An effective way to get attention for your offers is to use forums. Forum advertising can be in the form of paying for ads, or by participating and getting known as a member of the group. Making sure you abide by the forum rules, you can point other users to your site.
A forum site you can use to get targeted people in front of your sales letter is the WarriorForum.com. There are two ways to do this:
Post a WSO (Warrior Special Offer).
As the name suggests, you can’t just post your regular offer in this forum. Instead, you need to make it a special offer. And that means you need to offer a discount that’s not available to the public.
While technically any discount is acceptable, most buyers are searching for good, steep discounts. So, you might consider a 50% discount ($48.50), which is the same amount of profits you get when affiliates promote your offer.
Post A Classified Ad
You don’t need to offer a discount when you post in the classified section. However, you’ll also find that the classified section isn’t as busy or responsive as the Warrior Special Offer section.
Now let me make two notes:
- This isn’t free advertising. In order to even be eligible to buy an ad anywhere on the forum, you need to be a paid forum member (it costs just $97). You can learn more here: http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-forum-news/119745-warrior-forum-going-back-paid-status.html.
Once you’re a member, then you need to pay to post your ads. A WSO ad is $20 to post and another $20 if you want to “bump” your ad back to the top of the forum for more visibility. Classified ads are $20 to post and $20 to bump.
- You’ll do better if you participate in the community before posting an ad. That’s because first and foremost, the Warrior Forum is a community. And many of the buyers there tend to look at the reputation of the seller as part of their decision-making process. So, if you arrive on the forum today and post an ad tomorrow, you shouldn’t be surprised if sales are a bit slow.
So, become a contributing member first – and then post an ad later. (You’ll learn more about becoming a good forum member in the next section.)
The second thing you’ll want to take note of is that you can use a WSO tool called WSO Pro (which is not officially affiliated with the Warrior Forum) to help you run your WSO. This tool allows you to better track your conversion rate and sales, manage your downloads, help you build your list with autoresponder integration and much more. You can learn about it here:
http://www.warriorplus.com/wsopro/
One of the other major features of WSO Pro is that it has a built-in affiliate program. Many people who post WSOs are pleased with their own WSO sales – but they tend to be blown away by their sales once affiliates see their offers and start promoting.
However, keep in mind that if you run a WSO and you allow affiliates to promote this offer, then you’ll be offering a price cut and you’ll be giving 50% commissions to affiliates.
Let me give you an example.
Example: Let’s suppose your regular price is $97 and you’re offering a 50% discount as part of your WSO ($48.50). You then offer a 50% commission rate to affiliates, which means you pocket a profit of $24.25 for each sale.
Maybe $24.25 seems like a low profit, especially when you make $97 for those packages you sell on your own. However, consider this: You only need 42 sales to make $1,000 (minus your WSO and WSO Pro fees). And if you’re offering a 50% commission, you’ll get more affiliates… which makes it easier for you to nab those 42 sales.
Point is, it’s still a very good deal for you.
That’s one way to make money on the Warrior Forum. But there’s a free way to do it, too – not only on the Warrior Forum, but other marketing forums. Read on…
Use Forum Marketing
Yet another way to advertise your products s is by using forum marketing.
Contrary to popular belief, this doesn’t mean that you join forums and spam them. Not at all. This sort of activity will get you banned from forums. And it certainly won’t generate any sales.
Instead, the whole idea is to become a contributing, valuable member of the forum. In exchange for contributing to the discussions, you get to include a signature file at the end of each of your posts. This signature file is basically a small advertisement that links to your sales letter.
Here’s how to do it…
Step 1: Locate Busy Forums
Remember, you’re selling your PLR package to marketers. And that means you need to advertise your package on marketing and business forums.
So even if you’re selling a dog training package, a golf package or something else, you still need to go where your target market is: On marketing forums.
Here’s a list of some of the top forums:
You can also locate plenty of other forums by running a search in Google for terms like:
… And similar terms.
What you’re looking for are busy forums, meaning those that have plenty of active members and plenty of new posts each day. The five forums listed above all meet this criteria.
Tip:
Don’t be fooled by just looking at the stats that sometimes appear at the bottom of a forum. Instead, you need to actually take a look inside the forum. That’s because sometimes a forum has a lot of members, but they’re not active – more than likely, they’re just profile spammers. You may also see a forum with a lot of daily posts, but then a closer look reveals that the posts are mainly from spammers.
Choose three to five forums. Then move on to the next step…
Step 2: Join
First things first: Be sure to read all the rules for every forum you’re thinking of joining. In particular, pay attention to the signature file rules.
Some forums actually prohibit signature files. Still others have rules about the way signature files can be displayed. And others have rules about when they can be displayed (e.g., you can’t use a signature file until you’ve made X number of posts and/or been a member for X number of days).
Once you’ve read the rules, then go ahead and join the forum if you agree with the rules. Don’t use a cutesy username (“handle”) which basically makes you anonymous. Instead, use your real name. And fill out your profile with your real information, including a photo of yourself.
The reason for all of this? Because people like to do business with those they know, like and trust. And it’s awfully hard for anyone to get to know or trust you if you’re just some anonymous forum member like “radioboy75”.
Finally, once you’re registered, then spend a few hours just reading the posts on the forum. What you’re doing is getting a feel for the “unwritten” rules of the forum as well as the forum’s basic culture.
Step 3: Contribute
Once you feel comfortable with how a particular forum works, then you can start contributing.
Here’s the key: Don’t post one or two line answers. Instead, post thorough answers to other member’s questions. This is because you want to build a good reputation in the forum for providing useful contributions.
Now, maybe you’re a beginning marketer. In that case, perhaps you don’t feel like you have a lot of expertise to share on a marketing forum. It doesn’t matter – you can still become a contributing member of the forum. Let me give you a few examples of the types of posts you can answer…
Tip: A word of warning – don’t JUST focus on answering PLR questions only. If you do that, people will see the pattern – and on some forums this could be construed as sig spam (i.e., trying to get exposure for your signature file). So yes, answer those PLR questions – but contribute in other ways, too.
Point is, you can contribute quite a lot on a marketing forum, even if you’re not a marketing whiz yourself.
Step 4: Add Your Signature File
Now you need to add your signature file, which you usually do through your forum profile’s dashboard. Generally, this ad is usually five lines or less (some forums only give you two lines).
Now keep this in mind: It’s NOT your ad’s job to sell the product – that’s the job of your sales letter. Instead, it’s your ad’s job to get people to click on your link. And usually, you can achieve this by presenting a big benefit of your package and, if possible, arouse curiosity.
Let me give you three examples:
Example #1: Are you in the profitable [niche/topic] niche? Would you like to be? Then click here to get your hands on a high-quality product that you can start selling today…
Example #2: What one thing do hundreds of other forum members agree on? That content is king. And now you can be the king of the [niche/topic] niche by downloading this high-quality PLR package. You’re going to love it, and so will your customers! Click here now to check it out…
Example #3: Who else wants the private label rights to over [number] pages of smoking-hot [niche/topic] content? Click here to get yours – but hurry, only [number] are available!
Step 5: Look for Other Advertising Opportunities
Finally, be sure to look around all of these forums for other advertising opportunities. This includes:
Forum marketplaces
As mentioned before, the Warrior Forum has a marketplace. You’ll also find thriving marketplaces on DigitalPoint.com and SitePoint.com.
Forum advertising opportunities
Some forums allow you to purchase banner ads and text ads on the forum. If you find that your signature file is performing well on the forum, then you may wish to take advantage of the paid opportunities on the forum.
Joint venture forums
Some marketing forums have sub-forums set up where members can do joint venture deals. You may want to post about your affiliate program in these sub-forums.
Other members
Finally, be sure to pay attention to the other members and start building relationships with them. Some of these members could very well be prospective affiliate partners!
Forums and forum advertising can be an effective way to get your products and services in front of potential buyers. Whether you use paid or free, or a combination, when you use forum advertising you get access to a group of people who are interested in a topic that is related to what you're selling.
This can lead to more sales, and relationships that can lead to better business and personal growth. Try and see if it works for you...
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