I’m talking about contributing informative and helpful content in forums. And in your posts, you can include a link to your website in your signature.

Occasionally, you can link to a post on your blog that’s relevant to the discussion.

But here’s the problem with using forums to generate traffic… you have to keep posting to get traffic.

Any post you make or any thread you start will eventually be relegated to the second page and beyond to make way for new threads and posts. And once your posts get relegated, it won’t be seen by the majority of the forum visitors.

So, it’s not a really effective traffic strategy in the long term. Well, here’s one strategy to help you get traffic from forums without writing a single post.

It’s a really simple strategy that has worked offline for decades.

Organize a contest.

Contests are a proven publicity strategy to generate buzz for your business and products.

So, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to organize a contest on forums:

1. Search for forums that share your target market. For instance, if you’re in the dog market, just type “dog+forum” in Google and you should be able to find a few forums for dog owners.

2. Tell the forum owners that you’re willing to sponsor a contest on their forum. You will offer your products and services as prizes. The goal of the contest is to encourage participation in their forum. So, the person who makes the highest number of posts within a specified time (e.g. a month) will be the winner.

3. The forum owners will then post a sticky thread on their forum to announce the contest and the first post on that sticky thread should contain a link to your site. And the sticky thread will stay up on the first page of the forum for the entire duration of the contest.

So, when visitors arrive at the forum, they will instantly see the sticky thread about the contest. And when they read about the contest, they will see your website’s link.

And that’s how you generate traffic from forums without writing a single post.

Simple enough, right? Now, take action!

• Newsworthy: Evaluate the news medium where the release will be sent. Make sure that the subject matches the typical content of this particular news outlet.
• Journalistic writing style: Your press release needs to be written in the style of a journalist so that it is ready to be published.
• Meet the deadline: If a news outlet has a deadline for receiving content, meet it. Late press releases will not be considered.
• Concise: Use short sentences. Paragraphs should contain only three to four sentences. Use subheads, bulleted lists, make keywords bold to create an easy-to-read document.

A good press release will use keywords in the title and then repeat them in the opener, the body and the bio. The body of the text is often written in an inverted pyramid style, so the most important information is at the top. The goal is to answer the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How.

Your press release should include:

• Contact Information: Usually found on the top left-hand corner of the page. Include your complete contact information (name, address, phone, e-mail and fax) to enable the reporter to contact you at any time. The reporter may have questions. So, make it easy for her to reach you.
• Date: Typically on the right-hand side of the page, one line lower than the end of the contact information.
• Release Date: Directly underneath the date, explain when the information should be released. (Example: “For Immediate Release”)
• Headline: Just like a newspaper article, include a headline. This is typically in all capital letters and underlined.
• Dateline: Include the location of the story. Some publicists choose to include the date here rather than at the top of the page.
• Body: The main paragraphs of the text.
• Call To Action: Include briefly at the end of the text an action that you want the readers to take. It can be as simple as directions to visit a website for further information.
• Bio: A short paragraph describing your company. Prepare a short paragraph that generically explains who you are. A bio is NOT about boasting. You could also direct the reader to resources with a link to your company’s website. Write a custom bio for each press release, tailored to that particular subject.
• Slug: This item is located at the bottom of the page to indicate the end of the story. If the story continues to a new page, use “-more-” to convey this message. When the story reaches an end, denote it with “-###-” or “-30-”.

Always, double check for spelling errors, grammar mistakes and factual errors. Finally, make sure you send the press release to the appropriate person.