Signatures in Forums

14 years ago

Here are a couple dozen of the footprint strings I would start out with...

"keyword"+[XYZ]

XYZ=

add topic
new topic
post new topic
new thread
running:vbulletin version
most users ever online was
welcome to our newest member
the most members online
view most recent posts on the forum
board index
please login or register
forum
discussion boards
members
message board
bulletin board

"keyword"+[Powered By XYZ]

XYZ=

vbulletin
E-blah forum software
fluxbb
forum software minibb
fudforum
invision power board
ip.board
lofiversion
mybb
newbb
phpbb
punbb
qucksilver forums
Seo-board
smf
the unclassified newsboard
ubb.threads
usebb forum software
xennobb
xmb
yabb
yaf
phpbb3
fluxbb
vbadvanced
Smf 2.0 RC1.2
Smf 2.0
Vbulletin *3.0.1
expressionengine
invision power board u v1.3 final
aef
simple machines
E-blah
icebb
javabb
viscacha
fireboard
snitz forums
fruitshow
lussumo
mesdiscussions.net
ultrabb

There are a lot more out there, but this should be more than enough to keep you hunting for while

[ 8 ] Thanks
2 replies

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REHughes

14 years ago

Thanks for the list John. Am saving a list of these in my keyword research folder. Great info for forums!

Robert

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1 reply

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herbalhound

14 years ago

Not trying to hijack your thread but I have found it hard to find forums that would let me post a link in the signature anymore. Anyone else run into this problem?

Thanks
1 reply

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SamuraiKat

14 years ago

Originally Posted by herbalhound

Not trying to hijack your thread but I have found it hard to find forums that would let me post a link in the signature anymore. Anyone else run into this problem?

I have seen this as well. Actually, what I have found is that many of them are allowing for signatures after a few criteria have been met. You must either be on them for a set period of time and/or have reached a determined amount of postings.

It is true that many of the forums are ceasing people allowing a signature file though. Much of this comes from unending amounts of spam. I can't say that I blame them. Go take a look at some of the conversations on sitepoint or flippa.

I my self have actually posted. "Thank you for allowing me to spam your forum just so I can get a backlink". This was a post that I left and it is still up 3 months later. Crazy

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1 reply

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johnes4th

14 years ago

Originally Posted by SamuraiKat

I have seen this as well. Actually, what I have found is that many of them are allowing for signatures after a few criteria have been met. You must either be on them for a set period of time and/or have reached a determined amount of postings.

These are the forums where you can really benefit if you become an active member - even just a post or twice a week.

IMHO there are a few reasons for this...
1. the forum moderators are likely active, which means other marketers who are only searching for back links won't be there competing with you
2. once you meet the criteria, the links will likely be "better" because there will be less sig's with links on the page.
3. plus, once you can add sig links, you immediately stand out to other forum members, which ideally means you will have more credibility whenever you do recommend something or point them to one of your blog posts

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georgem78 14 years ago

Thanks, this is awesome. Definitely useful for people building links through forum signatures.
- Thanks
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JOSourcing

Banned 14 years ago

My strategy isn't as extensive as johnes4th's. I usually just search for keyword+forum or keyword+"discussion board".

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1 reply

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johnes4th 14 years ago

Originally Posted by JOSourcing

My strategy isn't as extensive as johnes4th's. I usually just search for keyword+forum or keyword+"discussion board".

Fair enough, most of the time keyword+forum is more than enough...

For me, I have found that these search strings can help me find smaller forums that have less users because they tend to not rank as well in search engines.

Depending on the niche, smaller forums can sometimes have a lot more active users. Ideally, this makes it easier to recognized quickly as a beneficial resource.

It's kind of like looking for a small group of friends hang out with rather than going to the giant frat party and trying to get noticed.
- Thanks
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Dann Vicker

14 years ago

Great answer Johnes...Just wanted to add that responsible forum marketing has been responsible for about 50-80 daily visitors to my squeeze pages, and that's to encourage the OP. In a month that's up to 2500 clicks. Compare that to a paid soload and you're looking at up to $1,000 worth of clicks.

Dann

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ryanalden

14 years ago

Well i really like the way john has explained the things. Even i use this techniques , whenever i need i find it by using

keyword+"powered by phpb" inurl:forum

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Tiffiney Cowan

14 years ago

I love how reading the posts on the WF I can learn the answers to questions I hadn't yet thought to ask! LOL!

Thanks for the great detailed information Johnes4th!

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FforFree

14 years ago

This is good info. Thanks

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ijohnson

14 years ago

Ditto, ((Tiffiney Cowan))!!!

I have only been using >> "keyword"+forum but I will be adding those additional strings shared by ((johnes4th) to my list!

Iris

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sethczerepak

14 years ago

You really have to take some time and just get in there and test the forums, read their rules and see what other posters are getting away with in regard to posting links. You don't exactly need a signature to get traffic, you can post links in your comments, it's just a matter of doing it the right way.

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JimDucharme

14 years ago

Originally Posted by sethczerepak

You really have to take some time and just get in there and test the forums, read their rules and see what other posters are getting away with in regard to posting links. You don't exactly need a signature to get traffic, you can post links in your comments, it's just a matter of doing it the right way.

Good advice. Every forum is a community and if you want to avoid being stomped, make sure you do some obvservation and get a feel for the community before you leap in. If you do just a little bit of this first and make sure your posts are relevant and have value, you'll have better results IMHO.

Regards,
jim

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Backlinksboy

14 years ago

forum commenting is a very good way to drive traffic to the site, in fact Q&A sites like answers.yahoo.com and others are very good too, try them

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jasono

14 years ago

You can select the search engine to discussions aside from "everything"

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Mike Ogbin

14 years ago

It is always a good idea to register in few forums that are related to your niche to get an idea about what the latest buzz in your niche.

You can get latest news and also know what people are talking about. If you are planning for a product launch or a ebook launch you may want to visit at least one forum in that niche and get views about the forum users.

This helps you in shaping your product/ebook.

If you want to use Google search for searching the forum list for your niche, you can use the following method.

"your niche keyword name" +forum

Example: "Article marketing" +forum will list all the forums related to the niche "Article marketing". Check it by yourself and pic the best forums.

Check The largest Message Boards and Forums on the web! this website contains a database of the big/best forums in the net categorized and well maintained.

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marcelomusza

14 years ago

Very interesting post John, I didn't even know that I could do searches with that level of precision. Quite nice indeed!

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Charanjit

14 years ago

Just a word of advice, register on the forum, wait a few days then update your profile, I mean everything and wait a few more days then get posting, I normally aim for 5 old posts and 3 new ones, so far this has worked pretty good for me so far.

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MikeTucker

14 years ago

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JohnMcCabe

14 years ago

Johnes, there's another good reason to use some of the lesser known footprints. Everyone knows about "niche + forum", which means the best-positioned forums that fit that footprint get hammered. It's like when an old-school sales manager hands a rookie the "prospect list" the phone company is kind enough to provide. The 'A's get hammered, the 'Z's get a few calls, the middle of the alphabet never get a sniff.

Find active forums that don't match the obvious footprints, and you may find communities that haven't been spammed into putting up defensive measures.

Thanks
1 reply

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johnes4th

14 years ago

Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe

It's like when an old-school sales manager hands a rookie the "prospect list" the phone company is kind enough to provide. The 'A's get hammered, the 'Z's get a few calls, the middle of the alphabet never get a sniff.

I think that is a perfect analogy.

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Robert T Jillie

14 years ago

Try this:

Go to Google and type in:

site:.com inurl:blog "YOURKEYWORDHERE" "comment"
site:.edu inurl:blog "YOURKEYWORDHERE" "comment"
site:.net inurl:blog "YOURKEYWORDHERE" "comment"
site:.org inurl:blog "YOURKEYWORDHERE" "comment"

This is a simple search engine query.

You might not get many results if your keyword is in a really small niche. In general, I find it better to go for broad keywords.

Hope this helps!

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learnrope

14 years ago

Great tips, thanks.

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automationhero

12 years ago

Heres a killer video on how to create a forum strategy. Hope it helps..

How to Build Traffic Through Forums

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Signatures in Forums

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