The admonition 'you get what you pay for' is a truism that seldom disappoints. It seems that we oftentimes place little value on something that is free. When it comes to Traffic Generation, the word "FREE' often evokes words such as useless, worthless or some other similar description. While it has certainly been my experience that much of the Free Advertising you encounter on the Internet is as useless as a 'three dollar bill', there are many legitimate ways to drive lots of targeted traffic to your site that won't cost you a dime, and can bring you residual traffic for years to come. One of my current favorites is posting to forums. It's one of the easiest ways to increase website traffic, and if done right can bring you traffic for many years to come. But what kind of forums are we talking about?

Forums are everywhere on the Internet. If you go to a search engine and type in the words, 'Online Business Forums', 'Internet Business Forums', 'Internet Marketing Forums' , 'Network Marketing Forums' or any combination of similar words, you'll get thousands, if not millions of results. In these forums, you'll find a wide range of people from experts to newbies using a forum as a way to meet, communicate, learn and exchanges ideas on various topics. However, what many people miss is that it's also a great way to advertise yourself and your business. When you register for a forum, most forums will allow you to add a 'signature', which is usually three or four lines of copy describing yourself or your business. Everytime you post in a forum, your signature automatically shows up in your posts, advertising yourself and your business for years to come. While most forums are straightforward, there are a few things to look for to optimize your results in forums.

First off, make certain that a forum allows you to add a signature. Not all forums will allow you to include one, and some require you to post 50 times or more before your signature appears. Before registering, read the F.A.Q. to make certain there aren't these kinds of restrictions on your posts. Second, when you post to a forum 'thread' try to add something of value to the conversation. Don't just post things like "I agree" or "great post" or some other fluff but try and add some real value to your posts. In time, people will recognize that you have something of value to say, and will look forward to your posts.

As far as what forums to register for, join forums that relate specifically to your interests. While joining a forum on growing prizewinning tulips could be quite interesting, it will do little to help you develop a Network Marketing business(unless it's on growing prizewinning tulips). Join forums that relate directly to what you are trying to accomplish. There are literally thousands of forums and you really need to hone in on what you're business or interest is about. If you're involved in Network Marketing, join Network Marketing, Internet Business, MLM or some other related forums.

When posting in forums, you can post anywhere, but look for threads that get the most activity. With most forums, the Main Discussion threads oftentimes receive the most posts, so you might want to focus on this area in the beginning. Starting your own thread or discussion can also produce a lot of action, especially if the topic is one that is dear to all. When someone posts to your thread, you can respond back with a reply, and if the thread is a hot one, it could continue for a long time, allowing you to quickly accumulate a lot of posts and backlinks to your site. And backlinks are what it's all about!

If you're not familiar with a backlink, it's simply a incoming link to your site. As mentioned previously, every time you add a post, you potentially add another link back to your site. If you make it a point to add 1 post to 5 forums a day, in a month you would have the potential of 150 backlinks to your site! Another neat bonus of frequent postings is the fact that active forums are often indexed by Google and other search engines, which means that you should also pick up more traffic from the search engines. Talk about a win-win situation.

To sum it all up, you can get a huge amount of long term traffic by posting in forums on a regular basis. While it takes some time and effort, it's one of the best FREE ways to get good targeted traffic to your site. Start today to take advantage of this excellent method of increasing your exposure and traffic! Join a few forums and start posting!