Forum Marketing

How to set up an effective signature file

Here are some ideas for you to set up a "sig file":If you promote an affiliate product (or even your own product), you can just copy the headline from the salesletter and then include a link to the salesletter.

For example, if I wanted to promote a product like "The Super Ebook", I would copy the headline of the salesletter, and then paste it as my signature file. Then, I would include a call to action like "Click Here".

Or, I would hyperlink the name of the product and then include the headline of the salesletter.
If the product is yours, use the name of the product hyperlinked as I just explained. This is a good way to "brand" your product.

If you are an affiliate, you can use a "blind" promotion and not mention the name of the product. Let curiosity get the best of people and then click on your link.

Or, you can create a short, sweet and controversial description of the product you promote.

Another thing you can do is set up a landing page and offer a positive review of the product you promote as well as an added bonus for people who purchase through your affiliate link. Especially if you have used the product yourself and have gotten great results, I can tell you that this can work extremely well.

Something else that can work very well is to make a special offer for members of each individual forum.

Another thing you can do is have several links to several different products separated by a "pipe" (). There's no "law" that prohibits you from linking to more than one resource. You can have each link point to a different landing page of yours. You can use your desired "anchor text" in your signature file. So, if you do keyword research and you see that some specific keywords get many searches (and you can provide a solution or a product to point people who search for them to), you can use these very keywords to link to your landing pages.
Over time, more and more links will be pointing to your landing pages. Links that will be on the same forum page (the same thread), different threads on the same forum or even several different pages across different forums you post on (more on that later).

The popular forums in your industry are considered huge authority sites and they have a lot of "weight" in the search engines. If you don't believe me, search for 10 random terms. You'll see that many times, some of the top results are nothing more than forum threads. Having these sites link to your page is a great "side effect" of you using a well-thought-out signature file. Many links from different authority sites can make your landing page(s) rank high on the search engines.

Remember that you can modify your sig file at any time. You can promote a different product, add another product, stop promoting a specific product etc...

If you suspect that a new product will start gaining popularity in your market, you can simply create a new landing page promoting that product and then add a link in your signature file to your new landing page.

Just like that you can have hundreds of links pointing to your page. And those will grow "naturally" over time as you continue posting on forums.

If you have a product in the "make money"/ "work from home" industry, another thing you can do in your sig file is promote your affiliate program. Link to a page talking about your product, why it's good and why people should promote it. You will get some good affiliates that way.

If you want to track how effective your signature files are, you can use a tracking link instead of pointing directly to your landing page. Yes, forum marketing is "free", but you will still put time into it. You need to know if it pays you enough for your time (and, if you do exactly what I tell you, you should get paid more than "fairly").

If you want to take advantage of the links in your signature file with a specific anchor text, in order to build link popularity for your site, then don't use a 3rd party tracking service. Use a tracking link that will be on the same domain as your page and just add a variable at the end of the link.

If you want to draw attention to your signature file you can have it be bold, italicised, coloured or even with a bigger font. Not all forums allow it but many do. I personally use just a normal font size and colour - but that's just me.

Now, I need to say something really important.
You need to be clear about your goals. You are visiting the forums to offer value and make money - not to spend all your day there. Plan the day before. Know how long you will spend on the forums. Let's say that you want to spend 2 hours reading and replying to posts. Use a stopwatch. Have it countdown from 2 hours to zero.

It's easy to spend all your day on the forums without purpose - thinking that you are "working on your business". Don't fall into this trap. You need to manage your time.

Also, stop visiting each thread you posted in just to see if someone else posted in it and if you need to reply.

Stop trying to see if "people love you" and they said you made a great post. Most people couldn't care less if you had a kidney transplant. Get used to it. Just finish posting on the 1st forum and then move on to the second. And then the third one. The next day you can start all over again.

If you want to be more active and post again and again (if needed) during the same day, just click the link that says "subscribe to this thread" or "subscribe to this topic". That way, you will receive an email notification every time someone posted in the thread. Just clicking the link in your email will take you directly to that thread and, if needed, post again.

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