Thread Baiting: Going for the Forums
April 18th, 2008 David ChungRemember days before social networking as we know it today. Well, forums are still very much alive a well and us SEO marketers still find them a source for our information and amusement. But fourms by nature must evolve and although the basic premise of a forum has not changed, it’s governing rules certainly have. The typical forum owner is well aware of flaming but also spamming. Any whiff of porn or commercial linking with no intention of furthering the conversation thread, then in comes the moderator and the post is gone within the next ten minutes. It certainly isn’t an outright tool for SEO link building. It is certainly rare to see forum posts ranking highly
However, there are a few tricks which a modern SEO-er can employ to get the most out of forum linking. Take for instance a great site called money saving expert set up by Martin Lewis back in 2004. He’s managed to build a very authoritative and quality website helping people manage their finances better. Over the past few years studying client’s analytics I have noticed significant spikes in traffic to their websites which can be cultivated just by having a link on money saving expert forum. These links come through totally legitimate reasons ie. people wanting to talk about latest ads or products they have seen. However, a forum like this would probably see spam coming a mile away. I have devised a way to approach forums:
Thread Baiting
Firstly take your website (or whatever) and take careful consideration about related themes. For example; a competition about how many keepy-uppys (football term) you can do in a minute. This competition is organised by a famous brand. The direct approach for a link would kill off any interest and alert moderators to spam. I’ve seen the direct approach crash and burn time after time. In this instance, firstly, I would go and post a link to a YouTube video of a professional footballer performing this skill. I would go in the forum and post the youtube link and say how fantastic it is. This should start the ball rolling so to speak.
Posters take up the thread and then respond. It doesn’t matter if they say the Youtube vid you posted is good or bad. Although, I’ll have to say mildly negative is better as you can go back in with another YouTube video. Don’t worry at this stage, just keep the thread growing.
The point where you have to move in is a tactical one. You don’t want to kill the conversation and you don’t want to reveal your purpose too late when everyone has gone. When the time comes, go in with your sales pitch although never, never ever sound formal. A forum is like an informal chatroom. Play innocent and always sound upbeat. At the end of the day you’ll have a popular thread and people clicking on your link. Lovely traffic into your intended website.
