Forums are a great way to advertise just about anything without any cost at all. *Lots* of people will read what you write there. And they're exactly your target audience. Or are they?

First of all, you can't just assume that people will read what you post. And second, they aren't necessarily the people you want reading your advertisement. Here's what you can do to make sure the *right* people are actually *reading* your post.

The first thing you need to do is get people to open your message. Until they open it, all they know about it is what the title says. The title has to draw them in.

---------- Let me pause for a moment to clarify a couple of things. There are typically two types of forums. Some will list every person's message in a list on the page. And the messages will be grouped together as threads (a thread is a topic). In this case, each person can put a unique title on their message. An example of this is at http://www.dave-brown.com/howtoforum.html

The second type of forum you'll see will only list the different threads, but not the individual messages within each thread. In this case, whoever started the thread decided on the title, and that's what everyone sees. An example of this is any of the forums listed at http://associateprograms.com/discus

What I'm about to say regarding titles is only relevant to the first type of forum. ----------

Make sure that the title of your message is going to make people want to read it. The default title is usually just the original title preceded by "Re:". Don't use that. Give your message an original title.

But just using an original title is not enough. It needs to make people want more. You don't need to hype it up. You just need to make it interesting. Here are some examples:

The best one I've found Just be careful about... Two things you should know

These are examples of titles you might use if you were responding to someone else's post. Your message would then make a comment on the original post. So the title of the original message would lead into yours.

If you're starting a brand new thread, then you would need a different kind of title. Some examples:

Great new resource I found Important information about Google Any cheap web hosts?

All of these titles give you a clue as to what the message is about. If it's too generic, then people may not be intrigued enough to read the message.

But once someone opens your message, you still have work to do if you're going to get them click on your ad.

Most importantly, only put an ad in your signature. Don't make your whole message an ad. That will be frowned upon.

So if the ad is only in your signature, then you're once again in a position where you need a title that will get people to click. The same rules that apply to the title of your post apply to the signature.

But let's get back to a point I mentioned above. You need to make sure that the people that see your ad are the right people. The kind of people that buy whatever you're advertising. The way to do this is to advertise something that is relevant to the topic of your message.

For example, when I respond to a question about web hosting, I include an ad for my web host guide.

At the very least, make sure that whatever you're advertising is something that the people on the forum are likely to be interested in. A lot of people make the mistake of advertising something completely off topic.

If you're posting a message to one of the two forums I mentioned above, then you know the people there are generally interested in the internet and ways to make some cash.

So if you include an ad for an online pharmacy or health supplements, you're targeting the wrong audience. There *might* be some people there who are interested in those things. But there are probably a lot *more* people there who are interested in things like list building and getting traffic to their web sites.

You're more likely to get clicks if you target the ad to the audience.

Just common sense advice. But sometimes common sense gets lost when we think too much.

If you'd like more tips on posting to forums, then Harvey Segal has a great ebook you can download (no charge) at http://www.supertips.com/forums

P.S. Forums can be a great place to learn, and they only cost you your time.

About the author: Dave Brown is a self-taught marketer and software developer. He also publishes the uncommon and uniquely original newsletter on making the most of your life - A Fresh Perspective. You can learn more at http://www.dave-brown.com