How not to get banned after your first WSO

LMAO! - thanks for this.

Now for a technical question. Even though the member has been banned, isn't her WSO still active?

Also, I'd love to see feedback on how she could have improved her WSO.

Since it's not ok to promote an existing or upcoming WSO, there really isn't any way to get feedback for improving them - is there?

I have no plans to do a WSO personally - at least not for some time. Wouldn't have a clue what to sell...

But when I do someday, it would be helpful to learn some Do's and Don'ts.

I remember when one of my threads was deleted for a similar reason and it was Becky who pointed what I could have done wrong( Thanks again Becky BTW)

We all can make mistakes at times, so this is for those who really are looking for help.

There is an option right below your reply called show signature( its right below if you are quick replying and in the miscellaneous options if you are going advanced, just be genuine and uncheck it, this way you are not self advertising in any way , and it proves that you really want help and are not in it for a quick sale or preselling your WSO.

If someone finds your request worth helping, then they will go to the WSO section themselves, find your WSO and respond to your answers, providing you with all the help you need.

But you need to be genuine 1st.

Cheers!
Rahul

In this case, the person wasn't pre-selling as the WSO was already live. My impression was that they were genuinely hoping for help but I could be wrong and naturally, the mods must err on the side of caution.

Although, since the darn thing just went live yesterday, I think they were jumping the gun on asking for feedback. If you can see the person's profile still, that usually means it's only a temporary ban.

I don't think there is an appropriate way to ask for feedback on the forum in situations like this. They would have been better off sending a PM to a few people that they've interacted with and getting opinions privately. Or suck it up, give it a week and see what happens.

Tina

What makes you wonder that?

Have you bought a WSO that you doubt was approved in it's purchased status or something?

I doubt that the moderators will go back and review the content after it's been approved. There may be reasons for a seller to change the text/content as well after approval, for example to make improvements or corrections or to add additional training.

Generally speaking, it's best never to assume why someone was banned. There are too many reasons it can happen, and too many things that could be going on that you don't see publicly.

I didn't see the thread in question, so the following isn't specific to that one. Just an example of something that happens fairly often...

Say a thread gets deleted. Happens all the time, and usually doesn't go any farther than that. It can be for any number of reasons, most of which have nothing to do with the poster.

Now, what if the poster asks why, and starts a long, nasty argument with the moderator who answered their question? Then they re-post the thread, despite knowing it was deleted.

Bang. A simple housekeeping issue turns into "extra free time" for the poster. And the odds are, very few people will even have seen the threads that led to it. Unless the moderator in question explains publicly, there's no way for you to know what happened. Assuming anything beyond "banned" is going to end up wrong in almost every case.

Rahul, Depends. For the most part, anything that looks like it's intended to promote a WSO in this section is likely to get deleted, at the very least.

Consider the number of offers made in the WSO section every week. If those posters could also start threads in the main section discussing their deals, what would this part of the board look like? Keep in mind that, since they'd have sales riding on those threads being visible, they'd keep them active and "on top."

If you even let a hint of that stuff stay up, it starts to snowball, fast. That's why the stuff gets deleted. Doesn't matter if it's a legitimate question (meaning, they really want to learn) or an attempt to increase views for the offer.

That's just looking at it from the numbers perspective. There are lots of other problems that go with it. For instance, we have some long-standing members who used to contribute a lot. They got into the promotional stuff in the discussion areas and got spanked for it. Now, you rarely see them posting.

Yeah, that sucks. It's a loss. But not nearly as big a loss as letting the forum turn into a free ad free-for-all.

MostlyHarmless, Sure. Test. Do surveys outside the forum. All the usual stuff you do to improve copy and offers.

There's one simple way to do this that would be okay here, but I'm not going to get into the details. As soon as I mentioned it, we'd get a ton of people doing it and taking over part of the board. On top of that, most of the people who'd do it would twist it to turn it into free advertising, and then claim I said it was allowed.

Dan,

PM me with the question. I'll try to help.


Paul

Bill, That's a non-issue.

I had a WSO for a book on writing, with the link in my sig. When questions came up about writing, I answered them just as I would any other time.

This is a pretty common concern. Sometimes people forget that the things they know best, and can help with the most, are also the things they're likely to be teaching. Telling someone they can't publicly contribute in areas they know the most thoroughly would be self-defeating. The thing to avoid is direct promotion.


Paul

Bill, here's one highly unofficial answer, based purely on my observations...

(How's that for a CYA?)

What I have seen allowed is to answer specific questions, and then offer your product for further information. In other words, the person posing the question has both an immediate answer and a further resource recommendation. Something like:

"If you want to align your photo on the left with your text wrapped around it, use this bit of code like this: [example]. I have a lot more tricks like that in my new ebook (in my sig) if you want more..."

That's a lot different than the following:

Original Post: How do I make my photo line up on the left side of the page and wrap my text around it?

Answer Begging to be Banned: Check my WSO [linked]...

Like I say, this is not official and the real mods will do as they see best. If you do it and get a post deleted or more, don't blame me...

I did see that thread this morning - and I'm not claiming to know why there was a ban....but

The person started a thread about "would you buy this" - it was left as the term "WSO" was not mentioned. Few days later WSO is added - then a long post starting with "this is not a promotion" proceeded to promote it and ask if it was OK to PM people asking them to buy it.

I doubt it was the intention of the person to spam the WF but if the only focus is "how I get money from the WF" you are on the wrong track.

kay