Marketing What

A joint venture can be one of the most profitable and fastest ways to make money on the Internet. It can also destroy your reputation, get you ignored, or worse, accused of spam if you if you don’t take the proper care to create a valuable offer.

There are three things you should NEVER do when creating a joint venture proposal for a potential partner. Below are three things NOT to do, with several tips to help you do it right.

1. Fail to Plan.

Before you send out any emails to potential partners, you need to plan your offering, decide who you are going to send it to, and what you expect in return.

First, create your offer. Ask yourself these questions:

What am I going to give the potential partner to make him/her want to joint venture with me? i.e. Are you going to give the partner a copy of the product, do you have bonuses available, what’s the commission you are paying, are you offering a large one time commission, or a recurring monthly commission?

My rule of thumb is to never offer less than 50 percent. What you want to do is make the partner an offer that is not only fair, but more beneficial up front for him/her than it is for you.

Once you know what your offer is, you want to create solo ads, a review, or something that the partner can plug his/her information into so that you have something to give him/her when you make the offer.

Include the affiliate sign up link, and make it as easy as possible to sign up. Also include the link to the product, as well as tell the partner how to get the download, the membership, or whatever you are selling.

The point is, make it easy. My joint venture partners are busy people. They don’t have time to write ads for me, or spend a lot of time getting prepared. They need something they can set up in a few minutes, send it out, and move on. Remember, your potential partners are probably the same.

2. Forget to Target Your Market.

I get over 500 emails a day. Mind you, they aren’t all joint ventures although I get a lot of those too.

The point is this: research your market. Find products, services, memberships, etc. that complement yours. Then you have a market.

3. Send Your Offer to the Wrong Person.

No one wants to read offers that say, “Dear Publisher”, “Dear Friend”, or anything like that.

The first, and most important thing about creating a joint venture is to make sure that you send it to the right person at the right email address.

Although I don’t recommend it, you can send your joint venture proposal to someone you don’t know provided you have properly targeted your market. This doesn’t mean you can send your message to 100s who just happen to be in your target market.

What I recommend you do is this: build a relationship with the person. Build a lot of relationships with a lot of people. If you have something relevant to say about someone’s newsletter, write him/her.

I get so many bogus offers that when I get something I appreciate, or I enjoy, I always write the publisher a complimentary email. If there’s a survey, I answer it. If the publisher needs help, and I can, I answer.

This is how great business relationships are built online. You would be amazed at how much others are willing to help you when you take the time to get to know them.

Finally, unless you know one of the “gurus”, and very well, I wouldn’t advise sending them your offer. Most of them already have joint venture arrangements in place and aren’t really willing to work with someone they don’t know, or who hasn’t made it to “guru” status.

There are plenty of potential partners out there with nice sized mailing lists who are hungry for more ways to make more money. With millions online, you have a wide range of potential partners to choose from.

Remember, it really doesn’t matter if you sell gardening tools or ebooks, or anything else for that matter, a joint venture can quickly and easily add to your bottom line.

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Too many business owners and marketers know that Yellow Pages advertising has an incredible amount of potential… but they don’t quite know how to take advantage of it.

Fortunately, it’s a mystery that’s solved pretty easily once an advertiser knows where to turn for advice. There are fundamental truths about Yellow Page advertising that so many businesses fail to recognize, but once they do, they stand to capitalize on a sizeable reward. That said… let’s try to understand it a bit better, shall we?

1. Common Yellow Page advertising mistakes are simple to fix.

Very simple. You don’t have to be a graphic designer or marketing expert to drastically improve your ad either—you just need to know your customers.

You see, most Yellow Page ads make the very same mistakes… year after year …directory after directory …category after category. Some of the ads I see from professional design firms are riddled with mistakes too.

Of course they may look nicer… but that won’t cut it in the Yellow Pages! While a professionally designed ad can certainly help grab attention, there is no substitute for ad content (read: words) if your goal is to generate a phone call.

And when it comes to Yellow Pages advertising, that’s all that really matters.

By learning what makes a good headline, good body copy, and how to develop a strong offer—your Yellow Pages ad will run circles around an ad that just “looks great,” but makes the same mistakes most others are making.

An example? Using your name and logo as the headline…

It’s disastrous and yet more advertisers do it than not. No one cares what you call yourself until they’ve decided to pick up the phone and actually call you.

Your company name does not win you business. So if your name and logo is at the top of your ad… if it’s big and bold and takes up space… if it takes the place of an attention grabbing, hard-hitting headline… you’ve made a big mistake.

Next, here’s fundamental truth number 2…

2. Most Yellow Page ads are developed by the directory publisher.

That’s right—the directory itself develops most of the ads you see. That’s a pretty unfortunate scenario if you think about it. What happens if they design your ad and 4 of your competitors’ ads? Whose ad stands out? Who gets the best ad content and the most original headline?

That’s not a risk you’ll want to take.

When it comes to Yellow Pages advertising those that know how to set themselves apart from the pack fare well. Nice design might get you noticed, but good ad copy grabs attention like a magnet and doesn’t let it go.

Don’t just hand the reins to someone else and let them develop your ad for you. Learn what it takes to generate response and play a role in developing that winning ad for your business.

Your design department will be happy to design your ad free of charge, but make sure you play an active role in developing the content. Because no one knows what makes your customers “tick” like you do!

3. Yellow Pages Advertising is different from just about EVERY other medium you use.

You might want to re-read that. Yellow Pages advertising is different because people see your ad when they are ready to buy. This is huge! Almost every Yellow Page ad I see takes the approach: “This is who I am and this is what I offer.”

Guess what—that’s dead wrong!

All that matters in Yellow Pages Advertising are “the reasons someone should choose you over your competition.” Telling them what you offer does no good. They know what you offer! They’re looking at your ad because their tooth hurts and they turned to the “Dentist” category.

Focus on “why, with all of these options, they should choose you” and you’ll be doing what so many advertisers before you have failed to include.

That is the information your prospects looked in the Yellow Pages to uncover. Give it to them. Give them a reason to pick up the phone and know you’ll provide them with something different… something better.

Your prospects are a skeptical bunch. Make contacting you and giving your business a shot a risk-free, value-filled proposition for them. When done correctly this will give any usiness a tremendous edge over the competition.

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Any x by y matrix plan has one big risk… but also one big advantage.

The biggest risk: People in your downline might think they don’t have to promote and just wait for your spillover.

The biggest advantage: Still, it’s a great way to build a deep team quick… if you and the people in your team understand that they shouldn’t just sit and wait for it to happen.

The following 3 steps you need to follow and teach to build a successful team:

1. Find 2 people… It doesn’t really matter if it’s e.g. a 2×15 forced matrix or wider. If the matrix is wider than 2, or even unlimite^d wide, I recommend to start with 2 and then go wider when your team has been fully build at least 4 levels deep.

2. Next build a relationship with them, teach them this 3 eas^y steps and motivate them until they find 2 people on their own.

3. Then motivate your 2 people to motivate their 2 people to also find 2 people … etc.

I believe this is a much better way to build a successful team. And not to mass promote and hope that a few in the masses you sponsor build a team on their own… but instead motivate to motivate to build the team… all the way down.

If you mass promote… you might be able to initially build a big downline… but since there will be no relationship, it will fall apart fast as well.

If you or somebody in your team has a big list of people to email to, then you or those people could send a message to all, telling them that you are looking for 2 leaders only. Ask them to email you back and tell you “why” you should choose them. Then pick the 2 best ones… and move one with step 2 above.

Also if a downline member is struggling… and no matter how hard he or she tries, he or she is not able to find two on their own… e.g. due to lack of people he or she knows… then you could do such a mailing on their behalf.

The primary approach that works best is to talk via chat first with the people you know already. Those, that we already have a relationship with.

If that doesn’t generate your 2 leaders… then you could use the mailing approach looking for two leaders as I described before.

But what should you tell people during the chat or in the email message you write to find your two leaders?

This is the point where you need to do your homework. Look very closely at the program for which you want to build a successful team for. Answer yourself the following questions:

1. What is the product or service that this program sells?
2. What main benefits does the product or service provide the customer with?
3. What makes the product or service better then those offered by the competition?
4. How much does the product or service cost?
5. How does the products compensation plan work?
6. What is necessary to break even and get into profit?

You noticed that I mentioned everything related to money at the end? Yes, I did order the above list by priority on purpose.

When you answer yourself those questions, keep always in mind to answer to most elementary question everybody has… which is:

What is in it for me? Also often called WIIFM. Once you learn to answer that question, you will be easily able to find your two leaders.

BTW… there is a shortcut to your homework assignment.

Ask your sponsor to answer the six questions above… then check an confirm those answers are accurate and match your own opinion about the program. This can save you time and strengthen the relationship with your own sponsor as you work with him together to answer them.

Tip: There are millions of programs out there on the net and many people, including me, fall easily prey to start joining too many at once. The grass always seems to look greener on the other side.

I live now by the following rule… Earn with two programs (meaning: be in profit) before you even consider to join one new one. And I recommend that you too do that.

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Whether you’re wet-behind-the-ears or a seasoned copywriter, your craft will benefit by remembering one thing:

You’re nothing more than a salesperson.

There’s an old saying in the “business” that, “a copywriter is a salesperson sitting in front of a typewriter.” True, few of us are using typewriters these days. The principal, however, remains unchanged.

We’re in sales. I know this. You know this. We all know this. Yet why does much of the copy out there, especially ads produced by expensive agencies, seem to miss the point?

If all we’re doing is sales, albeit transmitted through a written or broadcast medium, then we’d better know what we’re doing.

Starting the process

While studying creative writing, I learned this storytelling maxim: every character has a motive for being in a scene. The same is true in a sales situation.

The salesperson’s motive is simple. He wants to make the sale and get his commission. But what does the potential customer want?

First, what type of customer are they? Are they ready to make an immediate buy? Are they information shopping, looking for a great deal? Are they even looking for our product or service?

Ask Questions, then Shut-up and Listen

When selling to prospective customers ask questions that get them to reveal their needs. It’s a mistake to sell the product on the tip of your tongue. “Model X” might work, but if you listen you might discover that the more expensive “Model Z” is what the customer really needs.

Once you know why the prospect is there–whether they have an unresolved need, an emotional reason for buying, or they’re just shopping around–tailor your pitch to their specific reason.

Now when you make the pitch, tell how your product benefits the customer, rather than rattling off product features you think he cares about.

When You’re Finished, Close the Door

By this point your spiel should be unforced. You know the customer’s “hot-buttons” so everything should be smooth sailing.

After you’ve explained the last product benefit, you (as the salesperson) are obligated to close the deal. The way you do that is simply to ask, “Are you ready to make your decision?” or “Is this the product you’d like to buy?”

Hopefully the answer is yes. If not, then you ask, “When would you be ready to make your decision? Can I contact you then?”

What Does This Have to Do with Copywriting?

Remember, you’re nothing more than a salesperson. So you, so while writing copy, you should go through similar steps.

1. Qualify the prospect. How you write your copy, and the ratio of hard selling to information-based soft selling, will change with the medium you’re working in. But the first thing your copy should do is state outright what business you’re in and what you’re selling.

If your pitch is too vague, if it’s implied, or it depends on prior knowledge for comprehension, then your prospect might never realize he needs what you’re selling.

2. Sell Benefits, not Features. I’ve heard many sales trainers say, “It’s not about you, it’s about them.” That’s golden advice. The best way to apply this idea to your copy is by focusing on your product’s benefits.

A sports car’s features might be power steering, fast acceleration, and fuel efficiency. The benefits of that same car to a man a mid-life crisis, however, are the social status and appearance of youth it gives him. Which reason, the benefits or the features, would cause him to buy?

In a face-to-face sales environment it’s easy to ask for a specific customer’s needs. When writing sales copy you can create the same rapport by being customer-centered. To do this, write in the second person, or “You” voice. If your copy repeatedly says your company does this, or your product does that, you’re being self-centered. Your prospect won’t see himself benefiting from your product.

3. Close the Deal. I can’t count how often I’ve read a brochure, watched a commercial, or visited a website and had no clue about what I was supposed to do.

Always end your copy with a Call-to-Action.

Tell the customer exactly what you want him to do. This isn’t the time to be cute, so be exact. Do you want him to call you? Click a “Buy This” button? Make a donation? Tell your customer, or else he won’t do anything.

When asked what I do I usually say I’m a freelance marketing and publicity copywriter. I’m might revise the statement to, “I’m a freelance sales copywriter,” because that’s what it all comes down to: sales. Whether your copy creates a direct response or creates publicity and general awareness of your company, if you don’t sell you might as well not be in business.

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Publicity is obtaining editorial coverage or features for your business. Publicity is getting your business reported as news. Examples of publicity are newspaper and magazine articles, radio and television interviews and Internet forums and much more. These are just a few reasons you should consider letting your business tap into the power of publicity.

1. Effective – Publicity has been proven to be 10 times more effective than traditional advertising. Your customers believe what they read in the newspaper or watch on the TV news because humans by nature believe what is reported to them as news.

2. Affordable – Obtaining publicity can cost as little as $0 dollars. Business owners can substitute a little time and imagination for money or hire publicity professionals, many of which have very affordable rates when compared to advertising.

3. 3rd Party Credibility – Having reporters write about your business in a news format gives your business 3rd party credibility that’s extremely valuable. Anyone can sing their own business’ praises, but getting respected people in the media to do it provides a type of credibility that ads and money just can’t buy.

There are numerous other reasons to use publicity. Next time you are looking for a new way to get the word out about your business, consider tapping into the power of publicity.

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Before you start worrying about marketing your website on the internet it always pays dividends to look at the website itself and get the fundamentals right before looking to shout about it from the virtual mountain-tops.

You may already have thought about the following 3 ways and some of you may already have them in place on your website. If so – congratulations – you’re well on the way to having a website that will bring you more business. So here they are then – the 3 Simple Ways To Dramatically Improve Your Website..

1. You’re Fishing For Visitors – You’ll Need This To Hook Them.

Ever been surfing on a website that held your attention and then the phone rings? You take the call, take some notes, get distracted, visit another website and before you know it you’ve forgotten all about the website you were viewing. It happens all the time and if you don’t have a Bookmarking tool on your website it will be happening with the people that come to your website. A Bookmarking tool is just a simple link or logo that your visitors can click on in order to bookmark your website or add it to their favourites. It is best to have the button located on the homepage but an even better option is to have a bookmarking button on every page so a visitor can actually bookmark each specific page of your website for safe-keeping.

2. ‘X’ Marks The Spot.

Visitors come to your website and if you’re lucky – they like it and click beyond the homepage. Excellent. But they can’t find what they’re looking for. Uh oh, you could be in trouble. There’s a lot of information on your website and Mr. Visitor doesn’t have time to sift through it all to find what he’s looking for. You’d better hope that he’s either very patient or that you’ve provided him with a simple map to help him get to the ‘treasure’ he is looking for. A Site Map is an essential item – particularly on larger websites.

There is nothing more frustrating than hunting around for something and wasting time when just a simple one pager that presents a summary of all the information on your website could be used. A Site Map should be reachable from all pages of your website in just one click and should have clickable links on it so that a visitor can zoom straight through to their desired location without having to hunt around. If you don’t give them a map your visitors may become frustrated searching around for that desired piece of information and they may leave your website never to return.

3. Don’t Make Your Visitors Have To Write An Email To Contact You

If you are inviting enquiries or contact from visitors to your website you need to provide them with a way of doing this that is as easy as possible for them. Just posting your email address on the website is not the best solution. Why? Because when they click on it they need to then create an email from scratch. Do you know how busy your visitors are? They hardly have time to read the content of your homepage – never mind create an email from scratch. The solution? You need to use a simple form. A form enables you to standardise the responses that you receive and it also makes it very simple for your visitors to get in touch with you – all they need to do is pop in their name, email address and tick a few boxes and that’s it.

Making it easy for your visitors to contact you isn’t the only reason that using a form is a great idea. Doing so means you can get some information back from each person that fills in the form. You can ask them how they discovered your website, which other websites they like to visit – you can ask them anything! Anything that is going to help you learn more about them, more about who they are and more about what will make them buy from you. You think they would tell you all this if they were creating an email from scratch? No – of course they wouldn’t! That’s why you need a form.

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Virtually all website owners concentrate their efforts and energy into getting more visitors. With business owners this effort is spent on getting more and more new customers. What many people forget - with both their website and their business - is that getting new customers (or visitors) is only a small part of the equation for success…

Reason For Failure No. 1 - The ‘I am God’-Syndrome

God got his name from being able to do anything and everything and be everywhere at once. Despite what we are taught from an early age many people still insist on believing they themselves are God. Ever found yourself answering the phone, making a sale, running a sales meeting, welcoming customers and doing your company’s accounts all in one day? Sure you have. You’re trying to be God and do everything and be in more than one place at one time. You will fail. People do this with their website too.

Rather than just stopping at providing content (which is where you should stop and hand everything else over to the professionals) some people think that despite no professional training or education in the subject they are experts in web design, website marketing, graphic design and business consultancy. Remember - stick to what you know, leave everything else to the experts. Your job is to run your business - not to run around like a headless chicken trying to create a website, market a website, do the books, answer the phones and make the tea.

Reason For Failure No. 2 - ‘Build It And They Will Come’

Ah yes. The halcyon days of the early 1990s when anything seemed possible and merely owning a domain name or funky web address meant certain success and riches beyond your wildest dreams. “Build it and they will come” is what they said. They were wrong.

Disaster after high profile disaster came crashing down into a pile of dotcom carnage as the millions poured into the idea pit were consumed by fast-spending entrepreneurs who possessed more pairs of trainers than they did explanations for where the profit was going to come from. Just remember - there are more web pages in the world than there are people so if you really think that just building a website is enough it’s time for a serious re-think. You’ve spent the money on graphic design, content, domain names, hosting, web design and testing and your site has just gone live. Congratulations - you have just completed step 1 of 1000,001 in having a site that generates business for you.

You now need to market the site - just as you need to market your business when it first starts - advertising, fliers, yellow pages, referrals, networking, cold calls, direct marketing, mail shots, radio slots, events, conventions, product launches, press coverage etc. A website is exactly the same. Don’t forget the new statement for the new age of new technology:

Build it and they will say - ‘I can’t find it!’

Reason For Failure No. 3 - You Choose The Wrong Website Marketing Company

It’s difficult isn’t it? There are so many to choose from how do you know where to start? Well word of mouth recommendation is always a good indication. Failing that you can look at the key areas that are likely to indicate the quality of their service. For example, ask these questions;

• Do they offer guarantees of any kind on their results?
• Do they proudly display testimonials from satisfied customers on their website?
• What is their profile on the web like, can you find them easily?
• Do they have detailed case studies explaining how they have helped other businesses?
• Do they have a long-standing track record in the industry and wide client-base?

There is no real way to avoid making the wrong decision but if you keep learning more and more about website marketing you will be arming yourself with enough information to at least reduce the risk of choosing the wrong company.

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Well-written, tightly-focused articles are in high demand by thousands of online publishers. Why? Because publishers view good content as a value-added asset, enhancing their own brand awareness and deepening relationships with clients and customers.

As a content provider, you can attract a substantial and continuous flow of new prospects from online venues that might otherwise be inaccessible. And unlike other promotional methods, you get this traffic without spending a penny on advertising.

The three techniques below make it easy for publishers –your willing and enthusiastic partners– to find and publish your material.

1. Syndicate Your Articles

Syndicating your articles makes it easy for site owners to put your content on their website. It’s a real time-saver and totally hands-off for webmasters.

Automation is a big selling point of online syndication. The syndicating site simply inserts 2 lines of code on their web page, and your articles are distributed from your server to their web page automatically. You have total control over content and style, while the webmaster never lifts a finger again.

It’s an ideal situation for you. Once a site agrees to accept your articles through syndication, you are freed from the job of marketing each article individually to the site owner. A marketer’s dream!

For details on setting up your syndicated feed, read this article by William Bontrager:
http://www.homebiztools.com/syndication.htm

One of the first places to start marketing your syndicated feed is on your website. Post a sample article so others can see the quality of your work, and show them how to set up their web page to accept your articles.

For additional marketing muscle, solicit webmasters from the resource box of your article. Include a line to let them know your column is available for syndication.

Lastly, get listed in syndicated article directories such as those found at Freesticky.com and StickySuace.com. Traffic from directories is highly targeted and more likely to result in a syndication arrangement.

2. Publish Your Own News Channel

Your own news channel allows you to broadcast your content to the Web with one text file. The protocol to accomplish this is called RSS. This stands for Really Simple Syndication (or Rich Site Summary, depending on who you talk to). Weblogs are an example of content commonly available in RSS.

Once created, your RSS content file can be read by news aggregator programs. By registering with aggregator sites, your feed is indexed and made available for sites interested in receiving your feed. You can see my own news feed in action at NetBizHelpers.com.

Here are some excellent sites with articles on setting up and registering your news channel:

Mark Nottingham’s RSS Tutorial
http://www.mnot.net/rss/tutorial/

Technology at Harvard Law
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss

O’Reilly XML.com
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/12/18/dive-into-xml.html

3. Submit To Article Directories and Announcement Lists

Many publishers subscribe to announcement lists and browse article directories for content. High-quality articles are regularly picked up from these sources. It’s not uncommon for a good article to be published in several ezines with combined readerships in the tens of thousands.

Here is a listing of popular spots to submit your articles online:
http://www.homebiztools.com/article-dir.htm

To begin posting your articles on announcement lists:
http://www.homebiztools.com/article-lists.htm

There you have it! Three great ways to market your articles and give publishers what they need, while you enjoy no-cost advertising.

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After all the debate over website design, shopping carts and credit card processors, every website owner eventually comes to the startling realization that they need one more thing to survive - website traffic!

Without website traffic it’s the same as building an expensive billboard and, instead of placing it alongside a busy highway, hiding it in your *basement* where nobody can see it.

Upon realizing they need traffic, most website owners run out and start blowing chunks of money and time trying to get “hits,” but they fail to grasp that there are really only three (3) reliable ways to get traffic to any website.

Method #1 - Buy Traffic Currently, the fastest way to get traffic to any website involves using the little classified ads on the right side of search giant Google’s results pages.

Called Google AdWords, the system allows any advertiser to open an account with a $5 activation fee and start seeing their ads appear on Google within about 15 minutes.

Advertisers only pay when visitors actually click through from their ad on Google to their website or affiliate link.

Overture.com also sells traffic by the click, but they make you wait three to five days to go through their editorial review process before allowing ads to appear on their network.

You can also buy advertising on dozens of other pay-per-click search engines.

They all follow the same basic model of only charging advertisers for targeted visitors who read an ad based on a keyword search and decide to click through for more information.

Log on to www.payperclicksearchengines.com for a list of over 600 choices ranked by market penetration.

A word to the wise on pay-per-click advertising: Watch your costs and track and measure everything. Even though you can get traffic for as little as a penny, you should track your results by search engine and by individual keyword if you want maximum success.

Many a company has lost its entire advertising budget paying only a nickel or a dime per click, but not watching their conversion rates and pouring money into keywords that don’t convert… while neglecting the keywords that do bring sales (mainly because they don’t know which is which!).

Method #2 - Borrow Traffic If you need traffic to a website, then borrow it from people who already have it… especially people with lists of loyal subscribers or traffic from search engines, affiliates, or other steady sources.

“Endorsed Mailings” and “Reciprocal Linking” by other people represent the two fastest ways to borrow someone else’s traffic.

If they maintain a list of subscribers, convince them to send an email out to their people telling them why they should check out your site.

Also, negotiate a prominent link on their web pages to siphon off targeted visitors who find their website.

Often the best way to persuade someone to do this involves paying them a commission, agreeing to do a similar mailing, or providing a link to them on your site (or a combination of all three).

Imagine how much traffic you could get if someone with a list of 10,000 loyal subscribers told their people to go look at your website!

Method #3 Recycle Traffic The most economical way to get traffic involves turning one-time visitors into regular, repeat visitors that you direct to multiple sites over time.

You do this by pulling website visitors into your sphere of influence by enticing them to sign up for your newsletter, autoresponder sequence, or “mini-course.”

Then you keep in contact with regular articles, special reports, and recommendations enticing them to visit your own and other people’s websites.

Ultimately, every website owner should orient all of their marketing efforts towards this end of developing a stream of recycled traffic, because it costs the least and creates the best return on time and money invested.

It doesn’t matter if you promote your own product, promote only as an affiliate, or some combination of the two… if you don’t recycle traffic and get more than one hit out of each visitor, you’re making one of the biggest mistakes anyone can make online.

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So you’ve made the perfect web site (in your eyes at least) and that all-important traffic is out there just waiting to visit you. You’ve done your research and followed the usual methods for making people aware about it, and you’re now sat there twiddling your thumbs, regularly checking your traffic analysis tracker in case you get a sudden surge of visitors. Of course, unless you’re a big business with a mass of promotion behind you, those days of overwhelming traffic are quite a way off. So while you wait for your search engine submissions to reap their reward is there anything else you can do to help yourself?

Simple answer. Yes there is and it’s a method that isn’t discussed much. What is it I’m talking about?

Forums. No don’t run away just yet. Not only will you develop a small amount of traffic in the first few days of launch (a couple of hundred visits easy) but you’ll gain a lot of invaluable feedback about your site that can allow you to make changes before the search engines kick in. What could be better than free reviews?

First things first. If you’re unfamiliar with forums they can best be described as the communal discussion area of a web site. If you’ve never used one before don’t be afraid they’re not as scary as they seem. Go have a look at a few to see for yourself, read some of the topics and look at the messages people have posted. Nobody is going to jump out at you and ask what you’re doing there. Honest.

Right, now that you’re confident you can post a message on a forum, you should be aware that you can’t and shouldn’t post a message about your wonderful new web site on every forum you come across. If you’ve had a look like I suggested you’ll notice that most forums are split into sections that cover different areas related to that particular web site. Therefore, if you want to tell people about your site you need to look for forums that will accept this sort of entry.

It isn’t hard to think about where these magical forums might be. You’ll want to look at computer magazine sites, webmaster sites, web review sites, that’s just for starters, I’m sure you’ll come across more once you get going. The process is then simple; find one of these sites, have a look to see if they run a forum, then check the forum to see if they have a section that allows for your site to be submitted for review by other members.

If you’re new to this then keep things simple with just a simple post at first. Just ask people to look at your site and give you some feedback. The best things to remember with forums are to be polite and friendly in your posts. Most people will usually have something positive to say about your web site despite all the criticisms they may also give. Even if you get lots of praise you’ll often be surprised at the smallest tips that you get that can make your site look that little bit more professional looking. Once you’ve done a couple of forums and noted the general response, use your different forums to be more specific. Ask about your navigation, ask about the content, ask about the colours, or whatever else may be bugging you.

Some forums ask that you look first at one or two other members sites and give some feedback of your own before asking for yours to be looked at. This can help you in that it may show you how to critique your own site by looking at what’s wrong with someone else’s. Also if you do need to give some feedback look at the list of posts and pick someone whose reply count is low or non-existent. They’ll be pleased that you’ve responded and may pay you the same compliment by looking at yours.

This brings me to another point regarding the reply/view count. Most people who go to the forums (especially newbies) are more likely to look first at the posts that have a decent reply and/or view count. It’s a psychological thing, the post looks popular so you want to see what’s so interesting. With some forums you can use this to your advantage (just don’t abuse it). Be aware of the forums that show an increase in the reply/view count everytime someone (including you) adds a message. If you find one make sure you visit your post to respond to anybody’s comments and add a message to keep the count going. It’s a bit sneaky I know but like I said don’t abuse it and you’ll gain a slight advantage for getting people looking at your site.

Now don’t expect thousands of visitors from the method detailed in this article (unless your site is so good that everybody starts talking about it) but for every person that responds to your request for feedback you’ll get loads more that just visit your site who for whatever reason don’t reply. At the end of the day it’s all about getting the ball rolling and anything you can do to proactively promote your web site has to be considered. So best foot forward and get exploring all those forums.

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