Hello and welcome to my news guide, the purpose of this guide is to help you get the most out of your site experience, when promoting your mods and games on ModDB and IndieDB.
Our number one goal at DBolical is ensuring fair and even exposure for all developers and to create the ultimate platform, to get that exposure without having to rely solely on sales, store pages or editorial content.
This article is unfortunately long, please bare with me as this will be broken up into a FAQ style page.
This is a small part of a much larger update to the how to articles, and one of a few blogs / news ill be posting with thoughts on how to make the most of your profiles.
Please ensure you read the full HOW TO on our Official Blog
This Guide is based on personal opinion and understanding how the news system is moderated, and should be considered a "Guide" and not a How To.
Why has my news been archived?
If your news hasn't hit the front page its probably for these reasons!
- To short...Your news should be substantial, if its only a few lines of information and you cant add more, hold off and post a larger update that is more likely to be accepted.
- Upcoming Announcements (E.g Releases or Patches) that have no fresh media.
- A big chunk of fresh images and or a fresh video (own media; let's play's don't count towards the feature) the more media the better!
- 3-4 medium passages of text
- Special backgrounds as well as social buttons help but are not considered as the main content of the article (and are not decisive)
- If the news isn't directly relevant to your games development (eg podcasts, interviews, lets plays, blogs, discounts or bundle deals)
If you include these with a patch or big media update, they are more likely to be allowed. - The news isn't properly presented and formatted (eg A single video(without text), no text, no images)
So when filling out your news article follow these steps.
1st Add 6-8+ images (you can use the embed code if they are hosted in your profiles /images)
2nd Add video if possible (you can use the embed code if they are hosted in your profiles /video )
3rd Add your relevant news (3-4 medium passages of text)
4th Include your social media feeds
5th Add downloads if applicable (you can use the embed code here also /downloads)
If you have questions on how to present your news, look no further than the front page, if you news doesn't look the same, revise it and contact our content manager feillyne to have it re assessed.
Great looking news posts take time and effort to publish, they may contain custom html that you can use for your own news posts, Here are some of my own examples and thoughts on what makes these news items stand out.
When creating the news its important to always make it look the best you can, we want to show it off as much as you do! Your first revision is generally not the best, so give it a few goes these presented below were generally drafted, then revised later for publishing.
'Editor' tip: Using notepad (notepad ++) to prepare your news, then working with the WYSIWYG editor to polish the layout, and the html editor to refine the elements can be a rewarding endeavor and you always have the html backed up on notepad if any issues were to occur during the submission process.
Heroes of Newerth News.
Only If News Release.
DOTA2 Workshop Tools Release.
NEOTOKYO on Steam Release.
Mount & Blade on more platforms.
Unreal Tournament Announcement.
War Thunder SDK Release.
CRYENGINE Subscription
Unreal Engine 4 Released
(NEW) NEWS PUBLISHING IDEAS
We are here to showcase the best work you have to offer (and you want to show it!), whats selling your mod or game? Is it that awesome new effect or the feature rich update you just released!
Did you know? Each month we reach over 6 million readers!
Show it off! When posting your news first impressions matter, so pack it full of fun and interesting media, use the image gallery and embed some images and video to spice up your news!
Get gifCam and make some awesome news promo images!
Then use the animated gifs in your news, Lights camera action!
Embed your videos for all to see, better yet host them here and get your fans thoughts!
We now support sketchfab iframes, you can add them to your profiles, news or blogs.
To help your news standout.
the Headlines, our headline act!
Headlines are a big deal, Getting headlined is great for publicity and activity!
Your news will be in front of thousands of members and site visitors, its shown on the homepage in the rotator. (see image above) for days.
Your news also gets featured on our social media sites.
Like Facebook, twitter, google+ and tumblr. Getting on these sites is exclusive and only headlines get listed. Its really worth it! (See stats below)
So how do I get headlined?
The newspost needs to follow the standard rules set above but also MUST be one of the following.
- A Release Post - Your game just been released, get it headlined?
- A Patch or Update - Got a killer patch that everyone needs to get, we will help you.
- Look Great and have hosted download links.
We may also feature (headline) from time to time.
Competitions, Bundles and Feature Downloads, depending on the site your visiting.
We do not headline, day to day news, upcoming or pre release news, headlines are strictly managed and hand picked to make sure your news stands out!
If your unsure of if your news is headline worthy, please check the headlines here for examples.
IndieDB is a news resource, we publicize your news for free, your job is the sales pitch.
We headline your updates so keep your profile updated Release alphas, betas via indieDB, then get these featured on our RSS feeds aswell as social media sites.
Make use of custom css (it must work and not break the site) on your profile page to give your page a unique look.
When you come to do the custom css, supply us the code and we can put it in place.
You can see examples of what people have done here.
Indiedb.com
Moddb.com
Moddb.com
Or a basic blank canvas can be seen here.
Note we do not support issues with custom css, we can also not create it for you.
When to release and why.
We are not here to tell you when you should announce your news, or how often to release a patch however, balance is needed between content and context, if your submitting alpha updates daily for minor fixes, you might find a lack of attention to these small details.
So the question needs to be asked, is this the best news for my game or mod, is it a big chunky update that will sell my hard work and gain the support needed to complete the project?
If the answer is no, the news should be kept for a more significant update, that is less likely to be missed in the mass of other news that is submitted daily!, Your news space is precious get the most from it!
Be the best!
If you don't get showcased one month, try again the next including your news from your last "missed" news-post in your updated, polished front page article!
Maximize your online presence.
It may sound like cheap marketing but, eyes can be clicks and clicks can be downloads, or purchases, depending on what DBolical site you choose, we use social media to not only bring players to your profiles and downloads, but to your social media presence also.
If you have a twitter account and get a release headlined, your news will also be linkbacked via Twitter and Facebook meaning more visits for you, so more attention for your hard work, more attention, more players, more is good!
So when posting your pimped out news posts, showcasing all your latest and greatest work, help us get you more attention and include your social media feeds into the news, this ensures we get you all the visits you possibly can, your only job is your sales pitch!
Game Modders this information is great for you also, if you're trying to grow communities, invest in social media feeds to hype up your releases and get attention and feedback when needed.
If you have any ideas for how we can improve the way we showcase your work or have any feedback, please leave it in the comments or send me a message.
IndieDB (Indie Game Database)
ModDB (Game and Modification Database)
This article is under update, please check back...
Last Updated Nov 20th 2015
Great advice, although it is so tricky managing time to progress the project and push the marketing. It still needs doing though.
The effort reaps the rewards, its a matter of balance, and its different for every mod and game.
It important to keep updates relevant to the game, a lot these days like to post about other news, relating to PR for the development, although interesting it doesn't draw the crowd like a good chunk of media.
Well you should be able to work both in if you're prepared and schedule it (lacking a specific user for PR). Also you should enter whether or not you believe you'll win for what little or great exposure it provides.
Nice work TKaza
Good article. About me, I made many mistakes in the past. I really hope these can help some devs to promote their great games. Most indies are just devs, they does not know (or sometimes care) about how PR, publishing and get the right attention is done. I was pretty much like that indies (and I still have A LOT to learn). Keep it up!
I'm by no means a PR guy Id call myself a developer, this article is based on observations.
Sometimes, people have that much on their plate they don't remember all the things that could go into making there news massive, the next mine craft, counter strike or ???
That's the opportunity this article is designed to drive, if you publish your news to these basic ideas, based on what other people do, you may just open more doors, with a simple news post.
As long as you put the time and effort into it.
This is free advertising, your time is as valuable as what your doing with it!
Thank you for your comment, we are all learning here!
Aaron, thanks for pointing me to this post. Really well written. If you don't mind, one more question, I have started this group. How do I get attention of members to join this group and discuss about social media marketing experience?
Thanks again.
Link it around the place, not spammy, just were you think its relevant, organic growth is always built on the branches you grow.
Great stuff, good to have some background infos!
Btw, the link to the moddb headlines is broken :)
That is really useful. That article answers all questions about how to make really good articles!
Cheers, there's more guides comming, but its more about getting listed and FAQ.