Are free advertising boards a waste of time?

Not if you are consistent.

Of course everyone will admit that all these free advertising boards floating around the net can benefit the board owners but what about the free posters? In short, the free poster has nothing to loose and if they stay consistent and reply to those re-post notices you can absolutely build some side traffic to your site.

These boards certainly can't generate enough traffic to be any sites primary source of advertising but there are a few techniques you can try in order to improve your results:

1. First of all - read and obey the board terms! This has to be one of the most common mistakes when it comes to failed board campaigns. Don't use a frame breaking script or pop-up windows. Your ad won't be of any use when it's just going to be deleted by the board administrator.

2. Never use deceptive titles or subject lines. I see this all the time and I have to laugh at the sheer ignorance of these posters. As the administrator of a few boards myself, I simply delete these post as soon as I find them. As a fellow site owner looking for ways to promote and make a profit, when I find these same ads I would never give them the time of day. Why would anyone? They just lied to you to get you to look at their ad. If any one thing screams, 'Amateur', it has to be these types of childish and deceptive tactics.

3. If it's allowed, try to post several ads using different wording on each board and watch which one gets the most attention. On the boards I run, you can post as many times as you like as long as you use a separate email address for each post.

4. Deception is wrong but there's nothing wrong with being a little creative. Don't get me wrong, the line should be clear and I'm referring to creative attention getters rather than the actual verbiage used. Here's a few examples but if your not sure if your allowed to use these then always check with the board administrator first. These are actual examples that caught my eye:

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**W@W!!

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=====> Psst!

F R E E S I T E T R A F F I C

Here's my favorite: (