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Board Whore
by Brandon Palmer
Times Square is a bustling bastion of consumerism, and perhaps a perfect microcosm of marketing in America - the latest technology is used to hammer home sales pitches for everything from underwear to perfume, and it's aimed at every demographic imaginable.
So it's not surprising that Times Square would be a testing ground for a new style of selling, one that could be called insidious or ingenious, depending on whom you ask.
The drill is simple. A 20-something model type, male or female, walks up to a tourist and asks if they could please take their picture, handing the tourist the latest in mobile technology - a digital picture phone. When the tourist says yes, but seems perplexed as to why they are being handed a cell phone, the model type excitedly explains all the features on their handy new gadget, complete with a demonstration of how to take pictures. Before the unsuspecting tourist knows what hit them, they're playing a part in a live commercial, created especially for them.
Like it or not, marketing techniques are changing fast as companies struggle to find new ways to reach consumers who are bombarded with hundreds of sales pitches a day. Since people have learned to tune these ads out, reaching them while their guard is down can be a highly effective way of getting your message delivered. The same principle can be applied to the Internet, and is evident in some rather clumsy examples - namely unsolicited instant messages that say things like, "Hi babe, it's Amber - thanks for last night. Click here to check out my nude pictures!"
No one with half a brain is actually fooled by this technique, and if they click, it's simply because they want to see some nude pictures of Amber. In order to be truly effective, this type of marketing needs to be more subtle and personalized. Recently, in a Yahoo group for men who are into Asian women, there was a post that said simply: "Hi guys, I'm new to the group. Check out my profile and let me know if you're interested in meeting." Her profile, complete with a picture and personal information, also contained a link to her personal home page - which in turn contained a link to an adult pay site for men with a fetish for Asian girls.
If the person who posted that message to the forum had simply posted a link to their pay site, most members of the group would have ignored it, but you can be certain that the method used was far more effective for driving traffic to the site. Besides groups, there are all kinds of adult forums that can reap benefits for your site. So what is the secret to actually making money by posting on these types of forums?
It may be the effective use of signatures - an appealing signature that links to your site can get a lot of attention in a forum. By now, most adult webmasters have probably used this technique, and some even get into artificial arguments with other posters simply to increase the visibility of their signature. That's just one way the method can backfire, as self-promotion can be a tricky business. In some cases, it may actually be better to use other people to promote your site in adult forums, having them include your signature in their posts.
This is a lot easier than it sounds, since a company called SigSwap (www.sigswap.com) has perfected the technique, streamlining it to maximize effectiveness and ease of use. "SigSwap functions in a few different ways," says Jak, owner of Ripened Peach Entertainment, which runs the site. "First and foremost it's a banner exchange system, but geared toward forum use. Someone signs up, grabs a special code, and uses that in their board signature. That code then grabs buttons from our server whenever their forum posts are seen, and they get a credit to show a button of their own for every one they show in their signature. The huge benefit of this is that your ad button is then seen at over fifty adult webmaster forums, not just the ones at which you post."
"Aside from the exchange credits alone," Jak explains, "we also pay people just for using the system to begin with. Although the actual payment amount is relatively small, there are some people who post a lot, and make some decent money from SigSwap. I believe it's the only exchange program out there that actually pays someone to use it." Besides a banner-exchange type of program for forums, there are other viable ways to profit here, and some are more obvious than others.
"There's no one secret as far as I know," says Jak, "but there are a few things to do that really help. First, get ICQ, and put your ICQ number in your signature. The opportunities that come your way from this very simple action will blow your mind, if you learn how to use it well. Also, when you post about your business, leave your comments open to discussion. Ask a question, advice, whatever, as long as you are purposely getting the ball rolling for a longer thread. Finally, if you really just love posting and you want some simple cash money, do the 'dirt dance' and post on those boards that pay per post."
"From a reader standpoint," Jak continues, "keep your eyes open for trends and new programs, and stay away from time-sucking threads. As a poster, you should always be flying a signature of some sort, whether it's via SigSwap or your own. Of course, there are other ways to profit from forums that don't necessarily involve money. The networking potential of the boards is unreal, and will open many doors if you're watching for them. From the standpoint of actually running a forum, there is of course the advertising angle. Flying ads on the boards is a great way to make money, and if there aren't enough advertisers buying spots you can always run your own sponsor ads with ref-codes in them."
Some people are even paid to post "useful" information on boards as a way of promoting a company, and as long as they are handling themselves professionally, this can be a viable means of marketing a site. "As long as it's done in a non-cheesy way I'm all for it," says Jak, whose company also runs www.stripkittens.com. "It's pretty easy to spot when someone isn't being genuine, so if you can get people to talk about you without it coming across lame, then that's great."
So what about posting contests where people can win prizes for a certain number of posts in a specified time period? "They work equally well for both sides," says Jak, "since the posters have a great time and can win cool prizes, and the owners of the forum get more users, more action, and thus more ad revenue for their board. I do feel there have almost been too many contests lately, with new forums opening up all the time and trying to get users by running contests."
Whatever methods you choose to employ, it seems that caution and restraint is the key. Keep things under control, don't spread yourself too thin, and you might be surprised how often a soft sell can turn into hard profits.
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