Forum advertising

I noticed that some people are becoming somewhat worried about advertising.

Let me assure you that we are doing what we can. Below are some ways you can support the forum that have been arranged by myself and the rest of the staff, should you wish to advertise:

Twitter


@OfficialCPF is our official Twitter where the staff Tweet occasionally. Almost every Tweet we have contains a link to the forum, which covers SEO which I'll mention in a moment.

YouTube


youtube.com/CPFOfficial is our official YouTube. There is already an advertising video up there which you can watch at your leisure, and we hope to add more soon. Please do subscribe.

SEO


Basically, the more links we have, the more likely it is that a search engine like Google will notice us and thus our ranking increases. We try to place links around the net as often as we can, and I personally put the CPF link on my signature on practically every forum I'm registered on.

Banners/website advertising


We really appreciate it if you put a banner on your site. clubpenguinbang used to feature our banner (the site is down), clubpenguinblog.co.uk still does and I think Mango's site does, I'm not sure.

Anyway, the banner code is below:

Code:

<a href="http://cpforum.forumotion.org/" target="_blank">[color=#2e8b57][font=Courier, CourierNew, sans-serif][/font][/color]
<img src="http://i42.tinypic.com/opvbcx.png" border="2" style="border:2px solid black;max-width:100%;" alt="Club Penguin Forum - the #1 Club Penguin forum and community!" />[color=#2e8b57][font=Courier, CourierNew, sans-serif][/font][/color]
</a>

---

Now, on another note, I am hiring some helpers who will Tweet occasionally from our forum Twitter and possibly make videos for our YT.
The only requirements for the job are that you have good English and a positive attitude. Please apply now by sending me a PM or an email to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]. I'll pay 100 SPs every 2 months.

Thank you.

Ccpenguin8
CPF Super Moderator

Okay.

First, I think the Twitter is coming out real nice! We just need to find a way to attract more followers, so the forum can prosper.

Second, yes, advertising is a very crucial thing.  We have talked about it on the chat. No offense, but if only us (meaning the last 10 members) are on the forums, the forums will die. We really need new members, so we can grow and prosper!!

In my Social Studies textbook, I read about Push-Pull Factors, regarding immigration in America. Back in the 1800's, immigrants left (pushed) their countries because of poverty, famine, etc. They were "pulled" into America because they saw freedom, prosperity, and lots of land. It corresponds to our situation here. We need to find certain "pull" factors. We need to find a legitimate reason why our forum is better  than all the others. You get what I mean??  Advertising about our "pull" factors can bring new members!!

Plus, there are tons of people on Club Penguin that don't even know that Club Penguin Forums exist!! We could do something with those members!

@KK:-

Regarding followers, as I retweet every Tweet on the forum Twitter we don't need to worry about that as I have 549.

Everything has its peak, you know. Our peak was September 2012. We can keep trying to advertise and hope another peak comes. Everything takes time, though.

As for pull factors, I will list a few: We have an intelligent JavaScript Artificial Intelligence robot capable of recognising basic phrases about the forum and Club Penguin and issuing an appropriate response. I am certain we are the only Club Penguin forum in the world to have achieved this. In fact, if there is a single CP forum who had a Club Penguin AI before us I'd faint because I invented them.  Another pull factor could be our Arcade with a CUSTOM-MADE FLASH GAME. Again, we are the only Club Penguin forum in the world to have one. Unlike the majority of forums we maintain accounts on Twitter, YouTube and Google+. We have a partnered blog. We are represented on several of the most popular forums. We have over 100 members and 6,000 posts. We are in the top 5 no matter which filter you search in the Forumotion category for Club Penguin and on several occasions we hit no 1. We have a dynamic economy with a forum shop, gifting system and user shops and alliances. Et cetera, et cetera.

Is that enough?    I do have a paragraph-length text advertisement about all this stuff, but as of yet it hasn't been used.

CP Blog helps attract members who are new to forums - they see our blog there when searching for cheats and then click on one of the 5 billion links to CPF.

Thanks for your comment
Ccpenguin

But how is this forum better than, say TCPCF or CPCP? Both TCPCF and CPCP use VBulletin and a paid for domain, but here uses Forumotion.

If I was looking for a forum I'd look for the one that looks more quality, which in my opinion is not a Forumotion forum

@RA-

Here is just my unfiltered honest opinion.

Neither TCPCF or CPCPF have our JavaScript AI, our custom Arcade game or accounts on Google+, Twitter and YouTube. Also, if I'm honest, I think our rich text post editor is far better than theirs (albeit the quotes are a bit weird).

CPCPF is not even close to our level, if you think about it. They've been closed twice. They've been flooded with spam and spambots. Their vBulletin is massively outdated, glitchy and has security flaws. They have INACTIVE administrators and moderators who don't go on anymore and are currently just on Twitter and have forgotten that forum even exists. They have hideous advertisements plastered everywhere. It's gotten so bad that you now have to login with a password to view anything but Rules and Announcements, and the spam has actually buried the password thread! I'm of the opinion that they're dead. They've had umpteen second chances to turn the situation around, but they haven't taken them. Whereas our blog, CPB, is essentially dedicated to us, their blog never even mentions them!

OK, now let's take TCPCF, and when I say this I am stating fact - I don't wish to start up any flame wars: Again, they are plastered with ads. They've been hacked on a mass level. There is fighting and drama between members on a daily basis. I have the greatest respect for their staff, but even they have to admit that quite a lot of them quit dramatically. They don't have our exclusive features like the JavaScript AI, custom Arcade game and active YouTube, Twitter and Google+.

The reason I mention the JavaScript AI and custom Arcade game so much is that if you're looking for something that NO CP FORUM IN HISTORY has got, then there you go. 

As for vBulletin, it is way too expensive. Chrisdog was a rich web entrepeneur and so he could afford it. Apparently Watex has some kind of "friend" who "arranges" it for him, which is slightly shady I think.

IPBoards was mentioned by someone earlier - the cheapest option there is $10 USD/month. So, let's say we did move there. First, we'd have to do the same thing as when we changed names from TNCPCP to CPF - we'd have to change ALL the links to the right address which would also mean scrapping lots of graphics as well. Everyone would have to re-register there and EVERYTHING we have here would be lost because IPBoards isn't phpBB based so we can't just import this forum's database file. Then we come to paying for it. I could pay for the first month. The second month would probably be covered by donations. So, we have two months, possibly three. After that, the money will run out so we have to move back here and go through that long and complicated transitionary process all over again. It's a nice idea, but I'm really sorry to say that it won't work. Sorry.

So, do you see the problem?

Anyway, isn't this meant to be an advertising discussion...? Therefore, back to the topic please.

Ccpenguin

I do agree with Radio to a point. In general all ".com" domains that do not have a sub-domain ".forumotion" generally gain more traffic in the search engines. That makes it much harder to get a forum like this to get going. Notice I didn't metion anything about forum features, this forum would be GREAT if the template was worked on (In my opinion).

With that, the main wait CPCP's forum got going was because of the BLOG it has that introduced it.

Now since this forum is affiliated with CPB, CPB is a great way to attract people to the forum, but means that CPB needs a player-base on twitter and such.

But in all seriousness, to get this forum to the LEVEL of what CPCP used to be, and TCPCPF is or was (don't know their situation right now), then it will take lots of hard work.. and most of all.. TIME.

Theres my two cents.

@Breakthrough - What I'm just trying to say is that we're doing what we can in the circumstances. I really don't want us to get to CPCP and TCPCPF's level because that means hacking and spam - no offence.

I know, there are lots of things we SHOULD do but we can't without moving hosts which is what we can't do, sadly.

As for CPB on Twitter, I direct you to twitter.com/OfficialCPB. Talk to Sindar about that.

Again, I must ask that we keep to the topic. The topic is discussing ways to advertise the forum - not comparing it to others.

Ccpenguin

Ccpenguin8 wrote:@Breakthrough - What I'm just trying to say is that we're doing what we can in the circumstances. I really don't want us to get to CPCP and TCPCPF's level because that means hacking and spam - no offence.

I know, there are lots of things we SHOULD do but we can't without moving hosts which is what we can't do, sadly.

As for CPB on Twitter, I direct you to twitter.com/OfficialCPB. Talk to Sindar about that.

Again, I must ask that we keep to the topic. The topic is discussing ways to advertise the forum - not comparing it to others.

Ccpenguin

I'm afraid I have to back the others. Comparing the forum to others shows the good and bad factors, the push/pull factors. Don't compare TOO harshly, but comparing gives us a better understanding of how "they" attracted members, and how we can attract more members.

(Not arguing with a mod, just stating my opinion!!)

King Kane wrote:

Ccpenguin8 wrote:@Breakthrough - What I'm just trying to say is that we're doing what we can in the circumstances. I really don't want us to get to CPCP and TCPCPF's level because that means hacking and spam - no offence.

I know, there are lots of things we SHOULD do but we can't without moving hosts which is what we can't do, sadly.

As for CPB on Twitter, I direct you to twitter.com/OfficialCPB. Talk to Sindar about that.

Again, I must ask that we keep to the topic. The topic is discussing ways to advertise the forum - not comparing it to others.

Ccpenguin

I'm afraid I have to back the others. Comparing the forum to others shows the good and bad factors, the push/pull factors. Don't compare TOO harshly, but comparing gives us a better understanding of how "they" attracted members, and how we can attract more members.

(Not arguing with a mod, just stating my opinion!!)

1) My point is that there has been over 5 posts on 'push-pull factors' and the main focus of the thread is to discuss HOW we're going to attract members (e.g videos and Twitter). That's what I intended when I made the thread.

2) LOL, we aren't that harsh. We generally only penalise you for disrespecting moderators (quote: the rules) if we try to enforce something and a member continually attacks us, therefore preventing the course of action being taken. Try not to worry about that, we haven't punished someone for that offence in months.

Anyway, could I just request that if you want to talk about push-pull factors rather than how to advertise, please make a new thread.

Thanks,

Ccpenguin8
CPF Super Moderator

Okay, then. 

Anyway, I'm trying to advertise on "Forum Promotion" sites. You can advertise forums on sites there! (Note: there are bad features such as packages)

Anyway, my thread on [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

For Club Penguin Forum has gotten over 111 views! I think if we can all keep posting on this site, we can attract new members to OUR  forum. What do you think?