How do I get visitors through the forums? This question may surprise you, especially when asked in 2022, and we understand that.
Forums were one of the most important sites on the Internet fifteen or more years ago, but they do not occupy the same importance today.
It is true that the importance of the current forums is less than their importance at the beginning of the current millennium, but this does not mean that they are unimportant or useless sites.
Forums were and still are one of the most important sources of visitors and if used correctly, they can help you increase your site's popularity.
In this article, we will introduce you to ways to take advantage of the forums to get the best types of visitors to your website for free.
What are the visitors of the forums and what is their marketing importance?
Forums are specialized sites that revolve around a specific thing. These sites allow their users to create accounts and then communicate with other members by posting topics for discussion and commenting on them.
The interaction is through the topics raised by the forum administrators, and any member can raise a new topic for discussion.
One of the most important features of the forums is that the members themselves create the content of the forum.
Therefore, everyone interested in a particular topic believes that the opinions that he will find in the forums dealing with this topic of interest are more credible.
The idea of ​​forums is basically based on the participation and assistance of members to each other. Hence the importance of visitors coming from the forums for website owners, because it is one of the best types of visitors targeted for each website or commodity owner.
If you are the owner of a site that provides a service to the owners of the sites to help them succeed. So what do you think represents for you a forum of twenty thousand members of website owners who communicate with each other, share experience and solve problems… Of course it is an exceptional marketing opportunity that can not be ignored at all.
And if you can somehow draw the attention of these website owners to the service you provide, you will get a good profit through them.
As it is normal - and assuming that you actually have a good service for them - that a group of them buy the service you provide.
All you have to do now is to find a way to communicate with the members of this forum, and to inform them of the above in an appropriate manner that satisfies them and the owner of the forum himself.
Types of forums you can attract visitors from at the moment
1. The old format known to veteran netizens
If you have been using the Internet since 2002 or shortly after, you will remember the importance of forums at that time. Forums were a large part of our use of computers, as we depended on them for most of the uses that you use the Internet in today.
At the time, we were relying on the forums for:
- Social Media.
- See world news.
- Finding a solution to technical problems.
- Download software and operating systems.
- View technical and technical news.
- Download games, movies, books and songs.
In fact, I can't remember all the areas where we relied on forums because they are many and varied, we can say that most of our hours on the Internet (which were very expensive at the time) were spent between forums and chat programs and the former had the lion's share.
The forums that belong to this category did not get drastic changes in terms of design. Every period, the owner of the forum and the people in charge of it would change the color of the forum or the arrangement of its sections and change the position of a button or two.
At that time, these forums were working as a network within the Internet by directing the visitor from one forum to another. Some forums were directing their visitors to other forums out of cooperation, in return for money, or even as an exchange of visitors.
The forum visitor was often a visitor interested in the content in it, and moving from one forum to another voluntarily means that he is searching diligently for a topic, these visitors are highly valued for the sites and we can say that the major sites of our time started with these visitors because they are interested in their content.
I think that you are now convinced of the importance of these forums and the value of the visitor on them… Do not worry, you can still get this visitor to your site, it is true that the number of visitors to these forums has become hugely less than it was in the past, but they are there and their value is still high.
Examples of the most important golden age forums that are still active today:
a) XDA Forum
XDA Forum is considered the most important forum in the field of mobile systems. The forum is more than twenty years old but it receives a huge number of active visitors who discuss and exchange opinions about the many operating systems and development packages for mobile devices.
b) Techpowerup Forum
Techpowerup Forum is the savior forum for anyone around the world who is facing a computer failure, whether you are facing a problem with the software or the computer components themselves, you will find someone to help you solve this problem permanently in this forum.
c) Technet Forum
The Technet Forum is a forum affiliated with the famous Microsoft Corporation. Need another reason to visit it? The forum is a technical treasure for those looking for solutions to their complex technical problems, especially those related to operating systems and various application programming.
d) The famous Github community
If you love programming in a simple way, you must have heard about the github community, this forum or technical community is the forum for programmers around the world, almost all programmers in the world rely on this forum to solve their problems and exchange opinions about their programs.
2. New trendy forums
You probably know the new trendy forums or at least heard about them on the Internet. Yes, we are referring here to the famous sites like Reddit and Quora. It is worth noting that there are several forums that belong to the category of new forums, some of which were wishing for the older category, but they developed.
Quora is a forum that follows the famous question-and-answer method. A user asks a question and receives a response from forum leaders around the world. Recently, Quora has become one of the most important sources of knowledge on the Internet, not to mention a rich source of visitors interested in various fields.
If you are interested in knowing more information about Quora and how to benefit from it, we recommend that you read our article on this site.
Reddit is no less important than Quora if not more important than it in some areas, Reddit contains a number of very useful sub-forums and even capable of making important impacts in different areas such as its impact in the field of cryptocurrency and investment in it.
Of course, there are other sites that can be classified as relatively advanced forums that combine the first and second forms of forums,
These sites are located in that area between social media sites, forum sites, and article sites.
Examples of some sites that fall under the category of advanced forums:
a) Tumbler
Tumbler is a nice mix of photo sites like Instagram and Pinterest with question sites like Quora and Reddit, Tumblr that offers a distinctive and modern style of posting and commenting on it.
Tumblr asks you to choose five topics that interest you while creating your account on it to show you the posts related to these topics, the number of Tumblr users exceeds half a billion users from all over the world and the percentage of users from the Arab world on it is constantly increasing.
b) Medium
Medium is one of the most important cultural sites on the Internet. The site allows everyone to write articles and personal experiences. On Medium you will find articles published by ordinary people and by leading journalists around the world side by side.
What distinguishes Medium is the diversity of content on it to include all fields. Medium is not another ordinary article site, but rather a cultural communication platform in which readers and writers exchange their roles and discuss important topics in depth and in depth.
c) Stack Overflow
Stack Overflow is a combination of Quora and the popular GitHub forum. The site is primarily intended to answer programmers' questions and create a collaborative community between them to develop applications.
The cooperation of programmers on Stack Overflow is very commendable, imagine that you publish code that you wrote contains a problem to get response and help from the most famous programmers in the world, almost no programmer can do without Stack Overflow.
d) Stack Exchange
The success and popularity of Stack Overflow has led users to demand sites that work the same way but specialize in different areas.
Stack Exchange is a network of Stack Overflow-like sites that work in a question-and-answer style, the site contains about 179 subsites (or community) in a variety of different areas from quantum computing to how to raise children.
Stack Exchange works in a simple way that can be summarized in the following steps:
1- The user posts a specific question in a domain.
2- The answer with the most positive vote is considered the correct answer and appears in the front of the answers to the question.
3- A user whose answer receives a large number of positive votes gets what is called a trust score that appears on his account.
Read also:
Running a successful advertising campaign
Tips to get visitors from forums for free
1. Choose the appropriate forum for the appropriate site
As I've noticed there are two types of forums online at the moment, there are general forums like Quora and Reddit, and there are niche forums like Stack Overflow.
The secret to getting interested visitors from a forum How compatible is your site's content with the forum you're posting on? Do you post technical content? Choose to use a technical forum and so on.
It is preferable to publish on public forums at first and then go to a specialized forum later. Public forums contain a huge number of visitors and have subsections in many areas, which makes your chance of getting visitors from them easier and faster.
2. Follow the forum rules for posting
I remember when I used to post in forums in the past that posting was allowed after completing some steps or complying with some conditions, any forum has a set of conditions and criteria for accepting posts, and it is important to abide by these standards to be able to benefit from this forum.
Read the rules and conditions for posting in each forum and follow them carefully, especially at the beginning of your presence on it. Note that some forums apply their conditions firmly and you may lose your account on them if you violate these conditions at any time and have to start from scratch on the forum.
3. Learn about the advantages of each forum and take advantage of them
Each forum wants to be unique in one way or another, which prompts its developers to add unique features to its working mechanism, for example, Tumblr's image presentation style looks more modern than other forums, which makes it suitable for promoting sites interested in the field of photography.
This advice does not mean dispensing with a forum or focusing on publishing on one forum at the expense of another. On the contrary, study the strengths of each forum and exploit them in a way that suits the content of your site. In this way, you can attract diverse visitors from forums to your site.
4. Gain trust on the forum
Having a verified account on the forum earns your posts trust and credibility, which attracts the attention of visitors to it, in addition to the verified account, some forums give points to users who interact with the posts, whether by replying to them or interacting with them.
Most of the forums explain to users how to verify their accounts and the steps that will help them gain trust and credibility on it.
Make sure that your account on the forum is perfect, which can be achieved by following these steps:
- Confirm your identity on the forum (add a decent photo with correct personal data).
- Interact with the content posted on the forum, whether by replying or by voting.
- Post useful content.
- Presence and interaction on the forum periodically.
5. Avoid posting spam
The definition of annoying content may differ from one forum to another, although there are some general definitions of the idea of ​​annoying content, the most famous of which is posting inappropriate content or posting content in its place.
Spam posting may also consist in posting site links in response to topics published on the forums, of course publishing site links is a permissible method for publishing your site on the forums and directing visitors to it, but it must be done intelligently as we will explain in point No. 8.
Sometimes website owners resort to spam posting to try to direct forum visitors to their sites, and this is a serious mistake. The forum administration may tolerate posting and annoying content once or twice before deleting the account completely, and sometimes even blocking the website link from appearing on the forum.
6. Take advantage of the forums to come up with ideas for new content on your site
Forums are an open discussion forum for the exchange of opinions and ideas, which makes them an excellent source through which to find ideas for the content of your site. Take advantage of the forums to find out the most important topics for their visitors and create content about them on your site.
After creating the content on your site, interact on the posts that belong to its domain on the forums, reply to the posts with an appropriate and succinct comment, then visitors know that you have discussed this topic on your site adequately and add the content link on your site in the response.
Your response to the post is the main attraction through which you will attract visitors to the forum to visit your site. Take care of arranging and coordinating the response to appear in a professional appearance that attracts visitors to learn more about your opinion and pushes them to visit your site.
7. Add your website link in your posts or replies to forum visitors' posts
Adding your site link in responses to forum posts is how you can direct visitors to these forums to your site.
There are two ways you can add your website link without considering the response as spam:
- Add your site link as part of your official signature that represents your identity on the forum.
- Add a link to an article or content on your site that matches your response to a post on the forum.
The first method ensures that you constantly add your site in responses to forum posts, even if your site is not related to its content. The second method directs visitors to specific topics on your site, and this is required of course, but it cannot be implemented permanently.
Finally, the combination of the two methods is a smart way to direct visitors to the forums to your site. Note that your official signature will remain as it bears the link to your site, and it will appear in every reply or post you publish on the forum, and since it is part of your signature, the forum does not consider it a spam post.
8. Link your site to the forums
Some forums offer different ways through which you can link your site or blog to it. The link may be in the form of a code that shows a button on your site through which you can publish your articles directly on these forums.
The forum may allow you to link your account on it to your site by adding it to your personal account on it, search any forum you are using for a direct or indirect way to link your site to this forum (legally of course).
Linking your site to more than one forum is an excellent way to get diverse and valuable visitors to your site or even your online store.
9. Be on the forums periodically
As a regular visitor, your presence on the forums on a regular basis will greatly increase your linguistic and cultural skills. As a site owner, you will need to spend a lot of time on the forums that you want to get visitors from.
Regular presence on the forums alerts you to opportunities that you can take advantage of to add a response that will prompt forum visitors to visit your site, and it will also give you priority in responding to posts that may help you in the process of promoting your site on the forum.
10. From grandfather to grandfather
The process of getting visitors from the forums is not easy and has some significant challenges, but it is possible. It may take some effort and unsuccessful attempts, but you will eventually reach the best way through which you can urge the visitor to visit your site.
The forum visitor is very valuable as he is looking for information or would like to purchase a product, which makes it useful in the following directions:
- The likelihood of him interacting with the ads on your site is high (if they are related to his research field, of course).
- If he wants to buy a product he may rely on the affiliate links on your site.
As a site owner who wants to profit from it, you know that the previous trends are the most profitable trends in this field, however, even if the forum visitor does not achieve any of the previous goals, he may turn into a permanent visitor to your site, and this is also useful.
Important note: Most of the previous tips are suitable for owners of blogs, written content sites and visual content mainly, this does not prevent that some of them can be applied to other sites such as service sites or e-commerce sites.
You can apply all the previous tips as they are to get visitors to your online store, except for Tip No. 7, this advice can be applied indirectly by being guided to add products that are requested by the forum audience to your store.
Conclusion
In this article, we discussed the types of forums, the most popular on the Internet at the present time, and how to get visitors through them. It is true that the idea of getting visitors from forums may seem unfamiliar to some, but many website owners around the world rely on them.
Share with us in the comments your opinion about the most popular and reliable forum to get useful visitors to sites and blogs.