Self-promotion in our signatures

[sirkinm]

I'm a little put off that so many people have self-promotion or marketing links in their signatures. I'm not saying it's bad -- I'm just calling out for someone to defend it so I can see it differently. Mostly you can tell the genuine people from those who are doing it solely to get their site visibility. Still...sometimes it seems like EVERYONE on here has some kind of marketing or affiliate thing going on. Maybe I just don't get it -- I don't have any marketing experience, so I may be missing something here.

How about it? Any impassioned defense of these links? Personally, I find nothing wrong with a link to a personal website. But it would be nice if there was a place to gather on the web that was free from the marketing stuff -- we get barraged with it on a daily basis in or normal life.

[Brutha]

Our rules concerning signatures are at the moment:

Use reasonable signatures - Signatures that include links to free content-based sites are generally fine. However, in order to prevent forum abuse by internet marketers, the following types of signatures are unacceptable: visually obnoxious signatures; signature links that go directly to sales pitches, lead generation pitches, or email capture pages; or links to known scams or pyramid schemes. Signatures that ignore this rule will be censored or deleted, and continued abuse is cause for banning. If your intention is to use these forums primarily as a marketing outlet, you've come to the wrong place.

If you find someone where you think that they are solely doing it to advertise there website, feel free to send me or another moderator a personal message to complain about them.
If I agree with that assessment I might delete the given link and put it on a list with urls that get censored when they get posted in the forum.

Those links are able to bring multiple people per day to a website and are therefore valuable to the person who posts the link.
They are also seen by Google which means that the website will improve it's Google rating.

Somewhere we have to make a decision between which links we allow and which are to much marketing.

[sirkinm]

Thanks for the reply, Brutha. It's good to know you have a set policy for these type of things.

[mindfulconstruct]

Originally Posted by sirkinm

I'm a little put off that so many people have self-promotion or marketing links in their signatures.

Maybe you're put off because you don't feel comfortable promoting yourself.

Originally Posted by sirkinm

I'm not saying it's bad -- I'm just calling out for someone to defend it so I can see it differently.

If I were to defend, then I would afraid that maybe you're right and I'm wrong. So, instead, I'll explain.

The signature is a digital footprint. It's a way to link your thoughts (expressed through posts) to your "home base" online, which yes, may be affiliated with earning a living.

The web is a huge sea of posters, signatures are a way to connect all your footprints to one location, if you use them.

Originally Posted by sirkinm

sometimes it seems like EVERYONE on here has some kind of marketing or affiliate thing going on. Maybe I just don't get it -- I don't have any marketing experience, so I may be missing something here.

Perhaps almost everyone does. But what would be wrong or immoral with that? It would be a good thing if posting about personal development would help everyone better support themselves.

Originally Posted by sirkinm

Personally, I find nothing wrong with a link to a personal website. But it would be nice if there was a place to gather on the web that was free from the marketing stuff -- we get barraged with it on a daily basis in or normal life.

I hear ya. I went through a period where I was triggered by all the internet marketing out there. Until I realized that if I want to help others the way that Steve helps millions, I would need to embrace marketing, and see it for what it is: communicating what you have of value to offer.

For now, maybe just ignore all those pesky links? And remember that you don't have to buy anything.

[Some Random Loser]

This is an interesting topic 2 me. Hope to see it develop some... for my own morbid enjoyment

[RT Wolf]

Marketing From Your Conscience by Steve Pavlina

You have to belive in the value you provide. I do. I think that I've got a pretty good website and it keeps getting better and I keep getting better. I've gotten pretty good feedback about my blog entries helping people. So...if I don't tell everyone about it (it's upto them to go to it or not), I'm robbing them for value that's available for no money.

[Some Random Loser]

LoL I might start linking a topic on this forum in my signature soon. I'll have to find a way to monetize it... probably peddle for donations

[jetpack]

I think the self promotion on this forum is out of control.

Post a topic on relationships, and a bunch of guys will post replies with their sigs promoting their PUA websites. I don't trust a single one of them, and their posts are a conflict of interest. They don't benefit by actually helping me here, they only work by making me feel more insecure.

I could find lots more examples.

This is the main reason I don't use this site more.

[Fullcrum]

It seems to me the only people who do not like promotions are those insecure themselves.

I do not see anything inherently wrong. As long as the primary purpose of being here and posting is to provide value, people should have the ability to promote whatever ethical content they want.

[Some Random Loser]

Originally Posted by jetpack

Post a topic on relationships, and a bunch of guys will post replies with their sigs promoting their PUA websites.

LoL gotta love the PUAs.

Originally Posted by jetpack

This is the main reason I don't use this site more.

Aww, come on! That's half the fun!

[Eric Roosevelt]

I generally don't mind this sort of self-promotion, as long as I'm being linked to good content.

Also remember that most successful webmasters started off with shameless self-promotion. Putting links in signatures, signing up for blog carnivals or increasing search engine rankings - it all basically amounts to the same thing. I don't see much wrong with it.

[Andrew Brunelle]

If you really believe in what you have to offer the world, why wouldn't you promote it? Someone put the link for Marketing Through Your Coscience in here, so I won't take up any more space.

[Matt Willard]

I feel signatures are a non-intrusive form of forum marketing. This way, you don't clog up any posts trying to advertise something when your sig handles it, and everyone's free to ignore any links, especially the simple text links you see here.

[Petrolhead]

I'm designing my own personal website at the moment. I'm doing this not to make money (although I will put google ads on it) or drive traffic to my site.

Indeed I would say my web site would be a poor model for this as it covers a diverse array of content on multiple subjects.

Instead I just want to share information about the things I am truly passionate about in life, make that material and value available to people.

I also want to be able to update it as I continue to learn and for my learning experiences to be able to help others.

To not put my signature in say a forum post would defeat the object of me creating it in the first place, to share what I love.

[Some Random Loser]

One thing I find interesting is that even if a blog or personal website itself doesn't generate much, or any income... through social networking and relationship forming, it can lead to immense influxes of income opportunities indirectly! Hell, it might even get someone laid