You probably have seen the side effects of our advertising strategy. The buttons of other sites, the advertisements that at times spike enormously, the facebook page, the twitter account recently created, the requests to vote etc. However, we are diligently applying ourselves even if at times players feel a little uncomfortable with these side effects. Obviously we wouldn't be doing it if we didn't think it important to our very survival.
Q. Why do you advertise? Isn't AoI fine just as it is?
A. We want you to have fun and continue to have fun. In order to do that you'll need enough players to write with. That is a bit simplistic, but the group of players is not constant. Real life happens, sometimes players fade or grow different interests. In short they quit. So, we need to replace them with new enthusiastic writers or see ourselves become smaller and smaller as a community.
Providing lots of material and guidance for new players as well as a sweet skin with good navigation is but one side of the coin. We need to have players find us first. Thus, we advertise.
We are not planning on changing the fundamental atmosphere of our game community. All through the last 6 years we have balanced through 20 to 30 characters and it is likely to stay that way, or only grow marginally larger. However, the advertising is a maintenance that ensures our long term survival.
Q. What kind of advertising does AoI do?
We participate in all of the following:
- advertising on other sites (this requires a so called link back area)
- advertising on special advertising boards (e.a. pbem2.org)
- participating on toplists that belong to our niche of the market
- participating on resource sites for games with signature link backs
- we have a facebook fan page that sees occasional posting
- we have a twitter account with near daily tweets
- We stimulate mouth to mouth advertising by our players
Note that our biggest referal rate comes from Google. How do you advertise on Google without paying buckloads of money? You don't, but use Search Engine Optimalization. You make sure that under the right keywords your site comes up on the first few pages. That is a combination of meta tags in the coding of the site, judicious use of keywords in titles of threads, the right keywords in adverts etc. Each link we post on sites relevant to our content improves our rating according to google.
Q. What are the results?
A. Due to excessive advertising among other things we rank very well on our relevant keywords. Nearly always on the first page unless it is a keyword shared by a graphical game. This means that any potential player interested in our setting has an easy way of finding us.
Are the new players coming? Yes, they are, not in large quantities but significant enough. In our small community four or five new players a year has a huge impact. In the past we have had months, sometimes more than a year, between new players. They now come more rapidly, though it is very season dependant. We have learned to expect surges in September/October and April/May. Summer & Christmas are by nature quieter.
Q. How can you make it so I don't have to bother with the side effects?
A. We have already minimised them to the maximum of our ability. If you find the large amount of ads annoying, try using the active topics link instead of the new post link. Other than that remember that the side effects are a sign of care from your admins. They are working, very hard, to keep this site alive.
Q. I want to help, how can I do that?
A. I am so glad you asked
Here are a couple of things that help us spread the word:- Share the facebook page, and the link to the game as often as you are comfortable with in all your social media (facebook, twitter, tumbler, google+ etc.), and ask for it be shared by your friends too. This helps increase our reach!
- Tell all your gamer friends about our game
- put our small button in your signature on other forums if it is allowed
- vote in the topsites we have linked to keep us near the top
- tell us of advertising opportunities we've missed
- post our advert if you stumble upon sites were this is allowed.
