Paid posters - is it worth it

I have seen allot of ads over on wht forums, sitepoint and others in the advertising or employment sections where people will post for $$. I am considering it however I am trying to get my new members to return over and over and not just post and never return. Anyone here know of such a service or company available where posters are contracted for maybe a 3,6,9,12 month campaign so they don't just make their 100 post in a day or two and never return?

I do think paid forum posting does work (though that may be because of my admittedly biased circumstances :D ) - the main attraction for me when I sign up to a forum is the fact that it has useful content which is engaging. I sign up because I think it is going to be of some use to me in some way (interaction with other people, valuable information are a few of the reasons of members signing up).

If you find the right poster, who posts the right content I'm sure it will attract real members. Individuals who often advertise on sites like WHT have nothing to fall back on if you don't find their posts satisfactory - something which can often be the case as there is no real need to maintain some kind of reputation.

If you do decide to go with a company offering paid posting make sure you message the owner about "spreading" the posts out over a period of time. Drop me a line at sales@forumposts.net if you want to talk more about paid forum posting :)

The point behind services such as these is to engage visitors whom have already signed up as members of the community, to engender discussion and participation, in the aim that these visitors will return to the community often enough to continue participation, which by itself will encourage others to do so. It is a domino effect that needs to be started by a seed amount of default contributors, but once you have got something going, and users start responding often enough to generate enough intrigue to gain itself more users, the work is done.

You shouldn't rely upon these services as a crutch, but rather as a seed to get your active membership base going. Of course, if your community at that point in time has progressed to an extent that these paid authors feel good enough to continue in a non-paid capacity, it would be an extra bonus, and a testament to the quality of your forum board!

Yup.
It depends!
Paid Posting does work.
Mostly you should go with individual posters rather than fishing with a company!
An individual poster can do better than a paid company, as you have to contact only 1 person and you can also give necessary directions and he can do what a company can do.
A company can get 10 writers which an individual poster can do with 10 or 20 new members.
Just a matter of choosing that best suits you!

I disagree with this.

The objective of getting paid posters is to boost activity levels in the community, which is really pointless if you employ only one person. With a few posters, they can at least banter among themselves if the board is truly really dead, and in need for a revival.

So, you should get a company with reasonable clout (a.k.a. enough posters) to be able to start a community all on their own. It is with this level of activity that visitors will find new discussions almost around the clock.

Even an individual poster can make lots of user accounts and make useful posts if the poster is good and knows how to promote a forum.
A lot of posters is also a good idea..... but hiring an individual poster is quite cheaper as compared to a company and if it can provide same service then wts the need.
A Posting company is always very costly than individual poster.

Because the owner takes money and gives some to posters.. and posters dont work for less than 10, so owner wont take less than 15-20.... but i seen individual posters working for 10cents...... and a good individual poster can do the work... worth trying !

it do works... for creating inbound links and possible visitors.

Yeah.

Before I was a paid poster, I had applied for paid posting and my forum had become quite active and better.

So it is worth

It depends on the paid poster or the company.

If your forum is new and want the boards to look a bit filled up, go for paid posting.
Otherwise you can do the job yourself too by many registered usernames.
Its totally your wish wether you wish to pay for posts or can do yourself.

yes yes, but you have to find the right company, it'll of course make your forum active..but my feelings is like, your paying for love..except in this case your paying for (artificial) activity, but hey i dont care. its nice pay ;)

also, some sites prices are TOO much

And, sometimes, if you site is really new, with few members - you might want to have two paid posters.



One good one can fill the threads with interesting content, and then the two can have discussions about it.

There is always something to talk about - if you're a good conversationlist!

Some of you say that you have used these services, and have good experiences. Which service did you use, and how would you rate them?

Here are some posting firms that I know of, which you might like to consider to choose from:
*forumbooster.net
*paidpostingtools.com
*forumposts (endorsed by one of our members)

any other posting firms that you know of?