Forum backlinks, sending targeted visits to our squeeze pages or boosting our blog's page rank is a method that many online marketers know and use.
But in using forums for backlinking, some people have missed the point of what a forum is in the first place, and are wasting the opportunity that forums offer.
A forum, whatever the niche, is a community of people who share a common interest.
It should also be a place where people seek help, find help and offer help - without charge.
It's not primarily about people spamming other people with affiliate offers.
Before we look at the psychology that makes these backlinks valuable, first let's remind ourselves how we can create them.
Virtually every forum - often only after you've 'posted' comments several times - offer you the chance to place a 'signature' under your posts.
You can create that signature in the Forum's Control Panel, and this should contain a link back to your site.
Then, every post that you make on any thread in that forum will appear with your signature containing your link So why do it? Firstly, if you are trying to create forum backlinks to boost your blog's page rank, then make the post valuable to anyone reading the thread.
You get the link even if you write six words, which is why so many do.
But this is short-sighted in two ways: a) you are unlikely to get traffic to your blog from that forum because you've not said anything worthwhile and b) by using these 'drive-by' posts, you have lost the opportunity to present yourself as an authority in our field.
Secondly, you can use forum backlinks to send people to a squeeze page.
This is unlikely to help with page rank, as Google et al don't tend to give rankings to squeeze pages.
They would argue that they don't give enough surfer value to deserve a place in the 'organic' Search Engine Results Pages (on the left side of any Results page) If you are driving traffic to a squeeze page, don't even think of posting a trite little hurrah for someone else's high quality post.
You've seen them - 'Great point.
I agree with Dave'.
As you're getting no SEO value from the backlink, squeeze pages are all about driving actual traffic from the forum and on to your subscriber list.
Who wants to be on a list of someone who agrees with Dave? There are two secrets in using forum backlinks successfully to drive targeted visitors to your subscriber list: 1) Give substantial value in your post - several paragraphs if need be.
It must be on the thread's topic - ie answering the original question.
Forum spanners tend to write comments that could fit any topic.
Wrong.
Write your laser-targeted post as if it's a tutorial for someone who you genuinely want to help.
2) This is almost universally overlooked: make the squeeze page offer (the 'ebook' or 'ecourse you give away in return for the first name and email address) specific to the topic of the thread.
If the thread on a fitness forum is about muscle-building, don't backlink to a squeeze page about improving sleep patterns.
Your visitor may be interested in that but at this moment he's focused on the thread's topic.
Does that sound like more work? You bet.
That's why most forum spammers are happy to keep 'agreeing with Dave'.