Would you advertise your forum on a similar forum?

[Ofthemix]

I've been thinking about this for a while, and reluctant to ask the question about it, because my gut instinct and morals tells me this would be rather shady.

But . . .

If you owned a forum similar to another popular forum, would you put your forum in your sig line and post in the popular forum to gain targeted traffic? I know this is normal forum marketing for regular websites, but it just doesn't seem to feel right in this scenerio. Just looking for opinions on the matter.

Don't worry WF, I don't have an internet marketing forum.

[howinfo]

I have done so, I can not see why not as long as the other forum is happy with it.

The links that come from a site that are related to your topic are always better than the ones that come from sites that are not so much related to your topic and you have more chance to get some targeted traffic as you said.

I would say, go for it

[Ofthemix]

I've felt quezzy about doing it, but I'd really like to get more targeted traffic to my site. I think I might give it a try. Worst case scenerio, the site disables my sig box, end of project.

[entry]

Go for it, you will be getting more exposure for your link,

dont hold back! take a deep breath , ...be brave ....and go for it

[TylerF]

This would be basic common sense - targeting your target markets.

If your forum does really offer a better experience and community, it would be natural for people to jump over to your site.

[dsmpublishing]

Hi guys

without a doubt - ABSOLUTELY!

They are your target market not your competition but your best friend!!!

You can exchange anything with them and if you had a blog you would always post your ad on similar blogs so why not with forums. I see people with IM blogs advertising them on here so whats the difference.

If i was you I would just go for it!

kind regards


sam
X

[Gail_Curran]

It depends on the forum owner. Some will allow it; some will kick you off the forum. Check the rules or see if any other established posters are doing it.

[AndrewCavanagh]

PAYING for advertising on a similar forum in various ways would be an obvious idea worth testing.

In direct response marketing when you get a chance to pay for ads that go to your ideal targeted prospects it's usually worth testing.

If you did go down this route you may want to identify what you do differently to the related forum and design a campaign that is non-competitive...attracts the prospects who are perfect for you and not so great for the other forum.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

[MJ Sterling]

I might have some insight for you Ofthemix.

I run a very large forum, there's constantly at least 1000-2000 people on it at any one time and plenty of folks join in the hope of promoting their own sites and forums through mine. Because it's high traffic I expect it to happen and don't ban or blame folks for trying ride along for some exposure off my back (and hard work).

When I see someone promoting a forum in the same niche as mine the first thing I do is check out the forum. If they are linking to my forum, I go easy on them. I still remove their PM ability for a while until they prove themselves (but allow them to PM admin and mods).

If they are linking to my competitors sites but not to mine, I kick them out straight away.

For the ones who do link to my forum, and if I like their forum, I'll sometimes help them out by endorsing their forum on mine (I'll create a thread informing my members about this great new forum that they might enjoy), in exchange for - and check this out - an RSS generated list of recent topics from my forum, displayed on theirs.

This is great for my SEO and is a win-win for both of us. I get a constant supply of fresh links to my forum, and they get a constant supply of fresh traffic to theirs.

The smart forum owners try to build a relationship with me and the rest of the community, and then I increase the cross-promotion, they become long term affiliates and encourage their members to get involved with my forum, my list and my products.

The dumb ones are short-sighted, contributing little more than spam.

Maybe in short the best thing to do is become a valuable member of the community that you seek traffic from first, let them see what a decent & honest person you are, before trying to get free promotion from them.

[Tsnyder]

You should also go on Twitter and Face Book and search keywords
relevant to your forum. Friend or follow those people. Put a link to
your forum in your profile and toss a reference to it in your live feed
now and then.

Tsnyder

[Dan C. Rinnert]

Been there, done that, still have the t-shirt.

It can get ugly, though. Just be sure you follow all the rules.

I was accused of trying to destroy the other forum, steal their members, etc., etc. Even had the guy that ran the site make snide remarks (without naming me but clearly aimed at me) hinting at reasons people shouldn't register on my site (I couldn't be trusted with their info, etc., etc.).

I outlasted them though. Unfortunately, the software I was using that was supposed to be handle thousands of users developed issues after 100-200 users. So, that was very, very bad...

When it comes down to it, though, there's no reason that anyone can't be a member of more than one forum, you know?