About Paid Forum Posters

New Internet forums and message boards are being created every day, and what makes a new forum successful is lots of traffic and plenty of posts. Paid forum posters are one way to seed a new or flagging forum with plenty of conversation-provoking topics, and paid forum posting can be a great way to make money online.

Function

Paid forum posters are hired directly by forum owners or administrators, or employed by a forum-posting service to post on certain forums. Since empty forums do not attract traffic and new users--which is a must, especially for advertising-funded sites and forums--paid posters are hired to begin new discussions and stimulate dialogue among existing users. Because some forum users may perceive this artificial traffic as deception on the forum owner's part, paid forum posters have strict instructions they have to follow to blend in with other forum users and not reveal their paid status.

Benefits

The benefits to paid forum posters themselves are primarily financial, although compensation may vary from less than a penny to a high of 50 cents per post. Paid forum posters also have the advantage of setting their own schedule for posting, as long as they meet the requirements of each job. Paid posting can be done from home, eliminating many of the costs associated with conventional employment, such as commuting expenses or buying a work wardrobe.

Benefits to the forum owner include a forum that looks populated, which is much more inviting to potential users, who would rather join in an existing conversation than create an entirely new one. An empty forum is similar to an empty auditorium at a political rally: It makes speakers and spectators uncomfortable.

Misconceptions

Some think that paying people to post on a forum is "cheating," and it can certainly backfire if paid posters are simply writing one- or two-word posts that say things like "I totally agree" or "I like cats, too." However, most forum-posting services require their posters to craft thoughtful posts of at least 25 words, with a comparable length for reply posts. The conversations that are started and kept going by paid posters are real, and the only thing that's artificial about the process is that the posters are paid to be there.

Paid posting is not easy money, especially with some services paying very little for posts and assigning posters to highly specialized forums that require a lot of research. To make a decent amount of money, a poster must be fast and somewhat eloquent, and able to converse on a variety of topics.

Considerations

Before hiring posters from a posting service, take a look at your existing forum members. Perhaps there are a few active members who could be recruited for the purpose of picking up the forums. While compensating existing members for becoming more active will not necessarily make your forum look more populated, it may stimulate more conversations. This option can work especially well on forums with a topic that is highly specific and requires a great deal of specialized knowledge, or if your existing members are unwilling to welcome new forum members.

For posters, shopping around for the right service is key. Don't settle for less than a penny per post, as there are some sites that pay much better. Be willing to put time and thought into your posting, and you'll be asked to post again, and perhaps qualify for more highly paid assignments.

Warning

Both forum owners and paid posters would be wise to keep their eye on the financial side of paid posting. Forum owners should only pay for legitimate posts, not endless tiny posts or material simply copied and pasted content from other sites. Posters should only do a certain amount of posting for services or forums before being paid, as there are some unscrupulous services that make money by delaying or denying payment to their posters.

Resources

• Finding Paid Forum Posting Jobs
• Work-at-Home Jobs Forum Posting