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This article was actually inspired by yet another new member who decided to come to the Warrior Forum for the express purpose of spamming that forum. And the ironic part about it…this person was promoting a product that absolutely nobody at a marketing forum would have had any interest in. At the very least, the targeting was pitiful. But that isn’t even the point of this article. The person in question was surprised at the reception he got.

Let me put it to you this way. Every forum has rules, and the members there who respect those rules take it personally when somebody breaks those rules. So they will, like it or not, come to the aid of defending the forum and giving the rule breaker a hard time. In this particular case, I think the members, myself included, showed some amazing restraint. We could have been a lot tougher than we were. As of this writing, I still have no idea what happened to the spammer. I guess I’ll find out eventually.

Point is, please don’t be surprised when you go to a forum, break the rules and the members start to rag on you. It’s going to happen, and that’s if the forum admin doesn’t boot your rear end out of the forum before the members even get to you. I’ve seen people tossed out on their ear so fast, I never even got a chance to get a word in. Imagine how frustrating that is for the law abiding members.

And if you’re thinking, “Oh please, what’s the big deal?” Imagine that everybody who went to a forum felt the same way and either contributed to the mess or didn’t care. Think that forum would be a useful place for anything? Eventually, the spammers and con artists would take over and the forum would become worthless. No forum owner who cares about his home would allow that to happen.

So when you go to a forum and break the rules, please don’t be surprised when the members start ripping you a new one. It’s going to happen. So, if you’re smart, the first thing you’ll do when you get there is read the rules (they should be posted somewhere) and make sure you follow them. It’s not hard to do and in return, you’ll actually have the other members welcome you.

Otherwise, what did you expect?

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Sick and tired of spinning your wheels trying to make a buck online? Visit the products page of my blog at http://stevewagenheim.com/blog/products and get a 6 figure education for pennies.

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve had a good old fashioned rant so I figured, why not? This article has to do with forum etiquette and this one thing really burns my cookies. Doing this is a sure way to get me to ignore you for the rest of your miserable existence. If you want to find out how NOT to get on my ignore list, you might want to read this article.

Today, I went to the Warrior Forum to see what was going on and was greeted by a PM message. They pop up automatically. Well, this one was from a member who had just joined, had something like 22 posts, and was contacting me to ask me if I’d review his product. No, “how are you, I really think you’re a great guy” or anything like that. Just, “Would you review my product?” I don’t know the guy from Adam and he wants me to take time out of MY busy day to review HIS product. Guess what I did? You got it. I closed up the PM and went my merry way.

And I’m not the only one getting these. In fact, a thread was started on this very thing just this morning. Seems these people are contacting a bunch of us to try to get their product reviewed. So, I’m not even special. I’m just one of the herd who you’re trying to get something from. Yeah, that’s going to go over real big with me. And what gets me is that if you don’t respond, or say no, you get some kind of nasty response back. The entitlement attitude of these people just boggles my mind.

Okay, so you want to know how to approach me for reviews? Get to know me first. Do something nice for me. Make me feel like I’m special. After all, you ARE asking me to give up MY time to do something that in no way is going to benefit me one little bit. Where is my incentive to review YOUR product? If you can’t think of one, then most likely, unless you’re a 7 figure a year marketer, your request is going to be ignored. I only have so many hours in my day and don’t have time for people who can’t even take the time to get to know me personally.

Think I’m a jerk? No problem. Wait until YOU get 10 PMs a day for product reviews and can’t get YOUR work done and see how YOU like it. Ah, it’s different when the shoe is on the other foot, isn’t it. Like I said, the entitlement attitude that people have just drives me nuts. Well, let me tell you. People with that attitude usually don’t get anywhere. Oh, there are exceptions to every rule. But in this case, they are few and far between.

So, if you want another marketer to do something for you, especially through a forum, get to know the person first. Do something for the person…FIRST.

You might actually stand a chance of getting somewhere if you do.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to know what the 7 Deadly Sins of Internet Marketing are? Get my free report at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/7deadlysins/7deadlysins.html and save your business from going down the tubes before it even has a chance.

Well, all I can say is that this has been LONG overdue. In case you haven’t heard, the Warrior Forum is in the process of a cleanup. If you don’t know for what, then keep reading this article. It is going to be a real eye opener for a lot of people.

One of the main attractions of the Warrior Forum is the WSO section. For those who don’t know what that is, it stands for Warrior Special Offer. This is where you can offer a product that YOU created to the membership as long as it is for a price that is LESS than what the general public can get it for. It’s a pretty simple and straight forward system. Unfortunately, because of certain products and practices, the cleanup has been long overdue and is now taking place.

Okay, so what products and practices are we talking about? Well, before I get into that, let me start off by saying that this list is by no means all inclusive and could increase at any time. Don’t expect it to get smaller though. For the most part, any product that advocates breaking another site’s TOS is no longer allowed to be sold at the forum. This means products that advocate the use of proxies to get around a site’s rule of only one account, automated spamming of links to forums and other sites, and other related services.

They are also going to be cracking down on the actual ads themselves as far as income claims. I’m not sure how strict this is going to be enforced but my guess is that any WSO that says “you can make $X” is not going to be allowed any longer. Naturally, this will probably be taken on a case by case basis.

Okay, so what does this all mean? Well, for starters, it means that people selling products that break TOS of various sites are now out. They’re going to have to peddle their wares elsewhere. But what about the “how to make money” stuff? What about all that salescopy with the income projections, claims or whatever? Well, this is where a product creator is going to finally have to learn how to write good copy without resorting to a lot of hype. And that is what’s going to separate the men from the boys.

No doubt, this is going to kill a lot of peoples’ incomes. At least as far as their sales from the Warrior Forum goes. But in my opinion, this is the smart move. The better quality of product that gets sold there, the better the reputation of the place. In turn, this will attract people to the forum who might have otherwise stayed away.

Like I said…this was long overdue.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of spinning your wheels trying to get your marketing off the ground? Haven’t got a clue what you’re doing and sick of being dead broke? Why not get some solid mentoring from somebody who has been EXACTLY where you are today? Check out my mentoring program at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/mentoring/mentoring.html and finally get yourself the one on one education that can FINALLY give you the success that you’ve been looking for.

I get a real kick out of some forum members. They seem to think that the forum they belong to revolves around them and THEIR needs. Well, I have a newsflash for you. It doesn’t. But for those of you who don’t get that, this article is going to set the record straight. If you’re easily offended, I’d skip this one.

One complaint I hear a lot is this one. “My post was deleted…why? There was nothing wrong with it and there was no reason to delete it. At the very least, the mods should PM me and tell me why it was deleted.”

Okay, first order of business. To begin with, posts get deleted all the time. It is a fact of life when it comes to forum participation. Each forum has its own rules and certain things aren’t allowed. Plus, posts may get deleted for other reasons if the mods feel that they may lead to problems.

Secondly, if a moderator contacted every person who had a post deleted personally, they wouldn’t get anything done. There just isn’t enough time to do this. They don’t do it for anybody else so they’re not going to do it for you. Again, the forum doesn’t revolve around YOUR needs.

Another complaint I hear a lot is this one. “Why is there a requirement for number of posts before I can use the PM function? I have customers here who I have to contact. How can I do that if I can’t PM them?”

First of all, nobody should be using a forum as a means of business contact. If you have your own business, you should have a web site and/or an email address where people can get a hold of you. I mean for crying out loud, who uses a third party site (that’s what a forum is) as a means of contact?

Secondly, there is a reason why many forums have PM requirements. There is a lot of spamming going on at many forums. By placing a requirement on forum participation (how many posts you have) it greatly reduces the amount of spam that members send to other members. This is probably the main reason why some forums have this requirement.

Here is the bottom line and take it for what it’s worth to you. A forum is NOT your home. It is owned by the admin and thus, gets run the way the admin wants to run it. You therefore have two choices. You can accept the rules of the forum and abide by them or you can go someplace else and play.

It’s really THAT simple.

To YOUR Success

Steven Wagenheim

Want to know what the 7 Deadly Sins of Internet Marketing are? Get my free report at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/7deadlysins/7deadlysins.html and save your business from going down the tubes before it even has a chance.

Forum marketing can be quite profitable. However, the best way to make it profitable is by mixing in a little bit of fun in the process. This article is going to explain.

Forum participation can be a real tightrope walk. Why do I say that? Well, forums have their own set of rules and etiquette. Those who come into them like bulls in China shops don’t usually last long. That’s to say, if your only reason for going to a forum is to make a profit off of it, you’re going to be found out and exiled to boot. You need to show a little restraint when joining a forum and participating for the first time. Great, so how do you do that?

Probably the best way is by having some fun. Come in with a lighthearted attitude. Maybe even tell a few jokes while you’re there. Don’t even talk about business or try to get attention to your sig file when you first arrive. You’re the new kid in town. Trust me, nobody is going to be interested in your sig file as you haven’t developed any kind of trust with the members. That’s why you want to take it slow and easy.

That’s not to say that if somebody has a question that you can answer that you don’t answer. Be as helpful as you can to the new members. Heck, even some of the older members might have questions that you can help them with. Being new to a forum doesn’t mean you’re new to marketing. Some Internet marketers who have been marketing for years join a forum for the first time. Doesn’t mean that they don’t have a lot of valuable knowledge to share with others.

Bottom line…know your place. Respect the members who have been there longer. If you mind your manners and behave properly, you’ll slowly earn their respect and before you know it, you’ll become a respected member of the forum.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim.

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