Lately a lot of private forums are popping up and there are even a lot of new free open forums that are open. These private forums consists of affiliates who are making money who want to learn as a group or from the owner of the forum. There are 2 forums that I think are worth joining in the affiliate space. In the next couple days I want to talk about them and help you decide if you should join them.

.... but first are private marketing forums worth it?

I say yes. Here is my explanation in the video below:

First of all, not all forums are created equal. There is always something that makes a forum much better than another. Before we get into that in the next couple days, a private forum is definitely helpful because you are surrounded by peers who want t be successful. Free forums I feel are for free loaders and just simply browse and do not communicate within the forum.

Also, more case studies are published in private forums than free forums. A newbie will actually post his journey in a private forum while the community and experts will suggest best practices for that specific newbie. With a paid forum, you can actually take a strategy and use it without being saturated. If you go to a free and open forum, their are less case studies because the end user producing the study will get his market saturated pretty fast.

This is why a lot of bloggers will not explain all their tactics in one blog post, but rather scatter it in several posts. This allows the end user to try to piece it together and think for themselves. This way their strategy will be base on their own train of thought and not an exact blueprint of what they are doing. Again saturation can hurt a business.

If the end user has the basic blueprint then they are well off than many. You can build a house on how you want it to look like as long as you have a stable foundation. This concept works the same way in affiliate marketing or marketing in general. Having the basic foundation and knowledge of how numbers and traffic work will allow you to be successful online.

There is also a big difference in demographic with a paying member vs a non paying member. There are multiple tests showing that a paying member is worth more than non paying member. It also shows that a paying member is more receptive to actually participate, follow through, and attempt to use what they are paying for. Where as a free forum are all about theories and I think are all about egos.

A paid forum will be filled with users who are actually trying and are being supported by other users who are also struggling and who 'made it'. This support is far greater than a free forum, as users come and go. In the next coming days, I will have 2 popular forums battle it out. I will talk about their community, knowledge base, tools, and case studies. I think these criteria are the best layout for a forum, especially a paid one.