Is forum posting really a trite time expenditure for bored people? Oh, come on…surely you can see the potential value in forum posting. While there are a number of facets that go into increasing traffic to a blog, links remain one of the most important aspects. This is because every link to your site that exists on the net counts as a vote towards your Google page rank. The more links that you have on the net the higher your ranking will be in the search engines which means more people will discover your blog.

The process is easy: simply join the message boards you are interested in (they are almost all free) and add links to your blog in the messages you post on the board. You can place links in the body of your messages or you can leave them in your message "signature" as well. In time, the search engines will deep scan the web and find those forum links. Yes, they add up and yes, they count for search engine optimization!

It is always best to stick with the forums/message boards that have high page rank as links on such forums will be indexed by Google rather quickly. (Please note: this does not mean you should discard the value of lower ranked message boards as they have their value as well) Of course, you should also stick with message boards that share similarities to your blog so your link does not stand out awkwardly. Plus, if you stick with forums that you enjoy you will have more enthusiasm for posting messages if it relates to content you enjoy.

Creating a link to your blog in a message board post is relatively easy as most blogs provide a link creation function often symbolized in the comment toolbar as the icon of a chain. (Get it? Link and chain?) Basically, you would create a term for the link (say "Comic book blog") and highlight the term. Then, click on the link icon and type in the URL of the box provided. Voila! Now, you have an instant link!

If there was one caveat to put forth it would be not to spam any message boards. This will lead to your messages being deleted and your membership to the board being revoked. But, if you contribute to the message board with quality and interesting posts then your presence will be appreciated and your links will probably remain safe!