Bulletin Boards and Forums Are Excellent Low-Cost Marketing Tools

Yes, the can. If you know how to "mingle."

You have to take them for what they are, though. Bulletin boards and forums are simply discussion forums open to anyone. Typically, they require a membership although many allow guests to post as well.

If you Google "bulletin board +" a keyword related to your area of interest you are sure to find a specialized forum on which you can post messages. The purpose for most of these forums is to serve as a meeting place for professionals with similar goals and interests to discuss their challenges and ways to overcome them.

Each bulletin board or forum has its own rules, but more than likely you will not be allowed to post advertising messages on the boards. Some boards allow this, but the better ones do not. The reason is simple: they want to protect their members, who are there to share ideas.

To be successful in posting on bulletin boards and forums you have to understand what they are there for and why you are there, but more importantly, why others are there. If you have a large amount of knowledge in a specific area then you can make contacts by answering the questions that others have. Many people go to bulletin boards and forums specifically to learn about the topic of interest. Share your knowledge. In doing so, others will get to know you and trust you, then they may very well be interested in doing business with you.

Instead of posting links to your url every time you post a message, put your link in your bio. When you become a member of a board you typically are asked to sign in as a member. By doing so you can fill out a bio, which allows you to post a photo, tell a little about your background and many even allow you to post links to your web site or promote a book you've written. It's an excellent place to do so. Then, every time you post a message your name and bio information will appear so that people know who posted that message. That's a low-cost way to advertise your business and to advertise it to your target audience.

If you have a web site on a particular area of interest, you can include a forum on your web site. This makes you the moderator, an instant expert. After you have enough traffic visiting your bulletin board or forum then you can advertise to get other moderators or facilitators for your bulletin board discussion groups. People will gladly volunteer for this because it gives them instant credibility for their business. By taking in business partners this way you help yourself and others, giving the appearance that you are a credible source for your topic.

Another way to make this work for you is to include a chat feature on your web site. But that's a topic for another article.