USING FORUMS for Blog Traffic

OVERVIEW
Online message boards and forums are a great way to socialize and learn. They are also a neat way to promote your blog. There are forums devoted to almost every topic, and with very little research you are sure to find an active community of people interested in the subject matter of your blog. They can be a great place to interact, to refine ideas that may later become staples of your blog, and to enjoy yourself.
Most forums allow participants to have a “signature” attached to their comments. A signature usually consists of a name and a few lines of additional information about the commenter. These signatures can be a great way to let the world know about your blog.
The term “sigging” refers to using your forum signature as a promotional tool.

WRITING YOUR SIGNATURE
You want to use your signature as a means of promoting your blog, but you don’t necessarily want to convert into a block of advertising space. Subtlety is a good idea! Include your name and a link to your blog with a brief description.
Signatures are usually authored via a control panel at the forum. It is worth noting that most signatures will not be written in plain text or in traditional HTML. BB Code and other similar styles will be used. Invariably, the forum will offer a quick guide to the code so that you can construct a signature easily. It is important to make sure you have done this correctly—you want to be sure to have created a “live link” for your site.

USING YOUR SIGNATURE
Your signature will automatically attach yourself to all of your forum posts, assuming you have your settings correct (check your settings at the control panel to be sure).
Resist the urge to post a series of “me, too” responses to threads in an effort to get your signature out there. Forums succeed because users impart real information and opinion. Make yourself into a valuable contributor and it will, in turn, make people more interested in pursuing the link in your signature.
Active participation in forums can be a surprisingly effective way to generate traffic. Not only will other forum readers check out your blog, you will also find that search engines will spider forums and collect your link, adding to your total backlink numbers.

BONUS TIPS
1. Use forums to your advantage! Don’t just look at forums as a means by which to promote your blog—use them as a community and learning tool. There is a lot of great information and expertise being shared in forums and you can benefit as much from that as you can from the increased exposure for your blog.
2. Choose strong forums! If you are going to make use of a few forums in your “sigging” and learning strategy, choose well-populated and vibrant communities. Check to see how often new posts are being made and how many people tend to be at the forum. You have a limited amount of time, so you should spend it in areas that will do you the most good.