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| Dec 13, 2007 12:24 pm |
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re: How To Properly Advertise On Forums Without Getting Banned |
Steve Bralovich
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Robert:
Welcome to the network..
Your signature is fine but I personally shy away from the 3 Line URLs. To me it seems a little desperate like you know there's a limit but you're trying to cram as much stuff as you can into it in the hopes that someone will click on one if they see something they like. Start testing those URLs one at a time and use a stats tracker to find out which one performs the best for you, then stick with that one.
Notice that I named this network "Internet Marketing Tools". This name implies some form of utility for Internet marketing. People on the Net are looking for free sources of information and other truly free stuff.
It appears that your pages do offer some free things in the hopes of being able to pick up a few sales of related products. This is a good tactic as long as your free offer is truly no-strings attached.
That's the same as the Free website offer you see advertised on this network page. It is truly free with nothing to buy until you need more features than the free package allows. Statcounter.com does the same thing with their free stats package. It's been working for them because it really is excellent for the beginning website owner. It's full featured but the number of visitors it tracks is limited to storing 500 at a time. It overwrites anything over that limit. Theirs is a landing page you should look at to compare with.
As far as landing pages vs affiliate links, an affiliate link would be something like http://easyfreestuff.com?affId=33245 or whatever your id is. These links are a dead give-away that you're trying to make a quick buck. Avoid them because even though it might lead to a standard landing page, people know that you are getting direct credit for it so it makes you seem mercenary. The other thing is that they're usually long and ugly. Another tactic that some affiliates do is to make quick, one time posts with just their affiliate link. That really stinks of "fast buck" marketing.
Your landing pages are okay but I would try setting up an informational website that acts as mid-step before sending people to those free offers. Then you can put those three links on your page after you've talked about free business opportunities or something like that.
Look at http://FreeCarGuide.net as an example of what I mean.
The Internet is great for doing business but it has a big drawback which is that people can't see you. In the real world it's much easier for you to judge whether or not someone is on the level because you have visual and audible cues. In the virtual world, that's all gone. So you need to be less pushy and use more subtle approaches that gradually build up trust. Forum and blog posting is a great way to do that. But just adding some direct affiliate links does just the opposite.
Best of luck...
--StevePrivate Reply to Steve Bralovich (new win) |
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