Web 2.0 Marketing Tip #51: Start Reaping Profits from Forums
Have you created your own forum yet? Forums can be very profitable, not only money-wise but connection-wise. If you have already established a good forum and have drawn in a good number of “core” members and lurkers, then you have to take the next step. What is it? Start getting some good ole profits!
Monetizing Your Forum
We all take on different businesses and strategies online. Regardless of the choices, however, we all have one thing in common. What is it? We all consider how we can get returns on our investment. There are actually tens of choices available for you, but personally, I would suggest that you adopt one or more of the following three strategies:
- Use a service like Adsense to place pay-per-click ads on your forum- this is the easiest choice. You simply have to create an account of Google AdSense, have your website verified and embed those ads on your site.
- Use the forum to announce product launches and to promote sales- if you already have your own line of products, if you are getting a commission from other marketers’ product launches and sales, or so on, you can easily use your forum for spreading an announcement.
- Use the forum to promote your products through sticky threads- you can use sticky threads as announcement area for your products.
As I’ve mentioned earlier, there are a lot more strategies you can use for monetizing your forums. However, it is best to start with any or a combination of the above options.
Alternatively, you might consider using your forum to address customer service issues and questions about your products. This is a good way to increase customer engagement and to encourage customers to buy new products. If you are spending a good amount of time on your forum, it will even become a great tool for constantly getting feedbacks from your customers; it will allow you to get data for polishing products and creating new ones.