[RESOLVED] Is it ok to put your website in your signature if you sell stuff on your website?

[EntityX]

The title of this thread asks the question : Is it ok to put your website in your signature if you sell stuff on your website?

I'm thinking it probably is but I thought I would ask before I put it in my signature. Maybe it would be considered advertising your site where it shouldn't be advertised.

[Nightwalker83]

If it is a personal website or a business you work at I reckon it would be ok since, it would have do with something technical. If it is something not related technical stuff then it could be consider blatant advertising.

[EntityX]

On my website I promote my music which I've never made much money with and also a computer graphics application of mine that I'm about to release. When I release it you'll be able to download it for free. It will come with free trial minutes and after the minutes expire then you'll be able to purchase it if you want to. So I pretty much just promote those two things on my site apart from one web page where I posted a composition of mine. After I release the application I was considering putting a link for my website in my signature.

Another thought just occurred to me. If I just blantanly advertised in my signature with a link but I paid VBForums a fee to do so. I don't know if they've ever done that or would consider doing it.

[Nightwalker83]

I have a link to my website as well as my youtube channel in my sig so I reckon it would be fine. Well, it doesn't say much in the FAQ about it.

What are signatures?

'Signatures' contain information that you want to include at the bottom of all your posts. This might include pictures, links to your site(s), quotes, etc.

Edit:

Found this thread from Brad Jones from 8 years ago regarding advertising on the forums. However, considering it is so old the policy might have changed.

[honeybee]

On my website I promote my music which I've never made much money with and also a computer graphics application of mine that I'm about to release. When I release it you'll be able to download it for free. It will come with free trial minutes and after the minutes expire then you'll be able to purchase it if you want to. So I pretty much just promote those two things on my site apart from one web page where I posted a composition of mine. After I release the application I was considering putting a link for my website in my signature.

Another thought just occurred to me. If I just blantanly advertised in my signature with a link but I paid VBForums a fee to do so. I don't know if they've ever done that or would consider doing it.

I went through the old thread from Brad and here's what I believe (though note that these are my personal opinions): As long as you only include links in your sig to your websites, they would be OK. Including any pictures or graphics or banners would be NOT OK.

Also as long as the links remain in the signature it should be fine. But if you start posting about them every now and then and start asking users to visit your site for this and that, it might not be ok.

Tying up with VBF for displaying your ads would definitely be legal, but you would most likely find it uneconomical if you are not making much out of your website.

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[si_the_geek]

I'm afraid that links that are designed to make money (directly or indirectly) are considered advertising, so they aren't allowed - unless you post them as a valid response to a question that somebody has asked.

For example, if somebody wants to add music to their application and asks where they could get it, responding with a link to your music would be OK - assuming of course that the thread is current, rather than months/years old.


Paid for advertising (in our usual places) would obviously be fine, but I don't know whether you would find the cost acceptable. If you are potentially interested in it, I recommend sending a PM to Brad.

The idea of a special location (your signature) for paid advertising is interesting, but I doubt it would happen - partly because there is no way to indicate to others that you have paid, so they would think it was OK to do it for free.

[honeybee]

I'm afraid that links that are designed to make money (directly or indirectly) are considered advertising, so they aren't allowed - unless you post them as a valid response to a question that somebody has asked.

For example, if somebody wants to add music to their application and asks where they could get it, responding with a link to your music would be OK - assuming of course that the thread is current, rather than months/years old.


Paid for advertising (in our usual places) would obviously be fine, but I don't know whether you would find the cost acceptable. If you are potentially interested in it, I recommend sending a PM to Brad.

The idea of a special location (your signature) for paid advertising is interesting, but I doubt it would happen - partly because there is no way to indicate to others that you have paid, so they would think it was OK to do it for free.

Just to clear up my own doubts, if I happened to own ebay and I added a link to it in my sig saying something like "Owner of [link:www.ebay.com]EBay[/link]", it would be unacceptable?

Also if you are open to the idea of members displaying paid adverts in their sigs, maybe you could have the vBulletin software customized to create a new sig-like entity for an individual member where he/she could display a fixed number of adverts (paid). Those who haven't paid won't have this section displayed.

Of course that's bound to piss some people off. For e.g. I have the sigs turned off, so I shall never notice anyone advertising their goods. So the people paying for those sig-adverts will be pissed off because I shall never see their adverts. And if you force me to see those adverts by way of turning the sig on, I would be pissed off because it would interfere with the smooth viewing of the forums (which the reason why I turned off viewing signatures).

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[si_the_geek]

Just to clear up my own doubts, if I happened to own ebay and I added a link to it in my sig saying something like "Owner of [link:www.ebay.com]EBay[/link]", it would be unacceptable?

It would be unacceptable, because it would (indirectly) make money for you.

[JPnyc]

Basically anything that's commercial is not permitted. We define commercial as "intended to generate revenue".

[honeybee]

It would be unacceptable, because it would (indirectly) make money for you.

Even if I am not actively soliciting anyone to visit it?

And if my website doesn't earn anything for me, would it be alright?

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[si_the_geek]

Even if I am not actively soliciting anyone to visit it?

Indeed, because whether or not the style is "actively soliciting", you are still putting the link in front of people, explicitly with the intention to encourage them to visit it.

And if my website doesn't earn anything for me, would it be alright?

Generally yes, but there are exceptions - for example a site that competes with VBForums in some way would not be acceptable.

[honeybee]

OK, thanks for the replies

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[EntityX]

Well apparently this thread took off all of the sudden. I was surprised to see all the replies since my last visit to it. Anyway si answered my question here :

I'm afraid that links that are designed to make money (directly or indirectly) are considered advertising, so they aren't allowed

So I'll just leave my website out of my signature.

The idea of a special location (your signature) for paid advertising is interesting, but I doubt it would happen - partly because there is no way to indicate to others that you have paid, so they would think it was OK to do it for free.

What you could do though probably no one would be interested in it or very few people is if you did have paid for advertising in your signature there could always be a note along with it that says that it is paid for advertising. If VBForums did do this I probably wouldn't be interested in it unless the advertising fee was next to nothing. Sometimes I don't post much on VBForums and so I probably wouldn't want to pay any fee for advertising in my signature which might not be seen much at all.

[Lord Orwell]

i was personally asked to remove a link from my signature to an ebay listing i had, jun 2009.

Hi Lord Orwell,

I'm afraid your signature link to your eBay item is against our rules, as it counts as advertising.

Could you remove it please?

Thanks,
Si

[JPnyc]

Even if I am not actively soliciting anyone to visit it?

And if my website doesn't earn anything for me, would it be alright?

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Not if it's intended to do so. If it's intended to generate revenue, the fact it isn't yet is not relevant. It still isn't permitted. Other things which are not permitted but not necessarily commercial, sites which directly compete with this one and sites with adult content.

[EntityX]

I just noticed today that a VBForums Administrator has one of his books in his signature and if you click on the link it goes directly to a page where you can buy the book. Well I guess the rules that apply to members don't apply to administrators and perhaps moderators. That's ok with me. So I guess the moderators and administrators are telling us these are the rules but they don't apply to all of us that are enforcing the rules and telling others what the rules are.

If the administrators and moderators also went by those rules then it would probably be better because otherwise they'll be setting an example for what is or isn't ok but then if someone follows the example they have to say, "well I'm an administrator and the rules are different for me."

[brad jones]

I just noticed today that a VBForums Administrator has one of his books in his signature....

I believe you are pointing the finger at me

If you have a technology related book that would be of interest to a portion of this audience, then if you include the QuinStreet/Internet.com affiliate tag, you can link to it with a text link in your signature. Prior approval of the admin staff is required.

As to other links, I'm not as 'hard and fast' with the rules. To some extent, if you put a simple, non-descript (meaning "not salesie or marketing") link to a personal site in your signature, I would overlook it unless it is to something "spammy" like *free hosting*. Things like "visit my web site" would be removed - that's an ad. Things like "my web site" or "by blog" tend to be ignored if it truly is your web site or blog.

Brad!