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• http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=275578
• http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=200153
• http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=231920
• http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=91228
• http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=44957

You should also create a robots.txt and use it to keep it from going to pages like groupcp.php

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1. Most often, message boards and forums give the chance to leave links on your posts. All you need to do is leave a message relevant to the topic of the discussion and then provide a link of your website that readers can click on to know more about you and your company.

2. Be the real you and gain friends. If the forum will allow you to upload your picture so that people will get to know you better, then go and upload it right away. This is one way to let people trust you. Before you know it, you are already gaining friends and eventually these friends will help you get more sales for your business.

3. It is important that your presence is always felt in the forum. You can visit these forums daily so that people will get to know you. And if you have more posts on a daily basis on these forums then it follows that you will also be creating more backlinks to your website.

4. Give valuable opinions. Of course, leaving links is your main priority but you need to make sure that you are giving valuable information to other readers of the forum. You are not just there to spam the forum but to impart knowledge.

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1.Do a Google search for forums in your niche by searching +forum. Join relevant forums that are in some way related to your niche. For example, someone involved with a diet related product, many types of forums could apply….everything from Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers to calories and fitness.

2. Choose popular forums. There is no point in wasting your time and energy on forums that few members and few posts. Google page rank and the amount of active members and threads as well as page views are a few good ways to check for this.

3. Choose forums that allow a signature. If it’s possible read the rules before joining and pay attention to them. Your time is important, too. It is better to find out that a forum doesn’t allow posts with signatures or links before you join so that you will eventually be able to promote products that you support.

After you have joined follow these steps to become better at using the forums to your advantage.

1. Keep your signature short and update it regularly. The ideal thing is to limit yourself to one link, preferably to a product page on your site, too many links will water down your signature and people may not click and ling then.

2. Don’t ever push your products hard, this just offends people. This is the most important rule I believe because it only displays the marketers lack of experience if he does so. At best this kind of post will be deleted by the monitors after killing your trust with the other members of the forum….at worst, it is grounds for being banned.

3. Become a great helper to all forum members. Be an active member on the forum. Plan to spend at least an hour a few of times a week and take the time to get to know the users. Take the time to introduce yourself with intelligent questions depending upon the forum’s topic. And always add to the conversation, never just type “I agree”

As a marketer becomes a regular member, they will hopefully develop a good reputation and without saying a word about their promotion, those who are interested in their product will approach them.

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WidgetBucks is a new advertisement network. They pay by PPC and CPM. Minimum Payout is 50 dollars and payment can be pay by check or paypal. For signing up they give you 25 dollars so you only need 25 more to get paid.

Some info I found from their FAQ.

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Sign up today by clicking here!

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Today we will have a very special review for The Study Guide! The Study Guide is a community of local school mates and also many students and teachers from everywhere. They are just starting up so that is why there is a lack of members.

Forum Software: SMF

Pros:

• Limited amount of forum sections (easy to view)
• Welcomes new comers
• Skin is easy on the eyes

Cons:

• Lack of new member guidance (For new forum-goers)
• No much content, mainly Q&A

Neutral

• Redirects to forum section after post, not the topic.

Overall: 4.2/5

You may visit the site by clicking here.

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Threads: 754, Posts: 3,160, Members: 1,480, Active Members: 602

In two weeks I hope to increase registration rates to 10+/day.

Stay tuned for tips, tricks and more on improving your forum!

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Some information of the site;

Software: vBulletin
Members: 1,480
Threads: 754
Posts: 3,160

Pros:
The site has a great overall appearance
Great SEO (Using vBSEO)
Dedicated Members (niche targeting)

Cons:
Mass of different forums overwhelms new users
Many places to post, too little instruction; New users will be confused and be more likely to lurk than to be active.

Overall Rating: 3.9/5

You can visit the site here.

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Simple Machines
URL: http://simplemachines.org
Price: Free

Simple Machines ( SM ) is probaly the second most used free forum system, beside PHPBB, and is highly customizable. The site provides high detailed Instructions on how to install, run, and manage your forum. It also comes with a unique “SSI.php” page that lets you incorperate the forum system into other pages of your site. That file can be used to create pages that only members can see, and vise versa.

SM also comes with a package installer, and a package browswer that can be viewed from the administrative panel of the site. The package installer is a automated system to install mods and upgrades to your site, and the easy to use package browser lets you view a list of mods, each with a “Install Now” button, to easly install new mods.

Pros:

• Easy to Install
• Easy to Upgrade and Mod
• Good Administrative Panel
• Secure
• Nice User Profile Section

Cons:

• Board Permission Page Hard to set up
• Profile pages take awhile to load on most servers
• Not too many themes compared to most forum systems

Overall: 8/10
Admin: 8/10
Easy to use: 7/10
Themes: 5/10

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PHPBB
URL: http://www.phpbb.com
Price: Free

PHPBB is the most used free forum system out of the bunch, because it is most widly known. And with that stat, its also the most exploited, because alot of sites run it. The system isn’t as safe as SM, or VB, but it has a large community of members at their forums, that help you with problems. The main problem of PHPBB, is that they system is based and made with frames. Frames, on some browsers, don’t work right. On mine, they don’t work in the admin panel, therefore I can’t run PHPB.

PHPBB is very strict on server settings, and if they arn’t JUST RIGHT, it won’t work correctly. There are also very many exploits, as stated above, that are for PHPBB. So I would only recommend PHPBB for smaller sites, and use SM or VB for larger sites.

Pros:

• Easy to Install
• Good Comunity
• Lots of themes
• Easy to use

Cons:

• Uses Frames
• Exploitable
• Very picky with server settings
• Not as fancy as the others
• Manual mod/upgrade installing

Overall: 6/10
Admin: 6/10
Easy to use: 8/10
Themes: 9/10

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VBulletin
URL: http://www.vbulletin.com/
Price: $160.00 for “owned” License, $85.00 for “Leased” License

VBulletin ( VB ) is one of the better PHP forum systems, but that comes with a price. VB is what we use here at TH, and its mostly for bigger sites, that have lots of members. The admin panel can make someone who hasen’t worked with forums before go insane, its huge, and has lots of optional options, as well as timed execution of scripts. If you are planning on starting a professional site, this would be the forum system for you.

VB also has a bunch of user controls, and a nice profile editing system, making it ideal for a site in whitch most of your members haven’t had much forum experence, or arn’t to “bright” with forums. Its one of the most easy to navigate, and use. The admin panel is wonderfull, and the community helps with any problems you might have, as long as you have a legit key.

Pros:

• Easy to Use
• Good Comunity
• Easy for users
• Help is easy to get

Cons:

• Price is high
• Hard to use the Admin panel at first
• Phone Help costs extra
• After the first year, updates are $30

Overall: 9/10
Admin: 9/10
Easy to use: 8/10
Themes: 6/10

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