BenHalkum
Reverend Asshole
Written for eW Spot, shared here. If you like it, feel free to check the signature for a link to see more.
An Idiots Guide to Promoting Your eFed and Getting Handlers
So, you woke up this morning and have decided to start an eFed! Great decision, as being a fed head is a very rewarding thing to do in the hobby. Wait, what’s that? You already run an eFed, but you desperately need new handlers? No worries! This guide will work for you as well!
Handlers are what make a fed run. Really, they do. Unless a fed head is writing everything, then well, why are you reading this guide? Seriously, that’s fan fiction and not the same as we are focusing on.
All right, so for whatever reason you need handlers and have opened this guide up to learn how to do so. If you’ll notice the title, it also includes Promoting your eFed. This is done because promoting your eFed is the main way to get handlers and has proven time and time again to be one of the top ways to bring people in behind who you know and word of mouth.
OK, lets get started. Keep in mind promoting your eFed really doesn’t have a direct order in which you should do things, so we will be touching on the important action items for doing this properly in no particular order. If you find doing the steps in a certain order works best in your experience, let us know! Your feedback helps us create better guides that ultimately help many people who come across them. Without any further ado, here we go.
If You’re Going to Bitch About Putting Work In, Close Your Fed
These are the fundamental items that tie all other things you will read in this guide together. To gain handlers, you must put work in, not only on the site, but also in the results and within your promoting. If you are one who thinks you can just throw a site on the internet and people will join, then you sir are wrong.
So you don’t want to put work in? Get a staff who is willing to do so and put up with your laziness, then you can focus on the very small portion of what is important to run an eFed that you enjoy. But please, if you are going to bitch about putting work in to make things happen, then just close your fed now. Now that we have gotten this out of the way, lets move on.
The Affiliate Button/Banner… Use It!
If you’ve been eWrestling for any period of time, then you have probably seen them. Little rectangle buttons with the eFed’s initials or logo. Typically this button is created in the size of 88x31, which makes it easy to embed without taking up much room. That and a 468x60 banner are the two most popular eFed banner promotions you will see.
Here’s a quick breakdown of all of the web standard banner sizes:
On this page you will include your 88x31 button and contact information. Other feds will use this contact information to contact you with their 88x31 button. Once you receive this, confirm they have placed your button with a link to your fed on their site, and then do the same for them in this space/on this page you set up. Suddenly, you have an affiliates location.
You’ll be amazed that once your 88x31 button is on a fed or two the number of new eyes you have directed to your site. Also, other eFeds with a similar set up will want to add you as well, broadening your exposure more. This is one of the easiest and simplest ways to promote your fed. The 88x31 size is also good for forum signatures as well.
If you are into bigger promotion, the same thing can be done on a smaller scale with 468x60 banners. Not many eFeds or sites run these anymore, but you will occasionally find one. These banners are typically placed in an ad rotation, so that a new one is available every time you check the site. This type of promotion is really good if you can edit it every time you have a show, as these banners are closer to what you will find advertising on non-eW sites.
Those are the two sizes I would suggest using when trying to promote via button or banner. Others will work as well, but the standard has been set a long time and using the size that is the standard increases your chances of your button/banner being placed on other sites.
Use the Same Username and Password Combination if Possible.
Promoting your eFed means doing just that, promoting. A great way to get your fed name out there is by using eWrestling community forums and sites. I mean, that is their entire purpose, right? I always suggest use the name username and password combination for each so you don’t have to deal with the ordeal of figuring out your login information.
Every forum-based community has a different set up, but they are always primarily the same thing. There is typically an actual advertising forum, this is where you go and post your join mai fed posting, as well as promote the larger events. Most of these sites also have an area for you to share actual fed news.
Although time consuming, spending an hour a week touching base with as many of these sites as possible and using the features they give to you, will put your eFed in the eyes of many others whom otherwise might never have seen anything about it. Hell, a ton of the feds and sites I write about I only know because I directly check these sections.
Here are some of the places off the top of my head where you should sign up to promote:
There are probably many other community forum/sites based around eWrestling, but those are the ones I have found are the best at initial promotion. Seriously, put the work in. As I said if you dedicate one hour a week to write up a blurb or two you can post between these sites alone, you’ll get visitors, which could turn into new handlers.
Social Media and You.
Social media is huge in today’s world. I know maybe 4 people who do not own a Facebook account total. As the world becomes more social, so does eWrestling. In this guide we are going to touch base on just two social media networks, Twitter and Facebook, but feel free to expand your social media presence when promoting.
We’re going to begin with twitter, a service that really takes eWrestling to a whole new level. Being able to only post 140 characters, twitter allows you to interact with not only people in your eFed, but other eFeds as well. It is very common in the eWrestling world for whole feds to have their own Twitter handle as well as handlers to have in character accounts. This service will let you quickly post links to your cards and results, hype upcoming events, and more.
To promote on Twitter, my suggestion to begin is this:
Doing this will help your Twitter get initial followers whom follow those that follow them. This step is vital in kicking off your Twitter presence. Make sure if you handlers have in character accounts, to follow those as well. Once you have a good start, tag your handler’s in character accounts when talking about the fed.
It is also good to tag questions and comments directly at resource site Twitters, as they will re-tweet and reply more often then not. Eventually, you have an active presence that takes o a live of it’s own. We here at the eW Spot try our hardest to re-tweet as many show and fed related tweets, getting your fed out there more. In the last week, we have seen an increase of cross promotion interaction due to us doing this. People in one fed, talking with people in others. It’s an amazing thing to see the eW world communicate.
Other then twitter, Facebook is a plausible answer to your social media experience. Although not as popular as Twitter, Facebook offers pages and groups to allow others to like and share your fed’s status and post. You will find more out of character accounts and friends on Facebook than Twitter, but will see that there is a demographic who will choose it over Twitter and you need to touch base with them as well.
Facebook pages and groups are also good to share your eFed’s photos on. Do Poser for your fed? Facebook is a great place to have a running portfolio of your characters. It also allows you to have more interaction type functions, such as polls. After 30 likes you can even get your own customer Facebook URL for your fed, which always looks sexy.
But just having both of these social media outlet wont really cross promote well. With Twitter, you can set it to automatically post your tweets to your Facebook page. Allowing maximum exposure between both outlets. If your site uses Wordpress, you can even get a plugin that will post to twitter which in turn post to Facebook, making update three separate areas atone a breeze.
Be Apart of The System.
Be social, get out there, and promote your fed. The eFed Guerilla radio show is one great place to begin. They offer radio programs on BlogTalkRadio almost daily and encourage anyone from eWrestling to get involved. Not only does this let you interact with those outside of your comfort zone, but gets your eFed’s name out there helping draw new interest you would not find before.
We touched base on communities earlier. Although you need to promote across all of them, find the one that fits your personality the best and become an active member. Make sure to link your fed in your signature and reply to any posts about what fed you are repping. Just becoming a valuable member of a community will get people interested in your other ventures. If you have the time and desire, become a member of all. But I feel claiming one as your home community usually works best to create a tight relationship with other members.
Talk your fed up in chat rooms and any other chance you get. Don’t be a dick about it, but if you have any opportunity to shill your stuff, do it. The more interest you can gather the better, always. But keep in mind, it is a two way street. Be open to promoting others and understanding they would like to gain new handlers just as much as you.
The “Don’t Do This or You Are A Douche Bag” Section.
This wouldn’t be the idiot’s guide without us making sure to mention directly what not to do. More or less this is for those whom lack the common sense to realize there are just some practices that are uncool. That and I just know there will be that one guy who will actually read this whole guide, do everything we suggest, then do the stuff we are about to tell you not to, and blame it on us when people bitch.
No need to really expand, just don’t do this shit.
Well, there is out guide to promoting your fed and getting handlers. Although not a complete and definitive source, this should give you the stepping-stone you need to help expand your eFed. We look forward to replies and discussion on this guide, as that is the only way we can expand future ones is by your feedback.
Thank you for reading.
An Idiots Guide to Promoting Your eFed and Getting Handlers
So, you woke up this morning and have decided to start an eFed! Great decision, as being a fed head is a very rewarding thing to do in the hobby. Wait, what’s that? You already run an eFed, but you desperately need new handlers? No worries! This guide will work for you as well!
Handlers are what make a fed run. Really, they do. Unless a fed head is writing everything, then well, why are you reading this guide? Seriously, that’s fan fiction and not the same as we are focusing on.
All right, so for whatever reason you need handlers and have opened this guide up to learn how to do so. If you’ll notice the title, it also includes Promoting your eFed. This is done because promoting your eFed is the main way to get handlers and has proven time and time again to be one of the top ways to bring people in behind who you know and word of mouth.
OK, lets get started. Keep in mind promoting your eFed really doesn’t have a direct order in which you should do things, so we will be touching on the important action items for doing this properly in no particular order. If you find doing the steps in a certain order works best in your experience, let us know! Your feedback helps us create better guides that ultimately help many people who come across them. Without any further ado, here we go.
If You’re Going to Bitch About Putting Work In, Close Your Fed
These are the fundamental items that tie all other things you will read in this guide together. To gain handlers, you must put work in, not only on the site, but also in the results and within your promoting. If you are one who thinks you can just throw a site on the internet and people will join, then you sir are wrong.
So you don’t want to put work in? Get a staff who is willing to do so and put up with your laziness, then you can focus on the very small portion of what is important to run an eFed that you enjoy. But please, if you are going to bitch about putting work in to make things happen, then just close your fed now. Now that we have gotten this out of the way, lets move on.
The Affiliate Button/Banner… Use It!
If you’ve been eWrestling for any period of time, then you have probably seen them. Little rectangle buttons with the eFed’s initials or logo. Typically this button is created in the size of 88x31, which makes it easy to embed without taking up much room. That and a 468x60 banner are the two most popular eFed banner promotions you will see.
Here’s a quick breakdown of all of the web standard banner sizes:
468×60 px
125×125 px
120×600 px
88×31 px button
160×600 px
120×240 px
234×60 px
254×331 px
728×90 px
720×300 px
300×250 px
Here’s my suggestion, use them! Lets start with the 88x31 button size. Create one and slap that on your site. What this does, is let other eFed’s know that you would like them to link to you, and they can use this. But lets go one step further; create an additional space on one of your pages, or a page fully dedicated to affiliates/links.125×125 px
120×600 px
88×31 px button
160×600 px
120×240 px
234×60 px
254×331 px
728×90 px
720×300 px
300×250 px
On this page you will include your 88x31 button and contact information. Other feds will use this contact information to contact you with their 88x31 button. Once you receive this, confirm they have placed your button with a link to your fed on their site, and then do the same for them in this space/on this page you set up. Suddenly, you have an affiliates location.
You’ll be amazed that once your 88x31 button is on a fed or two the number of new eyes you have directed to your site. Also, other eFeds with a similar set up will want to add you as well, broadening your exposure more. This is one of the easiest and simplest ways to promote your fed. The 88x31 size is also good for forum signatures as well.
If you are into bigger promotion, the same thing can be done on a smaller scale with 468x60 banners. Not many eFeds or sites run these anymore, but you will occasionally find one. These banners are typically placed in an ad rotation, so that a new one is available every time you check the site. This type of promotion is really good if you can edit it every time you have a show, as these banners are closer to what you will find advertising on non-eW sites.
Those are the two sizes I would suggest using when trying to promote via button or banner. Others will work as well, but the standard has been set a long time and using the size that is the standard increases your chances of your button/banner being placed on other sites.
Use the Same Username and Password Combination if Possible.
Promoting your eFed means doing just that, promoting. A great way to get your fed name out there is by using eWrestling community forums and sites. I mean, that is their entire purpose, right? I always suggest use the name username and password combination for each so you don’t have to deal with the ordeal of figuring out your login information.
Every forum-based community has a different set up, but they are always primarily the same thing. There is typically an actual advertising forum, this is where you go and post your join mai fed posting, as well as promote the larger events. Most of these sites also have an area for you to share actual fed news.
Although time consuming, spending an hour a week touching base with as many of these sites as possible and using the features they give to you, will put your eFed in the eyes of many others whom otherwise might never have seen anything about it. Hell, a ton of the feds and sites I write about I only know because I directly check these sections.
Here are some of the places off the top of my head where you should sign up to promote:
http://ewspot.com
http://FWrestling.com
http://RoughKut.com
http://EWZine.com
http://z7.invisionfree.com/JTF_Squaretable/
http://eFedKnights.com
http://FWrestling.com
http://RoughKut.com
http://EWZine.com
http://z7.invisionfree.com/JTF_Squaretable/
http://eFedKnights.com
There are probably many other community forum/sites based around eWrestling, but those are the ones I have found are the best at initial promotion. Seriously, put the work in. As I said if you dedicate one hour a week to write up a blurb or two you can post between these sites alone, you’ll get visitors, which could turn into new handlers.
Social Media and You.
Social media is huge in today’s world. I know maybe 4 people who do not own a Facebook account total. As the world becomes more social, so does eWrestling. In this guide we are going to touch base on just two social media networks, Twitter and Facebook, but feel free to expand your social media presence when promoting.
We’re going to begin with twitter, a service that really takes eWrestling to a whole new level. Being able to only post 140 characters, twitter allows you to interact with not only people in your eFed, but other eFeds as well. It is very common in the eWrestling world for whole feds to have their own Twitter handle as well as handlers to have in character accounts. This service will let you quickly post links to your cards and results, hype upcoming events, and more.
To promote on Twitter, my suggestion to begin is this:
- Start a fed Twitter account.
- Find a resource Twitter account with a lot of followers
- Like @THEeWSPOT or @Rough_Kut
- Click on the follower list.
- Follow all of them
Doing this will help your Twitter get initial followers whom follow those that follow them. This step is vital in kicking off your Twitter presence. Make sure if you handlers have in character accounts, to follow those as well. Once you have a good start, tag your handler’s in character accounts when talking about the fed.
It is also good to tag questions and comments directly at resource site Twitters, as they will re-tweet and reply more often then not. Eventually, you have an active presence that takes o a live of it’s own. We here at the eW Spot try our hardest to re-tweet as many show and fed related tweets, getting your fed out there more. In the last week, we have seen an increase of cross promotion interaction due to us doing this. People in one fed, talking with people in others. It’s an amazing thing to see the eW world communicate.
Other then twitter, Facebook is a plausible answer to your social media experience. Although not as popular as Twitter, Facebook offers pages and groups to allow others to like and share your fed’s status and post. You will find more out of character accounts and friends on Facebook than Twitter, but will see that there is a demographic who will choose it over Twitter and you need to touch base with them as well.
Facebook pages and groups are also good to share your eFed’s photos on. Do Poser for your fed? Facebook is a great place to have a running portfolio of your characters. It also allows you to have more interaction type functions, such as polls. After 30 likes you can even get your own customer Facebook URL for your fed, which always looks sexy.
But just having both of these social media outlet wont really cross promote well. With Twitter, you can set it to automatically post your tweets to your Facebook page. Allowing maximum exposure between both outlets. If your site uses Wordpress, you can even get a plugin that will post to twitter which in turn post to Facebook, making update three separate areas atone a breeze.
Be Apart of The System.
Be social, get out there, and promote your fed. The eFed Guerilla radio show is one great place to begin. They offer radio programs on BlogTalkRadio almost daily and encourage anyone from eWrestling to get involved. Not only does this let you interact with those outside of your comfort zone, but gets your eFed’s name out there helping draw new interest you would not find before.
We touched base on communities earlier. Although you need to promote across all of them, find the one that fits your personality the best and become an active member. Make sure to link your fed in your signature and reply to any posts about what fed you are repping. Just becoming a valuable member of a community will get people interested in your other ventures. If you have the time and desire, become a member of all. But I feel claiming one as your home community usually works best to create a tight relationship with other members.
Talk your fed up in chat rooms and any other chance you get. Don’t be a dick about it, but if you have any opportunity to shill your stuff, do it. The more interest you can gather the better, always. But keep in mind, it is a two way street. Be open to promoting others and understanding they would like to gain new handlers just as much as you.
The “Don’t Do This or You Are A Douche Bag” Section.
This wouldn’t be the idiot’s guide without us making sure to mention directly what not to do. More or less this is for those whom lack the common sense to realize there are just some practices that are uncool. That and I just know there will be that one guy who will actually read this whole guide, do everything we suggest, then do the stuff we are about to tell you not to, and blame it on us when people bitch.
No need to really expand, just don’t do this shit.
- Steal Members. No matter how it’s done, if there is a handler already in a few, blatantly trying to get him/her to leave their current fed and be in only yours is a dick move.
- Seriously, a handler will be in as many eFeds as they know they can handle. Follow the steps above and if the handler is interested, they will join.
- This includes offering perks like title matches, titles, or even money if they jump ship. It’s all a dick move.
- Mass Email. First off it is creepy you took the time to locate individual emails for handlers. There is no running list and this means you spent time you could have put into promoting your fed like we suggest above to cyber stalk people to get theirs.
- This falls in line with stealing members as well. Chances are the person you are emailing is either currently in a fed or retired.
- Did I mention this is creepy? Also, this has not been popular since 1996. Get with the fucking times.
- Steal Content. Including but not limited to:
- Results
- Graphics
- Role-plays
- Layouts
- Names
- Gimmicks
- Seriously, stealing anything is a dick move that you will be exposed on. Trust me, you always get caught.
- If you see something you like, ask to use it or for help recreating it. The worst that can be said is no.
- There are plenty of free tools to make your own graphics and site designs. Even if they are shitty looking, it’s better then being labeled the person who steals stuff.
- Not Cross Promote. If you want people to carry your 88x31 button or link, do the same out of respect. Being a dick gets you nowhere in life.
- Not Put Work In. Some of you may be thinking after reading to this point that running an eFed and getting handlers is a lot of work doing it our way. No shit. Remember the first subject we touched base on about quit bitching and put work in? Yea, this applies here.
- Word of mouth and your friends will only go so far, if you expect to ever expand or stay open you have to put work in. Simple as that. May we suggest broadening your staff to split responsibilities?
Well, there is out guide to promoting your fed and getting handlers. Although not a complete and definitive source, this should give you the stepping-stone you need to help expand your eFed. We look forward to replies and discussion on this guide, as that is the only way we can expand future ones is by your feedback.
Thank you for reading.
