What do successful network marketing companies tell their members? Go get your friends and family involved! They’re your initial support network for any venture you do. You’re sure to be able to find at least a few friends or family members who will pitch in and start some topics and participate in your forum discussions. Having trouble finding willing participants? First, try reminding people of how much time they apparently have to send you 10 e-mail forwards a day with pictures of cute cats in boxes and you might successfully guilt them into it. Second, you can try some simple bartering.

Keep It Legit

If you’ve been working hard enough at your business to garner some wiggle room with your budget then you may consider opting for hired guns. And you won’t necessarily have to pay standard copywriter rates since forums are naturally more relaxed and don’t necessarily require top-notch writing.

Warning! Achtung! Attention!

Never take the intelligence of your audience for granted. If you’re not careful with whom you have submit content to your forums then you could risk its integrity. Today’s Internet users are a savvy bunch—thanks to hours and hours of everyday Internet browsing and online applications, we’ve all been put through the ringer of spam, phishing (unlawfully attempting to capture sensitive information), identity fraud, hacking, and viruses. This has made Internet users much more aware of possible scams and online threats. If your content smells phishy then they’ll not only stop using your forum, they’ll also tell their friends and family that your forum is bad news—word-of-mouth goes both ways!

360 Degrees of Business

To help motivate you through this forum venture, you should remind yourself that this forum does more than help drive people to your website or get them to contact you. A successful forum will help round out your business portfolio. If a prospect needs to spend a significant amount of money, then you can be sure that they are doing a background check on you via the Web before they write you a check. You’ll look like a true expert in your field when your forum pops in their search. This is an excellent way to promote a positive image online. And you can also feel good about providing both entertaining and useful information to others!