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GUILD HEADQUARTERS - Guilds are a popular part of NeoPets. Whether you make your
own or join one, they can help you make friends, win items and just plain give
you something to do with your spare time. But how do you make a successful, long
term guild? As a guild owner myself I have discovered a bit about what people
like and don't like about guilds. Everyone may be different, but most people usually
have something in particular they are looking for, such as a theme or number of
competitions.
Presuming you want to make a successful guild, here are my step-by-step tips
to creating and maintaining a successful guild:
Guild Theme
Every guild needs a theme. Before you even think about going to that 'Create
Guild' section you need a theme.
Think about something that interests you, such as a favourite sport or music
genre. I strongly suggest you do not make a guild based on a current movie release
or television show. People's tastes can change quickly and movies come and go
with people losing interest in them fast.
I'd suggest a NeoPets theme. Think about what your favourite part or thing
about NeoPets is. Faerie are very popular along with Neopoint-making guides
and tips. But I'd go for something a little less cluttered, such as stamp collecting,
specific pet, gallery or Jelly World themes.
Guild Title
This is easily the hardest part about making a guild. There are literally millions
of names already taken and the odds of getting your first choice guild name
aren't very high at all.
I propose you try mixing and matching words. Such as if you want to start
a plushie guild and want to call it Plushie World, change the 'World' to something
similar.
Similar or other words for World: Planet, Globe, Kingdom, Realm, Domain, District,
Empire
Now that you have a new list, you can try new variations for your guilds title,
such as Plushie Realm, The Plushie Empire, and so forth.
Guild Title Don'ts:
dO NOt tYpE lyKe DiS. People absolutely hate it! And it doesn't say much for
your intelligence typing in such a manner to begin with. It looks awful.
Try to keep the symbols to a minimum. No one wants to look at a million ®~*~*~*~*~*~*~©
in a row.
Guild Description
Summarise what your guild offers to potential members. Some good things to
add are your current competitions and whether or not you offer newbie packs.
Layout
This is a very important part of your guild. It can determine whether or not
some people will join or not.
If you're making your own layout try not to clutter it. You should have a
decent amount of space between one text area and another. The same goes for
pictures. No one wants to see one huge mess in the middle of the page.
Save your image as a .gif more a better quality, non-blurred image. Try to
avoid .jpg and .bmp files at all costs. Blurring also seems to be a huge problem
with some guilds layouts. To avoid this try not to use reds at all and not too
much dark or navy blues.
Do not use Neopets Blogs on your layout. These are meant for shops,
not guilds. They decrease the positive effect of your layout as a whole.
Music is another huge don't. It's too loud, repetitive, and downright annoying
to most people.
If you are not making your own layout you should search for good layouts on
a search engine such as google.com. Try to make your search specific
such as 'Neopets plushie guild layouts' for a plushie layout.
Council
Now that you have your guild you need a council. This is not necessarily the
first thing you should work on, but council members means more people who care
about the guild and want to attract more members.
Do not give out council positions to the first people who apply or just because
they pleaded and said they really wanted it. This is how guilds fail. Wait for
active people to apply that you can tell really care about your guild and want
to help, such as new members who donate and try to refer or Neomail you asking
if they can do anything to help out.
You should also change your council hierarchy to suit what you want each council
member to do. I suggest a Website Manager as one council position. It's specific
and gives the person an exact roll they know they have to do.
Content
Aside from the layout, this is the part that attracts members. You should
have a fair selection of things to do, such as competitions, discussions, giveaways,
and so forth.
If you're having trouble getting people to join you can hold a referral contest.
This encourages people to refer people to your guild. A prize worth, say, 4k
is worth having extra members.
Another problem for a lot of guilds is funds. More than likely you will have
to use some of your Neopoints to begin with. After your own donation if you
can't get people to donate hold a raffle. The money you get from the raffle
will help pay for the prize. Offering a prize to the highest donator is not
always a good idea. It will not encourage a lot of people to donate if they
weren't willing in the beginning.
Website
Every guild should have a website. It can expand on things you couldn't on
the guild because of space limitations. Make sure you have a welcome page with
why someone should join your guild in case people who aren't in your guild view
it.
If you don't know how to make a website try using geocities.com or
freewebs.com who provide templates. Later on if you decide to have a
website manager they can maintain it or build an entirely new one.
Advertising
I've seen some people do an exceptionally poor job of this. You should be
specific and to the point with either a catchy title, or one that shows something
you offer to make people read the message. Your message is better off in point
form instead of a whole message to save reading time.
Don't just post messages. Reply to guildless posts and send Neomails as well.
Try to avoid guild invitations unless the person says that is what they want.
Staying Active
Your guild will start losing a lot of members if you don't stay active. This
can also come back to your council. Be sure that they are active. If need be,
kick them off! You don't need people on your council who stopped being active
just because they got a council position and now think they are invincible and
don't have to contribute.
Also try having a guild discussion or topic of the day/week to keep people
talking. Make sure you are involved in activities and start new topics if no
one else will.
If you follow all the above steps I predict, and hope, you will have a successful
guild. And as I finish this article I wish you good luck with your guild and
I hope this was of at least some help to new and maybe even established guild
leaders who wish to expand their guild.
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