Increasing Forum Posts Like ScubaToys.com

MB Web Design
#1. August 25th, 2007, at 1:05 AM.

It is indeed a great marketing idea. I’m currently pitching a similar idea to a client of mine but they’re against the idea. I don’t think I’ll be able to convince them, which is a shame.

Pixelhead
#2. August 25th, 2007, at 2:30 AM.

Well keep on trying MB, I hope they can see the ROI they will receive.

MB Web Design
#3. August 27th, 2007, at 9:36 PM.

I will, but unfortunately the clients have a very old school mentality – they have a vast budget for advertising in the printed press but online seems a novelty to them. I’m just seeking out articles like yours to show them that it’s a worthwhile investment (and if they don’t do it, their competitors will)

Pixelhead
#4. August 27th, 2007, at 9:46 PM.

Yes unfortunately, I have seen it happen were the timid clients may initially agree to do some marketing, but will later back out before the ROI can be seen.

Steven Snell
#5. August 30th, 2007, at 9:59 PM.

That’s interesting. I’ve never heard of anything like that.

Pixelhead
#6. August 30th, 2007, at 10:07 PM.

Incentivized commenting isn’t a new thing, but I do like the idea of using store coupons as the incentive.

john
#7. September 7th, 2007, at 5:17 AM.

That is a brilliant marketing strategy. No expending your own capital, and if you provide store credits in such a way as to encourage buying (but still at a profit) it’s a definite win-win. Very clever tip, thanks for posting.

Pixelhead
#8. September 7th, 2007, at 2:43 PM.

John, Hope it helps in your marketing campaign.

Michael Samuel
#9. September 7th, 2007, at 10:34 PM.

This is a wonderful and guaranteed marketing strategy but personally I don’t use it because it may lead to huge spam that i can’t take control of! anyway, thanks for your tip…..

MB Web Design
#10. September 8th, 2007, at 8:44 PM.

Just an update from me regarding my comments above: the clients are now convinced a forum is an unnecessary gimmick, even though a rival company has a website forum with 2500+ members, an active forum too. They’re paying for my advice so I’m giving it to them. Of course, they’re choosing to ignore it. Such is life.

Pixelhead
#11. September 9th, 2007, at 6:07 PM.

Michael, I do suppose we all need to consider different marketing strategies that will fit our needs. Just because this marketing strategy works for ScubaToys, it probably would not be successful for yours or my business.
But I do suppose we could alter it to make it successful for our own marketing needs. I might alter it by instead of giving away coupons, by giving away directory submission discounts.

MB, 2500, that is a lot of members for a forum. He ought to get involved in his competitors forum. Post some good, informative comments and make himself a valuable member. After all it is a public forum.

ScubaToys Larry
#12. November 28th, 2007, at 11:02 PM.

I just stumbled upon this article about my site, and saw it was a little older… so I figured I give you an update and address a few comments from above.

As far as Spam – we did have a little problem, where people would just go through the welcome area and copy and paste “Hi and welcome to the forum!” to every person… Obviously just running up post counts, so in several forums, like welcome, fun and games (a lot of those forum word games etc) – we don’t count those posts. We also have the generic comment that posts must have content… and since it’s my forum… I’m the judge!

I’ve had a few people that you could tell, they were just running up post counts… so I PM’s them letting them know those would not count toward their post totals, and edited their number of posts in the admin panel… droping them from 80 back down to 12 in one case.

I’ve only had to do it a few times, and some times, they do better posts… some times they leave… but either way – good for the forum.

Being up for under 5 months, we are right about 100,000 posts and near 3000 members, so in my situation, although it’s a lot of time and work, we do see a positive result from it.

To MB Web Design, if you want to contact me, or have your client contact me concerning how it worked for us, I’d be happy to discuss it with you or them.

Best of luck to everyone with your sites!

Pixelhead
#13. November 28th, 2007, at 11:42 PM.

Larry, thanks for dropping by. I am glad I did the post, as I had record adsense days when that post was on the front page.
If I ever get around to taking diving lessons, I’ll have to do a scuba diving blog.

Greg
#14. September 18th, 2008, at 7:11 AM.

You sell all kinds of things scuba related. Scuba gear, supplies, equipment, vacations and the list goes on. I grabbed a scuba domain ScubaFlag.com. I’ll let you know how it goes. I saw 2 other names maybe worth buying.

ScubaToys Larry
#16. September 18th, 2008, at 2:45 PM.

Hey Greg… If I helped inspire you to start up the site… how about listing my site instead of all my competition!

Greg
#17. September 18th, 2008, at 5:35 PM.

Hi Larry… I will ad a link to your site in my blog roll. Nice PR rating on your scuba equipment site. How about a link some where on your site for my less than 24hr old scuba site.. I will write a review of your site and post it hopefully sometime by 3am lol.

P.S. I have way too much inspiration.

Darcy
#18. April 2nd, 2009, at 2:45 AM.

Congratulations to Scuba Toys… Great idea – and just one of many. They are innovative.

I was wondering… This brings traffic to your current site. OK. But how about having the forum on a different domain name so that these numerous posts about your own website also helps your ranking in search engines? Yes? No?

I guess I’m just 2 years too late posting here anyways… Sorry! Just ran into this post while awaiting someone to come to my house.

Tim Davids
#19. July 9th, 2009, at 8:36 PM.

Thanks for the heads up on scubatoys…a great name and I’ll use the forum idea for sure. Also just found your blog…will be back here too.

Scuba Regulator Reviews
#20. October 28th, 2009, at 3:17 PM.

Thanks, Great post. I found this website “http://www.Divecomputerreviews.com” that pays $10 for a post to his blog. I think it is really a great idea to get the ball rolling on a new blog or website. You don’t necessary need to give away cash. You could probably do a contest where the person with the best post or comment wins a prize, or give a way something of value, like an e-book.