[Guide] The Do's and Don'ts of Advertising

Discussion in 'Empire Help & Support' started by PenguinDJ, Jun 27, 2015.

  1. Getting information to possible bidders on an auction, or customers on a service, is key. This quick guide will show you the Do's and Don'ts of advertising in chat.

    Do advertise in Economy chat
    You can switch to Economy chat with the command /chat economy. Advertising auctions/services in any other public chat channel is against the rules, and it gets people annoyed.

    Do advertise every 30 minutes
    Limit advertisements to 30 minutes between to comply with EMC rules. Any sooner is considered spam. It's best to leave yourself roughly an hour between ads, though, to make sure you're not breaking any rules.

    Do post a link to your thread
    If applicable, always include a link to your auction/service. These links can be clicked on, giving the player an easy way to get to your thread. These links are vital!

    Do not just post a link
    Due to a recent change by Aikar, threads will now appear in their shortened form (emc.gs/t/#####). Many people leave random links in chat, and they do nothing. Those links give no information about the auction/service, and will often be ignored.

    Do add information to your ad
    Be sure to add some information to your advertisement. Things to include: item, quantity, starting/current bid (personal preference), etc. The more information you can fit, the better. The links to threads can be shortened to just 14 characters to allow for more info than you could normally fit. To shorten links, find the last 5 numbers of the url and fill in the blanks: emc.gs/t/#####.

    Do test your link before advertising
    Broken links do nothing. After your first advertisement, click the link to make sure it takes you to the correct thread. Broken links will be ignored and most people won't take the time to hunt down your thread.

    Do not have long descriptions
    Advertising with "Amazing auction! Come get your hands on these fine items: emc.gs/t/#####" may look neat, but what does it tell us? Nothing. Be short, concise, and to the point. Try this instead: "Auction - Glowstone Blocks - Starting at 50k - emc.gs/t/#####." The information is readily available for the possible bidders. Having an extra word or few like "great price" doesn't hurt, though.

    Remember, getting information to the other players is key! However, remember to do this in a simple, non-spammy form. Having an ad that takes up 4 lines of chat just makes people annoyed, and that's the last thing you want from possible bidders.

    If you have your own tip for this thread, leave it in a reply and I might add it to the thread (with credit, of course). If you want something clarified/explained, let me know and I'll help you out. Thanks,

    PenguinDJ
  2. Examples of good ads
    [Auction] DC of Quartz - emc.gs/t/##### - ends soon!
    Selling stone at res #1111 on smp5! Only 3k per DC!

    Examples of bad ads
    emc.gs/t/52341
    Auction for a double chest of juicy, delicious iron pickaxes! No bids! empireminecraft.com/thre

    Have an example for either category? Leave it in a reply!
  3. +1

    You should also add that this is for things regarding the server, not to advertise illegal things such as other server IPs.
  4. I would recommend this to newbie's on the forums :rolleyes:
  5. Why/how would an iron pickaxe be JUICY?
    weeh666, SEPTHEKID and PenguinDJ like this.
  6. I'll try to fit that in somewhere.
    The real question is... why not?
  7. Please sticky this. I love you for posting this.
    PenguinDJ likes this.
  8. Great lesson on advertising auctions! I'll refer to this whenever I have another auction ;)
    PenguinDJ likes this.
  9. I like!

    I have one suggestion though: shortcuts. You don't have to switch channels in order to post something. So if you're in town chat then you can also use @e Don't buy my items please!

    But yeah, really good idea!
    PenguinDJ likes this.
  10. Hmm.....
    Wouldn't a JUICY pick be really sticky and it would stick to your hand so you couldn't mine the diamonds that you just found?
  11. Well, it'll stick to you upon death, so it's soulstuck. And all the items would be attached to the pick... win-win for everyone. :p
  12. Until now i didnt know there was an economy chat and i annoyed the players on my server without any reason and against the rules. That will change from now on!
    Thanks for enlighten me PenguinDJ!