Participating in online forums is a great way to get a steady stream of traffic to your website. You get a steady stream of traffic to your website from forum users who appreciate your posts, visitors from search engines who have found your posts, and people who have visited the forum through other links.

It is better to become well known in a few forums, or at one high traffic site, than it is to try joining many forums and having no time to be active in all of them.

- Find the best forums to join.

Focus on forums that have threads or sub-forums on the same theme as your business website. When you find a busy forum, check to see how many posts there are on your type of topics. If there are not recent posts or no responses to old posts, look for a more active forum, or find a specialist forum aimed at your target customers.

The index page of a forum should show how many registered users it has, how many people are online and the date of the most recent post. Do not bother to join if there is little sign of recent activity. The more active members there are the better. You get more traffic from an active forum with plenty of users.

- Register and read the rules.

In addition to terms and conditions, which you should read, each forum has its own rules about what you can and cannot do. Always read the forum rules or you could be banned for breaking regulations. You need to know whether or not live links are allowed in forum signatures and in posts.

If you are allowed a signature link, register and create one that meets the requirements. Some forums restrict the number of links and the size of links in a signature. Few forums will allow you to use a banner in your signature.

When live links are permitted in forum posts, be sure only to post links relevant to those discussions you post in. Affiliate links and referral links will probably not be allowed.

In most forums you can add a website link to your profile, and some forums have a "www" button that appears with each post.

- Introduce yourself.

Most forums have a section for you to announce yourself as a new member. Introduce yourself without promoting your website. Write about who you are, where you live, what you do. With a good signature link, you can be sure other members will want to view your website.

In a forum with a self promotion section, this might be the only place within that forum where you are allowed to promote and post links.

- Participate and become known for the right reasons.

You will need to be a regular forum user, to respond to other users threads and to start some useful and interesting topics. Your posts should always be more than just a few words. A few brief paragraphs in each post will be most effective. Avoid using abbreviations and write good plain English.

Never make spam posts or multiple posts urging people to visit your site. You need to write informative posts. Share your knowledge and show your expertise. More people will visit your website when they know you to be really helpful, and think your website will be useful too.

Never forget to read and respond to all replies in threads you start, and on new topics you introduce to the forum. That way you build a good reputation and your signature will be seen in each response you make.

There are wrong ways to use forums. You will be banned for breaking rules or for posting spam. You will get website traffic from forums when you know the right way to use them. Every forum is indexed by search engines, and each forum post you write helps your website get a steady stream of traffic.

Learn more about this author, Ruth Belena.
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