As a blogger who also critiques movies and television shows, IMDB is an invaluable resource. I use IMDB to find out the names of actors I may know by looks, but not necessarily by name. I also know about actors that aren’t of my time. It can be hard to know everyone when there are millions of actors out there over several decades worth of filming. To say that I use IMDB with every review I write is an understatement.
Become an IMDB News Desk Publisher
What IMDB isn’t always good for is using it to promote yourself or your business. Unless you know how to promote yourself the right away. First, you have to make sure you’re not spamming IMDB. This is an important rule because you want IMDB to work for you, not against you. You also don’t want to get band, because then you can’t use IMDB at all!
Depending on your website, you may actually be featured on IMDB. If your website covers film news, reviews, and more, and it is consistently updated, IMDB may approve you to become part of their “news desk” team. If you write about a specific movie or actor, then everyone browsing IMDB will have access to your movie review on that movie or actor’s page.
You can sign up to become a news desk publisher by clicking here. You must be a registered user of IMDB before you can try and submit your information. This doesn’t have to be your only way of getting your website out there.
Using your IMDB Profile Signature
You can put your website in your profile/forum signature. I’ve had as many as three websites listed. I don’t recommend any more than that. Your actual signature can only hold one or two urls at the most (it has a character limit), but you can edit your signature on individual posts. I generally list li-reviews.com and li-kids.com. However, when I was posting on the Rory O’Shea was Here forum, a movie about Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, I also included links to the page for the non-profit organization I’m trying to start, Muscular Dystrophy Patients United. If your website is relevant to the topic, I don’t see someone calling you out as a spammer for posting your URL.
Making your Link Relevant
When I do reviews of certain movies or television shows, I’ll sometimes post the link to my review on that particular movie’s forum. If there is a topic about a DVD coming out, especially ones that asks about the quality of the new DVD, if I’ve done a review of it I’ll say something to the effect of:
“I just reviewed this DVD at LI Reviews. You can see everything the DVD has to offer”.
Then I can post the link to my review.
Being a reviewer has a bigger advantage posting wise on IMDB. If I owned a Debt Reduction company, I couldn’t flaunt my link anywhere. I might put it in my signature, but it’d be something that I tried not to pay too much attention to when I was posting. I wouldn’t want people to think I was just there to promote my website. IMDB can be valuable, but it also can be abused, so try not to be the one abusing the service.
Make sure your Forum Posts are High Quality
You represent yourself and your blog/website/business by what you type. IMDB forums are a haven for underage, dramatic whiners. Every single movie page I’ve ever visited has at least one bozo saying “This movie sucked”. I’ve seen people post about how movies like The Godfather are overrated. To each their own, but many just post these arguments to fight with others. You’re there to present yourself as someone knowledgeable about movies and films. Getting involved in the pettiness, especially when it is just some 14 year old running their mouth, makes you look bad.
When you post in the forums, remember to make sure you actually have something to say. If you show you know what you’re talking about when it comes to a certain TV show or movie then people will begin to respect your opinion and they might just visit that website in your signature, as a result.
Using IMDB doesn’t have to be rocket science. This isn’t going to be a site that will work well for everyone, but if you love a certain television show or movie, do reviews for movies/DVDs, or just like to talk about certain actors you can capitalize on your knowledge and opinion by using IMDB to boost your website’s visibility!
I’ve never noticed an option to include a sig at the bottom of posts, and have often wondered how some people manage to include them. Is this only available if you’re a paid up member?
Hey Quinn – Thanks for the post. Actually you have to go into your profile area, and where you change things such as your display name, there is an option for a signature. You just put your signature in there and it attaches to all your posts. If you need a bit more directed instructions please let me know!
Hiya Dominck,
Just came along your blog by accident and am glad i did now ! I just registered with IMDB and was curious to the signature. If i was to make different postings on differing subjects,woudl i be able to place a different link in each posting, or do you advise a limit of links?
Hey Kam,
Thanks for commenting. I usually put one or two of my top links. Then, say I am posting on a video game or a movie about gaming, I might add in a link to my gaming blog, beneath those two links, but just in the main posting area. You can add a link without going back in to your signature area, or you can remove your signature altogether as you are posting on threads. I recommend no more than three or four though because that is a bit of overkill IMO!!
Good evening Dominick,
Thank you for your reply, much appreciated. I was not expecting you to follow up ! Will look up and follow your advise, my gratitude to you for your time in this.thank you
Kam
Kam – No worries! If I can be of any further assistance let me know!
Hi Dominick,
Good article. I just started to use the signature on IMDB and as you said I try to make some thoughtful comments in the hope of getting some active users to my freshly created (and way underpopulated) forum. My question is: what is your experience, is it worth investing time in this in the long run? I mean can you get a considerable number of active users with this method?
(Right now I’m trying different methods to get a few active members, but it’s really not easy and I’m getting a bit disappointed, that’s why I’m asking.)
Thank you,
wyv