Forums are a great way of marketing alongside articles, email and blogging – there is no real way to compare all of these, they are just a different way of communicating. The big difference however with forums is that many many more people will see you and get to know you which builds trust as you interact with the community.

Forums have been around in many forms since the dawn of the internet, they provide a means of conversation with like-minded people in a community-driven atmosphere of helping one another with problems. If you don’t know how they work, let me just tell you a bit about them.

First off, you have to find your forum in your niche, the best way to do this is type in subject forums as the keywords (replacing subject with your topic) into a search engine. Once you have found one in the topic you’re interested in, with a nice community going on, registration is the next step.

Registration is pretty simple, its just a case of filling your details in and perhaps entering a captcha (one of those funny sets of digits and numbers that tell the site that you are not an automated spammer!) You may have to click a link in your email to register the fact that you own the email address you registered with.

There usually is many sub-forums, i would reccomend finding one that usually reads something like “introduce yourself” and post a brief overview of what you are about and say hello. I would advise against just registering and posting “buy my product now” or “come to my website” etc. type comments as you’ll end up with a flame war – if you dont know what that is please do a search on it as its not a nice thing to happen to you!

Get involved in the forum, post replies to people’s problems to help with any questions that you can – its a community-type feeling that you will enjoy. Forums which are busy have the advantage of many more people in the nich you are targeting, so you can find out about some really exciting new widget thing in your niche that is very important to you, and also reply and ask more.

Some forums have a specific buy, sell or trade section where you can sell your products, this is the place to be if you want to directly pitch your product. Another way of pitching your product is to enter links to your website in your signature, this is shown directly under each post that you make and is updated automatically – be careful however, some forums dont like this and will ask you to remove them. Some have rules on the size of images or links allowed, please read these before adding it.

Some of the more advanced forums that run vbulletin have private messaging which can be great to directly carry out business to people privately on the forum, i’ve bought many websites and domain names using this – some sites like digital point have itrader which is also a way of showing how trustworthy the user is in terms of buying and selling, similar to the ebay feedback system.

One last thing to remember, forums are a great place to communicate rather than a place to pitch-fest – if you want to advertise on a forum, but you cant find any other method other than the ones i’ve outlined, contact the owners of the site and ask for banner rates, this is a great way of getting in front of these people, then you have the right to freely talk about your product or service which is a huge bonus compared to advertising on a static site!

Social networking using Twitter seems to be the most popular way to connect today, from celebrity Ashton Kutcher’s challenge to Oprah to reach one million friends first (Ashton won) to a U.S. State Department official contacting the co-founder of Twitter to delay upgrading the Twitter system so as not to interrupt election dialogue in Iran. More and more news agencies are using Twitter to keep their audience up-to-date, and local businesses are also jumping on the Twitter bandwagon as an immediate way to connect with their customers, as well.

How can you make the best use of Twitter in your business? It all starts with having followers in your target market. No doubt you’ve been inundated with email offers of things like “10,000 Twitter followers in 60 seconds for only $19.95!” Trust me — 1000 followers that are members of your target market are much more useful to the growth of your business via social networking than 10,000 followers that come from anywhere.

How do you find members of your target market on Twitter? Here are my top 7 strategies:

1. Add people you know in your industry. Twitter permits people to use fictitious names or business names as their Twitter identity, rather than their given name. So, it may be difficult at times to find the person you’re seeking, especially if she goes by “ShoeDiva” on Twitter and you know her as Miranda Smith. Try Twitter Search, http://search.twitter.com or Advanced Search, http://search.twitter.com/advanced to help you in your quest.

2. Find others with the same interests or serving the same target market. The online yellow pages of Twitter users, Twellow.com, permits users to list themselves by industry and interests. If your business isn’t currently listed on Twellow, take a few minutes to do that right away.

3. Follow those in the same geographic region. If marketing to your local area is an important part of your business, find local members of your target market by using Twellowhood.com or TwitterLocal.com and find the top movers and shakers in your region, as well as some members of your target market. If you want to meet fellow Tweeps face-to-face, search local Tweetups at TwtVite,com, or create your own gathering.

4. Get relevant recommendations. The free service, MrTweet.com, will provide you with info on recommended people to follow based on your current Twitter profile. You do have to follow MrTweet in order to participate. Once you’re logged in, you can see your recommendations, along with how these recommendations are connected to your list of followers. You can evaluate your recommendations, and MrTweet will make changes in your recommended list accordingly.

5. Follow those who follow you. It’s considered good Twitter etiquette to follow those people who’ve chosen to follow you. And, to prevent being labeled a Twitter snob, ideally you should be following more people than are following you. I have automated my ability to follow my followers by using a free version of TweetLater.com.

6. Look for keywords. Another way to find relevant followers is to keep track of people mentioning certain keywords in their Tweets. I do that through the free version of TweetLater.com. I use this same service to keep track of any mentions of me or my company on Twitter in the very same way I use Google Alerts.

7. Find groups. Twibes.com permits you to find groups by industry and interest and join them and/or see the members of each group. And, if you so inclined, you can create your own Twitter group, as well.

Remember, finding your target market is just the beginning. Once you’ve found them, you need to begin to build relationships with them. This means paying attention to what they say so that you can respond when appropriate either with a direct message (DM) or an @ reply that is public or retweeting (RT) their message to your followers when you feel someone has great info that would be useful to those who follow you. Take 10-15 minutes per day to keep yourself informed about what’s happening with your Tweeps and watch your business grow!

Below I will show you a really cool trick I just learned from a Gem of a manuscript containing all kinds of hidden WordPress back door secrets.

I have been a blogger, learning about blogging and of course learning WordPress for several years. I am in front of a computer so much that I have been known to take my shirt off for an hour or two so that I can take advantage of my monitors radiation to work on my tan.

Yes, I’ll admit it, I am a computer & internet junkie. I love to make money on the internet. I am so happy to be able to work from home, working my own hours, doing what I want to do whenever I want to do it. I don’t even miss that morning commute any more. It was really weird, when I first started to work from home I actually found myself checking to be sure I had everything before I made my new commute exactly 21 steps to my new office in a spare bedroom in my house, is that sick or what!

I even remember that I used to justify my commute by saying to myself (because I was the only one listening) that my morning trek was my quiet time. Yeah right, who was I kidding. If surrounding yourself with 20,000 pissed off caffeine junkies who are all late for work is your idea of quiet time; maybe you should plan your next family vacation to Iraq.

Let’s face it we all want freedom but we all know that freedom takes money. The more money you have the more freedom you have, period. To illustrate this point here is a saying from my dear old Dad. “Son, life is like a poop sandwich (not his exact words), the more bread you’ve got the less poop you’ve got to eat”. Wise words Dad, thanks.

Well, we also all know there’s a ton of money to be made on the internet, but the 64 thousand dollar question that eludes most people is, HOW? How in the world do you go out and get your piece of that mega Billion dollar pie?

The answer is WordPress! Why you may ask? Well, the answer to THAT question is; it can do everything!

If you want to build conduit sites, adsense sites, affiliate sites, of course blogs, sales pages, review sites, landing pages, redirect sites, full blown company sites and so much more I could write a book on it, then WordPress is your goose that laid your very own Golden Egg!

Do you know what the real definition of insanity is? It’s doing the same thing the same way over and over again every single day and somehow magically expecting the results to change. If it happens call me, I’ll be impressed and I’ll call the Guinness book of world records, because trust me they’ll want to know.

My point is; if you’re really interested in making money online then it would be absolute insanity if you didn’t want to master the one and only tool out there that can literally do it all for you. That would be like saying you’re a professional carpenter but you don’t want to find out how to use a hammer. Ridiculous I know, but it does illustrate the point.

So, what is the really cool tip and trick that you can put into action right now and start earning money within the next 1 hour? Yes, I just said that this one tip can have you putting money in your bank account within just one hour.

Well, first let me ask you just one little thing. And don’t worry this won’t drag on very long at all. I don’t need you to start wondering if Starbucks delivers just so you can finally finish this article.

My question is; do you think online video games is a big industry? I know what you’re thinking; What? does it take this idiot an hour and a half to watch the TV show 60 minutes? No, it doesn’t last time I checked I got it down to only 63 minutes.

Well, what if you could finally have the power to turn a WordPress blog into your very own personal online video arcade? Sounds too good to be true right!

Well it’s not too good to be true, WordPress just launched the plug in and I’m going to show you how easy it is to use right now.

To launch your video arcade simply choose a cool looking WordPress theme from 1000’s of free themes online. Next just install the WordPress arcade game plug in and go sign up with Mochiads the people who will supply you with constant game feeds. When you’re taken to your welcome page just scroll down and get your games publisher ID. You then just type the ID into your WordPress dashboard so you can configure the plug in (You only click one button by the way, that’s how easy it is). If you have all your files uploaded and named properly then that’s it!! That’s all there is too it!

Ok, so you might be thinking, that’s great now I have a free game site, but how do I make money?

Well, if you have hundreds or thousands of people coming to your site every day to play free games you can load your pages with Google adsense, sell advertizing blocks on your site, put up your own ads for your own products (if you don’t have your own you should develop some, the profits can be huge) or put ads for products you affiliate. Literally, your choices are endless.

This system is so easy, you can follow all the directions I gave you and have it up and running in under 10 minutes.

Trust me, If I can do it, you can do it. You really can make a fantastic living online and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Of course people will tell you you’re crazy, but will it be the 1st time anyone’s ever said that to you? Remember; Today’s Mighty Oak is just yesterdays Nut who held his ground.

Visit my free games site here.

Email marketing is one of the most effective ways for a business to promote themselves and increase sales but it must be done right in order to be effective.
In this article I will touch on the art of email marketing- (What works and what does not) and how you can get more bang for your marketing buck when selecting an email marketing service.

A word about spam.

Unsolicited email or “Junk email” also called “Spam” is living proof that email is a powerful way to reach an online audience.

Spammers know that for all the emails trashed in every bulk mail out, they will still get a few unsuspecting readers who will click on their links and make a purchase. While their shotgun approach is annoying to the majority of us they still persist because of that reason.

On the other hand, email marketing should not involve spamming a harvested collection of email addresses, but rather contacting a list of individuals who have actually said yes to receiving your material.

How to get people to subscribe to your mailing list.

There are some of the ways to get people on your mailing list.

The first and most obvious option is that they fill out a form on your website specifically designed for the job.
You can add a special offer such as a free report, a tutorial, discounts or even a prize draw in exchange for their contact.

The second way (if you are a local business) is to have some printed material such as a flyer with a special offer, competition or similar that people can fill out and return to you.

Hint: In all these cases, it is worth adding a note to your forms telling people that you will not share their email with other companies and that you will not swamp them with emails either.

The third way to get more subscribers is to actually purchase a list of verified email addresses from a reputable provider. They must be interested in your subject material and have opted in to receiving emails from you.
There are a number of companies that specialize in providing leads, but it is worth doing some homework to find out what value this method will give to you.

What makes a marketing email work.

These items are very effective in encouraging readers to continue to look at the emails they receive from businesses.

How to’s and tutorials.

People love do-it-yourself articles that show them how to solve a problem. The added advantage of posting material like this is that you are not only helping existing customers and encouraging loyalty (and repeat sales) but you can use opportunities such as this to address potential issues before they happen and so reduce calls for customer support.

Video and Audio content.

This is the best format for the above, as well as tours, testimonials…the list goes on. Video gets noticed and is highly memorable in comparison to text.
Audio sessions are great for podcasts too which means your listener can take your article with them.

A pleasant layout with some color.

This will help make your email stand out from your competitors and add to the reader’s enjoyment. You can incorporate a template and produce something really effective.

Nice pictures that are both relevant and of good quality.

A picture paints a thousand words – so make sure you include at least one to illustrate your point.
Include photos (they need not be professional) but in focus and a reasonable size. Hint: not too large though so they do not take several minutes to download.

Humor (in good taste).

A laughing reader is likely to be a repeat one.

You might want to enlist the help of a cartoonist to create something original. Add a funny video, quote or even a brief story.

Relevant news.

keep your readers informed on new products and developments and how improvements to your offerings will help them.

Competitions (with a nice prize).

You can gain a lot of interest from readers simply by creating a competition.

An opportunity to share an opinion.

People will often happily share their thoughts if you ask them to because it gives a sense of belonging and community. It is also a very cost effective way of finding out what your customers want. Make it fairly short and offer a prize draw or other incentive as a token of appreciation.

What makes a marketing email suck.

Hard sell.

“Buy now!!!” will soon become “Bye now.” from your readers.

An email every day.

This is the death knell for emails via annoyance and plain overkill – try and control your enthusiasm to market by limiting your email frequency. This will give you time to produce quality content too.
Quality beats quantity.

Bad layout (such as none).

Lots and lots and lots of text with poor spacing all crammed up with no places for the eyes to rest. (and besides who has time to read a newsletter that is 149 pages long during their morning break)?

Lots and lots and lots of banners.

“Ohhhh my eyes my eyes!”
Save the flashing logos and bright colors for Las Vegas.

Poor writing skills and grammar.

Forgetting to check for spelling mistakes is more than just another annoyance (believe it or not, but people are influenced by this).
Poor spelling and grammar presents an unprofessional / lazy picture for your readers.

What to look for when choosing an email marketing service.

A good email marketing service should have a number of features that will allow you to tweak things so you can get the most bang for your marketing buck. Here are a few features to look for…

Firstly there needs to be flexibility and creativity to get your message across.

This includes the ability to combine text with pictures and video as well as some html so you can make your message stand out.
A good email is more than just a page of text – it needs to be memorable and the way to do that is by being visually creative.

Secondly there should be a way to find out if your email marketing is being received and read.

This feature is called tracking and basically means you should have a display somewhere that will show you exactly where your emails are going, what addresses are incorrect (your emails are undeliverable and bounce back) and what emails are actually being delivered, clicked on and read.

Thirdly you must be able to automate and adjust everything so once you create an email you can set it to deliver to your recipients at a set time.

This can also include auto responders (An email that goes to a visitor as soon as they fill out a contact form or make a purchase from your website) which help you communicate with your potential customer when you are not online. You should be able to do split testing too (in other words create two different emails and send them to selected groups so you can find out which one works best).

Fourthly you should be able to see how your email list is growing over time.

Data like this is not just for statisticians and geeks who like to crunch numbers – it will help give you an insight into what is working overall so you can refine your marketing.

Marketing is an art, but with the right tools and know-how it can work for you.
Here’s to your success.