Do Topsites Help?

I have seen them recommended here. I have listed my game in a lot of them. ...Then I gave up because they seem to be more than half dead, and because they bring me no traffic.

Had it helped anyone? If not, why they keep being recommended as an advertising tool?

I’ll be honest: I don’t really think they do help even though I list my sites on them anyway. I don’t think I’ve ever had a member that said that they found my game through topsites, and when I look at my stats page I never see a topsite listed as a referrer.

So either way you look at it, it’s just like advertising: there’s probably a slim chance that you’d get a member from them, just like there’s that belief that you get a new member for every 100x ads.

I use them even though I know they don't really generate much traffic. Still, if I get even one member from it then I can consider it a success.

I use the two big ones. RPGD's one did work before something went wrong, but that's only because someone reviewed our site there. We've had two members come to us through them, but they stayed less than a month combined. I think for those that do use them to find sites, it's more about how popular they are, so they won't stay for long.

I use them to find sites busier than mine than request affiliation XD

In contrast to everyone here, one particular fandom-exclusive one did for us. A lot of people told us they'd found us through that topsite, but it may be because the topsite was attached to the biggest fansite for that fandom, so it got a lot of traffic.

I think it may be useful for us because there are so many sites for the fandom, and we were in the top five on the list, so people were looking to make their search easier and cut through searching the hundreds around, it was very specific to that fandom and it got a lot of traffic. The two others we signed up to have never generated any members, and were essentially useless.

I would think that, with particular fandoms, Topsites would help. Especially with the larger, more prevalent ones - Marvel, Harry Potter, Naruto, etc. Just because there are so many sites available in those, and therefore there's such a huge selection that a localized list is an easy way for a prospective player to go about finding one.

Something of note - in general, if the site isn't listed in the very first page of the topsites, then it's null and void and basically has no influence on you at all.

I speak from experience in the sense that I've used Topsites to find games. However, I usually stick within the first 5 games listed, and I never, ever stray to the second/third/whatever pages.

I'm on a few, and it's a nice little confidence boost to see us crawling up the ranking day by day, but we've never had anyone click in from one yet.

I guess it's that brand recognition thing again - each individual place you put yourself doesn't make much of a difference on its own, but the more places a prospective member sees you, the more likely you are to snag them.

Does anything "work?" Really, it seems like advertising is just casting the widest net possible in the hopes that you'll catch even one little fishy. If a topsites listing helps you get even one member, it's working. That said, I haven't seen any traffic actually generated through a topsite button.

But hope springs eternal, right?

Even one recruit from a topsite can be your forums biggest supporter. Topsites may not generate hundreds or even "tens" of members, but Even if they seem dead hit em. If you can get one loyal member out of every three, that loyal member will bring their friends and so on and so forth. Never miss a beat, girl. [:

The RPG-D gives me traffic. Another popular topsite does bring in a lot of advertisers.

It didn't seem to work for us, I thought anyways. And from what RPGDs did was end up getting us people from a rival site when they got mad at us one day to bash us with bad reviews that didn't even make sense. To me, I think that's all they're good for. People go to the category they're in and rate low every site but theirs and stuff... I dunno...

I don't think we got anyone from it either. Most of our members came from finding us here specifically, or ads we've posted all over the place.

Actually, a big reason that they don't generate traffic is that a lot of them don't actually work. They spat and sputtered and died several years ago. Some of them never actually put up your board on their list. Some of them error out whenever you click a website they list. Some of them only show the first page.

It varies from software to software, so you have to keep a wary eye out.

Topsites have worked for Hammel, specifically the #1 Proboards listing.

Topsites work best when they're for something specific, either fandom or in our case, forum host. People google "proboards roleplay", find the topsites, and end up on our site. We've had quite a few people (more than five, at least) say that's how they found us.

I... don't think that they help any. My site has been up on four different topsites for roughly a year (RPGD, Shadowplay, Real-Life Top Fifty, and The A-List). I don't think we've ever gained anything but a headache from drama over reviews... But it can make the members feel good when we reach number one. It's sad, though, especially on Shadowplay. Most of the sites that reach the top are only there for a couple of days before the site dies. Over the entire year, I want to say that there are maybe two other sites that have stuck around the top 30, but even then, there were months where they disappeared. Not exactly worth it, but hey, they don't hurt, either.

No one has ever come onto the site saying they were recruited from the topsites, though. Not once.

I've been wondering a good way to advertise because hardly anything seems to work! You post on sites and obviously open your ad boards so that people can advertise on yours but 99% of the time the site's members don't really read the adverts because they're too interested in roleplaying on the site (which is great for the site of course ) But it can be a bit frustrating when you're putting out advert after advert and getting nowhere in response

That's really an entirely different topic. But to answer your question, advertisements and affiliations DO work. But, it's a smaller success rate than one would anticipate, given the work involved in placing them. If you have more questions about it, feel free to open a new topic. : )

Yes, I believe topsite listings help, but not in the sense that they will reel in members the way guest-friendly ad-dropping does. It's very unlikely you will get members from them. The site I admin at gets members from the RPG-D Topsites on occasion, but it's rare.

On the other hand, however, advertising is all about broadcasting. Getting your site's name out there. If that means putting it up on every topsite within reach... then by all means, do so! That's one of the tricks of advertising: repetition. Doesn't matter if it seems like it's useless. Do it anyway. Increasing your RPG's exposure is the most important thing of all.

What I personally am wondering, however, is how can a topsite help when you have next to no member? I have discovered a few places due to Topsites, but I've never looked at the lower ones because they seem to be dead.

For me a fandom exclusive Harry Potter topsite helped our membership a lot, purely because, I think, it showed up at the top of a google search. We recruiting almost all of our members through that site I think.

Make sure you click the button yourself, every single day, and you'll be climbing up past all the old dead sites in no time It's not as quick as if you've got hundreds of members all pushing the button, but it should get you somewhere eventually. Also, some topsites count the pageviews their button on your site gets too, so even if you've just got guests nosing around they'll help push you up the rankings. *is totally somehow on the first page of a monthly-reset topsites list despite being the only active member of her board*