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March 28th, 2010 
Asep Onde Forums are a great but basic way of learning from other people while also being able to pass on your own knowledge at the same time while also gaining back links and traffic in one hit, quite a easy way of promotion is it not?
The most common way of getting traffic is by using the signature options that most forums offer this day and age, but are you using this function to your full potential?
I often see members on lots of forums who simply have a signature with text links like “Get free Money” or “Check my Site” but do you think that anyone really does click a link lame anchor text? OK you might get the odd person but would you really want just the odd visitor when you could have hundreds? Think about it, keep it interesting and make them wonder what your site is about!
Avatars are a great way of free self-promotion as the saying goes “A picture says a 1000 words! – I find the simpler the better, don’t give to much away and remember it’s a advert and not a award winning oil painting, the most important part of using a avatar is to put your domain onto the avatar, unless your Nike or Microsoft nobody is going to know what your logo is!
Now for you bloggers out there, you may have noticed that a lot of forums using the vBulletin software allow you to insert your blog feed so every time you post to your blog the feed will be placed by your username on the forum, its important once again make your post titles interesting so people will have the urge to click to visit your blog or website. I have found many fantastic blogs as I have noticed the rss feed and paid a visit and even bookmarked plenty so take advantage of that option if you have it.
Another method I don’t really like but its there for the taking is to use your location for putting a link into, I’m not sure how successful this is to be honest as its not a link just text.
Now you have set up your blog feed, your avatar looks fantastic and your signature and short but stabby and interesting for your potential client, all you simply have to do now is keep your posts interesting and always be correct in what you way. The best way for promotion in a forum is to simply start threads more than you reply so you get more coverage but keep your threads better than anyone elses as once you get respect you will notice your traffic starting to creep up day by day.
So time for you guys to give some input.
How did you find this blog? Have you had much success in forum promotion?
I enjoy your feedback and comments so please please please do comment 
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Its good to see a blog that is not afraid to go back to basics with seo.
I normally rotate my signature text to keep my back links and serps updated and fresh.
If you look at big websites or forums you can rent blog feed or location or even signature for well under a couple of dollars which is dirt cheap targeted traffic that you can’t go wrong with at all.
a good post but can I ask if you really do get much traffic from forums though?
I brought a 125×125 banner space on a forum footer and I only saw about 20hits that month!
Thanks for your post, I find the basics of seo and marketing are the best 80percent if the time plus I find most “webmasters” tend to get a little bit lazy when it comes down to online promotion, more and more will simply just buy a pack of blog comments and that’s its for promotion for a few months.
I like the idea of rotating your anchor text, I might give that a ago indeed.
@Neil Shearing, Can I ask where your banner was placed, in the footer by any chance?
I find I get about 20percent of traffic from big webmaster forums, considering that’s free traffic isn’t it worth a ago?
Yeah, I too wonder how useful forums are for getting real traffic. I guess it would depend on the forum’s target market. Because I have a day job and run my websites at the same time, finding the time to post in forums is tricky so I need to make sure I am really getting a return.
Forum signature commenting is an easy way to get backlinks. It can be fun and they can be helpful. I don’t know about getting a lot of traffic or a big bump in serps from them, but a little traffic and a slight nudge upward is better than none or falling.
Forums can be time consuming but they are a great way of targetted traffic, if you dont get much time with forum then simply start a thread that is open for a big discussion as I find this can drive traffic to your website.
Thanks for taking the time to comment – I love using forums for traffic, but you have to pick the right forums though!
I find you only really get traffic if you start a thread which is giving the chance for a debate and then keep replying to your own thread to keep it active.
Forums tend not to be the highest quality links but any link is a good link as long as its in your niche.
I haven’t used forums for ages, I just buy signature spaces and let others do the posting and advertising. You can get very cheap deals with people who post every day but you need to check them out first though. – only use posters with a good amount of posts already!
Good post, as for signature links, they don’t matter as much for seo as they used to. A few years back you could get high rankings just from signature links, but search engines get more sophisticated these days.
However, mentioning your site (not spamming) in relevant threads still works great.
Hey, thanks for the reply! What a great idea. I never thought of that. Now I have to think of some topical conversation starters