How To Advertise Your ProBoard

[kelendria]

^ Yes but some of the time you find it goes one way. I also firmly believe that if I'm going to advertise on theirs to let them advertise on mine as you said. But the downfall can be that they then only come to advertise & that's it (word gets around etc)
I strongly agree with sometimes getting on the admin's nerves when someone of your forum (not you) posts on theirs & they believe it can only be the admin, I've had that experience that's why I generally link back.
The other thing to that is when they have their boards open to guests to advertise, & then complain about it. Make sure you read the rules though, because guest or member you may have to link them back or have a certain post count before advertising.

[pcdude]

kelendria said:

^ Yes but some of the time you find it goes one way. I also firmly believe that if I'm going to advertise on theirs to let them advertise on mine as you said. But the downfall can be that they then only come to advertise & that's it (word gets around etc)
I strongly agree with sometimes getting on the admin's nerves when someone of your forum (not you) posts on theirs & they believe it can only be the admin, I've had that experience that's why I generally link back.
The other thing to that is when they have their boards open to guests to advertise, & then complain about it. Make sure you read the rules though, because guest or member you may have to link them back or have a certain post count before advertising.

I too strongly agree that advertising should be two ways. I encourage my members to spread the word about my forum, but at the same time I welcome them to advertise their forum if they wish. This has worked quite well for me too-my global mod advertises us on another forum he belongs to and his advertisement has generated several new members. On the same token he advertises his forum on ours, which has generated several members for that forum as well. However, I do usually insist that advertisements stay in signatures. I've tried several times to allow advertising in the general discussion board, but there are always a few people who want to take advantage of my kindness and advertise in every thread in the entire forum. as for allowing guests to advertise, that's something I absolutley don't allow. I'd rather avoid the trouble that it would surely result in.

[$hØ©Këyë]

Anyway, I have a new way of Advertising your proboard. All you need to have is some Affiliates and a signature. All you need in a signature is a very good catchthrase for it and then people will be attracted to it. Also Affiliates are useful because they may be intrested when they see the affiliates down at the bottom of the forum. There are no signs of desperate joining so they join the forum depending how strict it is or not

[Assassin]

I've found various ways that attract members to my forum, and other ways that don't.

Google gets me most of my visitors, and I know this because I have Sitemeter on my forum which tells me where people come from when visiting my site. I get about three or four a day typing in a keyword specific to my forum, which for me is pretty good.

I hate to say it, and this is only my opinion, but G.O.A.Y.B does not attract new members, or even any visitors for that matter for me. I doubt many people have noticed but I've averaged roughly one rate every other day since I've been on PB Support, and I can tell you that maybe twenty visitors have looked at my forum via clicking the link in my sig on that particular board, and of those twenty I think two have signed up. I don't mean to put people off rating boards, but I can't help but laugh a little when I read certain posts about getting 30-40 visits per day through rating a forum. That unfortunately is untrue.

Affiliates work to an extent, but most people who click on my affiliate image are admins making sure I'm still affiliating with them. It certainly doesn't hurt to affiliate though, and I'm sure it works better for some than for others.

So, in my opinion the best way to advertise your forum (other than word of mouth of course, which has already been established) is via Google. If you're not already indexed I recommend doing that as soon as possible.

[racinfan88]

Yes I agree 100%! Google is the best way to advertise. I have to disagree though about the GOAYB thing. GOAYB does attract new members! It has for me! I also post in the advertise your site thread on the sites I have joined. That works too. Google works the best though! I dont know about yahoo and msn though...


RF88

[pcdude]

I have my site in all of the major search engines (Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc.) and I must say, I have noticed at least a small increase in traffic. As for GOAYB, I've gotten several members from it, so I can't complain. I'd highly recommend both methods. One thing to keep in mind about GOAYB though-its not for getting members, its for getting opinions about your forum. You shouldn't go in there expecting to get members. If you go in with that kind of attitude you'll be in for a big letdown. The thing is, most of the people in GOAYB have forums of their own! So, really, even getting one new member via GOAYB is great.

One last note about GOAYB....any members you get from there are likely to be inactive (although in some cases they aren't). At least that's been my experience.

[Help is at hand Sm0rt is here!]

I agree all the time i dont rate peoples forums but i quite like having a look through the different forum on GOAYB and when i find a really good one that has alot of activity often i will join it! GOAYB is almost used as an advertising board you just cant sya join my board and are waiting for rates apart from that people use them the same!

[Kathelyne]

I have been watching closley since I posted my new board in my sig and on GOAYB and was interested to learn that the majority of visiters DON'T come from my post on GOAYB. iFor every topic I have posted in, ahywhere, I have had at least one visitor from, and several visitors from the threads I rated on GOAYB.

I have had 26 different visitors in the last day just from posting on here (except for two that I am freinds with) and people clicking on my sig.

I haven't had anyone from here join, because I don't think many people here are interested in dolls and such, but if you have a board with a common interest, having an eyecatching signature should get you a lot of visitors and maybe members.

I am a member of several other doll or reborn forums, but none of them are for Australia and New Zealand. I I am going to advitise on there. At one I have said I am making a new forum, and if they would like t links to their website posted there, to let me know. they don't have to join or anything, but there are some members from Australia (even though its a european forum) so they might be interested.
I think the key to good advertising is offering the person something to their benefit. They shouldn't look at an add and think 'why do I care' or 'why should I join'. thats why I don't like adds saying 'we need members' and stuff, the potential member doesn't want to feel like they have to work to build up a forum and help others, usually anyway

[Beatle Aimee]

If you want to post your link on a forum or such, and you can't find any rules stating what to do about links, ask the admin first to keep from getting in trouble. (It's a long story. Very long.)

(I tried making this longer but I have nothing else to say)

[Robot X24]

Put your URL or banner to your forum in your signature on PBS.

It helps a little bit.

Affiliates are a big help, also.

If you have a lot of those, and a attractive forum, you can get a big load of members that way.

[pcdude]

beatleaimee said:

If you want to post your link on a forum or such, and you can't find any rules stating what to do about links, ask the admin first to keep from getting in trouble. (It's a long story. Very long.)

(I tried making this longer but I have nothing else to say)

I agree with this very much. I've been to a number of forums where the rules about links weren't very clear, and in most of those forums, advertising was not allowed. So it's definitley smart to ask before you post a link if you can't figure it out by reading the rules.

No, xkamelx, I do not use Statcounter.

[freakaboutsims]

Well I finally decided to start over with my avatar forums, since the old one was unorigized. But I must say that my site is growing. It is in fact fulled with Avatar Goodies. But getting back on subject.

Although I don't know a good way to get new avatarfans I never seen or heard of before. I see that I am getting members from other avatar sites as well. Most of them are loyal members from Avatarfans, who since I know them, made them Globel Mods. And they are basicly helping me out with advertising.

Alone I think that once guest sees all of the things they could do on my site, it will make them want to stay. I am starting to host Direct Java Chats and watching full legth episodes also helps.

I also are planning getting some avatar fans who are fans of a game called The Sims 2 to come with a chat this saturday for the upcoming game release The Sims 2 Pets.

So in other words, things are looking bright for Avatar Goodies.
-freakaboutsims

[pcdude]

myke said:

pcdude said:

No, xkamelx, I do not use Statcounter.

I recommend it if you're watching to see what traffic you get from where. This will help you realize which places where you link exists helps get you the most traffic.

I will look into it. I've been trying to find a way to find out where my traffc is coming from, and this sounds like just the thing I've been looking for.

[goose]

Yes i have had no true welcomer by anybody, and i was curious.... I have had many sites, and usually people judge your site by the welcoming.. A tip, but... I love the way you set this site up.. It has a lot of thought.. I would like you to pm me, whoever is in charge, because i have a question for you

[Kathelyne]

pcdude said:

myke said:

I recommend it if you're watching to see what traffic you get from where. This will help you realize which places where you link exists helps get you the most traffic.

I will look into it. I've been trying to find a way to find out where my traffc is coming from, and this sounds like just the thing I've been looking for.

I just have a bravenet counter, and it tells me what the refering page for recent visitors has been, if its a direct hit is says so, otherwise it says the link. it also shows what browser they are using, and there are also stats on that.

I'll have to look into statcounter though. and xkamelx, I clicked on the link you posted and it took me to a page about a movie called enders game? is that right?