EWrestling has grown a great deal since my first essay on "Promoting your eFed". Let's call this "part two". This is for the more experienced fed head.

Let's say you've designed yourself a pretty spiffy fed and you've got all the basics down and it looks damn good if you don't say so yourself. One problem….

NO MEMBERS!

You got Poser 5 and Flash 24 and the best new software your mommy and daddy could buy and still no one wants to join your eFed! What a dilemma. Why, (you ask yourself)?

Before I give you the answer, ask yourself something. Why did you open the fed? Do you have something to prove? Do you feel the need to run something? If, so you will never win. EWrestling is a game, nothing more. It's not a sport and it's not some exclusive club, it's just a very complicated game that people get addicted to and think its some kind of "way of life". Yes, we are wrestling's version of "Magic The Gathering". In some ways, we are worse than those nerds. We role-play about Professional Wrestling. We fantasize about living the lives of Wrestlers. Does that sound COOL in any way to you? Try saying that sentence out loud and then ask yourself again. We are pretending to be f'n WRESTLERS online! So think about why you are doing this before you continue. Ok? Ok.

Do you realize how many eFeds are out there? Why should anyone join yours over the thousands of feds on the net? What makes your eFed unique? In other words, would YOU join your eFed if you were a visitor? Be honest.

So how do you get members? Here are a few tips:

· Trick newbies from Wrestling Chat rooms into checking out your eFed.

If you talk slick enough, this can get you a league full of talent less rookies. Some newbies tend to be captivated by the thought of acting like their favorite wrestler. They usually join "Real Feds" where they can be Jericho or Bob Holly or whatever. I notice a lot of newbies also respond better to being able to create their own Wrestling figure. So those guys will join any eFed they catch a glimpse of. You have to move quickly on these guys, because once they learn the ropes, they will leave you high and dry and join better and more popular feds. Trust me.

That also doesn't mean go from Chat room to Chat room bugging people to visit your website. You should spend time and have discussions about whatever topics are popular that day. Then ask people CASUALLY have they ever seen an "eFed". When they answer no, then you can attack! Or if they say yes, "eFeds are dumb". Then you can fire back with: "It's just a game like anything else, it's really fun to me and it shows off how creative you can be!" Here's a good question that will stun them: "You like wrestling, right? An eFed is set up exactly that same way, you just don’t hurt yourself!".

· Participate in forums, make friends. Make CONTACTS.


No established eWrestler will join a new eFed run by a stranger. There are far too many better choices out there. I don't care how good your fed looks to you, unless it can give visitors free blow jobs, then it wont sell. You have to be active in the eWrestling community. It doesn't matter where as long as there is action where you choose to call home. There are plenty of websites where you can make a name for yourself. RoughKut.com is one of them.

Keep in mind that this doesn't mean post two postings at some forum and expect people to flock to your eFed. Myself included, Websites HATE people advertising Efeds on their forums, unless there is a special advertising forum. We also don't like people to post once or twice and disappear. Become an active member, offer help, create innovative ideas and topics. THINK BEFORE YOU POST! Or it will backfire and people will treat you like a red-headed step child. Don't start flame wars, they are never popular. Most importantly: BE YOUR SELF. Lurk, read some posts. Study what is popular and what is not. It's just like High School. Would you jump on the lunch table and scream "JOIN MY CLUB! I'TS THE BEST EVER!!"? No, you would make fun of that person wouldn't you? I hope that puts it in better perspective. When you become a fed whore, you may as well jump on the table and be a nerd.

· Use a EFED HOST. Not Geocities.com.


Using popular eFed hosts will often assure you a following. Hell, most of the ones I see have the Roster full before the f'n Fed even opens! They are not hard to find. Follow some RoughKut links. Make nice with the owner of a host and make sure your fed is up to code. Most eFed hosts will not host your fed if it looks like a piece of ****.

Don't BUG the eFed host! He can pick and choose whomever he wants because he's doing it for free! Maybe you need to work on your design or come up with a creative concept. The hosts I know like Cage Of Socks owner: Jamie and Project eFed owner: Brian, pick only the best feds to host. You can find their websites linked on RoughKut.com. Keep in mind, they don't host hundreds of eFeds either.

You can also host a splash page that re-directs people to a Geocities website if the eFed host allows it. That's a good way to gain exposure as well.

You might also want to know how some eFeds get so popular. Here's my "opinions", because there is no clear cut answer.

RoughKut Wrestling:

This fed gets on average, 2-6 people joining per week. The roster has 40 and has had well over 100 wrestlers since it re-opened 3 Months ago. Why? Because of RoughKut.com. RKW is what I call a "Big Fed" or "Big Boy". Because of the popularity of RoughKut.com, RKW is automatically popular.

RKW is RoughKut's official eFed. Therefore, people judge the quality of RoughKut.com and RKW equally.

Other websites in my opinion are successful because of the above reason or it's design is so awesome and breathtaking that people assume the fed's overall quality will be as good. It can be because of the eFed's "Rep". The fed could have been around for years and people know it's not going anywhere. It could be because the owner is a well known name across the eWrestling community. Just keep in mind, ONE THING.

IT TAKES TIME TO BUILD A REP! Hell, it took me over 2 years to get where I am.

So there are some qualified tips to gain some attention to your eFed. Smile.

Do you have any suggestions? Send them to me! I'd be glad to add them to this essay! You'll get full credit and a link to your Efed.

From Ian, owner of TFWF (The link is on the front page)

One thing I specifically look for in the TFWF is originality, thereofre getting original characters is very important to us. My method is scowering the chat rooms on yahoo. The best rpers usually use their own name or kind of a querky name, names with WWE, WCW or ECW names in them tend to be real wrestling marks and will more thna likely have all the rping talent of a Bezerker vs Repo Man match (bit old school there). A querky name like Jimmy the Insane Clown fucker usually spells imagination and imagination is the key to getting a decent rper. Anyone who claims to be SCSA316 or anything like that will more than likely want to be this character in the long run if thats what you want then thats what you'll get, but there is only one SCSA out there and thats not the guy on your rp board.

Other areas or other sites! Ook this might seem like a taboo, but generally most guys will happily rp at more than one fed, for example I know at least 4 T.F.W.F. wrestlers rp at Roughkut.com and I am cool with that, usually decent rpers are more than happy to spread their wings in many feds because unlike the three line writing wonders, the decent rpers love the game so much they just can't get enough of it.

So we have used yahoo, we have used other feds, but now were to, the answer wrestling form sites. Now many of these people are pretty much anti fedding merely concentrating on telling us the exciting incites in the real wrestling world, however not all their readers are in many cases they are completely oblivious to the e-fedding world. My main advice lies in this final source for finding fedders use untapped sources. Yahoo and general rping sites have lots of rpers and they all know about it, anything at all to do with wrestling on the web is great place to start like guestbooks on general sites just leave a note because there are many diamons in the rough out there and thats what you want for your fed.

Hope thats of more use roughkut

IAN

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