Ive only just added a sig link to this forum (as most of my sites are outside the IM niche) but i'd say each post brings in 2 - 3 visitors. That of course depends on the topics you post in too
Quality threads=quality responses=more responses=more views of thread=top of category=more views=more traffic
I agree! Buying a sig from a guy with nothing but posts that say "PM please", "thanks" or "good job" will likely not generate a lot of traffic. The same applies to one's own sig. Relevance of the site you are linking too can also have a great effect on things. I always have my occult forum in my sig, and people do click it, but I find that when I link to things relevant to the boards I post in the CTR is MUCH greater. Posting things that are helpful can also help, as it prompts people to want to know more about what you have to say. it falls down to quality and community, meet both of those needs and the sig link will show it's true worth. I wrote an article on it if anyone is interested...
Even I get a little traffic through sig links, and my links are 100% off topic as compared to this forum.
"How I Make Less Than Minimum Wage and Work Longer Hours By Using Signatures for Advertisng" I keed ! I keed!
I know that you are less then serious, but I think that signature work is a bit less involved then a full time job. Many people here are posting anyway, so putting their own sites in their sig is only natural, and less about the money or CTR then it is about they are posting anyway so they might as well reap what little rewards they are getting out of it. Sometimes they will have a spare slot... that might as well get sold off as well. On the other hand, there are those actually sit here for hours a day for nothing more then the $20-30 a month their signatures MIGHT bring in. Though really, I'm unsure how they do that... I sometimes have a hard time selling my sig *shrug* However, I'm pretty sure that most people using signatures as a method of advertising are likely posting anyway.
Oh, I'm sorry... I forgot to laugh Seriously, I did give a bit of a chuckle, though from my reply I guess not even I could see it*. In another thread someone with like 1k posts and no sig said that it was not worth the time or effort and that sig links did nothing. I laughed a bit harder with that. It honestly seemed like the guy was seriously not putting his sig on due to it not making $xxx daily or something. I mean, come on... If you are going to post anyway ya might as well have it there. Then again, I've seen a few posts that sounded like sig links were the end all of link building and the very most bestestâ„¢ way of getting traffic. I give these posts a bit more then just a chuckle. Q *note to self: Use more emoticons
Here's an idea. Find an advertiser to show ads on your site that pays per impression. Now, become an active member of DP, put one link in your signature, with the links anchor text in red, and a small description in black font. With this as the content: PR7 Directory | Accepting Free Submissions Today What's the bet you could get hundreds of traffic through to your site, regardless if its a directory or not, just from putting that text. Misleading? Yes. Making you rich? Definitely