The Do's and Don't's of Replying to HAF and WTB threads

[SettingSun77]

We all want every paid member who is interested in doing so to prosper by responding to HAF and WTB threads.

Many of you are losing out on sales by the way you are responding to Hire a Freelancer or Want to Buy threads.

We'd like to share some of the processes some of the community is using to respond and some thoughts as to how we believe you can do better and make more money.

Example of a well-written response:



That Jr. Vip member shared in detail how they can help. No fluff, just straight facts and in this industry straight facts rule the oceans.

When replying, specify your experience, skills, and/or parts of the service you can help the OP (original poster) with.

Spinning a comment or copying a comment posted before yours will incur a warning and using your AI to spin the content is not acceptable either.

These following responses to a Want to Buy or a Hire a Freelancer thread are spammy and do not set you apart from the others offering to help.





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Would you think this is something that will make you stand out from the crowd?

I sure hope you don't think so, because there is no incentive for the buyer to hire them from that post.

It comes off as spam where the seller is trying to differentiate themselves from the crowd with the HUGE font, no meat and potatoes or substance of any kind in the response, and the color change with the other attributes does not give you a leg up on the other guy.



This one is straight up against the terms and service in a Want to Buy or a Hire a Freelancer thread and the other images I have shared above are in the same boat.

Not only are they violations, they are causing your prospects to have what we call 'Ad Blindness'.

Posting the same message multiple times in huge fonts will cause people to completely ignore your post and it also does not portray a person who is a business professional. To be blunt, it looks completely low rent.

Don't do this unless you want to lose out on sales:



It offers no value in terms of a sales pitch and has annoyingly huge fonts.

Using that huge font with little value does not stand out above the others trying to sell in the same thread

Rewritten:

"I provide High Quality Trustpilot reviews in the UK with aged accounts that are from real people living in the UK. We have been providing Trustpilot reviews for years and our stick rate is very high and we are sure that you will be pleased.

I'll send you a DM with a link to this thread and share how we can get started putting your business in a better light with well-written content from local users so you can judge the quality."

That took all of about 82 seconds to write and it is significantly more effective when you are trying to sell on the forum.

Take the time to offer something other than a cardboard cutout response and you will make more money!

 

[RichMedusa]

Great to see it, we need to value human and organic answers, people who take the time to read and manually write a proper answer for someone willing to become their customers.

 

[Deleted member 1603965]

This is good. Was long overdue. Thanks @SettingSun77

 

[Venusaur]

Thank you for the update
Are we allowed to report those spammy answers on HAF and WTB threads from today on? Just to confirm

 

[RafaViQ]

Hmm.., wasn't there a rule thet stated that all WTB and HAF should have a price indication or has that been changed?

 

[21KSuccessStory]

I always see this on BHW. Most of them are just resellers or middlemen. That’s why they post such spammy comments in HAF and WTB threads. What they want to do is quickly get the thread poster’s attention and then share their contact details to take the conversation outside BHW. After that, they sell some service through drop servicing.


For example, if you post something like "I want a guest post in this niche" in a WTB thread, a huge number of people with blue badges will reply with messages like “I can give you links” or “I can offer guest posts.” But if you're careful and ask all of them for samples, then organize the websites they offer into one spreadsheet, you’ll notice that many of them offer the same sites at different prices. That’s how you can identify the resellers and middlemen.

 

[SettingSun77]

Thank you for the update
Are we allowed to report those spammy answers on HAF and WTB threads from today on? Just to confirm

Yes!

If you see a member repeatedly doing it, don't report all of their posts. Report one of them and note they have been repeating themselves, or report their profile and note what they've been doing. But yes, please, report away.

 

[BassTrackerBoats]

Hmm.., wasn't there a rule thet stated that all WTB and HAF should have a price indication or has that been changed

The updated rules for the want to buy and hire a freelancer subforums can be found here:

https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/rules-posting-in-want-to-buy.951771/

https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/rules-posting-in-hire-a-freelancer.951769/

 

[SilverClouds]

Yes!

If you see a member repeatedly doing it, don't report all of their posts. Report one of them and note they have been repeating themselves, or report their profile and note what they've been doing. But yes, please, report away.

So copy and paste responses aren't allowed anymore?

Btw prospects run away the moment they hear about upfront payments. Is there an expectation to accept payments after?

Any plans of making budgets more transparent? A bit of waste of time to reply if prospect has low budget.

 

[SettingSun77]

So copy and paste responses aren't allowed anymore?

Right now there's nothing set in stone in the rules disallowing them. However, we are now warning people who are doing this repeatedly and we are monitoring the situation.

Btw prospects run away the moment they hear about upfront payments. Is there an expectation to accept payments after?

This is entirely between the two parties doing the deal. We don't police this.

 

[SilverClouds]

Are people that look for freelancers or accounts to buy in these sections mostly people that still work their 9 to 5 and try to do business on the side? Any chance of requiring them to specify if it's actual full time business or that they're not businesses when they post? I personally prefer to work with businesses.

 

[BassTrackerBoats]

Are people that look for freelancers or accounts to buy in these sections mostly people that still work their 9 to 5 and try to do business on the side? Any chance of requiring them to specify if it's actual full time business or that they're not businesses when they post? I personally prefer to work with businesses.

No, we do not require that people operate fiull time or under any business licenses.

If that is a concern when buying, ask the seller so that you are comfortable with the selllers' credentials.

 

[SilverClouds]

No, we do not require that people operate fiull time or under any business licenses.

If that is a concern when buying, ask the seller so that you are comfortable with the selllers' credentials.

No, I mean potential clients in WTB / HAF. I ended up not working for any of them because they weren't businesses. I'm not talking about licenses, I don't care what someone does or doesn't do with the tax authorities. But if I'm about to work under someone as freelancer I prefer it to be a full time business. IMO there should be a requirement when posting in HAF or WTB to specify if it's individual person or company so freelancers could choose who they want or not want to work with. Just a suggestion, you can ignore it if you like, but these sections are incredibly chaotic, it's hard to figure out if it makes sense to apply for a freelance gig or not. I eventually stopped applying. I appreciate you trying to do something with these sections (I remember members complained about repetitive replies in WTB / HAF and you're trying to do something with it).

 

[BassTrackerBoats]

No, I mean potential clients in WTB / HAF. I ended up not working for any of them because they weren't businesses. I'm not talking about licenses, I don't care what someone does or doesn't do with the tax authorities. But if I'm about to work under someone as freelancer I prefer it to be a full time business. IMO there should be a requirement when posting in HAF or WTB to specify if it's individual person or company so freelancers could choose who they want or not want to work with. Just a suggestion, you can ignore it if you like, but these sections are incredibly chaotic, it's hard to figure out if it makes sense to apply for a freelance gig or not. I eventually stopped applying. I appreciate you trying to do something with these sections (I remember members complained about repetitive replies in WTB / HAF and you're trying to do something with it).

If you, or anyone else, is not comfortable with a seller or a buyer after vetting them, it probably is not a good idea to do business with them.

Now, buyers and sellers who see your message may decide to advertise whether they are a full-time business or not, and perhaps that will help in the decision of whom to do business with.

 

[Funiki]

This is a bump.

If you are a seller , please read.
Responses like :
“I can help you”
“I can do it”
“Dm me”

Are similar to
“We can help you”
“We can do it”
“DM us”

And in both cases these responses to a Want to Buy or a Hire a Freelancer thread are spammy and will lead to a warning.

The updated rules for the want to buy and hire a freelancer subforums can be found here:

https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/rules-posting-in-want-to-buy.951771/

https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/rules-posting-in-hire-a-freelancer.951769/

 

[SettingSun77]

It's fair to say that the response to this friendly guide has been negligible. So those of you who are still dealing in low effort, copy/paste, spun AI, BIG FONT responses are going to get a visit from your local neighbourhood moderator and their warn button.

Responsible community members, if you see a lot of this ^ going on, hit that report button.

 

[twoassassins]

I hope this will be regulated more thoroughly, as it makes it tougher for genuine sellers to be able to stand out... For some queries, there's like 50 responses, 75% are not useful to the buyer, so it gets very spammy


Really hoping this gets taken up more seriously, I myself have just seen this thread and its pretty decent

 

[BassTrackerBoats]

I'm going to tell a little story from when I was raising children and one of my children in particular.

At about 15 or 16 they wanted a certain brand of shoes and would not settle for any other brand. I asked why the fuss and was told that all the kids were wearing them and he didn't want to stand out as the kind with the "inferior shoes".

He didn't want to stand out as he wanted to be one of the crowd. I suppose that is fine for a 15 year old that is still under their parent's roof but for a business person it is the kiss of death 99% of the time.

Be unique and stand out from the crowd instead of sheeping it. Most of you offer a quality product or service, let people know you do.

Here's a suggestion to those of you that are genuine sellers and not spammers who have no sense of font size or how to market your skills.

Let's say you are skilled in graphic design, website creation, can make a logo pop, or are available for sales thread graphics or signature banners.

Create a spreadsheet with quality answers that you can easily adjust so they are always unique.

5 different responses, outlining your skill set, perhaps a link to your sales thread, your availability, your awareness of the rules for anything you are bidding on that goes on the forum for your client, the currencies you accept, any certifications or degrees in that field, and anything else you can muster up that will help you be seen, not as the Fat Font guy who people ignore, but a business person with all their ducks in a row.

I would bet that you can generate 50 unique responses that can be intermingled and randomly used when responding to a HAF/WTB thread and that will give you a better sales profile than the HUGE FONT guy or the guy that says, "I can do that, send me a DM."

 

[Byeols Nyra]

We all want every paid member who is interested in doing so to prosper by responding to HAF and WTB threads.

Many of you are losing out on sales by the way you are responding to Hire a Freelancer or Want to Buy threads.

We'd like to share some of the processes some of the community is using to respond and some thoughts as to how we believe you can do better and make more money.

Example of a well-written response:

View attachment 446968

That Jr. Vip member shared in detail how they can help. No fluff, just straight facts and in this industry straight facts rule the oceans.

When replying, specify your experience, skills, and/or parts of the service you can help the OP (original poster) with.

Spinning a comment or copying a comment posted before yours will incur a warning and using your AI to spin the content is not acceptable either.

These following responses to a Want to Buy or a Hire a Freelancer thread are spammy and do not set you apart from the others offering to help.

View attachment 446969

View attachment 446970

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Would you think this is something that will make you stand out from the crowd?

I sure hope you don't think so, because there is no incentive for the buyer to hire them from that post.

It comes off as spam where the seller is trying to differentiate themselves from the crowd with the HUGE font, no meat and potatoes or substance of any kind in the response, and the color change with the other attributes does not give you a leg up on the other guy.

View attachment 446971

This one is straight up against the https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/rules-posting-in-hire-a-freelancer.951769/ in a Want to Buy or a Hire a Freelancer thread and the other images I have shared above are in the same boat.

Not only are they violations, they are causing your prospects to have what we call 'Ad Blindness'.

Posting the same message multiple times in huge fonts will cause people to completely ignore your post and it also does not portray a person who is a business professional. To be blunt, it looks completely low rent.

Don't do this unless you want to lose out on sales:

View attachment 446972

It offers no value in terms of a sales pitch and has annoyingly huge fonts.

Using that huge font with little value does not stand out above the others trying to sell in the same thread

Rewritten:

"I provide High Quality Trustpilot reviews in the UK with aged accounts that are from real people living in the UK. We have been providing Trustpilot reviews for years and our stick rate is very high and we are sure that you will be pleased.

I'll send you a DM with a link to this thread and share how we can get started putting your business in a better light with well-written content from local users so you can judge the quality."

That took all of about 82 seconds to write and it is significantly more effective when you are trying to sell on the forum.

Take the time to offer something other than a cardboard cutout response and you will make more money!

That's superb decision, i agreed this!

 

[Funiki]

What about a friendly bump for this today?

There are still members confused about “How to reply to a WTB / HAF thread “ but also buyers are not 100% clear and we want to clarify their thoughts so we all stay on the same page and up to date.

Good day