Forum marketing is a great way to get your business noticed online by others. You will find experienced users of blogs and savvy internet marketers in forums where you can also learn a lot of from them if you hang out there a lot.

Your messages get spread far and wide with a forum audience especially if you make a good impression in front of this influential crowd.

Here are some guidelines for you to follow when looking to join forums so that you don't make common mistakes on your way to finding them.

1 When looking for a forum use your main keyword in your search example would be "dog grooming + forum" this would come up with forums where discussions would be about dog grooming.

2 Break your list down to five or ten forums that have at least 2,000 to 5,000 members and around 20,000 posts and that the forum gets a least 20 to 30 new posts on a daily basis. Avoid forums that have spam in them or are run by anyone competing against you.

3 Make sure you read the posting guidelines to each forum look for things like:

Will users be able to post links in their posts.?

Will you be allowed to promote a business within the forum?

Are you allowed to posts commercial messages in your signature?

Is there any restrictions placed on new users of the forum?

Is there any special privileges given to long time users of the forum?

4 A good profile goes a long way to letting people know what your about and who you are, a solid description of your experience is needed when doing your profile in a forum. You can even put in some things about your pets or your favorite sports make it interesting for the reader.

5 In many forums they encourage new users to introduce themselves to the forum, you might feel a bit embarrassed doing this for the first time but once you get used to posting in forums you will be fine. Just give a brief description of your talents and why you have joined the forum.

6 Try and spend some time in the forum getting a look at what other people are saying and the answers to questions this will give you a good idea of what the community is talking about and how you can offer your experience to the community take your time and learn.

7 When marketing your first post make sure you provide value to whoever is going to read it, the community will look at you as an expert in your field if you constantly do this. Do not make any marketing pitches to the community you will be looked upon as a spammer.

In forums you will gain the respect of the user if you follow the above guidelines when your posting, remember to give value to others and be careful not to spam. Your marketing efforts will get more aggressive once you gain the trust of the community.