We all know how important search engines are for page ranking and popularity. Nowadays, search engines use off-page content (specifically inbound links) for their algorithms, leaving your written content on the back burner. But what if I told you your e-Business could rank on page one of search engines based on your company services and products written in your on-page content?
The search engines I’m talking about have nothing to do with Google or Yahoo; instead, they are geared specifically towards indexing online message boards and forums. Forum search engines rank according to written content rather than link popularity— an incredible benefit that traditional search engines cannot provide. Because results of forum search engines include only online message boards and forum threads, you can easily avoid spamming websites and irrelevant content.
To get the full effect, I submitted the No.1 Artist Forum to three different forum search engines. You can read about my experiences and site feedback below.
Omgili.com has very good page statistics (PR 6/10, Alexa 16,980) which helped me decide it’s a reputable and popular site. Omgili.com offers an advanced search for forum topics, relevant search results, and a handy “preview” feature so you can check out a forum before you visit it.
Submitting the No. 1 Artist Forum was extremely easy (and free!). All I had to do was provide the forum URL and an active e-mail address. There is a catch, though. After submitting, an Omgili.com statement read, “we do not add all submitted Forums to our index, and we cannot make any predictions or guarantees about when or if they will appear.”
Boardtracker.com also has some decent page statistics (PR 6/10, Alexa 26,393). For browsers, Boardtracker.com offers both a free and premium package. Premium packages run at $49.99 per month and have additional features such as spam control, search by author, and forum statistics.
When the submission process was finished, I felt a little more confident that the No.1 Artist Forum would be indexed successfully. The only required information for submission was my name, the forum title, URL, type, and an active e-mail address. This site also allowed me to upload a thumbnail logo that would be displayed next to my URL and overview in a given search.
Boardreader.com is the last site I reviewed but has the most impressive statistics (PR 6/10, Alexa 11,824). On the About Us page, this team asserts that they “strive to increase traffic and exposure for the individual forum and message board,” which, when linked back to your e-Business website, is wholly beneficial.
For the Boardreader.com submission form, I needed to provide my name, an active e-mail address, and the forum URL, language, topic and software. There was no official disclaimer or guarantee for this site. After submission, the website simply informed me that my “information was sent successfully.”
Overview
Online message boards and forums are excellent opportunities to post relevant content and establish a network of interested peers (essential for any e-Business!). Online message boards allow you to link directly back to your homepage, easily generating more traffic for your e-Business website. Having your forum indexed in popular forum search engines only increases the chances it will be discovered (and by extension, your e-Buisness will be discovered as well!
If your company has a message board, I highly recommend you submit it to be crawled by forum search engines like the ones I reviewed. If not, you can still benefit from the above sites by browsing and commenting on forums of interest to you. Niche forums are a great way to find answers, share knowledge and increase online interaction among users. Enjoy!
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