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- Associations
- Community Hubs
- Starting a Blog
- Dating
- Forums
- Friends/Family
- Local Towns
- Religion
- Social Networks
- Making A Difference
Forums are one of the many true blessings of the Internet. Thru them, you can research/ learn about virtually any topic you can imagine.
The power of these beasties are not to be under-evaluated! Let's say that you are considering buying a trumpet on eBay and come across a Schill model - you can find these brands discussed in various musical forums online. Or what about if you are looking for new workout routines for your cardio time - you can find bunches of suggestions at various health forums online.
'Nuff said. Forums are great for gaining the knowledge you need.
And with that as an intro, let's begin by:
Before You Begin - What Exactly Are Forums?
Forums are simply online bulletin boards where members can post targeted questions and receive answers/advice from other members.
Easy enough, right? Exactly!
Participation in forums requires you to sign up and provide your forum name and email address. Once you confirm your registration, you're able to post your questions.
Would you want to be able to find other folk who worked at your company? Develop "ins" with interesting competitors?
But how do you find the targeted forums you need?
Excellent question! Let's now move to:
Step 1 - How to Find Forums Online
Go to your favorite search engine, say, Google, and search on:
interest forum
Let's say you want to find forums about BMWs. Searching on:
might lead you to:
A very easy search, eh? Let's try something a bit more difficult.
Let's say you want to find the best way to network for a new job. Search for
You might find:
Wait a sec! Notice that last response was targeted to a specific job forum? That brings me to my next point:
Step 2 - Smart Searching Is Good Searching
When searching for really targeted forums, remember:
Be as precise as possible!
If you're looking for forums regarding tulip gardening, searching for
will bring you more targeted results than, say,
Think of what you really need help with...and then search appropriately.
Another useful tip is to remember that forums are sometimes called message boards, discussion groups, and just plain boards. Thus, if tacking on the word "forum" doesn't yield the results you crave, add instead "discussion" like so:
Most useful, I'd say. Never underestimate just how Internet forums can help you out in all sorts of ways.
Step 3 - For More Information
Other great forum resources are:
- Message Boards - directory of popular boards.
- Yahoo Groups - superb collection of online forums/message boards by Yahoo
- MSN Groups - ditto for MSN
- Google Groups - netnews and usenet
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