Webmaster forums are some of the busiest sites on the web. Digital Point is probably the largest with over 100,000 members and a huge amount of traffic every day.
Most people forget about forums as a traffic source and those that try to use forums run the risk of being labeled a spammer. Since June BlogStorm has attracted over 7000 visitors from Digital Point and its one of the most valuable traffic sources, even Shoemoney gets a load of traffic from DP.
The easy bit
To start with you need to make sure you have your blog RSS feed appearing in your posts and that you use a nice signature (not spammy looking) that will make people want to click on it.
In my signature I have the words “Learn more at my internet marketing blog” so whenever I write a post people know they can visit my site to read more good stuff.
Reputation
It probably goes without saying that the better your reputation and post count the more aggressive you can be with your forum marketing. Try some of the tricks I use as a newbie and you are likely to get banned.
The good stuff
The first trick is to make your posts auto bump themselves. By this I mean you need to get as many replies in the thread as possible so it always appears at the top. If you just post a link to somewhere the thread will get lost, if you post asking people to reply to get a cool product for free you guarantee a thread that never dies.
My response to people who want the linkbait guide is just to direct them to the blog.
Be remarkable
My best post was one about how to create thousands of links for free. This appeals to people on DP as they like free stuff and they want to create thousands of links without any effort.
The fact I had a good reputation meant people trusted the post, the fact they had to respond kept bumping it for months.
I directed everybody who was interested to my getting links using Google Images post and everybody loved it.
If you have any questions please post below. These tips apply equally as well at DP as any other large forum.
Remember, the only difference between a spammer and an aggressive marketer is their reputation.
Patrick Altoft is Director of Search at Leeds based digital & SEO agency Branded3. Patrick also runs Blogstorm.You can get our blog posts delivered for free by email every day - simply add your email address to the box below or alternatively grab the RSS feed.
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice write up, some cool little tips.
Thanks
Jason
Hi, this is really an amazing amount of traffic that u are getting from DP. Just making me get some amazing ideas.
The Google forum is best, I dropped a link to a page on my directory demonstrating that there had been some minor PageRank changes in June, got about 2,500 uniques over the next day or two, it put me in the top 10K on Alexa. Submissions went through the roof.
This is a good write up. Well done on all the stats. Just wondering how much of that traffic converted for you?
My only goal is to get RSS readers and there isn’t a reliable way to track this at present.
Very insightful thanks. You touch on the fact that you have a good reputation and charging in there as a newbie would not have the same effect. It would be interested to know how long you’ve been a member on the forum and how much time you spend in there.
There seems to be a pattern… whether talking about getting recognition in forums, in social media, in blogging in general – the longer you have been actively contributing, the bigger payoff you’ll get. It always starts off slowly and builds over time. With this in mind, I may well look into some forums once I’ve cleared down my backlog of blogs that I read!
That’s some really great traffic, coming from a forum. I know I first visited your site from DP
.
Patrick
Your link bait info is good but aren’t forbidden to post your own link in your DP posts?
Or are you saying that you get away with it because of your reputation and number of posts while a newbie couldn’t get away with it?!
Thanks
BB
BB, you can post your own links over at DP. The thing you are not allowed to do is have affiliate links in posts or submit blatant spam.
Good article, but to me, 7k hits since June doesn’t seem all that impressive ?
nice article, i like your ideas! you are the best when it comes to link bait. Dp and other forums gives me some traffic, and that traffic converts aswell. Looking foreword to see more posts from you, also your blog has a stunning alexa rank.
That is good. You should be happy for that to recieve that traffic and if i would be you i would post more so i can get more traffic.
Nice post. Some fairly good ideas there.
I never had that many visitos.
I too hope i could get this much of visitors to my blog that going to set up soon on my site, as I am just a newbie started on internet business less than a week.
thanks for sharing…how long it takes to hit that target…
yes nice post and u r ranking in the first page in G for digital point forums!lol
Hi Patrick,
Helpful and Creative info about how to create thousands of links for free.
as we know, most of sites and directories has started nofollow techniques.
so its a Harder to get one way free links, but you’ve suggested good idea.
and Yea, DP is the best forum for Internet marketing learning centre.
Thanks
Jay
Hey,
I wouldnt mind a copy of that script you were giving out if you still have it!
Cheers
Oli
Could you please send me the script too. Or was it a dirty trick to get replies?
Really nice post with some cool tips.
I’m already a DP member and hopes this really helps me.
Great article, i am trying to test your tips, hope they will work for my site.
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