Getting the word out, Best Ways?

Dark One, you beat me to it! I was somewhat close

I actually agree with you Amara, it is my personal thing and as I not generally play forum cop I don't tend to bring it up. When the subject is brought up of course then I do air my views. I may or may not be alone on my stance, it matters not to me.
All I have expressed here is viewpoints, except of course, the two facts and those are whether we like it or not advertising is against the rules of RA and having adverts in the signature is not what the feature is intended for.

Pretty close indeed

I know what the difference is, but was just simply looking for some insight into what you felt was the difference or problem with it. Basically I was looking for your opinion due to you are the only one in this tread to voice such a concern.

I understand what you have said and see your points. I guess the real question will be, do people get traffic from your signature ad or do most feel as you do and avoid them. But I guess that would be a question for a separate thread with a pole.

But this is only a small part of the info I am trying to gain from this thread. Overall, I am looking for the most successful ways to advertise to be able to run a successful ad campaign in the near future. All of the info learned in this thread has been very appreciated and I am grateful for so many different opinions. There are just so many different outlets to be able to advertise in, that I wanted to get an understanding how others were doing it and what was working best for them.

Oh I expect that you will find putting your ad in your signature a worthwhile exercise from a purely effectiveness point of view. However, the real question as I see it is do you want to do that by breaking the rules or would you rather advertise within the rules of each place that you are getting the word out to?
That question should be asked without regard to how likely it is that you will be disciplined for such behaviour and more with a view to is it right to do so? Each to their own morals so to speak.

I personally choose not to advertise my business here, lead by example and abide by all the forum rules as much as I can. Not because I fear being caught, but because it is only right to do so. A bit like being a guest in a place owned by others.

YMMV.

I sorry but im confused??

Are you saying it is against the rules to have a signature about our stores within our profiles??

I have mine inthere becuase I am proud of what I do. I rarely post outside of the Advice on Sales thread anyway and to be honest i dont actually think anyone has ever clicked on my thingy in here except maybe one person with the intent on shopping (others have to check out my store and offer advice within the thread).

My store is the part of SL i enjjoy the most by far, so why not show what i like doing

No problem, that menu is amazing.

I am saying it is against forum rules to advertise your business in RA. Having an advert in your signature and then posting in RA is breaking that rule. I doubt anyone in recent times has ever been disciplined for it however.

From the "GUIDELINES - Read before posting" link at the top of your screen:

I don't agree with your interpretation of the forum rule. I believe the rule is intended to stop spam threads, not the general awareness of what people do for their SL living. If it was against the forum rules, I would never put any information in my signature. But it has given me visibility without me having to make extra threads as veiled (or blatant) advertising. After a while I just tune some of them out or adblock them anyway.

Hmmm, well what can I say except that people who violate rules often want to interpret them in a way so that it justifies it to them.
How can you possibly say what the intent behind the words are? I certainly agree that spamming is included but exclusively for that alone? No I think not. Besides post after post with an advert in can certainly be seen as spamming.

I actually think the line "Advertising is not allowed on the forums" is extremely clear. However as I said YMMV, it is not like anyone is going to get punished anyway.

You may not agree with my stance or my interpretation and that is really fine, I didn't really expect anyone to but unless a moderator says it is fine I am going by what I read there.

EDIT: F.Y.I. In the the Torley sticky on RA, Strife explicitly outlines again the no advertising policy of the forum here:

/327/8d/138314/1.html#post1368833

Just want to say again that I have no trouble at all understanding your point of view and even agreeing with it enough to be in a bit of a moral dilemma.

Interestingly it seems to me that Strife leaves a bit of wiggle room for those of us who think our signature ads might be helping our bottom line.

We are threatened with the movement or removal of *threads* containing advertising that are posted in the wrong place. But perhaps, in signatures, proclaiming our SL business interests is considered appropriate?

While respecting Gabrielle's stand - and withholding judgement since I am barely able to guide myself let alone others- I did pose this question to Millie as an active mod of these forums. Though we are all aware there is very little modding going on and it is a very thankless job - perhaps if Millie has time she will run it by LL and get a concrete answer.

@ Kaimi, again with due respect I think that interpretation is tenuous at its best.

@ Amara, this is probably the best course if an answer can be had.
Though I have never known LL to give an answer that itself is not open to interpretation and will confuse the issue more.
If they don't answer I hardly think the world will collapse due to this little discussion and little will change as I think people who want it to be fine will continue to do it and those (possibly just me) who see it otherwise will not.

@Generally:

I admit freely that even if LL give their stamp of approval, I will always have a dislike for the practice.

I can certainly understand why people *want* to use them and I admit they are very effective. There have been times when I myself have been sorely tempted and wanted to use the forums this way also. Does anyone think my business would not benefit from more exposure? However I have always stopped due to thinking there is a line to cross, not just because I thought the rules forbade it.

Let me share this with you and then I am done with the subject unless people ask me about it or a verdict comes in from LL:

Due to been a long time user of the forums I can pretty much rattle off who has signature adverts (except for newish people) along with what their business names are, what they sell and a rough description of the advert for probably in excess of 80% of the people here. That is even without being near the computer.

Therein lies the crux of the problem, choice, had I a *choice* in the matter I would rather not be able to do that as it is too pervasive for my tastes and is putting information in to my memory I would rather not have.
No, the world will not end due to this and I doubt my life will be significantly impaired either, however my right of personal choice has been co-opted for the financial motivations of other people.
Yes it happens in RL too, in fact it happens everywhere but that does not mean I or anyone else has to accept that as OK.
This is why I think there should be limits to all advertising, RL or internet and even if you don't agree with my viewpoint there is no denying that the goal of the adverts is that they will lodge in peoples minds regardless of whether they want it or not.
The only way to opt out is to miss the non-advertising signatures too which I think is a shame.

Thank you for reading.

PS: I want to thank everyone for helping to keep this part of the discussion on a friendly basis. I know it is a hot topic and certainly had more than a moment of cringe factor during airing my views.