Does Forum Participation Increase Blog Traffic?

One of the most often recommended ways to boost blog traffic is to participate in forums. Most forums will allow you to use your avatar and add a sig that points other forum members to your blog. On the surface then it would appear that the more you participate in a forum the more traffic your blog will receive. The real question becomes is, does this actually happen?

Forum participation may or may not boost traffic to your blog. The reasons for this can be many and as varied as the forum members. The fact is many who participate in forums simply are not interested in clicking links for any number of reasons. Some are not interested in reading blogs at all and others don't click links because they are concerned over computer viruses. A major factor in whether another forum member will visit you blog is of course you're persona within the group. In this case if you are a trouble maker you may see traffic from the forum to your blog or if you are an extremely liked poster you will more than likely see traffic to your blog. The first scenario will likely give you a temporary traffic spike while the second may give you a more subtle but consistent traffic from the forum and may even give you a subscriber or two. Anything in between and you will likely at best see occasional traffic from the forum to your blog.

I don't see forums as being huge traffic generators so I don't recommend joining a forum simply to generate traffic to your blog(s). I get a bit of traffic from various forums some more than others and all of it greatly appreciated. I have noticed what traffic I do get from forums tends to be quality traffic staying on my blogs longer and commenting more so that is rather nice.

Garden Gnome
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