Visit to the Top Pay Per Click Forums

Where do you go to find out who the top pay per click search engines are, catch up with news on the new minimum bid prices coming into effect FindWhat, or address your concerns with click fraud?

I heartily recommend pay per click forums - newsgroups built on the classic 1980's Bulletin Board Messaging System (BBS) format, where members may leave original messages (posts) and responses (replies) to other members' messages. Forums are great places, as they let everyone ask questions, showcase news items, and easily allow for sharing of experiences and expertise.

Below are some basics for getting the most out of forums in general, as well as a brief introduction to three of my favorite concerning pay per click.

How Forums Work
Different forums are set up for specific topics. It's especially important to direct your questions to the correct forum and sub-forum.

Don't show poor "netiquette". Always be respectful of the users, system and moderators. Flaming isn't tolerated (posts containing hostile language or rudeness directed at users or staff).

Be as descriptive as possible in your posts. Try to include references to acronyms and remember that people who may be fluent in a different language (with say English as a second language) may be participating as well.

While anyone "lurking" or opting to view posts and will gain a lot from the excellent information shared, become a participant! Just be sure to read their (s) rules and FAQ sections before you try posting. Standard rules across some forums frequently include: no unsolicited advertising, or posting of promotional materials, posts that may have been out of line or damaging to a person, a company's reputation product or service. Some forums have special signature line policies.

Putting in your email, home address and phone numbers in profile sections and posts may be discouraged, due to spam harvesters and as a way to help protect your privacy. Always, remember that any information that you may disclose in these areas becomes public information and you should exercise caution when deciding to disclose your personal information. Since posts also become archived, it also is something of a permanent record.

Normal copyright rules should also be observed. Copyrighted content may be shared normally only to the extent of minor fair use excerpts (i.e. consisting of less than one paragraph (4 sentences) may be used if the content is publicly available on the Internet.

Some of the more useful features you'll find in these forums, like WebmasterWorld.com is the option where users may send or receive email notices. You can send a especially notable post to a friend or client. Or you can elect to receive notices for new posts left in a forum, when someone replies to a thread where you have checked "notify on reply", and when someone sends you local StickyMail (private email).

I also encourage you to take advantage of the available search functions when you have a question you are researching; using it you can quickly locate relevant posts which will save you lots of time.

Based on my personal experience, you'll find a warm welcome and lots of valuable information at these forums:

WebmasterWorld.com http://www.webmasterworld.com
WebmasterWorld.com's tag line, "news and discussion for the advanced web professional" pretty well sums up their purpose and audience. It is one of the most comprehensive search engine forums with over 40 subcategories, and is frequented by some very sharp webmasters and SEOs (search engine optimizers). It was a SearchEngineWatch 2002 Award Winner. WebmasterWorld is especially suited to the technical end of the market. Brett Tabke, of PHD Software Systems helps manage the forum, and additionally serves as the Pay Per Click Sub- Message Board moderator. The Pay Per Click Sub-Message board is part of The Search Engine World, a category dedicated to news and information about the Search Engines.

WebmasterWorld is free, although it does include a voluntary paid private members-only board. Subscribing offers you the opportunity to co-mingle with these other members, as well as discounts to Webmaster Hosted Conferences. The PubConferences, as they are called are generally held in California and England, although the latest one is being held April 26, 2003 in Boston Massachusetts with 350 maximum attendance.

Search Engine Forums http://www.searchengineforums.com
Chances are you've heard of JimWorld a long-time site recognized for guerilla promotion; but you may not know of it's valuable forums. They are organized around 4 distinct areas: search engines (www.searchengineforums.com), marketing (http://www.gethighforums.com/), web programming (http://www.web-programming.com/) and the lounge (http://www.jimworldlounge.com/).

Searchengineforums.com contains 2 sub-forums dealing with Pay Per Click Advertising; (1) Pay Per Click Search Engines (big and small) and (2) Niche and Industry Specific Search Engines. I'd like to see more participants and posts in the niche specific category - an often overlooked area for targeted marketing but time consuming to find.

Cre8asite Forums http://www.cre8asiteforums.com
Crea8asite Forums had its humble beginnings in 1998 as a Yahoo! Club launched by Kim Krause. Its aim was to focus on building websites that were user and search engine friendly. In 2001 - 2002 the forum morphed several times; it has rapidly grown with the added knowledge and assistance of UK and US notables like Ammon Johns, Jill Whalen, David Child and other new moderators from around the world joining in the last couple of years.

I can't think of a more credited place to bring burning web development questions to the table, and to gain an international perspective on Internet promotion. You'll find two dozen individual forums around various topics related to website development, e-business and e-commerce, search engines and optimization (including a pay-per-click (PPC) search listing area), forum issues, and miscellaneous topics.