Ros' Ramblings

I occassionally get asked "If you were starting your Internet business today, what would you do differently?"

Actually, I'd pretty much repeat what I've done so far... and I would ADD a couple of things.

At the top of my list I'd add 'start a discussion forum'.

I came to that conclusion after talking with Michael Green at the JV Summit in Vegas last March.

Michael runs the Net's largest internet marketing discussion forum, which you can see at:

"How-To" Internet Marketing Forum

I was immediately convinced that a disussion forum is a nearly perfect business model for the Internet, when Michael freely admitted his forum was easy as pie to set up and that his Internet business workload is next to nil.

He puts in one day a week at it.. nothing more.  With TWO full-time careers in addition to his online venture, PLUS being a husband and father of three, he simply hasn't more time to give.

From my inherently lazy perspective, less work ranks very high on the benefit side of any equation.  

Not only does Michael work less, but he earns MORE.

MUCH more.

Yup, that makes for a HUGE win-win in my books.

You'll come to the same conclusion - that discussion forums are a fabulous way to make more by doing less - when you read '10 EXCELLENT Reasons to Start Your Own Discussion Forum' below.

'Til next time, Go for the Gold! Internet Gold!

Cheers,

Rosalind Gardner is the Best-Selling Author of the "The Super Affiliate Handbook:  How I Made $436,797 in ONE Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online"

==> SuperAffiliateHandbook.com

Article: 10 EXCELLENT Reasons to Start Your Own Discussion Forum

Riches, fame, glory ... OK, that's perhaps exaggerating somewhat, but running a successful forum can certainly make you very popular and bulk out the wallet considerably.

Here are the ten best reasons to start your own discussion forum:

 1. Meet People - Do you love to garden, do wood-working or build model airplanes? Visit a forum on any niche topic and you'll meet others who are also interested in that topic.

 2. Share and Learn - Help others by sharing your knowledge and learn from those with new and different experience.

 3. Increase RECOGNITION - Repeated posting is a great way to get your name out there. 

 4. Enhance Credibility - Become known as an 'expert' by providing thoughtful answers and suggestions to questions posed on the forum.

 5. Boost Traffic - As you become more widely known as an expert, your name and URL will be mentioned elsewhere on the web, which then brings more visitors to your site.

 6. Improve Site Ranking - More visitors means better page rankings at Google and higher search engine listings at all the major search engines - which in turn means MORE traffic still!

 7. Create Information Database - Any product or service sold generates a set of commonly asked questions. Post answers on your forum and then send people directly to the specific answer on your site. (Having them go to your site will also help boost your page rank and bring in still MORE visitors!)

 8. Reduce Workload - Regular forum participants will answer questions that others have posted, thereby reducing your workload.

 9. Gather Information and Feedback - Need new ideas for products? Post your own questions to find out what your forum visitors most want and need - then use that information to:

10. Promote Products - Display ads for products related to your forum visitors' interests at the top and bottom of every page. Ads can be for your own products or for merchants with whom you are affiliated. Post new messages when you have a new product that your visitors will be interested in.

Those are just the obvious reasons - I'm sure you'll discover many more benefits when you become master of your own forum.

How to Start a Forum