How to be a trusted commentor on Forums

Commenting on forums is a great way to establish yourself as an authority in your field, and can play an important role in online marketing

It’s the Digital Marketing age, and interactivity on the internet is here to stay. For companies intent on expanding and improving their online reputation, forums are an extremely efficient way to stay in the conversations, be aware of the marketplace gossip and deal with negative situations before they become an issue. Forums are also a great way to establish quality links to your websites, useful for SEO purposes.

There is no point rushing in blindly and posting comments left, right and centre. When conrtributing to forums as part of an overall online marketing strategy, remember that these comments will be available for anyone to read online, so they will have to establish you and your company as both credible and respectable. Forums usually have their own etiquette, rules and regulations. Stick to the guidelines and you will have a much better chance of becoming a top contributor.

  1. Always take the time to study the forums rules and agree to the guidelines before you post for the first time.
  2. Start by searching the posts already on the forum to see if your topic has already been discussed.
  3. Make your title self explanatory, succinct and your meaning clear.
  4. A forum is not the platform to promote your products and services, so don’t try.
  5. Be polite. It’s all about being part of the community, so express yourself as you would wish others to respond to you
  6. Stay on the topic of the thread. If you need to go in another direction start a new thread.
  7. Spammers are best ignored or reported.
  8. Plain text is preferred to HTML, but if you do an to emphasise or use links, keep the html editing to a minimum.
  9. Use clear, easy to read language. The spellings and grammar should be correct.
  10. Avoid using capital letter to emphasise a point. This is considered SHOUTING!
  11. Don’t use abbreviations and slang terms unless you are confident that everyone on the forum understands them too.
  12. It is considered bad practice to post the same basic message twice, either in the same thread , same forum or across many forums.
  13. A forum is essentially a support group, so be prepared to offer help to other contributors rather than just getting help given
  14. Don’t include private or personal information in your posts or your profile unless you are sure you want this information available to anyone.
  15. Don’t express negative comments about other posts or contributors.
  16. And lastly, make sure you don’t infringe on copyright issues.


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