Trying to outsource forum postings...

by 56 replies
71
I´m trying to outsource forum postings at freelancer, and by that I mean posting in a forum and actually trying to be helpful, give good info which hopefully drives traffic, not just posting a short message in order to get a link.

But the bids I´ve received seem to misunderstand what I´m trying to achieve, is it easy to get these types of jobs done, have you outsourced this successfully which has resulted in a boost in traffic?

Sincerely
Karl
#main internet marketing discussion forum #forum #outsource #postings
  • Hi there , if you are buying forum posts you will get only a load of ****ty posts like ''wow thanks great info'' etc.. It depends what you actually need, if you pay someone to add you quality content on your forum you will have to pay more , but yeah this will for sure add a big value on your site. How much was you paying before?
    • [1] reply
    • Why would you not have enough time to post 30 messages a day to three or four forums? They're the easiest backlinks to get.
  • No, I want a poster who write good long and helpful posts on other forums which has a lot of traffic (site name in signature) just like here on warriorforum, but people seem to misunderstand that task.
  • Banned
    Outsourcing forum posting is something that should only be done by a person you trust.

    Plus, the person needs to have some sort of expertise in online marketing to be able to post insightful, valuable, and proper comments.

    Might be best to choose someone who you already know and trust.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • ok, I guessed that too, unfortunately I don´t know anyone that can do that, can you point me in the right direction?
  • Maybe you are asking the wrong people.. I dont know what site you are using to outsource but you should probably use a marketing or social media company for this... not some dude with xrumer.

    Maybe hire some "data input" company and just tell them to actually make good quality posts and demand links for each post they make.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • There are few important tasks in IM which you should never "outsource". Forum postings should not be outsourced at all. Do you think people will simply click your signature link just because you have posted a thread or a reply ? You are mistaken.

      No one looks at the Signature Link at all. It's just by the way. When the replies or the threads that you post are valuable and helps many, that is the time, people look at the signature and want to know what this person is all about. That is when you will start getting real traffic.

      If you outsource this job, you will end up in getting negative traffic meaning, negative publicity about you will begin and you will lose your battle.

      So please don't do that mistake.
      • [ 3 ] Thanks
      • [1] reply
  • Hiring someone to post forum replies can be extremely tricky. Many forum marketers make ridiculous one line posts, which will obviously be of no benefit to you.

    However, you should not rule out the benefits that a good forum poster can bring to you. IF you can find someone who posts intelligent, informative and helpful replies on forums such as this one, people will click on your signature.

    The most difficult part is obviously finding someone who is able to make such posts in large quantities. You should be willing to spend $$$, and should only make this investment if you are sure that the turnover rate is going to be high.

    I know people who have hired people to do their forum posting on various forums, and a lot of them have been incredibly successful. Good luck!
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • I would love to get paid for leaving forum post . I do it all throughout the day in my niche anyway. The problem is that for someone to leave relevant, thoughtful post they have to be knowledgable in your niche. What is the niche, IMing???

    Not sure if it is ok to do business over these forums but I really am interested, if your niche is in something I know about of course. You can PM me if you are interested. Hope you find what you are looking for.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • What I like to do is to interview the applicants before hiring. I used ODesk and chat with them to get a clear understanding of what they're like.

    Sometimes they'll say on their application that their English skills are great but when I interview them, it really puts them to the test and I'll be able to tell how well they can communicate in English.

    Get your questions answered in advance and make sure you have a good fit before you commit to paying them.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • I will be glad to do the post for you. It is better to have a thread a day .. some thoughtful answer post and even some idle chit chat with other members. This should take about 4 hours a day but since you are a Warrior I will give you the $600 a half day discount.
    • [ 2 ] Thanks
  • oDesk does have a set of better outsourcers than others. Btw, do you intend to outsource your Warrior Forum posts as well? ;-).

    On a more serious note, forum postings are supposed to be a reflection of your opinion. A forum member is expected to contribute and participate in the discussions while gaining knowledge in the process. You will not be able to do that if you use a hired poster because a person that you hire would be more interested in completing his quota of postings than make contributions of any value. Thus the objective of joining a forum would be diluted if you use outsourced posting services.
  • You have to be willing to pay a bit more to hire someone who will understand exactly what you want (and who won't yes you to death and then take the lazy way out by posting one liners that offer no helpful information).
    • [1] reply
    • Banned
      The difficulty here, Karl, if I may say so, is that in order to outsource this task to someone who can regularly and reliably do it in a way which will genuinely help your business is (in internet marketing terms) a "highly skilled" job. Remember that the person undertaking this work for you is effectively representing you, and your business, in public. Not only might it be difficult to find someone with the appropriate skill-set, but one has to ask oneself, if people really have those skills, why would they want to spend their time doing it for others rather for their own businesses? :confused:

      I'd love to find someone I could trust to do this for me exactly as I do it myself, but I'm not holding out too much hope. The hiring process alone, with all the trial and error and verification it would involve for me, would itself also be terribly time-consuming.
      • [ 2 ] Thanks
      • [2] replies
  • Paid Forum Posting – Content Creation Services » Order / Pricing

    paid forum posting offer this service / 3rd party posts, but many forums would probably wipe your posts if they found out you were a clone ?
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • Hey Challe, it's not all that difficult. The link try posted above has been recommended here several times. (A search might come up with some of them, but some are probably more than a year old, so you won't be able to get to them.)

      I haven't used the service myself but 2 writers here mentioned that they used to work for them, and recommended them. They were both people I respect.

      One solution that I have used myself goes like this. To to the support forum for the forum software that you are using, and offer to exchange posts with a few other forum owners. If you are using Simple Machines, go to the SMF support forum.

      There are plenty of people there just starting forums and with the same problem you have, starting a forum. When I tried it, I also got a person who fit the niche my forum was for, and made excellent posts.

      I did also get one person who wasn't good at all, but it was easy to handle. It takes about 2 seconds to delete a post.
      • [1] reply
  • This is a touchy subject. I think you can definately have it done, but i would think the cost would outweight the benefit since you are going to need to have a native english speaker.

    My advice would be to get a good VA - virtual assistant, and have them do it for you instead of finding someone skilled in this
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • There's just something that I can't quite put my finger on when trying to understand the logic of outsourcing forum posts. It clearly isn't an oxymoron, nor a paradox, but it does seem counter-intuitive.
    I'm essentially looking for someone to represent me in a community. Not in the sense of a paid testimonial as such, but something close?
    This will keep me entertained for the next couple hours I'm sure.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • It's like saying:

    "Hi, I've got a pot belly and I'd like to have a six pack. I don't really want to hit the gym, or eat less.

    However, I do understand these things are important in order for me to succeed and have the body I want.

    For this reason, I decided to outsource this on Elance, but they just don't get it. Can someone here please help me? I really want that six-pack because there is a girl in my office I'm trying to attract..."



    • [ 3 ] Thanks
  • There are lots of writers here on this forum that would do what you want for 3 to 5 cents a word with a daily minimum. And they'd do a great job too. If you aren't willing to pay in that range then you can almost completely forget about getting the kind of quality you're after. Good luck.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • ok, this seem to be more difficult than I had imagined, guess I should try cancel the project, and hire some to do some seo instead...
    • [2] replies
    • Banned
      Did you at least investigate the lead @tryinhere gave you?
    • And what happens when you find it more expensive or harder to accomplish than you thought in that arena? Making money online is not about posting on the WF or about SEO for Google. It is about having a converting offer and sending targeted traffic to that offer.

      Now quit trying to get everyone else to make it for you and build a buy button.
      • [ 3 ] Thanks
  • I would never outsource forum link building. It's a sure fire way to get your site a bad rep from people looking to make a quick buck
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Banned
    How can you be helpful if you're not actually posting yourself?
    Could you actually be sure the person posting isn't posting junk?
    There's enough junk posted here to endorse that theory.
    If you can't be bothered to post yourself it takes away the whole
    reason forums were started.
    At this rate people will be outsourcing breathing next.
    • [1] reply
    • Banned
      Not unlike the use of automation tools. :rolleyes:
  • Unless the person posting for you has as much an interest in your business as you do, you won't get the quality you are looking for.

    When you are forum posting your objective is (or should be) to provide high-quality, relevant information that others will find helpful. When the job is outsourced, the poster's objective is to complete the task as quickly as possible for pay.

    Because you are looking for someone you don't know to essentially be the public face of your business, you risk a lot by outsourcing this job.
  • I think your best bet would be to hire yourself a VA on a part time or full time basis. List knowledge requirement in your niche on the job posting. Head on over to jobstreet.com if you talk to support they might give you the first job posting for free. Follow a good hiring process. I haven't read this outsourcing pdf but it looks promising.
  • I'm willing to bet that you could do the posting yourself. How many forum posts are you looking to have done per day?
  • Man, if you believe that forums are simply places to post links then you're gonna miss out on a lot of stuff - and money.

    This kind of attitude towards business isn't healthy and eventually leads to being broke.

    You need to focus on creating value instead of sucking the life out of forums and trying to beat the system.
  • [DELETED]
    • [1] reply
    • Well I think you read it wrong ( or I did ) but he wanted a clone of himself not someone to post under their own name.

      See fin above, he has used a clone to post in his account / from this point on wards would the real fin stand up ?

      His complete cred had been shot and is now worthless and he may as well also go and find a belly dancer to run away with, and he is not the only person using low grade poor english speaking sheeple clones here one would guess.

      The practice is no better than spam in any way you look at it. your paying people to post for the sake of the pushing the Sig. a bit like a human xrummer / drummer boy post.
      • [2] replies
  • Banned
    [DELETED]
  • Outsourcing forum posting job is something you should be cautious of. Most online workers only post non-sense stuff that might be related to spamming. Hence, if you can't handle doing the task by yourself then better outsource it to someone you trust - to someone who leaves meaningful posts to forums. Best of luck! these employees are rare nowadays but you'll find someone eventually.
  • OP - I used to do this kind of work as part of the social media marketing that I offer to clients. The client I had was also into social media marketing. My job was to post status updates, participate in forum/community discussions and whenever possible, help other people.

    I did this for the client's facebook personal profile and fan page, google plus profile and page, as well as his linkedin profile. It took about four hours to six hours a day...practically a full time work.

    It was like I took over my client's online persona.

    One time, he got into trouble at work. He called in sick. Unknowingly, I posted a facebook status update with the location specified. Someone from his office found this and he got suspended. To make the long story short, I had to prove to HR that it was me that made the status update for him.
  • Forum posting can definitely be outsourced....but it does take a little bit of time and practice to find good and reliable posters. I personally like Odesk as well as some of the others here and i find that it is a great place to get quality posters as long as you know what your doing.

    The best way to go about this is to hand select people based on their past experience and their expertise / feedback. If you make your job public you will have a lot of people apply to it who have no idea how to even do forum posting or who will probably spam the forums. Once you have contacted a couple people and they apply, just interview each of them and ask for examples of similar work they've done in the past.

    One last little trick that i like to do is to give them a very small job (like post to just 1 or 2 forums) with very detailed instructions and use this as a test to see how they perform. If they do a terrible job then you didn't waste much money and you can move on.
  • I have outsourced this job before. Like Gerald mentioned earlier, you need to hire trustworthy and someone who understands your niche market very well. My bad experience was...the person I hired has good feedback and he is very good in forum posting. Problem is, he is not familiar with my niche market.

    Conclusion: He was having a hard time and did not perform that well.

    All the best to you!
  • Why not find someone who is already an active poster on that forum and offer to rent there signature?
  • If you are going down this road I'd highly recommend you getting a full-time VA to do it. At least then they will be accountable to you and won't just start posting garbage that will get traced back to you and make you look bad...

    Whatever niche your in, go and give them some general reading on the subject so that they will have some idea of what they're talking about.

    Also, in the beginning just have hanging out and posting in the "Welcome Area" threads til they comfortable - and whatever you monitor them for the first few weeks til you know they doing the job well
    • [1] reply
    • I hate this thread because it basically takes the piss out of forums and people like myself who come to interact with and learn from real people not hired help. Now I'm sitting here trying to imagine just who on this forum is fake besides the one liners.

      Can't imagine CDarklock being a fake he's too funny, or TPW, or even Paul Myers. Alexa I'm astonished at, don't think anybody could write exactly the way she does. Fin lol

      Anyway I'm not a fake and nor would I pay anybody else to be me. That would be like hiring a ventriloquist to put words in your mouth.

      Will the real members reveal themselves

      Whoops did I say that!
      • [ 2 ] Thanks
      • [1] reply
  • I guess it's better for you to hire someone to do SEO for you and not only doing forum posting. Also, it's better if you pay him on a monthly basis rather than paying him per forum post or per project.
  • Hi Karl,

    Here are some things I believe you should consider before developing a hiring campaign for the forum posters you need:

    1. Do the exact tasks you need done, exactly how you need them done. Time yourself. For instance, you could most likely need your forum posters to:

    • Search for contextually relevant, high authority Web forums in your niche with large membership, readership and mailing list subscriber bases, as well as top ranking discussion thread pages in Google, for your target keywords...
    • Register as a new member in those forums, using their real names, or at least real sounding names, if that presents some privacy issues, then complete their profiles with photos or the logo banner of your site and so on...
    • Read the forum posting rules implemented by the forums...
    • Contribute beneficial info and advice in those forums, to establish themselves in those forums as friendly, expert resources of useful info, advice, products and services...
    • Document the tasks they completed, in a spreadsheet...

    2. In terms of work output volume that complies with your overall quality standards and requirements: Your ideal hourly output is what you completed in an hour, i.e. Number of forums where you registered accounts with, completed profiles on, number of posts and number of words per post. Since that's your ideal output, reduce it by 50%, since you most likely know a lot more about relevant topics, than others who don't have specialized expertise in your niche. This is your hourly quota. Increase this a bit, when you just need them to contribute in forums where they've already posted on. For instance, you can ask them to work two full weeks on the same forums, and start the cycle again to find new forums to register accounts with, complete profiles on and contribute in those new forums for another two full weeks, and so on.

    3. Develop a set of instructions for a batch of tasks that can serve as a test that simulates one work day of tasks you need from one forum poster. Ask them to point your links to an article of yours in an article directory that you don't care too much about, since this is a test. You don't want your site to be associated with forum posters that won't pass your test, because those forum posters could most likely post low quality, non-sensical, irrelevant or wrong info and advice.

    4. Hire those who pass your test as part time or full time dedicated forum posters, especially those with relevant expertise and knowledge in your niche.

    You can get 200 to 600 unique visitors, per month, with one full time forum poster who knows what he or she is doing. An initial run, before you reach this forum traffic estimate, is two months, on average, primarily because the reputation of your posters need to initially be established in those Web forums.
  • Banned
    [DELETED]

Next Topics on Trending Feed

  • 71

    I´m trying to outsource forum postings at freelancer, and by that I mean posting in a forum and actually trying to be helpful, give good info which hopefully drives traffic, not just posting a short message in order to get a link. But the bids I´ve received seem to misunderstand what I´m trying to achieve, is it easy to get these types of jobs done, have you outsourced this successfully which has resulted in a boost in traffic?