It's almost impossible to find a niche that doesn't have some relevant forum dedicated to it. Then all that's left is combining a high-traffic forum with a brilliant marketing plan of your own. That may sound like a very long time, and if so then maybe you believe all the sales letters. With all good things, however, time and care are required in order to get a maximum ROI. It's up to you what the best choice might be.
One page you should never go without reading is the TOS (terms of service) page. Here you'll find how to proceed for longevity and profit. If you violate their TOS, then you can be banned for a short while or for life. It's not about whether or not you've read them. If you violate a TOS, then they assume you've read them and violated it anyway. There are generally deep feelings about it on behalf of site owners and moderators. Anything else they may have in terms of guidelines and policies should be read and followed. After arriving at a new forum, you need to surf around to check it out for a couple of reasons. You need to think about why you want to join this forum, which can be determined by looking around. Since your primary purpose is to market your products and services, a few things need to be known. It is typical for online marketers to be shunned at many forums these days. If your goal is to do this, but the owner won't allow you, it's not going to happen. Simply read the forum rules. These will tell you what you can and can't do quickly and easily. The biggest hint that online marketing is not permissible will be the absence of links or signatures on each and every post. site web The vast majority of forums, even if they allow signatures, don't allow you to directly market to the community anyway. Should a forum owner allow this to get out of control, the forum would turn into an advertising website, which is not what most of them want to have happen.
If you really want to go all out with your networking efforts, then find out who has influence in the forum. In general, there are a few people who carry a lot of sway on the boards. Of course, the size of the forum, and its membership, will have some impact on that. Forums that have a lot of members and a long history will have more people with influence. This is something that isn't constant throughout forums. Sometimes it's the moderators who have the most influence. When it's a moderator you'll see a lot of people trying to curry favor. Once you know who these check that people are, then you can work to build a rapport with them.
A lot of people become overly attached to the forums they visit. Whether or not they're getting a lot of marketing done is another story. Spending the time there is not as valuable as spending it other places will be. It's important to spend your time where it will provide the best ROI.