One internet marketing forum closed just this week with the owner basically blaming it on ridiculous amounts of spam and lack of interest.
The big internet marketing forum – perhaps the most popular – is noticeably going down in quality week on week.
It’s a far cry from the good old days where you could go to any one of a number of forums and get good advice, chat freely about the industry and perhaps even ‘rub shoulders’ with some of the more successful marketers.
You’ve probably noticed, and I have too because it’s obvious, but many of the ‘big boys’ of IM – the ones really making money online – are keeping clear of the well-known public forums.
But they aren’t steering clear of forums altogether.
Instead you’ll find that a lot of marketers are posting in places where they know constructive, useful information is being exchanged.
Forums where they know they can share great info, meet other people who can help them and, I like this phrase, “form powerful strategic alliances“. Yes it’s a bit corny but it’s true.
In short, the experts are spending less time in the large popular forums and more in forums that can still be considered professional. Forums where they can avoid all the numpties who ruin most public message boards with spam, deceptive promoting and whining.
So where do you find these forums?
Easy – usually by recommendation from someone you trust.
For example, I’ve often mentioned that I’m in a mastermind group that meets once a month in a hotel central to where we all live in the north west of England.
When somebody in that group recommends something to me, I take notice.
So when one of the group started talking about a particular script, raving about how great it was, I took a good look at it and eventually bought it. And he’s right, it is great and it’s worked well for me.
Another member was telling us about a great membership site – so I checked it out (more on this in a second).
I also give back – I tell them what’s working for me and help them if they have problems. I’m always raving about the offline seminars I attend and finally I managed to convince several of my fellow mastermind group members to come to one. They all agreed it was a terrifically useful weekend.
In my opinion it’s fine to take advice from a big, public forum – if you trust the person giving advice.
But when the forum allows any Tom, Dick or Harry to join, you can never be sure you’re getting good advice. And because the forum lets anybody become a member it can suffer from problem members who end up driving away a lot of the good members.
Let’s face it, a public forum is usually only created to make money for the owner who may dot AdSense ads throughout the threads or charge people to sell products on the forum.
It’s in his or her interest to attract as many people as possible so that he makes lots of money.
Consider a different forum which doesn’t suffer from these problems. It is part of a membership site which charges a monthly fee for access. That stumbling block immediately stops the ‘chancers’ from joining and posting rubbish on the forum – they aren’t willing to pay $37 a month to try and pitch their junk schemes in every thread.
Instead you have a membership that is more willing to share and learn because this membership fee is an investment, and they realise that the more you put in, the more you get out.
The forum I am talking about is the one which is joined on to Willie Crawford’s Internet Marketing Inner Circle membership site.
Over the last three years or so, Willie has managed to build a great forum full of industry experts who talk shop and share ideas in a professional setting – without the usual internet marketing idiots and the spammers.
New members don’t just get the forum but they also get a whole host of bonuses including a load of interviews that Willie has recorded with other internet marketing experts. Experts including Yanik Silver, Dr Mani, Mike Filsaime, Stephen Pierce, Marlon Sanders, Ray Edwards and many more (see the sales page for more names).
[Link removed – site no longer live]
I’ve been a member of IMIC since March 2008, paying $37 a month. For some reason I decided to pay monthly rather than the one-off fee for Platinum Membership ($497).
Recently (May 2009) I changed my mind and paid to become a platinum member simply because I knew that I was going to stay a member and it would be cheaper in the long term.
I wouldn’t have paid so much money if I didn’t think this was a superb resource.
But don’t take my word for it, check out the testimonials on the sales page:
[Link removed – site no longer live]
And, to get a feel for the kind of advice you’ll get, check out this report that Willie put together for potential members – free of charge and no email address needed – just the straight download link:
http://www.BizOppsUK.com/TheOneThing.pdf
When you become a member, come say hello in the forum.
I’m positive you won’t regret it.
** Update 3rd July 2011 **
Having been ignored by Willie Crawford for many months now I can no longer promote his Inner Circle site so please ignore the above post.
If you’d like to know why I am withdrawing my support for Willie, see the following report: