Forum Commenting Is Not Just for Links

Writing by Brick Marketing in Link Building

Like blog commenting, forum commenting can be a great way to build inbound links to your website for SEO purposes. However, when it comes to forum commenting you can’t go into it thinking that it’s all about building links. Forum commenting is also about building relationships with other forum members and becoming a trusted resource of information over time.

Before getting started in the forum, be sure to read the guidelines, which will explain linking policies and other best practices for the forum. You don’t want to get kicked out because you made an error that could have easily been avoided. Be sure to completely fill out your forum bio/profile and signature so that members can learn more about you and include a link to your website if possible.

The key to successful forum commenting is to be an active participant over time to establish trust. Remember, it’s a community and you are dealing with other people that go to the forum to share thoughts and gain new insights. Think about them. Don’t just think about the search engine spider and the potential to drop a few links. Forum members will question your motives if you only show up in the forum whenever you have a new product to pitch.

Think of building links to your website from forum comments as a privilege that needs to be earned. Once you have established a positive reputation within the community, it’s OK to share links every once in awhile when it is relevant to do so and when it will be helpful to the community. Don’t simply write “I agree” and then throw a link to your homepage in there. Instead, contribute to the conversation and include a link to an internal web page that addresses the problem, issue, or question at hand.

Of course forum commenting is only a valuable strategy if the forum itself is of good quality. The best forums to be active in are the ones that are relevant to your business and have an active group of members. Finding lots of low quality forums just to drop links is a black hat strategy that won’t improve visibility. Remember, link building is about two things; establishing trust with search engines and with target audience members.