Forum Signatures

I suppose most of you have tried internet marketing by utilizing email signatures when emailing friends or relatives. Have you done the same in forums? -clarise

It seems to only work well when you're posting at a forum that's relevant to your product/service/website - and then you risk angering the webmaster by trying to drive traffic away from their own site.

That said, I've had the odd click or two to my own website through places that are very far removed from the topic of my site (reality TV). But I don't think it's a solid or dependable method of marketing - at least it hasn't been for me personally. -CarrieGee

I see, thanks for the input, Carrie. :) Maybe if one frequents forums, then it should work. I think some companies are actually ulitizing this form of publicity and I see some signatures here that link to some other site. But I think you are right, it may be a violation of the forum's TOS. -clarise

I rarely look at the forum signatures because I only focus on the message typed for the forum. However, I think that using forum signature to drive away the traffic from the forum may not be a good idea also. -khunvi

I use a signature in posts I make on forums, but only if the forum allows it -- make sure to read the forum's TOS before creating a signature.

As far as the signature's successs... my Web site's stats reports shows click throughs from the forums, but usually I don't get a whole lot. I say if the forum owner allows it why not -- you never know. -mrs75

I rarely if ever click on a forum signature link. -fred

Forum signature is not that effective way of advertising. You may have some hits coming from that forum but there is only a limited number of people who can see your signature and that is if you are very active in that forum. -encoder

I think like most things it depends. I do quite well from forum sigs in one or two forums that are relevant. It's certainly a less obnoxious approach than spam posting and I have tracked clicks coming in form it especailly if my posts give some reasonably useful advice. -rattitude

I have had success with this form of advertising, but it can also be difficult because usually what I find happens is that you are not the only person advertising this business or product. So, there is definitely competition out there. -wlctrent

A lot of people rarely clicks forum signature links. I'm not sure why they don't but they just don't. I have tried it a few times and found that a few links can be successful while others aren't. Be careful not to spam the forums with nonsense posts or the admin of the forum will boot you out as fast as you came in. -nogard

I can confirm that. ;co -Jeff Blackwell

I only join forums that allow a signature and I read everyone's profile plus visit most web sites. -Karen Sargent

I think some of us including myself become quite desensitized to signatures in email and forum posting.

CarrieGee, I realize this is off topic for the thread, but do you find that reality TV is declining in popularity? I'm curious because I work in film and TV production. -Ricardo

I like seeing people's signatures and checking out their websites. I get a better idea of who I'm talking with in the forums.

I get some traffic to my websites from my signature links but haven't received any actual business from them. -ozzie

I find that most of the work from home sigs almost don't work That's mainly because there are a lot of people out there that try to scam other with these kind of sites. So now if you have work from home sig, it's most likely won't get clicked and it it does you beeter have a great sales pitch on the site. You can do a search for signatures that don't work in forums. Also make sure you just do go to the forums and post one liners like "Hi" and think people are going to click on your link. Let people know you know what you're telking about. Build a trust with the people in the forum. Be honest. -nogard

Signatures compete for attention like any other message. Well developed and targeted signatures will still convert even after the novelty wears off. -SpeedRacer

I think it would be a waste of your own time to spam forums just to have your signature link seen. I'm sure the forum owners would ban a person who did that.

On the other hand, if you are genuinely interested in the forum and taking part in the discussions then there's no reason not to add your link to your thread because it might be of help to you. -ozzie

I seldom used my signature link. It surely depends to the forum rules. In fairness, I like posting it that's why I sometimes receive a notification from forum moderators. -shinningstar

lots of forum dont allows to falshy sigs these days so its getting hard to advertise through siganture.. -mtajim

My sigs have nothing whatsoever to do with getting jobs but I have gotten a lot of traffic to my websites from a small forum I belong to that helps people find jobs. It makes no sense to me but that's the way it has worked out. -ozzie

In my opinion, I think there's no definitive answer as to whether links to signatures or posts work or not. But I guess many are using it consciously or unconsciously. -matefork

Folks aren't putting links in sigs to generate click-throughs, they're doing it to help index their site and to add a quick external link to their page.

There are the spammers who add a word or two to a forum or blog with an external link - I get that all the time with my blog. Scum.

However, for those that participate in a community and actually add something of value to the conversation, if the forum admins allow a sig link or two, you're not doing your site a favor by not taking advantage of it. Forums are crawled very frequently by the search engines because they represent updated content and are usually made of clean code that the engines can easily navigate. If you're having trouble indexing a page or have one in the Supplementals, just link to it from your forum sig and you should be indexed in no time.

Some forums have gone to the practice of putting re=nofollow attribs on all links in posts. But I feel that if you're contributing to the content of a forum (and thereby increasing it's value to the search engines) you should be allowed an external link or three for the trouble.

Just my opinion tho. -thevolcanogod

Hi Carrie

Forums ideally should be more than just "selling" yourself. Great though that is.

I use them to connect with other people in my field in many different ways.

1. What is going on out there....in my industry
2. What challenges are my possible customers facing
3. The place to look learn and improve
4. See and experience the world from a different point of view.
5. Learn what is topical


Most of all for me it is about adding and receiving value. A basic human need.

Use a signature I totally agree.... and come from a giving place and you might just be amazed what happens.

Best Wishes

SalesManagersCoach -SalesManagersCoach

I'm new at it. I'll let you know how it goes. It's great for building backlinks I heard. -Faizalnisar