Blog forums are a great place to start generating free traffic for your blog. Because of the obvious shared interest in the topic, blog forums create new interest and grow your following.

Some of the better known blog forum sites are: Blogger Forum, Bloggeries and Blogst Forum. A basic Google search will yield vast numbers of forum sites; it’s worth checking to see how active any forum is prior to registration, so you are joining the busiest, most popular groups.

Be certain to carefully read any forum rules prior to posting and abide by them. Also, don’t alienate potential visitors by submitting multiple posts just containing the link to your blog.

You are not limited to advertising your blog link or accumulating traffic on these forums; you can ask others to point out its positive and negative aspects; ask people to critique the style, layout and content.

Bear in mind opinions may widely differ, but it doesn’t mean something is bad if one or two people don’t like a particular aspect – it could be a matter of personal taste.  However, if you consistently get negative comments about certain parts of your blog, take the time to think about what changes you can make to improve them.

Return the favor and critique other blogs. Not only are people more likely to help you if they see you are willing to reciprocate, by viewing lots of blogs you get an idea of what works and what doesn’t and you’ll learn to more objectively view your own.

Reading forum posts allows you to pick helpful tips and tricks from other blog owners on topics like content, advertising and affiliate marketing. Absorb as much information as possible and make notes on anything of interest; then implement them to make your own blog more successful.

Don’t expect to post your link on a few forums and quickly gain hordes of traffic – you will only get out as much as you are prepared to put in. Advertise your blog on as many forums as you can to gain maximum exposure and you will be rewarded with a steady increase in traffic.

Jeannine Clontz, owner of Accurate Business Services, a VA practice, is an author, writer, speaker and VA Business Coach specializing in providing professional business coaching to established and start-up virtual assistants (VA’s).  For her FREE audio CD “What’s Holding Back my Business Success?”,  a 2-month trial in her Insider group coaching program, or 1-month trial of her coaching club visit:  http://www.VAbizcoach.com; or contact her at: coach@VAbizcoach.com.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 at 1:54 pm and is filed under branding, Business Coach, Business Coaching, business growth, Business owner, Business Start up, Business Tips, Goals, growing a business, Growing your business, Marketing Plans, Marketing Support, Marketing Tips, Marketing Your Business, Social Networking, Starting a business, VA, VA Classes, VA Coach, VA Coaching, VA Training, Virtual Assistance, Virtual Assistant, Virtual Assistant Classes, Virtual Assistant Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.