Number of forum members: Most forums have displayed how many members they have. If the forum has less than 1,000 members in a competitive niche then I would not be too hot on it. However there are some niches where it is not possible to find forums with a high number of members so think about your niche and how competitive it is before determining what size of  forum is appropriate for your business

Quality of posts: Just take a few minutes to browse the post to see what the quality of the posts are. A forum that is frequently off topic and which does not give valuable information in your chosen niche is probably not one you should waste time on

How many users are online at any one time: There are forums that have a lot of registered members but have only one or two people online at any one time. This just implies that they had a good advertising campaign so people joined but little useful information so people are not coming back .

Do they allow html in their signature: This means that when you submit a comment, your signature can be used to create backlinks to your website using your chosen anchor terms. [to learn more about backlinks and anchor terms see our page on HTML]

A great video that talks you through forum etiquette. Enjoy

Always make sure that your comments are relevant to the topic being discussed and contribute some valuable information. 'great comment' or 'that's interesting' just won't do

Do not spam the forum

Find 10 forums in your chosen niche and try and post at least one useful comment in each every day

Use your signature to maximum effect: Use the keyword you want your website to rank for in your anchor. Vary the keyword in the different forums so you rank for a variety of terms

• Conquer your niche: This forum is owned by internet marketing guru, Russell Brunson and he often posts to the forum, You will also come across several useful posts by Clive Anderson, the squidoo chap. You will recognize a few more, heavy weights posting useful information .