How to Make Money Online Without a Website or a List: Forum Marketing

For those who are new to internet marketing forums are one of the best ways to get started marketing online. It's also a fast way to turn a profit in your business, with sales coming in within hours of your posts.

The reason is that forums allow you to connect with others directly. Unlike social marketing, forums are all about the conversation instead of all of the dazzling applications and games.

According to internet marketer Alok Jain, you can easily earn up to $350 per day from marketing on forums. These five tips will get you started:

1. Find forums on your topic.

The absolute first step in getting started in internet marketing is choose topics you are interested in and then find products that are related to those topics.

To really succeed here, you need to have at least a working knowledge of the topic. This is where many in business fail; they choose a topic they have no knowledge of and then don't know what to say.

Start by searching for forums on topics you are interested in. Look for forums with lots of members and lots of activity.

2. Choose forums that allow you to sell affiliate programs.

Before you sign up for any forums, you want to read the posting guidelines, as well as the overall guidelines for the site. Don't waste your time signing up for forums that won't allow you to market the kind of products you want to market or won't allow you to use affiliate links.

You may brand yourself as a resource on a topic without creating your own product. Just make sure the product you choose solves the potential customers' problems.

3. Find low cost products to sell.

Products that are less than $10 are the ones that fall into this category. These are the ones that most people won't think twice about buying because they only cost about the price of a medium pizza, a fast food dinner, or some other low cost purchase.

One of the secrets to turning a profit from forums is to choose low cost products to sell.

4. Craft a signature that generates interest.

This is where you need to target the main benefit of the product or service you are offering. The benefit tells your potential customers what the product will do for them, i.e. show them how it will solve their problems.

Include this benefit in your signature. Show potential customers how you can solve their problems. (Don't forget to cloak your link so that your affiliate commisions don't get stolen.)

5. Post regularly, offering valuable information.

Having your own product is one of the ways to brand yourself as an expert. However, as an affiliate marketer, you may still create the perception that you are a valuable resource.

You do this by providing valuable information to other forums members. Answer their questions. Be helpful. Give your opinion. (Avoid the "me too" ditto comments. Those aren't helpful.)

The secret to making money here is to find topics you are interested in and have knowledge of. Pair this with products that will solve fellow forum members' problems and get busy marketing.