Helpful Recruiting Tactics

Board Titles

First and foremost, you will need to make a catchy board title! Smileys and other symbols are your friend! If your board title is eye-catching, you are much more likely to pull in a few users that will be interested in learning more about your guild. Beyond that, you should brainstorm what your guild has to offer that most other guilds do not. Once you have a pretty decent list, narrow it down to the few points that standout most and write a brief description about your guild and the awesome things you have to offer. It is also always a good idea to include a link to your guild website in the first post of a recruiting board, which brings up the second point... Guild websites!

Websites

Guild websites should be organized, eye-catching, and informative all at the same time. Aside from the recruiting board, a guild website is oftentimes what gives users the first impression about your guild. If the graphics and coding are all over the place, it may turn a user away from venturing further into what your guild offers. Whereas if your guild website is organized and inviting, it will most likely tempt the user to dive further into the information across the pages, and potentially ask for an invitation to the guild. A guild website should also be informative; tell users what the main focus of the guild is, about the rules and ranks, and go a little further in-depth on the things you have to offer. Make sure the guild website does not get too cluttered as that can get a bit overwhelming! It may be best, if you happen to have a lot of links, to create a portal page as well as the website, to cleanly link to all the different activities and other pages created for your guild.

Stay awake and be polite!

Another thing you should definitely do while bumping your recruiting board is to stay attentive! If you are just blindly bumping your board, you may miss someone asking for an invitation or skip over someone asking a question about your guild. It may be a little off-putting if you happen to skip over someone's post without acknowledging them! It is important to acknowledge every person that posts on your board, even just a passerby giving a "free bump." A simple thank you will show gratitude AND help boost the reputation of your guild friendliness. Occasionally, you may run into a user on your recruiting board who raises a fuss about certain aspects of your guild. In that case, it is best to politely explain to them why you chose the content for your guild that you did. If they are still unhappy, you can ask them politely to leave your board. If they refuse, quietly just let TNT know and let them deal with the issues at hand. Remember to always remain calm and keep a good reputation for your guild, you do not want to be remembered as the guild leader or guild member who lost their temper! Alongside blindly bumping, if you have got to take a break from bumping the topic for an extended period of time, you should make a post declaring that you are taking a break and anyone interested in an invitation, or anyone with questions is welcome to send you a neomail and you will reply as soon as you return. This will show that you also take care in tending to members needs within the guild! If you do get caught up in something without making a post saying you were leaving for a short while and someone happens to post, apologize for missing their post and help them with any questions they may have about your guild!

Always be kind on your recruiting topics. Some users will lurk through the many pages of a recruitment board to see how members of the guild not only interact with one another, but other users of the site as well. It is important to treat everyone as an equal whether they are a part of your guild or not. Some users may feel too intimidated to join if members are the guild are caught up in only chatting with one another instead of welcoming potential members into the conversation!

Say Goodbye to Spam

One thing to NEVER do when recruiting for your guild is to spam the same message over and over! The Guild Chat is without a doubt one of the best places to find new members. Aside from all the guild advertisements, there are also many users creating their own "guildless" board topics. Going to these is key! It is okay to have a pre-made advertisement, but be sure to change it up so that it will relate to the individual whom you are referring to. Most users will want to see time and thought put into an advertisement and not just the same message on any guildless board they happen to stumble upon. Always be willing, if you have the time, to stay and chat to answer any questions that the user may have, and if not, let them know if your neomail is open in case they do have any questions!

Stick to the Requirements

Another thing to stay away from is making too many exceptions! If your guild has requirements, you should always be a fairly strict on them. A little leeway can be given if the guild is new, or if you are running a certain promotion in effort to add more members and help them improve their accounts to meet the requirements of your guild. But, if you are making exceptions on a regular basis to almost anyone who asks, it may be a better idea to just drop the requirements altogether and rethink the basis of your guild! You do not want to make it seem like you have little to no care about who is accepted into the guild, if you do in fact have requirements that many people of the guild do not meet.

With the tips outlined above, you should have a pretty good handle on the things you should incorporate in your guild recruitment efforts, and the things you may want to stay away from. The best way to get the hang of things is to get your guild out there and well known, and find a combination of techniques that works the best for you! Hopefully with the help of the things mentioned in this guide, you will be on the fast track to being in a successful guild plump full of active users due to your great recruiting techniques!