Callow Internet marketers are turning to forums to help them market their home business income opportunity on the Internet. Unfortunately, many newbie marketers will return to the same forum the next day only to find that when they attempt to log in the have been denied access or that their posting privileges have been removed. They may well wonder, ?What is going on?? or ?What did I do wrong??

It is very likely that your forum posts were considered spam by enough of the other members that an administrator was called in to take action and ban you from the network. The fine line that exists between legitimate discussion of home business income opportunities and spamming is often a heated topic of discussion on the forums themselves and there is no hard and fast answer. Only this morning I was reading a forum review of a certain home business opportunity that included some negative criticisms of it. In a reply to the original posting somebody else added a point-by-point defence of the business opportunity, but because that person was an affiliate of the businesses she was defending her contribution was considered to be out of order by another member of the forum. Personally, I felt it was a legitimate defence and felt I had learned something from both postings. But, as you can see, what is considered legitimate and what is not is in part a matter of personal interpretation of the rules.

So, in an effort to make it easier for the newbie to avoid getting hit with accusations of spamming a forum, here is a five-step process.

1. First and foremost, you need to consider what your market is. In other words, are you looking for people to join the downline of your affiliate marketing programme, or are you seeking customers for your product? Perhaps you are on the lookout for business opportunity seekers who not only want to buy your product but also want to earn a regular income from it? Each and every angle requires you to adopt a different approach. In short, you need to write your forum posts with great care and expertise. Keeping the end in mind will enable you to contribute more effectively to forum threads.

2. Secondly, you need to create a suitable forum persona for yourself. Steer clear of obvious nicknames that will damage your credibility and cause other forum participants to roll their eyes. Avoid such obvious follies as ?Make-money-losing-weight? or ?Healthy-Marketer.? Instead, opt for a reasonable persona with a pleasant or at least inoffensive username, if you do not want to use your real name.

3. Next, you need to create a profile. This is a great opportunity to mention your business and the part you play in it, but do not turn the forum profile section into a cut and paste job from your business opportunity or promotional website. There is not a single forum member who will read through a lengthy promotional profile.

4. If the forum permits, create a signature. Your signature will automatically appear at the foot of each of your forum contributions. In many forums you are allowed to include a link to your website in the signature, but it will be more effective if the link directs people to a personal blog or even online newsletter. If you can think of a gripping teaser you will get more click through traffic simply because people will want to know more about the story. Do not disappoint your visitors, but instead deliver a gripping tale or blog entry. By the way, you also ought to update your signature on a regular basis to keep it fresh and keep the clicks coming. Link it to a new and gripping story each time, so when you change your signature to feature the next article, those who know you will come and look.

5. Last but not least, keep your postings relevant. Do not post lengthy wellness product reviews in a gardening forum. Similarly, do not post an explanation on how to lose weight in a forum dedicated to childhood diseases and autism. Two big forum ?Thou Shalt Nots? are incorporated in this approach: ?Thou shalt not post a tediously lengthy posting? and ?Thou shalt not post thy home business income opportunity pitch on an inappropriate venue.? Only post in forums that are somehow related to your business. Contribute something that is genuinely useful to the thread. Keep the posts short, simple, but avoid obvious link-building stunts like posts that just say ?Thanks!? or ?I agree? ? they contribute nothing to the thread. Keep your posts positive, to-the-point and on topic especially when you discuss your product, and you won't get accused of spamming the forum.