15 Oct 07 I regularly sit and count the letters

…. why on earth would I do that??

Well, taking part in online forums is one way which many marketers use to create traffic for their web sites. Answering questions and providing help for newbies is a great way to create credibility and a fan base of people who respect your judgement and your expertise.

There are countless discussion forums on the net – and you’ll probably only come across a handfull which are really useful to you as you grow your online business. When you register as a member and become an active contributor in the discussions, you generally are not paid cash for your contributions – you are, however, allowed to leave signature files with active hyperlinks back to your own web site(s).

Many forums only allow small signature files – ie 200 characters – more frequently 255 characters. That’s why I count the letters. If you make a keyword tag link – eg linking the words Internet Marketing Forum – to a web site (eg http://www.enter-the-ether.com/forum …) then you’re using a whole lot of characters and gaining only one link.

That’s why I decided to increase the amount of characters you can use in your signature file in my forum to 750 characters. That’s a massive amount and will allow you to promote several of your web sites with keyword links – mind you, you’ll have your knuckles severely slapped if you promote porn, gambling or anything illegal or racist. After that, I feel that it’s a very generous “payment” for your contribution on our forum.

You’re all invited – I look forward to seeing you there.

Margaret