Getting the Word Out Contest!

[Andy]

Well, you all know Young Writers Online is a new site. To put it simply, we need to get the word out, and we need your help to do it.

So, we're making a contest! You'll get points to spend in the bookstore by how many times you link to us, and how many people you refer to the site.

Each referral: 20 points
Each link: 7 points
Each submission to Digg, Del.ici.ous, StumbleUpon: 7 points

For the referral, all a new member has to do it type your name in the referral box when they register. You get the points automagically. In addition, we'll give away more points based on how many people you refer.

1st: 150 points
2nd: 75
3rd: 50

For links, it's a bit different. When you post a link to our site on your blog, another forum, or another site, copy the url address of the page where your link is and post it in this thread. At the end of October, we'll look through all the links you posted and award points accordingly.

To make linking to us easier, you can visit our Links Page (http://www.youngwritersonline.net/links.php) and choose an image or text link that suits you. Then it's just a matter of copying and pasting the code below it.

In addition, if you've registered at Digg, Del.ici.ous, or StumbleUpon (networking sites), you can click the buttons at the top-right of any thread page to submit that page. You'll earn points for that in the same way you get points for a normal link.

All that we ask is that you please not spam other sites with our links. Don't do anything that will make that site's webmaster remove the links.

Good luck to everyone! We're counting on you! (Really, we are) ;)

[jordanisonfire]

The only way I think I can advertise is Bebo. But that didn't really get TW any members (that I know of), so I won't bother. Most people thought the Bebo Group was just a place to post what they were working on and stuff, not an actual advertisement for a site.

[Andy]

Don't you have a blog? You can post a link there.

Yeah, I got the impression Bebo didn't do much. Can't remember anyone saying they arrived through myspace, either. Or facebook, even.

[jordanisonfire]

I have a blog, but I don't really see the point in it. Methinks I shall delete it. Looks like I have no ways of advertising. Have you told TW about this site? I thought some of them would want to be here.

[Andy]

About 6 other people at TW know, excluding you. Imelda knows, too, but I had to promise I wouldn't go around trying to spam or steal members.

And links to YWO are good, even if nobody uses them. The more pages link to our site, the higher they'll rank in Google (seriously, that's part of how they do it).

[jordanisonfire]

Well, it's third in the list for searches (when you search Young Writers Online). As for how I got here, Shaun invited me to join via e-mail.

[Andy]

Well, it's third in the list for searches (when you search Young Writers Online). As for how I got here, Shaun invited me to join via e-mail.
But most people will probably search for "young writers" and not our actual site name. And for a search for that, our ranking is, obviously, terrible.:)

[jordanisonfire]

Well, you never know, they may search it with Online. Best to just hope and pray. :rolleyes:

[Ichigo]

I was thinking maybe we should get some of the older members from TW who quit for whatever reasons to join up here. But I don't really have contact with many of them...

[Shaun]

Yes, I agree, trying to get old TW members who left TW for whatever reason would be a good idea. We need to increase our users fast to get this forum really bustling with activity. As of right now there's not much need for moderating cause everyone that was invited follows the rules by default anyway :P

[jordanisonfire]

Well, Imelda doesn't like us stealing members from TW, but oh well, she'll just have to deal with it. :D

[Shaun]

Well, I don't consider us stealing members if we invite people from TW. Besides, of the people who might join, I have no clue how many will be active. We invited a few people already from TW. Mostly they were people who supported Andrew and I way back when. We shouldn't go about it with the intent to steal members, but more with the intent to offer a new place for people to put their work.

Edit: Fixed that, meant shouldn't, not should!

[jordanisonfire]

Are you missing out words here, Shaun? You say you want to steal members. ;)

[Andy]

I know a bunch of people like that, once of whom just left it for no reason. :confused: I'll go contact some of them.

EDIT: Does anyone remember Ben (thecritic)? He was someone who left at some point, saying TW was going downhill. Should we invite him?

AbsolouteWrite also has this section for press releases:
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=34

[Ichigo]

Yeah...I'll try to talk to some. But the only one of them I talk to a lot is like SnipSnap....and we don't really want him here.

YES WE WANT BENNY-BOO
..*hem*

[jordanisonfire]

Ben was cool. I never knew him, but he had the right ideas. If only we still had contact with him...

[jordanisonfire]

Ah, voilà! After some snooping on the Members List of TW, logged off, of course (:whistle:), I've discovered he has a Skype profile. Not sure if he uses it still, but it's a lead. He also has a WordPress account.

thecritic06 - Skype

http://thecritic.wordpress.com/

[Andy]

He abandoned his blog a long time ago. I send an e-mail to his most recent address yesterday - hopefully he'll be on Skype and we could contact him that way. Nice work, Shadow.

[jordanisonfire]

Always happy to help. And thanks for the thanks. :)

[Ichigo]

Should we like make a list or something of members we want to come over here? Or is that to....strange...

[Andy]

Well, if you know anyone close to you, of course you can e-mail them and invite them yourself.

[Shaun]

Yes, I think the idea of inviting specific members from other sites is very touchy. If you know them personally, yes, of course, invite them. But just talking to people randomly might get us in some trouble with TW or YWS, or wherever. that we have to be very careful with. We don't want to hurt our relationships with other sites. I don't know if our letter to YWS is visible to all members--I don't think it is--but we probably should post it up so all of you can see what we wrote to them. Our goal is to create positive relationships with sites similar to ours not because we want to take their members, but because we feel that such relationships are beneficial to everyone across the board. People who pop into YWS or maybe feel out of place there might find our site more to their liking, or it could happen the other way around. So, it could be great for all of us to have those good relationships.

However, if you're in a writing group, or anything at all that you think you can give us a plug for without getting in trouble, please do so. Any good advertising is good!

[Tncowgirl]

I found a good way to put it on other sites with out causeing harm (lease no one has said anything to me yet) was just put it in your sig, like mine is

My blog, and random sites I hang around in. :P

random and sites are both links. one to YWS one to YWO (here). That way it isn't screaming it to the others but it also draws attention. Ok, that was random but sometimes random is good. :D

[Andy]

I don't think TW would allow that. I put this site as my homepage at TW - it only appears on my profile to show where I'm from - and Joe deleted it and sent me a nasty message. So...:mad:

For other sites, though, I think it would be a good idea. Just as long as it isn't blatant advertising. Like, if you made a brief list of your favorite links and put it in there, that's probably okay. Exactly what you suggested. *Thanks*

[Quietus]

Are we allowed to slander other sites/people? I suppose not...

[Andy]

No, no slandering, please. We don't want any arguments breaking out.

[Quietus]

Alright, i'll remember that... I'll edit the post.

[Shaun]

No, I'd prefer we not have a slandering fest on here or anywhere, as much as I would like to see Joe gone. Let it work itself out. I may be talking to Imelda though, because quite honestly he's overstepping his bounds here.

[jordanisonfire]

I told Joe I didn't give a shit what he thought in reply to his cocky PM. Obviously, he loves his power on TW. Anyway, I don't think we should slander other sites. Despite TW having a few corrupt Forum Leaders, the majority of people on the site are good people. As for the YWS, they're as pure as angels on their site (because of the greater number of rules on the site), so, if any of them join this site, we can't expect any trouble, really.

[Shaun]

Well, the problem is we're apparently not allowed to talk about YWO anymore on TW, which seems stupid because other sites can be discussed just fine. I think the failure with YWS on TW was more due to a lot of miscommunication, but I really wasn't very involved when all that happened. Hopefully, though, our interaction with YWS and the email/letter we sent them will come to great effect. We want a good relationship with them even if having one with TW seems difficult. We want peace and civility, but that means other places have to be that way too.

[Tncowgirl]

I think YWS will be cool with it, I think one of the things they have going for them that TW doesn't is that they don't cuss every other thread :'(. Oh well, so I'm going to go see if I can get a few friends to join. :D

[Shaun]

Well, we don't mind cursing here, however, we don't want excessive cursing. I mean, saying damn or hell, is fine, but we certainly don't want areas where discussion is going on and all we have is lots of cursing. Cursing for literary purposes is perfectly acceptable. But yeah, the cursing should very well be kept to a minimum. We don't want it to become a regular feature...

[Carraka]

Damn. No excessive cursing. And you know what? I'm not very disappointed. Anyway, I posted a link on my blog: www.carraka.wordpress.com.

I don't think there's anywhere else I can really advertise it, but I'll talk about it with my writing friends! Oh wait, I don't have any writing friends. x.x

[Shaun]

I noticed your blog :). I added it in my bookmarks and I'll probably subscribe to it eventually. Blogs go through a phase with me. I find one that is somewhat interesting, save it in my bookmarks, come back to it in a little bit, see if anything interesting happened, and then add it to my Google Reader, where it sits for a while before getting moved to an appropriate folder in my blog and ultimately onto my blog roll.
So, you have hope :P.
Feel free to read my blog too :D. And thanks for linking YWO!

[Carraka]

Well, it's a brand-new blog, and I don't quite know what I'm doing with it yet. But it's nice to finally have one. Because I can link to stuff. (: I'll put your blog on my blogroll too, for good measure. I've been reading it, but it's been an on-and-off thing.

[Tncowgirl]

Oh I know that, I dont think it will get as out of hand as it did over there.

[Ichigo]

I've invited Adam (ADH093) he said he's like to join I think....but then he like DISAPEARED!