With the ever changing rules surrounding where and how you can market your affiliate program or online business, it seems a lot of internet marketers, online business owners and those stepping into the work from home arena for the first time are constantly trying to stay one step ahead.

If you’ve spent hours building your website the last thing you want to hear is that you can’t promote it in a traffic exchange because it breaches one of your advertiser's terms of service or that it’s going to take forever for others to find it using search engines.

Rather than cringing at the thought of actually having to pay to get the promotion your site deserves, do a little research. You’ll quickly notice that whatever your chosen business, niche site or affiliate program is about, there is bound to be a forum that covers it.

Forums are a great way to not only to get your name out there, but they also allow others to get to know you so you build up the trust they require before they’ll purchase from you or join your newsletters etc.

If you’ve set up a niche site covering your favourite dog for example, join some forums that cover dogs and pets and anything else related to your website. Once you’ve proven to be active it won’t be long before you’ve built up enough credibility with others within the forums that they’ll be seeking you or your site out.

Most forums (in accordance with any rules they have set out) will allow you to place a link to your site somewhere in the forum, this has the bonus of not only allowing others to see it but also getting your link picked up by the search engines etc.

Of course they are also wonderful tools when it comes to market research, where better to find out what type of questions people are asking about a certain topic than to visit a related forum. Once you have the questions it’s only a matter of time before you’ll be able to give the answers they are all looking for on your webpage.

And of course you can set up your own forum, there are many free forums available. As per usual though make sure you read the rules before starting it up, some free providers have stricter policies than others.

Some quick things to remember when visiting and participating in forums:

Always read each individual forum’s rules – you will usually find these in the very first topic you come across.

Don’t just post and run – if people realise you’re only posting so you can get a link to your website or affiliate program noticed – it will have the opposite affect (and will more than likely get you banned from the forum)

Play nice – no matter how unprofessional someone may seem to you, don’t stoop to their level, it is them that will lose out in the long run.

So the next time your fingers get sick of clicking in the traffic exchanges or you notice you’re still not visible in the search engines, take a look at a forum or two.

If you’d like more information please visit: My Work From Home Blog or the Work From Home Mums Forum

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