first person perspective. Don’t write a traditional how-to in a teaching tone. Instead, write from a “sharing my story” or “here’s what I discovered” point of view. Don’t be afraid to write and share long content.
Getting Traffic to Your Website Once you start building a reputation, it’s time to start linking back to your website. The easiest place to link to your website is from your signature or your byline. People who like your post are likely to click on your signature and go to your site.
You can also look for specific sections in the forum for promotions. Many forums have one specific area for people to post promos. Once you have a reputation, the posts you make here can do really well.
Finally, leverage your connections. Once you have a reputation, people will be very open to you when you reach out. Reach out to website owners for deals, list owners for mailings and blog owners for guest blogging opportunities. Forum marketing isn’t limited to direct clicks – often the connections you can leverage will be an even more powerful source of traffic.
May I suggest that you Join a few high quality, high traffic forums or groups within your industry. Regularly contribute helpful, valuable information based on your experiences. Work on making connections with other members and find ways to leverage those connections to help you increase your traffic.
Today I’d like to talk about the list we’ve built so far and some actions you need to take. And if you’re worried that your list is too small for these actions, remember no one opens up their brand new email management system and sees thousands of prospects from day one. We all start with a single subscriber, and we grow our list from there, so no matter your list size this applies to you.
What you do while your list is growing is critical to your future success.
It’s never too early to start promoting. This is the number one mistake those with a small list make. They believe—wrongly so, it turns out—that there’s no point in promoting to a small list.
There are two reasons this is a mistake. First, when all you send your list is information, and you never make an offer, you’re training them that there will never be an offer. Then the first time you send out an email promoting something, they’re not happy.
The second issue with not promoting to your list is that you’re creating a bad habit. Yes, it’s important that you offer value to your list. It’s just as important to present offers regularly.
It is possible to promote too much. Despite what I just said, it is possible to burn out your list with promotion after promotion. If all you do is send your subscribers offers to buy, watch your unsubscribe rate grow.
Instead, remember to set up a system of nurturing your list by providing them value. Teach them to open your emails by striving to always include information they want and need. Share your stories with them. Tell them what you’ve learned. Interact with them. Promotions are necessary, but they’re not the primary way to connect with your list.
Make good use of segmentation. Not everyone on your mailing list will benefit from the same information or promotions. Some subscribers may be at the beginning of their journey and just learning about the topics you cover. Others will be more advanced and in need of different advice. Some subscribers will be active buyers and jump on offers quickly. Others may not.
By creating segments in your mailing list software, you can offer your subscribers exactly what they need when they need it. This targeted approach will result in more sales and happier subscribers.
Whether your list is 50 or 10,000, these strategies will help keep your list profitable, active, and responsive. And a responsive list is one of the most valuable assets you’ll have. Take good care of it, and it will take care of you.
It’s getting harder to get people to come to your website and stick around long enough to see what you’re offering. In fact, most people spend less than 20 seconds on a website before they click away, never to return. Thankfully, there are solutions to that problem. The way to attract more prospects, engage viewers, get more email subscribers, and make more sales is with video and specifically, YouTube videos.
Create a niche YouTube channel, with lots of great information. You don’t need thousands of subscribers to make it work. You just need to target and market to your viewers effectively on your YouTube channel, as well as other places. Let’s get started by looking at how to create your channel.
Create a Targeted Niche Channel
The first thing you need to do is create your YouTube channel. Give this a lot of thought because you want the name and branding of your channel to describe what your viewers can expect.
Design – YouTube allows you to create a cover photo, backgrounds, and other branding that will make a lot of difference for spreading brand awareness.
Watermarks – Use a watermark for your videos to help keep your branding there along with the YouTube branding. In your dashboard, under channel, you’ll find a link to “branding” that will help.
Intros & Outros – Create a standard intro and outro for your videos. That will also help a lot with the branding of your channel. You can use your video editing software to pop your newest video into the middle of the intro and outro.
Keywords – When you create your “about” description take the opportunity to include as much information as space allows using keywords that your audience will use to find you. Look for keywords under your dashboard, channel, advanced.
Cross Promote – Include a link to your website as well as your social media accounts. This gives visitors the ability to choose what works best for them. You’ll find this information under the dashboard, channel, advanced.
Contact Info – Just in case someone wants to use you as an influencer (that can mean a big payday) include plenty of contact information.
Use keywords and information that helps anyone know exactly why you’re on YouTube and what you’re promoting. Keep it friendly and valuable. Avoid hard sales tactics because visitors are coming to you for information and solutions, not ads, links, and annotations that distract them from getting the info they want.
Create Videos that Get Views & Shared A lot of people do have videos “go viral” by accident but you can, with planning make sure that you have a bigger chance of a video going viral. Going viral can be defined as being shared a lot more than other videos but how much depends on your niche. For some niches, that can mean a million views. For others that might mean 1000. It just depends on your niche. However, you will have more of a chance of going viral if you follow the tips here.
Lighting & Sound Matter If you really want a video to go viral, invest in the tools necessary to create high quality videos. Don’t worry about perfection. Just concern yourself with ensuring that people can see clearly and hear what you’re saying. The more professional the video appears and the better the information you provide, the higher your rating will be.
Add in Some Background Music When Appropriate For some videos, adding a little mood music can be helpful. However, don’t make it too long or loud. Background means that it’s more like subtle white noise. Also, make sure that you have the right type of royalty free music. If you use music that is not approved for this use, your video will be taken down for copyright infringement. YouTube has music you can use but you can also do a search for “royalty free music” to find more options.
Create Custom Thumbnails The best way to get attention for your videos is to create custom thumbnails that draw attention to the topic you’re going to talk about. You can pick a thumbnail that YouTube snaps from your upload or you can upload a special thumbnail. Branding will be increased if you use custom thumbnails that help the viewer determine what’s inside.
Be Authentic That might seem like an obvious statement but a lot of people get so nervous doing any type of video that they start sounding like a robot. The best thing you can do is know your topic very well and just keep an outline in front of you about what you want to talk about, then just talk about it without memorization. It’s okay to look down at notes, share your screen, or look away from the camera. However, it’s very important to talk to the people as if they’re in the room with you and are your friends.
Keep Them Short YouTube videos work best if they cover only one point of action. This means that a video less than 10 minutes is ideal. If you can get your videos down to two minutes, it’s even better since those tend to do best on YouTube. You want to cover one point, one “how to,” and one call to action in each video.
Interview Others When you can involve other people in your videos, it makes for something more exciting than one person talking to the screen. Interview successful people within your industry, a customer who has had success with your products, or even a famous influencer that you know your audience will enjoy hearing from.
Keep Posting When you first start posting YouTube videos try to stick to a schedule. Usually, it’s best to post one short video a day than it is to post one long video per week. After you’ve gained momentum, you can slow down, but at first plan on posting one video a day for 30 days for the best results.
Finally, make sure that you appear in your own videos. You can make plenty of videos that don’t include you but the ones that include your face will get a lot more results than videos that only include products or screen shares. With over 1.5 billion active YouTube users online watching videos, you’re sure to find your audience.
Pinterest is a virtual pin board service. Users can create boards that they pin content to. This content is usually in the form of pictures but it can sometimes be video. A user can have multiple boards spanning different topics.
Marketers love Pinterest because it sends customers to their websites. In fact, Pinterest is one of the best social media platforms to use if you’re trying to sell a digital product. Here’s how to use Pinterest to get more traffic which will in turn help you build your list…
Think of boards as categories. Some marketers struggle with the concept of Pinterest boards. That’s why it can be helpful to consider boards as categories for your content.
If you’re in the health and wellness niche, you may have content on topics like ‘healthy meal prep’, ’10-minute workouts’, or ‘weight loss success stories’. Take each of these categories and turn them into a board on Pinterest.
Describe your pin. It isn’t enough to just grab an image from your website or blog and add it to your Pinterest board. Take a moment to describe what the content is that you’re linking to.
Tease readers about what they’ll get and make them eager to clickthrough. Don’t share something boring like, “Learn 5 Tips for Clean Eating”.
Instead, spice it up a bit. Try using this instead, “Discover the 5 Secrets All Clean Eaters Must Know to Succeed. If you’re struggling with clean eating, these tips will motivate and inspire you. Be sure to download the free eating plan mentioned.”
Sign up for a business account. If you’re using Pinterest to send traffic back to your website, you should make sure you have a business account. This will give you access to statistics about your pins. You’ll know when the best time is to pin, what keywords your audience loves, and which pins get the best traction.
If you’re already created an account, you don’t have to lose your pins. You can simply convert the account by going to Pinterest Business Accounts and filling out a short form.
Use group boards. Some Pinterest users create a group board and allow other members to contribute pins to it. Often, the group board is built around a theme that other users may find helpful like ‘Best Weight Loss Tips for New Moms’ or ‘Styling Tips for Petite Women’.
Group boards usually get thousands of followers, so pinning to one is a great way to increase your traffic. But you need to read the owner’s rules before you attempt to pin. Some owners will want you to email them so they know you’re a real person. Others may ask you to follow them on social media before you contribute.
Pinterest is a great source of traffic, but it can also be a huge distraction if you’re not careful. To keep this from happening, try to schedule your posts and only login when you have a few spare minutes. Otherwise, you may find your productivity goes down when using the site.
LinkedIn is one of the top 30 sites in the world, which means when used right you can be certain of visibility.
Using LinkedIn affords you the opportunity to reach more prospects which leads to the possibility of making more sales.
There are multiple ways to stand out on LinkedIn. Once you start to apply the suggested methods and strategies below You will be on your way to LinkedIn success.
What is LinkedIn? LinkedIn is a social media site designed to help professional people, and businesses, connect with each other. Create your personal profile. Include your education, current and previous employment, interests and skills, as well as other info. LinkedIn will start connecting you with people you are likely to know. It is a great way to connect with long-lost friends and colleagues, as well as discover new friends, potential business associates, and prospects.
Through your initial connections, you can get to know other people in their circle, who may be working in the same niche or industry. Beyond your immediate connections, you can also connect with people the site suggests. These are often the movers and shakers.
Follow prominent people in your niche. The content you see on your home page will be from them, and/or chosen by the network, as something that might be of interest to you given your background and current job. In this same way, you can also get followers who are interested in the content you post.
Why use LinkedIn? LinkedIn is the most trusted social media site on the Internet. The reason is that you have to be honest about who you are and what you do to be able to make connections on the site. There is no way to hide behind a cloak of anonymity or pretend to be someone you are not. It is very difficult to create fake profiles on LinkedIn because they restrict your contacts to people you might already know.
It also gives you a great opportunity to showcase who you are and what you know, positioning yourself as an expert worth working with. Around 80% of job recruiters and Human Resources professionals use LinkedIn to find people to fill the posts they are hiring for, and to learn more about you. The last thing you want people to see are your Facebook photos of wild parties. LinkedIn helps you establish a professional profile online and link with like-minded people.
Make the Most of LinkedIn In order to start marketing yourself successfully on LinkedIn, you will need to put a few things in place to build your LinkedIn foundation. Once your profile is complete, there are additional things you can do to increase your success and your authority level.
Building Robust Profile Pages Building a robust profile page for LinkedIn can take many hours, but the effort will be worth it. It also starts with a great headshot photo of yourself and a custom header image that captures who you are or what your industry is.
The summary section is like an executive summary of who you are and what you do. Try to create one that speaks to the needs of your target audience. Why would they want to hire you or do business with you? Think of some of the most common problems people have in relation to your niche. You have 2,000 characters to sell yourself well, so make the most of them.
Listing Employment and Schools Note that as you list these, the top part of your profile will be populated with the data. You can manually edit some of it, such as your current title, by clicking on the little pencil icon to the right of the date field. In other cases, however, the information from the employment and colleges section can’t be edited. Whatever you list first in that section is what will appear.
Having said that, you can drag and drop the content up or down, so while it might be out-of-order chronologically, it might mean listing a more prestigious school first, for example. Note that as with a résumé, you should list all of your employment starting with your current job, and work your way back in reverse chronological order.
Listing Your Skills This can be one of the most convincing sections of your profile, where you list what you are able to do. It is important not just to show what you can do. It is also a chance to get endorsements from people who know you.
Getting Recommendations You can also get recommendations from others to boost your authority and provide social proof. These can be turned on or off, if you don’t want the information to show.
The easiest way to get skill endorsements and recommendations is to give them yourself. Once you have filled in your profile as much as possible, take a few moments each day to visit profiles of the people you know best. Go down to the skills section and click the plus button (+) next to the skills you wish to endorse.
To give a recommendation, look at the top area of their profile. Click on the three dots (the more button) and toggle down. Choose to recommend the person. Note that you can also request a recommendation on that same menu.
Endorsements and recommendations, like customer testimonials, provide proof that you have the skills and knowledge that you have mentioned on your profile. If you’ve worked with or for leaders in your niche, having your name linked to theirs will help to build trust with others. Make it a priority to give and ask for endorsements and recommendations.
