Advertising my personla website - Good or Bad ?

Nomee

Hi,
I have just started some freelance work with couple of other professional CIW certified web developers. Our office is in Manchester and we have advertised locally but I was thinking if I am allowed to post about my website on MSE forum and let people know of any special offers?

Can any one clarify what is the best way to tell MSE users about my website and not being punished for it?

Many Thanks

superscaper

By contacting the admin of the forum first and getting permission (there's a strict no advertising rule first and foremost so you need to proactively get permission): [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL] is the general contact but it'll be quicker to contact a board guide. They are listed at the bottom of every board (for example for the Techie board it's Fran, sra and Godders). They'll then forward it to the admin team.

espresso

I don't see any point contacting the forum admins for permission, as any form of advertising is forbidden on this site.

iviv

Surely it depends. If you created a site that contains no adverts, no way for you to make any financial benefit from it, and it does something that no other tool/website does, then I don't see any reason why you couldn't recommend your own site if someone needed something the site can do.

M4RKM

hmm... i'm a web developer, and know quite a few... advertising is the last thing i do, as i always seem to have work..

and i'm not even this CIW thingy.. i just design good websites!

iviv

This is how not to do it.

MothballsWallet

iviv, that link's not working for me. Perhaps the post/thread has now been deleted.

iviv

Yes, it has. Because of the blatant advertising

superscaper

espresso wrote: »

I don't see any point contacting the forum admins for permission, as any form of advertising is forbidden on this site.

Does kind of depend though. I.e. if it's a genuine good deal for forum members etc. From the rules
"If you think you have a genuinely good deal please contact a Board Guide for the board you’d like to post it on. If they agree with you they’ll contact the MSE Team and it will be considered. Any final decision will be that of the MSE Team. Please do not question the response with the Board Guide."

I agree general rule of thumb is no advertising at all but that's not to say there can't be exceptions. Hence why there's an official list of company representative posters some of whom have sometimes given special offers etc.

espresso

superscaper wrote: »

Does kind of depend though. I.e. if it's a genuine good deal for forum members etc..............

Agreed but in this case the OP is just wanting to advertise their services for personal gain. Other posts like that have always been removed, including a couple today.

superscaper

espresso wrote: »

Agreed but in this case the OP is just wanting to advertise their services for personal gain. Other posts like that have always been removed, including a couple today.

I agree, in the case of the OP I didn't actually think they'd really be given permission, was just posting my response giving benefit of doubt (think I'm having a mellow day ). Wasn't until after my first response on this thread that I realised the poster had ALREADY posted an advert on the forum. Should have checked the rules if they weren't sure or waited for a response from a poster first. Well at least they know now.