Internet Marketing Tycoon

**WebTalkVB** · 09-09-2007, 12:49 AM

I am thinking about launching my webmaster forum very soon (once it's ready of course), and I don't want it to be dead all the time. So I have been thinking of some webmaster related marketing strategies, tell me what you think of them;

Once you reach the 150 post mark you get a free 1-year .com registration
300 posts and you recieve either another free 1-year .com registration or $10 PayPal credit
500 posts and you get either 2-year .com registration or $15
First 5 people 1,000 post mark will recieve $50 PayPal credit

Now I know this could be pretty expensive for a while, but I personally think this would be a very clever and good way to tell people I am serious about my forum. And...at the same time, reap in some benefits for helping my forum grow.

With AdSense and possibility for advertising revenue on my website, would you say this is a good or bad idea? Please comment on your answers, and thank you.

**CSS4Life** · 09-09-2007, 10:25 AM

For the most part, it's a good idea. It would make people want to come along and post. Some people might abuse it and spam to get their things, but this could obviously be prevented with good moderators etc.

The ad. revenue sharing is also a good idea. Simply don't keep up the paypal and domains thing for too long - i.e. once you've built up enough members, phase it out. The ad revenue sharing is always a good idea though

**gringo** · 09-09-2007, 02:47 PM

That's not a bad incentive to encourage people to post on a new forum. What I'd be concerned about is how this new forum is going to keep its members visiting/attract new visitors going forward. How is it going to differentiate itself from other webmaster forums?

Your incentive idea is good for new starters but you'll need to provide something the other webmaster forums out there aren't providing.

**Chronicle** · 09-10-2007, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whym

For the most part, it's a good idea. It would make people want to come along and post. Some people might abuse it and spam to get their things, but this could obviously be prevented with good moderators etc.

The ad. revenue sharing is also a good idea. Simply don't keep up the paypal and domains thing for too long - i.e. once you've built up enough members, phase it out. The ad revenue sharing is always a good idea though

Ditto.....the paypal and domain thing will make you stone-broke if you keep them too long,

**ADAM Web Design** · 09-10-2007, 07:08 PM

I think it's a bad idea, but not for the reasons that anyone else said.

What would stop Poster X from deciding to post a bunch of one-line, useless answers to inflate post count? You know, the generic SEO advice of "get more backlinks and when Google PR updation occur, it will be fine u see" or "hi, ur site is good, i like the color".

Do you really want a forum full of posts like that? If you encourage posting by giving out incentives based on it, you're just asking for those types of posts. It's not that your idea is bad, though; it's that your idea, in conjunction with the marketing idiots that populate our industry, is bad.

**ScottHughes** · 09-20-2007, 07:14 PM

Why not just go with revenue sharing? That way you won't run out of money, and all your giveaway will be compensated by profits.

Of course, there's a lot of competition when it comes to webmaster forums.

**Kushal** · 09-22-2007, 04:52 AM

I don’t think this is a cleaver idea; the cleaver idea would be if you think something which really helps webmasters.
People will post unwanted stuff just to increase a post and your forum will be full of spam or cheep quality posts.
I think you need a bunch of very experienced webmaster who can reply the post in effective way and that should be the motto of one webmaster forum.
Side by side you can share revenue…

**zaidi** · 09-22-2007, 11:04 AM

well its a nice idea..i guess you should go with it

**usearchme** · 09-22-2007, 06:26 PM

Hi there

I think the idea of giving away prizes is a good one, but doing it on number of posts is a bad idea, as your post quality will drop and you want quality posts.

You would be better off just having a poster of the month, post of the month or somthing like that and just handing out the prize.

That way you wont get lots of bad quality posts

Woc

**MrCat** · 09-28-2007, 07:21 PM

IMO, you should place a condition that majority of those posts should be relevant and a simple "welcome to the forum" post.

Yeah! It is basically a good idea to offer incentives. But you would still need to inform your target audience about your forum. participating in forums similar to your niche is a good start

Best of luck!