ProBlogger 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Topic: Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In

ProBlogger 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Topic: Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In http://www.problogger.com/31days/ A Community for Talking about Making Blogs Better en Tue, 07 Sep 2010 07:55:06 +0000 AndrewCMacDonald on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=3#post-9678 Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:39:21 +0000 AndrewCMacDonald 9678@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ What forums have you found to participate in? My favourite forum to participate in is <a href="http://www.myreinspace.com">MyREINSpace.com</a> which is a forum hosted by the <a href="http://www.reincanada.com/">Real Estate Investment Network</a> which several members use. For this task I also looked for a couple new forums and found: <ul> <li><a href="http://www.biggerpockets.com">www.biggerpockets.com</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.preigcanada.com">www.preigcanada.com</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.canadareic.com">www.canadareic.com</a></li> </ul> How have you found forums in your niche? I already used the MyREINSpace forum before starting my blog just because I am very interested in the topic and find it to be a helpful local resource. I found the other forums based on my knowledge of local investor groups and the help of Google. What techniques are you using to build your profile in the forums you're visiting? I setup my avatar and signatures on each and used a feedburner graphic to show my most recent blog headlines. Whenever I post I try to answer questions or help other users in some way. I enjoy providing advice to help other people get started investing in real estate or deal with problems I've encountered before so this comes natural to me. HeadHealthNutter on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=3#post-9459 Wed, 23 Jun 2010 13:39:10 +0000 HeadHealthNutter 9459@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ Hey, Darren, not funny! lol This "day 9" exercise will take longer than one day to complete if we want a sustainable approach to using forums as a blog building technique (according to the advice in the links you provided). But a great exercise nevertheless. I'm looking forward participating in the forums I found. <ul> <li>What forums have you found to participate in? Divine.ca, RealBuzz.com and GardenGirlTV </li> <li>How have you found forums in your niche? Good old Google</li> <li>What techniques are you using to build your profile in the forums you're visiting? Lurking first to get a good lay of the land, then my plan is to be as helpful as possible but subtle. </li> </ul> MRhamiltong on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=3#post-9450 Mon, 21 Jun 2010 15:18:28 +0000 MRhamiltong 9450@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ What forums have you found to participate in?  I like to use Yahoo! Answers.  Sure, it isn't exactly a forum in my "niche", but it does have a lot of questions from a lot of people.  Using the categories section, I can go straigt to the questions about video games and start answering, leaving links to blog posts when relevant. How have you found forums in your niche?  I go to my favorite technology websites and look for an attached forum.  You would be surprised how many sites have discreet forums hidden in the bowels of a post. What techniques are you using to build your profile in the forums you're visiting?  I deliver honest and thorough answers to those in need.  The best way to stand out from the crowd is to deliver content of a higher quality than everyone else. mindcoach on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=3#post-9331 Mon, 10 May 2010 13:56:14 +0000 mindcoach 9331@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ What forums have you found to participate in? In addition to a few forums I participate in and I also have joined several LinkedIn Groups.  I found that the members of LinkedIn are a bit more responsive.  After I write a post I place the url for the post in the “News” section of the group.  I also answer questions in the group that pertain to my niche “<a href="http://warriormindcoach.com/blog">mental strength”</a>   How have you found forums in your niche? A simple search works as well as LinkedIn and Facebook groups.  Many of them are connected to forums   What techniques are you using to build your profile in the forums you're visiting? Answering questions and repurposing my blog posts and posting them in the forums.   chazzbyron on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=3#post-9246 Thu, 22 Apr 2010 00:01:03 +0000 chazzbyron 9246@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ What forums have you found to participate in? I started participating in a forum called Absolute Write How have you found forums in your niche? By recommendation actually What techniques are you using to build your profile in the forums you're visiting? I have my signiture and I also participate in the thread about blogging and 'have you updated your blog today' leahmariephoto on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=3#post-9237 Tue, 20 Apr 2010 02:44:46 +0000 leahmariephoto 9237@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ Day 9 is all about <a href="http://www.problogger.net/archives/2009/04/14/join-a-forum-and-start-participating/">building your blog by participating in forums</a>. <ul> <li>What forums have you found to participate in? </li> </ul> I have participated in a few Edutopia group forums that I joined. <ul> <li>How have you found forums in your niche?</li> </ul> I followed Edutopia closely, and was happy to see they started doing forum groups. <ul> <li>What techniques are you using to build your profile in the forums you're visiting?</li> </ul> Instead of me bouncing all over into different educational forums, I rather stick to something reputable, build up my profile, and do it well. tammikibler on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=3#post-9229 Fri, 16 Apr 2010 02:42:57 +0000 tammikibler 9229@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ <ul> <li>What forums have you found to participate in? </li> </ul> Found two, one appears to be dead and full of spam. But one seems good and I have memberships on a couple others I can begin visiting regularly. <ul> <li>How have you found forums in your niche?</li> </ul> Just enter "writing forums" in a Google search. <ul> <li>What techniques are you using to build your profile in the forums you're visiting?</li> </ul> It's really too soon to tell. The problem with writing forums is that it all gets to be about people wanting you to critique their work, and then being defensive about your critiques. But I will try harder to play nice with others. <a href="http://writemorewritefastwritenow.com/">Write More. Write Fast. Write Now.</a> JB on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=3#post-8711 Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:40:07 +0000 JB 8711@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ After a bit of searching, I found a few forums. Now for the time to devote to them. Thank you for the survey Darren, from it I found a better search phrase to describe my topic. I am sorely tempted to reply already to a person's request for info in an area that I have had experience in. Maybe I can be a mostly lurker. XD Homespunspa on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=2#post-8651 Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:24:53 +0000 Homespunspa 8651@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ Yesterday, when I did a search for forums in my niche, I was a little bit disheartened after I clicked on the first site. I discovered a recipe that I had created and posted a couple of years ago to a different directory. I could tell from the writing. I guess once you post to the internet, it's out of your hands. My question, which is based on the article that said you had to lurk for awhile before participating in a forum, should I claim the recipe as mine or should I let this one go? the.kept.grits on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=2#post-8420 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:00:52 +0000 the.kept.grits 8420@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ I decided to search out forums on menopause as menopausal humor is the focus of  my blog that has the most followers. I joined two, but in looking through them I do not see anyone else looking at menopause in a humorous light. Kind of makes me wonder if I'm in the wrong place. Miranda_asch on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=2#post-8318 Fri, 14 Aug 2009 00:51:40 +0000 Miranda_asch 8318@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ I found this lesson incredibly helpful. I already post on four forums, one of which is very big and active, the other three are much smaller and unfortunately pretty quiet. They are the best of what I've been able to find in my niche. Anyways, I thought I was doing everything right by posting comments and advice, but this has made me see how to take my forum activity to the next level. Thanks! isaacyassar on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=2#post-8283 Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:17:42 +0000 isaacyassar 8283@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ I've been a member in WordPress forum for a while when I met this task. That forum gives me most of my traffic. I'm not a WP expert so I only hang around with new WP users. But I'll try to find more forums soon. I like forums. crixtopher on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=2#post-8254 Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:57:33 +0000 crixtopher 8254@http://www.problogger.com/31days/   I have been searching for hotspots. I have found that for my NFL football niche, Bleacher Report is a great one. Some are bloggers, perhaps the majority, and others sign up in order to comment. The best thing is, B/R is a place where people readily comment and interact. In fact, I have been getting better in general at identifying hotspots. User friendliness, and participation rates are kind of easy to assess if you pay close attention. Anyhow, I just became active in B/R yesterday and already have a full roster of friends and have commented nearly 50 times, and people respond rapidly and often.   I try to be cordial to everyone, even the "haters" who want to use foul language. In fact, I like to use the policy that everyone is my friend. People that disagree when commenting, I friend. I think that nice guy approach works really well. Also, invite disagreements! And respond cordially. Thats it.     windedbowhunter on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=2#post-8078 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:06:25 +0000 windedbowhunter 8078@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ What forums have you found to participate in? <a href="http://www.24hourcampfire.com">http://www.24hourcampfire.com</a>; <a href="http://archeryaddix.com">http://archeryaddix.com</a>; <a href="http://www.bowcast.com">http://www.bowcast.com</a>; <a href="http://forums.bowsite.com">http://forums.bowsite.com</a>; <a href="http://www.sagecreekforums.com">http://www.sagecreekforums.com</a> How have you found forums in your niche? There are 4 that touch on it: <a href="http://www.24hourcampfire.com">http://www.24hourcampfire.com</a>; <a href="http://www.bowcast.com">http://www.bowcast.com</a>; <a href="http://forums.bowsite.com">http://forums.bowsite.com</a>; <a href="http://www.sagecreekforums.com">http://www.sagecreekforums.com</a> What techniques are you using to build your profile in the forums you're visiting? Building the blog, and increasing my knowledge base. Then, I will regularly hit these forums for new ideas and to post the information that I have. Emceefarm on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=2#post-7958 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:31:59 +0000 Emceefarm 7958@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ I belong to quite a few forums. As I blogg about the horse business, I belong to both horse and entrepreneur forums. I can't always be on them so I have to budget my time. I have my own business to attend to also. Marilyn Roxie on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=2#post-7684 Mon, 18 May 2009 22:57:20 +0000 Marilyn Roxie 7684@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ Last.fm has been quite useful for promoting A Future in Noise- the only big music forums I could find were <a href="http://musicbanter.com/">Music Banter</a>, which I have an account on and definitely need to participate on more! RachelLewis on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=2#post-7666 Sun, 17 May 2009 22:30:11 +0000 RachelLewis 7666@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ This is the only day's task I haven't attempted at all yet - Have people got much success with it? I used to be on forums all the time in my teens but don't so much now. I guess the thing is, I'm a really busy person, and I'm finding that all this blogging is making me sit in front of a screen so much more. So do I really want to sit in front of a forum when I've got no real desire to be there? I feel a bit fake if I'm just there commenting with randoms so I get more blog readers. I'm not really about that =/ But if it's positive and really beneficial then I'll give it a go. Need to find a design/illustration type forum. Might just go dwell on aoi.com a bit. raizethebar on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=2#post-7663 Sun, 17 May 2009 20:24:13 +0000 raizethebar 7663@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ Thanks to many of you for sharing about the forums, because I had no ideal as to where I should begin looking. Keira on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=2#post-7548 Tue, 12 May 2009 18:15:04 +0000 Keira 7548@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ Paperback Swap has a forum for romance books. I participate there regularly, but they're mostly for "I want to find xyz" and "Is this on your wishlist?" lol I should find more... I started one on my site, but it's brand new. Must find a way to promote! lol middleschoolsecretary on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=2#post-7439 Sat, 09 May 2009 22:17:34 +0000 middleschoolsecretary 7439@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ Hmmm..speaking as a moderator for a top 100 big board, we have a huge problem with people joining just to promote their own sites.  If you do it on my board, you'll get an instant ban and a deletion.  We do allow people, even newbies, to put a discrete link in their signature.  That means they at least have to participate in the boards to get seen, but if they post a bunch of nonsense for that reason, they are  gone.  So, if nobody has mentioned it before, please be considerate of the rules of the board you are joining.  Participate, don't spam. That said, there are no boards on my specific topic, and I'm having a difficult time finding one on the broadest topic.  I have at times put a sig link in with the board I moderate, which gets me huge results.  I suppose I can try it again although as a moderator, I'm not always popular with the regulars, and do fear some backlash to my blog which is why I took it out. Since my topic is about being inside a public school, I was looking for general school employee forums, but found none. I don't belong on teacher forums, although I can't find those either.  The only other group who would be interested in my topic, possibly, are parents of young teens so maybe I should start at some mom boards. eyespi on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=2#post-7436 Sat, 09 May 2009 21:33:18 +0000 eyespi 7436@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ I'm also a member at CMF Forums as well as Digital point. I'm a member at Sightpoint forums, although I don't visit there very often as well as a member of Darren's photography forum -- I have too many interests! LOL!   Except possibly for CMF, none of the others are truly my niche although I cover topics that are discussed in them. Evania on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=2#post-6926 Mon, 04 May 2009 02:17:13 +0000 Evania 6926@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ What forums have you found to participate in? I found this: <a href="http://www.quarterlifecrisis.com/forums/" rel="nofollow">http://www.quarterlifecrisis.com/forums/</a> Though it doesn't particularly fit my niche, because mine is a hard one, I used this one because I was previously signed up for it.  I am going to instead find more forums that are closely related to my demo, which is W18-35 How have you found forums in your niche? Based on my demo. What techniques are you using to build your profile in the forums you're visiting? I try to start new threads and also participate in existing threads Sheila Atwood on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=2#post-6723 Fri, 01 May 2009 22:16:52 +0000 Sheila Atwood 6723@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ I just signed up for <a href="http://www.work-at-home-forum.com/">www.work-at-home-forum.com/</a> it is a little limiting since you can't promote your self. So we will see. I have been on Pat O'bryans <a href="http://milagroworld.com/forum">Milagroworld.com/forum</a> for quite some time. There are not a lot of big contributers, but always lots of help and support. We support each other on twitter and go to each others blogs. Critic sales-blogs pages etc. Get tech help. I like to help others as much as I can and I always invite them to my blog. It is my experienc that the more familiar I am with something the faster it goes. When I first started out on twitter and on the forums I was slow...now it is so much faster and both have paid off. Getting in on the start of this forum is really great! Sheila   Debbie_L on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=2#post-5015 Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:40:44 +0000 Debbie_L 5015@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ I actually found a forum about 2 weeks ago and I was so disheartened. It was exactly the type of website I had dreamed of. Well, not exactly. Using analysis of the site recommended in day 4 allowed me to discover what was missing. And now I'm starting to connect with some other members, I'm discovering more things that are missing. Now I'm really excited to uncover topics to include, and also discovered that the useablity of the site is lacking. So yea for me!   Debbie Lattuga <a href="http://www.invisibleheartstrings.com">InvisibleHeartstrings.com</a> denharsh on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=2#post-3985 Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:14:38 +0000 denharsh 3985@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ I use digitpoint and digital point, since my niche is tech and seo I usually help people there for free and help people moving from blogspot to wordpress. This way I build my credibility and people reco my work.   Forum can be a great source of links and traffic. lhenry on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=2#post-3967 Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:52:06 +0000 lhenry 3967@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ For travel bloggers, I recommend joing <a href="http://www.travelwriters.com," rel="nofollow">www.travelwriters.com,</a> where travel writers lurk, ask questions and get into debates. This forum allows signature links. I also participate in the TMAC (Travel Media Association of Canada) listserve, which connects me with my fellow travel writer and industry members. I like the advice above about using Alexa. I think I'll find one more travel forum to join and see how that affects traffic. Maybe one for travellers instead of travel writers...  <a href="http://lorihenry.ca/bio">LoriHenry.ca</a> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/lorihenry">Twitter @lorihenry</a> lhenry on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=2#post-3966 Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:50:34 +0000 lhenry 3966@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ For travel bloggers, I recommend joing <a href="http://www.travelwriters.com," rel="nofollow">www.travelwriters.com,</a> where travel writers lurk, ask questions and get into debates. This forum allows signature links. I also participate in the TMAC (Travel Media Association of Canada) listserve, which connects me with my fellow travel writer and industry members. I like the advice above about using Alexa. I think I'll find one more travel forum to join and see how that affects traffic. Maybe one for travellers instead of travel writers...  samsall on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=2#post-3601 Sun, 19 Apr 2009 17:51:15 +0000 samsall 3601@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ Hi i joined 2 forums <a href="http://smallbusinessonlinecommunity.bankofamerica.com/community/forum" rel="nofollow">http://smallbusinessonlinecommunity.bankofamerica.com/community/forum</a> <cite><a href="http://www." rel="nofollow">www.</a>freelanceforum.org</cite> i'm studying them, and found great tips excitedbylife on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=2#post-3201 Sat, 18 Apr 2009 04:22:28 +0000 excitedbylife 3201@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ The tips in the <a href="http://hundreds-of-thousand-of-readers-to-your-blog/">anonymous pro-blogger forum article</a> article are a must read. We noticed a lot of people say there are no forums in their niche and that forums can be a big time waster. This is the method we used that might be of use:   Finding Forums Tips To find forums popular with people you want to reach a good place to start is alexa.com. With forums it is the amount of traffic that a forum gets that is important not the search engine position. You get a good indicator of the amount of activity on the forum by using this method. Just go to alexa type in "your main niche keyword". Then go thru the sites receiving the most traffic and find the ones with forums. Alexa gives some other great information like the demographics and the type of keywords driving the most traffic to the forum. That way you can also be sure you picked the right forum to match your niche. When you join the forum find key players who post the most and extract the link they are promoting in their signature_link. You can use this to find what other forums they are using. To do this just go to google and type "inurl:forum + signature_link". This will return other forums that may also be worth joining. Again you can enter these forums into alexa.com to see if they are getting the right traffic and if the demographics matches your niche.   Forum Time Management We also noticed that people commented that forums take a lot of work and suck time. The trick is to pick no more than 2 forums to frequent and set a time maybe on the weekend to visit the forum and get ideas for you own blog posts first. Make this a weekly or daily habit. Only when it becomes a habit should you start commenting on the forum posts. In the mean time you can get ideas for your own blog posts. Some forums have RSS feeds which are useful to subscribe to with google reader to keep up.   For us personally I think concentrating on the challenge forum and building habits is the most productive habit to develop for a start. It's important not to get too overwhelmed and give up. For our niche the high traffic forums we came up  were selfgrowth, zenhabits and oprah. Time to do some lerking! pen4hire on "Day 9 - Promote Your Blog by Finding a Forum to Participate In" http://www.problogger.com/31days/topic.php?id=33&page=2#post-3195 Sat, 18 Apr 2009 03:57:45 +0000 pen4hire 3195@http://www.problogger.com/31days/ I posted elsewhere about my difficulty in finding forums that allow a link in a signautre.  My area is books and travel. Travel forums are the natural match, since from time to time they have long threads about books and travel. Some, like Fodors, I have participated in for years off and on, but they do not have profile pages. However, I would rather become well known there than on a forum mostly peopled by fellow bloggers. Besides being active in the blogger community, I want to reach BEYOND the blogger community to pull new people in to reading my blog. To do that, I have to get known outside the blogger community. Places like Linked In help, I think, but Fodors and Thorn Tree where people live different lives than those of us enmeshed ini the social networking communities, are the ones that appeal to me.It is harder, because the "outside" world is not automatically set up to encourage the use of links and signature lines. Any thoughts on this, Darrin? (I've been kind of hoping you would do a post or two about reaching beyond the blogging community.)