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Did you know that posting in Discussion Forums is a wonderful way to make a name for yourself and increase the chances of your success? Well, if you didn't know, you do now!

It's true! If you productively spend some time in online business forums each week you may find it quite profitable. When I say 'productively' I mean NOT aimlessly posting to any topic you can find just for the sake of typing. You should actually offer useful advice and information for people as well as answering questions that others have. You will also learn a lot of useful tips to help your business from other people's posts.

Here is a small list of some of the great reasons to post in forums:

1) Exposure to your website or product-In most forums you can put a small information box such as an advertisement below each of your posts. This is a great way to tell people about yourself and your business. You will also gain a link back to your website to help with your ranking in search engines.

2) Making a name for yourself-If you consistently offer useful advice and answers to questions people will begin to notice it. Soon enough you be seen as an 'expert' in your field. Needless to say, this is very good for your business.

3) Learning-A lot of people frequently post in discussion forums. Many of them have been in online business for a long time and know quite a bit about it. You can gain vast amounts of knowledge by reading other peoples posts. Or you can simply ask a question and you are sure to get it answered many times over.

4) Meeting other people-Having a home based internet business can get lonely at times. The people in discussion forums can be a bit like your 'co-workers' at a traditional job. You might even make some great life-long friends.

5) Entertainment-Often there are quite interesting topics and replies for you to read. Every now and then someone stirs things up in a forum and it can be pretty exciting to read the responses.

Well, that is just a taste of why it is great to post in forums. Of course, there are more reasons and you may even have some personal reasons of your own.

Now lets look at some ways to get more out of them so you aren't wasting your precious time:

1) It is best to post to forums that get a lot of traffic. There are many forums out there but quite a few of them hardly get any visitors. You can get a general idea of how much traffic they get just by looking at how many posts they get each day. If it seems to be getting a lot of posts everyday then it probably gets quite a bit of traffic all the time.

2) Stay away from forums that aren't moderated or that let you post just about anything you want. These types of forums are generally full of blatant advertising and spam. Don't waste your time with them! You won't really get anything useful from these forums. Also, DO NOT blatantly advertise or spam posts. It will ruin your reputation and could get you banned from forums.

3) Restrict your time in forums by setting up some sort of schedule or time limit for visiting them. You can sometime lose track of time reading and responding to topics. Obviously you need some time for other business tasks so you don't want to use it all up in forums. Trust me they can get very addicting so this is an important step.

4) Do not post just for your own benefit. It is important to offer useful advice and information to others. By offering valuable comments you will get people to notice you more thus increasing the chances that they will do business with you.

5) Take full advantage of the signature paragraph that most forums let you set-up. This is where you do get to do a little advertising. Tell about yourself and/or your business. Provide a link to your website or product so people can get to it easily. Your link will also help with your search engine popularity and ranking.

6) Be respectful and polite to others on the discussion forums. Even if you don't totally agree with someone it is best not to attack them. People will notice if you are rude and obnoxious. It is better for you to just keep your unnecessary comments to yourself.

I regularly visit quite a few discussion forums. I have found that they are fun to read and post in and can be very rewarding. Some are better than others but all can be beneficial when used properly. You just need to find the forums that fit what you are looking for. Become a 'regular' there and you will be rewarded.

Here are some of the best business forums that I visit frequently, in no particular order:

Open Forums (don't require registration):

• http://www.ablake.net/forum/
• http://www.howtocorp.com/forum/
• http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/184615
• http://www.homebusiness-websites.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi
• http://www.ozemedia.com/cgi-bin/webbbs/webbbs_config.pl
• http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/11488
• http://www.williecrawford.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi
• http://www.friendsinbusiness.com/board1/index.cgi

These websites have forums that require you to register before you post but it only takes a couple minutes and doesn't cost anything:

• http://www.wilsonweb.com/
• http://www.infoprofitstalk.com/
• http://www.siteownersforums.com/
• http://www.associateprograms.com/
• http://www.webproworld.com/
• http://www.workathomenetwork.com/discussionboards.htm
• http://www.mom101.com

I am sure that is good enough to get you started! The above list consists of many of the most well-known business forums as well some lesser known ones. Pretty much all of them get good traffic and none of them allow spam or blatant advertising.

Now it is time for you to go and Post Your Way to Success!

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Copyright © Trent Brownrigg

www.work-at-home-jobs-iowa.com

You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included and the article is not changed(grammatical corrections accepted). A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.