Using TITLE Tags effectively

Date: 2011.02.24 | Category: Search Engine Optimization, WebDesign | Response: 0

Microsoft Internet Explorer has supported the TITLE attribute for links since version 4.0. Netscape began supporting it in version 6.0

The TITLE attribute allows you to enter descriptive text about a link that’s displayed when the mouse moves over the link. For an example, move your mouse over the link below:

The HTML source code for this link is shown below:

<a href="http://www.europeanwebmasters.com"
  title="Click Here To Learn Foreign Adult Marketing">European Webmasters</a>

If your browser supports the TITLE attribute you should see a small popup box appear, similar to the way alternate text for images is displayed when you move your mouse over the image.

This attribute is similar to the ALT attribute for the IMG tag, both in its appearance and its limitations. The value of the attribute must be inside quotation marks, and it can only contain plain text (no HTML tags). You can include carriage returns in the title, and these will be displayed in the text. The maximum length of the TITLE text for Internet Explorer is very large; we’ve tested it with over 500 characters. Try to keep your descriptions below 25 words, though; any more than this can be hard to read and, because the search engine spiders can read this text you may be considered as spamming the engines.

The TITLE attribute is useful in places where your HTML design limits the length of your link text. That’s often the case for links in a navigation bar, especially if your page has a multi-column layout. Try using the TITLE attribute to give your visitors extra navigation information.

In addition you can also use the TITLE tag on standard text for extra information where you just don’t have the space to be as affluent as you would like. An example of this is shown below:

Use of the TITLE tag on plain text

The HTML code for this is also shown below:

This attribute is part of the HTML 4.0 standard. Internet Explorer, Netscape 6.x and Opera (Version 3.0 or higher) support it. However, the attribute degrades gracefully, visitors with non-supporting browsers (like Netscape 4.x) would see the link as if you hadn’t used the attribute.

As you can see from the above examples by using the TITLE tags effectively you can double, if not treble your use of keywords however, caution should be paid when using these features of the tag so that you don’t inadvertently spam the search engines.

Article Written By Lee

Building Your Own Opt In Mailing List

Date: 2011.02.21 | Category: Opt-in Mail | Response: 0

Despite the constant launch of ‘new and improved’ email collection programs one of the more popular emails I receive each month ask how webmasters can actually start their own opt-in email list for surfers. Surprisingly enough, this is a fairly simple process and, should only realistically take a webmaster 10-15 minutes to have an opt-in email script installed.

However, the second type of email I get from webmasters who have already installed one of these scripts is asking how they can ensure that surfers sign up to their lists this is what I will approach in this article.

One of the easiest ways to make sure surfers join your opt0in list is to offer them a financial gain by doing so, I don’t mean you should literally pay them for their email address but, why not offer them something for free? A daily picture by email, free porn site access etc etc.

The next biggest mistake I find are that webmasters simply place a collection box saying something like ‘enter your email address here for our newsletter’ and, lets be honest, it isn’t very enticing. Ideally you need to have a ‘headline’ that will catch the surfers attention and actually ‘make’ them want to join your list. Be specific yet be vague (bit hard I know) and you’ll soon see your list grow from one new subscriber a week to hundreds of them!

The next thing you need to take into consideration is how quickly, not only your site, but the page with your collection box loads, if you are using a pop-up console, make sure it is heavy in text not graphics with the first words at the top not saying ‘free porn’ but a similar meaning text, everyone and their dog has seen the words ‘free porn’ on countless other porn sites. Yours NEEDS to stand out!

You should use an effective title if you are going to be using pop-up windows for your email collection. in the title bar don’t have the window called ‘pop-up’ have it named appropriately for the niche you are trying to collect the surfers email address from. Make it relevant, make it concise.

Balance the collection page, any type of page you build for your site should at least be appealing to the eye. Meaning that your fonts, colors and actual text need to contrast together perfectly. If you do use images on this page try to have them prominent yet not overbearing to the surfer.

Offer a way to close a pop-up if this is what you are using to collect the emails after all, they (the surfer) may decide they don’t want to give you their email until they have seen what your site can offer. In the same way, make sure you have a link from your sites to your collection page so, if a surfer decides they do want to give you their email address they can do it without the need of closing your site and reloading it afresh.

Overall however, the best rule you can follow is to keep to the point and keep it simple. This way you will gain the surfers attention quickly and easily and, the surfer will not be distracted from the main purpose of having them on your site – getting to your sponsor.

Hopefully the information above will enable you to start having some more success with your traffic and, once you have the surfers email address make sure you treat it with the respect you would want your own to be treat with, an email address is a sacred thing to most surfers, if you Spam them daily they will leave your opt-in list quickly however, if you send them a ‘newsletter’ once a week / month filled with relevant information you will soon find your list growing exponentially.

Article written by Lee.

Why Go Adult?

Date: 2011.02.21 | Category: Hosting | Response: 0

When choosing a hosting company why choose an adult host over a mainstream one?

Simple, They provide above other things, a better quality of service, affordability and, most importantly, reliability.

Adult hosts face a variety of technical and support issues, this coupled with the points mentioned above makes them a far superior choice to standard mainstream hosting providers. This is one of the main factors why more and more mainstream internet based companies are now turning to the adult business forum to provide their hosting solutions.

Mainstream going adult? Yes that’s right, more and more mainstream companies are turning to our industries hosting providers for the fast speeds, security and, reliable infrastructures they can offer after all, adult sites are amongst the most prolific on the internet on average gaining more daily hits to their sites than mainstream websites so, they need to be cost efficient, not only to the hosting companies but, also to their clients, the webmaster.

Our industry strives on the use of heavy graphics, coupled with streaming media files to secure sales and longevity, this is why the adult hosting companies need to be able to provide not just a single, heavily laden server but tens of them, sometimes even hundreds all producing gigabytes of traffic on a daily basis.

Adult hosting companies are constantly upgrading their equipment in order to improve not just their servers, connectivity but also the smaller things that are often overlooked by webmasters, hubs, routers, switches and the likes along side the not so technical aspects of running a host, The staff.

Along with all of this technical equipment they also need to maintain a high level of technical knowledge, after all, not just anyone can install operating systems capable of running multi-million dollar industries. They need the knowledge to maintain, upgrade, repair and sell their services to the best of their capabilities.

What does this mean to you? Well, we all want to make money and, through the use of faster servers, e-commerce solutions and the technical support your hosting provider can give you, you will be fattening your wallet on a daily, weekly, monthly basis.

Adult hosting, quite simply, is the crème de la crème of the hosting world, they offer solid, solutions whether you are starting in the adult industry or, operate a mainstream e-commerce site.

So how do you choose a host that is right for you?

You need to ask some basic questions of the host and, do your homework. Not only should you find out what hosting solutions they can offer you but, you need to find out what their support service is like, how affordable they are in comparison to other companies who can offer similar or the same service. Whilst on the subject of hosting support, before you sign on the dotted line, give your host a call out of office hours, if they answer, then you can almost be certain they are a good hosting provider.

Of course, not all hosts will have 24 hour phone support, however, that said, some offer 24 hour icq support, email support and more.

Another sure fire way to find out if a hosting company is any good is to ask on the heavily traveled webmaster message boards, after all, you are not the only webmaster out there who will have tried this company, if they are no good, someone will know about it and point you in the direction of a reputable host like http://www.webair.com.

Hopefully, this article will have given you some insight into the world of adult hosting companies and, will assist you in making the right choice of host for your site, whatever type of website you might be hosting.

Article Written By Lee

Search Engine Themes!

Date: 2011.02.24 | Category: Search Engine Optimization | Response: 0

It’s safe to say that the ‘pay-per-inclusion’ model is rapidly catching on with today’s search engines and directories as they are forced to become profitable in a hurry. But there’s also another trend that’s come to the fore.

‘Theme indexing’ is a process used by search engines to determine an entire site’s primary theme. In other words, your complete set of Web pages is indexed as one, and defined as one.

This is why sites with multiple product lines and subject content often get poor rankings today. To learn how to combat this, let’s first look at the theme indexing process from the search engine’s point of view.

According to Search Engine World, the theme indexing search engine follows this basic 5-step progression as it ‘weighs’ what a particular site is about:

1. Page Titles
2. Meta Tags
3. Page Headings
4. Page Content
5. Links

This is a general overview of the approach – each search engine is unique, and no one has the ultimate read on every search site. But to date this has proven to be true of AltaVista, Google, Excite, Lycos and WebCrawler.

All of these belong on the ‘Who’s Who’ list of major search sites today. If it’s important that your Web business be found among them, today you must write your site with theme indexing in mind. Here’s how:

The concept itself is simple. Focus your entire site like a laser beam on a single, potent theme.

The process is ruthless. Get rid of the deadwood. Set up additional sites as needed for each individual product and service ‘family’.

In the same way that you must now invest to get indexed on Yahoo, LookSmart, Inktomi and other top directories, you need to invest in separating your activities by theme into multiple Web sites. Kick out unrelated content, links and affiliate programs that don’t relate to your market niche. Build new sites as needed, with each focusing on its own unique selling proposition. This is the first step to take in the optimization copywriting process.

Having done this, here’s how to write each site to get the best possible positioning on theme indexing search engines.

Focus Your Key Phrase.

Determine what key phrase your entire site is about – a key phrase people use often on the search engines. To pick heavily searched, popular key phrases, try Word Tracker: http://www.wordtracker.com/.

Write Your Copy. Throughout your site play variations on your key phrase theme. Every element counts: page titles, meta tags, page headings, page content, links. Remember to write for people first. Search engines are robotic, but people always want to know what’s in your site for them. Tell them what qualifies you to help, and what you have to offer. Balance using your key phrase with the benefits you deliver.

Once you’ve written your copy, search your text for generic phrases like ‘our product’ and substitute your key phrase. Use long copy where you can. Not only does it outsell shorter copy – it also makes it easier for you to write keyword-rich text.

Format Your Text.

Use key phrase bullets. They break up text copy and serve you as mini headlines with an entirely different look and feel.

Use multiple headlines to create immediate context when a visitor explores your site. Make these headlines specific by using your key phrase. Tag headlines in your source code – <H1>, <H2> or <H3> – to highlight your theme.

Write your links as mini-headlines. Often people scan pages by jumping from one link to another. Link words look very much like headlines, or highlighted words, and should deliver your primary message and key phrase.

Measure and Test.

Conventional wisdom tells us that the ideal keyword density is somewhere between 3-7%. To check this before you submit, try the free Keyword Density Analyzer: http://www.keyworddensity.com/. For a more accurate read on individual search engines, do a search under your key phrase, then take the top 3 returns, enter their URLs and try to match their percentages before you submit. Track your placement and adjust accordingly.

This is the initial approach to optimization copywriting for theme indexing search engines. Keep it simple: start here.

Article written by Lee

How To Choose A Legal Content Provider

Date: 2011.02.22 | Category: Content | Response: 0

How To Choose A Legal Content Provider.

If you spend anytime in this business no matter in what capacity, you are going to hear about how important using legal content is. Legal content is content that you have specific permission or license to use on your sites. Permission can come from your sponsor who offers you free content to promote their site, as long as certain criteria is followed. It can come from the producer of the images if he/she is a friend of yours, though I would still advise you obtain a license from them anyway. And the third way of course is to purchase content from one of the myriad of content providers out there. It is the third way I am going to discuss in this article.

Being the intelligent Webmaster you are, you have decided to purchase some legal, fresh content for your sites. Makes no difference what type of site(s) you run, free sites, TGP’s, pay sites etc. fresh, unique content is always a plus. So you begin your search for the content you are in need of. You are going to find that in most all cases you are going to find a LOT of content providers that offer what you are after. You can go to any resource board and get a list of providers that covers page after page, some more detailed in information than others. Some names you will have heard of before and some you will have never heard of, so how do you choose? Here are some of the basic questions you should ask yourself:

Do they carry the type of content I need. Seems simple enough, but if you are looking for Asian lesbian images, no sense wasting your time on a provider that specializes in Gay content. The provider’s site should be laid out that you can easily assess what they offer with the first 2 pages of their site.

What am I using the content for? This becomes very important when selecting what image packages you buy. If you are going to use the content for free sites or TGP’s where the main goal is to get them off your site and on to your sponsor, then quality is not going to be as important as price. If you plan to utilize them in a pay situation, such as AVS or members site, quality should be your first consideration.

What price am I willing to pay? By knowing what you are using the images for, you have a fair idea of what they are worth to you. Do not be fooled into thinking that buying a MEGA disc for .10 an image is a killer deal. It could be, but if the image CD only contains 100 images that you can utilize and the rest are trash, what is the point? Much better to pay a higher price per image to get exactly the kind and quality you want. Shop around of course; per image prices can vary greatly per provider.

How do I know these guys are legit? Excellent question! J More than ever these days you cannot swing a cat and not hit 100 content providers. Every college guy and his brother with a digital camera and a girlfriend think they can make a quick buck in the Adult market. I could very easily list over a dozen so called content providers right now, that have come on with incredible deals only to be gone in less than 3 months. Then the Webmaster finds out the license he has for the images are not worth the paper they printed them on. This is one of the easiest areas for a Webmaster to get ripped off in. So what to do? Research my friends, research!

a. Ask the provider for copies of the 2257’s they are required by law to have on premises. Any reputable provider will supply these to you; many include them with the license even if you don’t ask for them. Any provider that bulks at doing so upon request should be taken off your shopping list.

b. Read over the license agreement very carefully, before you buy. Not every license is the same, some allow you a certain percent of images for promotional use, such as creating banners etc. some prohibit it. How many sites and domains you can use the images on vary, as does the price they charge to add or transfer a domain or license. Remember the license is a legal document and should be treated as such.

c. Ask around! Reputation is so very important in this business and the good providers know it. Don’t be shy about asking the provider directly for references, emailing fellow Webmaster’s and even posting for comments on the boards. Make sure you get a good cross span of answers from all sources, so you can quickly weed out anyone that is deliberately trying to make a provider look bad. This could be their competition or a Webmaster that tried to use the content illegally and got busted. So make sure you ask people your respect and trust. Find out not only about how they’re prices stack up, but also about their customer service after the deal is done. And NEVER assume just because a provider is listed on your favorite resource board that they are legit. Though most resources will try and screen people they list, there is no guarantee. There is no substitute for researching it for yourself.

Following these simple guidelines will save you a lot of grief in the long run. It may take a day or two for you to get the feedback you need, but it could save you from taking down hundreds of galleries later on. Or worse, paying for a product you never receive. And trust me, that happens.

Article written by Bestat.

http://www.exclusivecontent.com.

Favicon.ico – What Does It Do?

Date: 2011.02.22 | Category: WebDesign | Response: 0

Favicon.ico is the name of the graphic Internet Explorer 5+ uses in the address bar and when someone views their favorite bookmarks. There should be one beside the address of this page now if you are using IE5+. If you want to see favicon.ico in action among your favorites bookmark our site now by right clicking and selecting ‘Add to favorites’.

Internet Explorer looks for this file in the same directory as the HTML page currently being displayed, if it cant find favicon.ico it will then display the default Internet Explorer icon in the address bar. As for viewing of favorites, IE will check its temporary folder to see if favicon.ico is there again, if it is not located it will display the default white background with a blue ‘e’ icon.

For a webmaster there are three main advantages to using the favicon.ico ‘trick’.

The first, is that it helps to brand your site with a nice little icon that is easy to recognize.

The second, is that it makes your website more professional.

The third, is that your entry will stand out in surfers bookmarks over the others. This is especially good as, if you can get a surfer back to your site then you have another chance at making a sale.

Many internet users have a multitude of site bookmarks so, you need to use favicon.ico to give you an edge. I highly recommend using it and, now I’m going to tell you how.

First, you will need to create an icon file which is exactly 16 x 16 pixels. If the icon is larger or smaller IE5+ will just ignore it. As for the colors in it, 16 is standard. You can use more colors if you want but, the more colors you use, the larger the .ico file becomes and, the longer it takes to load.

You now know the standards the favicon.ico file has to be, now to actually create this file you can take one of two routes.

The first is to convert and existing 16 x 16 BMP or GIF graphic with 16-32 colors into an .ico file using converter software making sure to save it as favicon.ico.

You know the standards the favicon.ico file has to be, now to actually create favicon.ico . The easiest way of creating a favicon.ico file is to convert an existing 16 X 16 BMP or GIF graphic with 16 – 32 colors into a .ico file using converter software making sure to save it as favicon.ico.

Once you have created your favicon.ico file all you need to do is to upload it to any directory on your server that contains html pages. This way, when IE5+ searches for favicon.ico it will be bale to find it regardless of which page you are on.

That’s nearly all the areas of favicon.ico covers apart from, what if you want different icons for different parts of your website? Can this be done? The answer is yes it can. All you have to do is place the following HTML code between the <head> and </head> tags of your web page.

<LINK REL=”SHORTCUT ICON” HREF=”differenticon.ico”> (SHORTCUT ICON should be kept in uppercase).

Now when someone adds a web page with that code to their favorites, IE5+ will not look for favicon.ico but will look for differenticon.ico and if it’s there it will display it, if not the default icon will be displayed.

Using favicon.ico or the SHORTCUT ICON code is nice way to add a unique touch to your site, and of course will result in more repeat visitors than if you were not using it – which is always good for any webmaster.

Article Written By Le

Designing A 404 Error Document

Date: 2011.02.21 | Category: WebDesign | Response: 0

Designing A 404 Error Document.

Now that we know how to use .htaccess let’s get into how exactly to effectively design a 404 error document page. Here are a few tips when building your document:

Keep The Design Constant.

That is, whatever design your web site supports, consider keeping that design when building your error document. This is not mandatory, however. If you have a good reason to stray from your design, then do so. Otherwise, keep it constant.

Use Attractive Dialog.

Do not use the word error. Error signifies something is terribly wrong, and while that may be so, you should give that information to your visitor in a very friendly way. Instead, consider writing “Sorry, the page you were looking for is not available at the moment”.

Include Contact Information.

Obviously, you want to fix the error, so give the user every opportunity to e-mail you about the error. Some users will not bother to do so, but you still need to give them the opportunity.

Keep The Visitor Moving.

Often, 404 error pages are like road blocks, or brick walls that the user cannot pass through. You need to break through the barriers and allow the visitor to keep traveling through your web site. If your web site supports a search capability, include a form on your error document to let them search for the information they were originally seeking. At the very least, include a link to your home page.

Give Them A Site Map.

When the user clicks upon a page that is no longer available, or was mistyped by the webmaster, consider adding a link to a site map page, or include your site map right on your 404 error document, so the user can get their bearings within your site, and can locate their desired content quickly and easily.

Give Them Help.

List tips on your error document page to help the visitor diagnose the error. For example, ask them to double check the URL in their browser’s address bar. If it’s correct, politely ask them to e-mail you to report the error. Also suggest that they visit your home page (or search utility) to find the information they are after.

List Some Popular Links.

Provide the user with a few links to your most popular content areas of your web site, as it is more likely they were searching for that content than anything else.

As you have seen, error documents are more important than you may think. Merely having a custom error page shows you have put forth effort on your web site and want to help the user find the information they need. Error documents are easy to create and adds professionalism to any web site.

Article written by Lee

What On Earth Is CGI?

Date: 2011.02.24 | Category: WebDesign | Response: 0

Let’s unlock a little bit of the mystery about something called CGI. If it helps any, CGI means Common Gateway Interface.

This is a method which is used to swap data between the server (the hardware and software that actually allows you to get to your web site) and a web client (your browser). CGI is actually a set of standards where a program or script (a series of commands) can send data back to the web server where it can be processed.

Typically, you use standard HTML tags to get data from a person, then pass that data to a CGI routine. The CGI routine then performs some action with the data.

Some of the more common uses of CGI include:

Guest books – The CGI routine is responsible for accepting the data, ensuring it is valid, sending an email acknowledgement back to the writer, perhaps sending an email to the webmaster, and creating the guest book entry itself.

Email Forms – A simple CGI forms routine just formats the data into an email and sends it back to the webmaster. More complicated routines can maintain a database, send an acknowledgement and validate data.

Mailing List Maintenance – These routines allow visitors to subscribe and unsubscribe from a mailing list. In this case, the CGI routine maintains a database of email addresses, and the better ones send acknowledgements back to the visitor and webmaster.

A CGI routine can be anything which understands the CGI standard. A popular CGI language is called PERL, which is simple to understand and use (well, compared to other languages). PERL is a scripting language, which means each time a PERL routine is executed the web server must examine the PERL commands to determine what to do. In contrast, a compiled language such as C++ or Visual Basic can be directly executed, which is faster and more efficient.

Okay, in a nutshell (and greatly simplified), here’s how it works:

1) You (the webmaster) specify a form tag which includes the name of the CGI routine.

2) You create HTML tags which retrieves data from your visitors.

3) Each of the input tags includes a variable name. The data which is retrieved from the visitor (or directly set if the tag includes the “hidden” qualifier) is placed in the variable name.

4) When the visitor presses the “submit” button, the CGI routine which was specified in the form tag is executed. At this time, the CGI routine “takes control”, meaning the browser essentially is waiting for it to complete.

5) This CGI routine can get data from variable names. It retrieves the data and does whatever action is required.

6) When the CGI routine finishes, it returns control back to the browser.

Some important things to remember about CGI routines:

You can install CGI routines on your own site if your host allows it http://www.webair.com is an example of a web host which allows for CGI routines. Some web hosts do not allow you to install your own routines but do provide some pre-written ones to you. If these are not sufficient for your needs, you can find a remote hosting service to provide the necessary functions.

Generally, if you install your own routines they must be installed in the cgi-bin directory of your site. This is a special location which allows scripts and programs to be executed.

CGI routines work best on Apache-style servers. Windows NT and Windows 2000 does support CGI, but it tends to be slow and problematic.

If you use a remote hosting service, you must remember that although they appear to be giving you this for free, you are actually paying a price. Usually they want to display advertisements, although some of them actually take visitors away from your site.

When you write a CGI routine, you have the choice of a scripting language like PERL or a compiled language such as C++ or Visual Basic. Anything which can execute on the web server is acceptable.

I hope this short introduction to CGI has cleared up some of the mystery.

Article written by Lee

Using JavaScript To Auto Scroll Text

Date: 2011.02.24 | Category: Scripts | Response: 0

Using JavaScript To Auto Scroll Text.

There may come a time when you would like to have some text on a page that is simply just to big to fit on a single page. Of course, you could always create a new document for this text but, what if you could make the text actually scroll through the surfers browser?

The following JavaScript will do just that.

Place the following section of JavaScript coding between your <head> and </head> tags:

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE=”JavaScript”>
<!–

function scrollit() {
for (I=1; I<=1200; I++) window.scroll(1,I);
}

// –>
</SCRIPT>

Along with the following JavaScript coding someone in the Body of your page:

<FORM>
<INPUT type=button value=”scroll” onClick=”scrollit()”>
</FORM>

Have a play around with the numbers in the first section of the JavaScript to speed up and slow down the rate of scrolling until you find a speed that is easy on the eye.

Article written by Lee

Message Boards – Getting The Postings

Date: 2011.02.23 | Category: General | Response: 0

There are plenty of free scripts available on the web which will enable you to start your own online discussion forum.

However, having the most sophisticated and advanced features in a forum does not mean it will be successful by any means. It is the people who post on the forums that make them good not the scripts used to maintain them. This article is dedicated to getting people posting on your forums.

It can be really quiet on your forum especially at the beginning when there are no real discussions going on, this is because people don’t want to be the first to post. They want to see some topics that interest them already being discussed, they want to be able to read through some posts first before having to post themselves. With this in mind, you should also be aware that just because a forum doesn’t seem busy, it can in fact get thousands of hits a day. Lurkers make message boards what they are, and, for this reason alone you should act professionally and courteously when making posts on any forums, one day, you might have to do business with one of these so-called ‘lurkers’ and, if they have seen you in a bad light on a forum, the chances are they wont want to know you. So what do you do to get your message board off the ground? There are a number of things actually and, some of these are as follows.

First of all, make sure the signup process is as simplistic as possible, even better, ensure if the user doesn’t want to register, they don’t have to! To attract people to post on your boards why not get a few of your friends together and start some discussions of your own, you could even register a couple of different usernames so that your forums look busier than they actually are thus cementing the thought that your forums are active and will have worthwhile discussions taking place.

To find some current topics for your forums why not visit some of the other message boards and see what people are discussing, if a topic is receiving a lot of interest, post about it on your forums. This is especially a good idea if your forums are specific to one area after all, if your competitions forums posters are interested in this topic, your forums users will be too.

Another great way to get people to start talking on your discussion forums is to use a contest. For example, currently on European Webmasters we have a content giveaway whereby for each post you make you gain a point and, once you have reached a certain level of points you will be able to download exclusive content sets. If you are going to start a competition then make sure people are aware of it, post some information about it online and get something to giveaway that everyone wants.

One other method to get additional posts is to put up subject lines and links to the topic threads from your main website page. Again, if you publish articles on your site create a link to your discussion forums and invite people to openly discuss the articles in question, not only will you get people posting on your message board but, you will also gain invaluable information from your user as to what they look for and want in articles you write.

If you publish a newsletter, again, this is another great way to build interest in your message board. Simply ask them to post, tell them you are building up a great resource and, you need their help as much as you need theirs to make this happen. If you have provided them with high quality information in your newsletter the chances are they will repay you by posting on your message board.

In conclusion, you should basically try and plug your message board wherever you can by doing the above, create banners for it and display them on your website, place a note in your signature file encouraging people to visit and post if they require assistance with anything. Its hard work but, once you have a few regular posters it will take off.

Article Written By Lee