The key to long-term success with any website is repeat
customers. The bookmark is the Holy Grail to any site that
aspires to regular income but achieving this isn’t
always easy. Visitors have to like what they see, yes, but
they also have to feel that these is going to be new and
relevant information posted to a website that will warrant
their return. Tired and stale single pages don’t attract
repeat visitors and unique hits are all you can ever hope
to achieve but it’s a fact that the more trust your
website builds the more chance it has of making sales and
encouraging people to click on links. So, where does the
answer lie?
The forum.
Many of us have used a forum whether to ask a question or
to answer somebody else’s and without realising it
you are already beginning to trust that forum. Most forums
offer the function to send you updates when somebody has
responded to your query or when a query on a certain topic
is posted. The forum has just gained another repeat customer.
If it’s a popular forum you will get several answers
and return to the site on a fairly regular basis increasing
the chances that you will either buy something from the site
or click the affiliate links.
The community.
By building a community spirit with plenty of regular posters
you are not only encouraging visitors to read your posts
but there is bound to be something in there that sparks that
little flame of intrigue. A message board post later and
they’re being sucked into using your site and your
forum on a regular basis. You now have their email address
and as long as they are ok with you sending your ‘weekly
newsletter’ to them you have created yourself a free
and invaluable opt in lead; a resource that webmasters across
the world salivate at the thought of.
The popularity.
The forum and its popularity is something of a paradox though,
because as more and more people post on the forum the more
inviting it becomes to new members. Members make members
without a doubt. The hardest part about populating a forum
is receiving those first few visitors. Without knowing it
or acting intentionally they will be the ones to bring in
the hundreds of members that follow. Offer a free gift to
anyone that signs up or consider ‘employing’ active
moderators who will not only moderate the posts but start
conversations, competitions and anything else to attract
people.
The possibilities.
Once you have a forum the possibilities are virtually endless.
Follow up sales become a breeze as your Autoresponder kicks
in to say thanks for signing up and the affiliate link in
your signature has never been such a good money spinner.
You can populate mailing lists while you’re sleeping
and the content on your site remains as fresh as a daisy
for as long as you can keep visitors in your forum. As far
as valuable website additions go, there aren’t many
better options than the humble forum.
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