LE How To Advertise Your Mod

[davidagladish]

I started this thread because I want to know what else to do to advertise my Skyrim mods. After about the three week point, it's very difficult to get more people interested or reach a larger audience, even if you just released a big update. I'm curious what types of things other people do to get more page views, comments and downloads on their own mods. It feels like I've almost exhausted the options on the Skyrim Nexus, but perhaps there is more.

 

One of the best ways I've seen to get page views and downloads is to be featured on the main page of the Skyrim Nexus. There are a few ways to do this.

 

The first would be to get featured in the "Hot FIles" section. According to someone in the chat forum, the files that are chosen are taken from the top six recent files over the past two weeks. I'm not sure exactly how that is calculated, but it seems like upload timing would make a huge difference in the beginning. Mods with shock value or sex appeal definitely get more attention than other types of mods. That's why there's almost ALWAYS one sexy companion mod out of the six. Also, files with lots of replay value-like uniquely redesigned wearable items-tend to get a lot of attention. Any small independent modder working on something with little shock value or replay value is highly unlikely to make the "Hot Files." Environment design (like new dungeons, quests, and player houses) seem to be the least recognized. Not to mention it's almost impossible if your mod isn't flawless within the first two weeks of posting.

 

The second way is to be featured in the Skyrim Mod Sanctuary series of videos. This is a great way for under-appreciated or "lost" mods to get noticed. Gopher has done some great work here and I really love watching the series. Unfortunately, it's pretty random what he chooses and he tends to favor immersive mods that mess with the mechanics or visuals of the game. Again, for environment design it's a bit of a limited market for advertising. But, still a great way to springboard into popularity if your mod is something he is impressed by.

 

The third way is the easiest....well sometimes. Now when you start building a page for your mod, you can wait to release it until it's finished. Which is great. Before that it was a bit touch-and-go as you slowly fixed errors and typos, or fixed your BB code and embedded pictures and videos. But, when you decide to publish the page, it is added to a cue on the front page. Every time six new mods are posted, the old six are bumped and the new six are posted. But what happens when you join the cue in slot #1. Then slots #2-5 fill up. But you're still waiting on #6. Then someone uploads seven different language translations of the same mod all at once? Now the main page has six language translations of the same mod and bumped yours off after only a split second of notoriety. This is very possible, in fact it happened to me. Now, unless you delete your page and repost it, you've lost the only sure-fire way to get on the front page. If this doesn't happen, it's amazing to watch your page go from 0 views and 0 downloads to 100 views and 10 downloads almost instantly. The more time you are in that list on the main page, the more views and downloads you get almost exponentially. Time it wisely.

 

The fourth way (and last?) to get on the main page is to upload an image of your mod. It shows up in the same 6-slot cue like before. But you need to "hire" a crazy-good photographer with an awesome eye for detail and a very beefy computer and GPU running about 100+ enhancement mods to get noticed. Also, the image needs a good title. Again, sex-appeal and fire seem to get the most notice. I was lucky enough to find someone to take a photo series for my mod. It actually helped a lot and probably doubled my page views. There's no way of telling for sure, of course, but the first day I noticed a spike in activity. You can always space out your uploads, as well, to remind people. I tend to upload once a week-ish if I take a decent image. Of course, linking to your mod page on the image page is essential.

 

Another way of getting page views is to update your mod as often as possible. The recently updated column does get checked regularly, even if it's not on the main page sometimes it's the next best thing. Nothing kills a mod quicker than never updating it. Not just the .esp file but also responding to comments, answering questions, moderating, creating forums, and offering new content if you can reach a view goal or endorsement goal.

 

Past that, there is just cleaning up your mod page and making it as interesting and informative as possible. Lots of great pictures, custom fonts, headers, and YouTube video walkthru's or trailers. I learned a lot of BB code and utilized Photoshop to try and spice up my page/make it less dull. I also used Bandicam to record in-game footage of my mod, then edited a 30sec trailer in iMovie and embedded it directly into the description page. People commented on how the only reason they downloaded my mod was because of that video.

 

After a month of this, I feel like I've exhausted all the avenues. So I'd love to hear what other modders do to advertise their own mods: your frustrations getting page views and downloads, things you've tried that work or don't work. Can't wait to hear from you all.

[Ironman5000]

It's important not to get bogged down in creating mods for the purpose of gaining popularity, it can distract from making something interesting and unique that will actually get the right kind of attention.

 

I have seen a lot of the best mods get popular that have minimal description and not bothering with embedded videos, they just need to be informative about what the mod does. Having said that I would believe that adding lots of baubles to a mod page will grab the attention of some less experienced mod users because it looks professional, which isn't always the case. I do this because I enjoy graphic design and will find any opportunity to play around with it :D

 

The hot files are calculated by the number of endorsements they receive, sure not everyone bothers to come back and do that but it gives a decent idea of how well the mod works for those decided to make the effort to endorse. Once you upload you have a week from that point for possible inclusion in the Hot Files, then once that week is up that's the limit. It's how the nexus rotates everyone's work so the best current mods can be advertised for the users.

 

As far the Mod Sanctuary and similar vids go, they usually come in once you're mod has been on a day or two (sometimes longer) then the guys who make them tend to get in touch via PM asking to have the vids on the page which is beneficial for him to get attention for his channel and it helps to have a visual description for the author. So as far as advertising goes these are pretty great :)

 

If you wanted to get attention for updates to a mod that has been out a while then the articles are your best bet, because if your mod did do well after your initial release then it's likely some people will check for these, or more likely tracked the mod so when you update there tracking list will refresh to show the most recent at the top of their list.

 

Is this any help?

[DrakeTheDragon]

After a month of this, I feel like I've exhausted all the avenues. So I'd love to hear what other modders do to advertise their own mods: your frustrations getting page views and downloads, things you've tried that work or don't work. Can't wait to hear from you all.

 

I don't. It's that simple.

 

There are people interested in what I do and waiting to get more, among them the ones initially asking me to release my stuff here. These are the only ones I care for.

As soon as they're gone, any future mod releases of mine will be, too. And it won't be any loss to me for even a split second. That's not why I'm here.

 

And for the records, I don't "look" at the descriptions. I "read" them, and skip the media. I'm judging mods by their contents, not their presentation, or their author.

But that's just me.

[Indigoblade]

Well, I think the best way to get popular is to make a good mod, a good original idea, cleaned, bug free and non conflicting as possible, you shouldn't actively be looking out for endorsements. Just do what you love and the popularity will come, After the recent fix of total and unique dls I was surprised to see how many people actually used my mod. I am happy to see all the support, but it shouldn't really matter too much. I make what I want to make and I am sharing with everyone because I believe that other people would want it too! : D So don't hunt for endorsements hunt for the thrill of modding!

[davidagladish]

Fishing for endorsements is only really valid in the first week anyway, if that is the how and when of making the hot files section. Im more interested in just getting people to look at the page, and how to do that once a mod is already posted.

 

The quality of the mod is ALWAYS important. Of course it would be nice to rely solely on the knowledge that your work is good and that you are doing it for the community. It would also be nice to get noticed by one of the video series' but that's like playing the lottery unless you can rely on nepotism. I love modding, and it thrills me just to tinker around in the CK, but I do strive to reach larger audiences each time.

 

What is interesting, however, is that all of you advertisd your own mods in the signatures of your posts. Seeing as how this is a public forum about how to advertise, I'm curious why none of you mentioned it. That would be the perfect kind of suggestion to give other new modders in this forum. All art needs to be advertised to be seen, it can only be in the eye of the beholder once it has reached their field of view.

[Ironman5000]

FYI 'fishing' for endorsements is against the ToS:

Do not solicit (ask for) ratings, endorsements or file of the month votes within your file description.

However I have noticed a LOT of authors doing this on skyrim nexus

 

I add links to my mods in my sig simply because it's the very reason am here - to share my mods, and providing links to my favourites is a handy way show people where to go. Whether anyone endorses them or not is not something I chase, that feature is more for the users.

 

It's generally not a good idea to get caught up in new trend of trying to get as many endorsements as possible.

Edited May 14, 2013 by Ironman5000

[davidagladish]

Endorsements aside, since that detail has been exhausted and is not really what this topic is about, what advice can you give a modder about setting up their page, making it visually interesting, and trying draw people in?

 

Even a well made mod can crash and burn without good page elements, images, upkeep, and community links.

[EnaiSiaion]

The whole point of uploading a mod on the Nexus is so people can download it, so anyone claiming they don't care about popularity is by definition wrong.

Also, aiming for high numbers is a goal unto itself and an interesting marketing challenge. I like the challenge of being the biggest, at least if it's fair competition and not decided by who happened to upload their mod on a week when Skyrim Weekly has a themed episode about something different.


Conversion rates

Take a look at your conversion ratios between page views and unique downloads and between unique downloads and endorsements. If your viewers don't download your mod, it doesn't have an attractive feature set or the page is ugly. If you get downloads but no endorsements, your mod sucks.

For competitive purposes, View > UDL conversion rate is important. You have little control over pageviews (remember we're talking about four and five figure view counts, any manual advertising you're doing is a drop in the bucket) but you must ensure those views result in downloads or else you're boned. Aim for 10%.

If you have few downloads, it is hard to catch up in endorsements because the UDL > End conversion rate is rarely very high. People are just not all that likely to be pleasantly surprised by a mod: they downloaded it because it did X, so the best case situation is that the mod succeeds at doing X. Aim for 5% for starters. If it's lower than 3%, your mod is probably garbage or too love-or-hate to succeed.


Update policy

You must have a fairly flawless 1.00 release. Having "a" bug is okay, having several is a death sentence. Release a well timed patch a few days later so you create an image of being on the ball (as opposed to lack of interest or desperate damage control) and to ensure that early adopters see the update in their NMM or tracking list and will be reminded to try it out again. This also works on the SW.

Update the mod regularly as a reminder to people tracking it that they might want to endorse it. This won't help you get MotW, but it will help you accumulate endorsements over time. It also prevents people from skipping the mod for being "outdated".


Timing

Uploading the mod at the time of highest traffic is actually not necessary. It depends on your target audience.

Uploading during peak hours is a good choice if you have a mod aimed at the lowest common denominator (anything sexy or with textures) and you just want the largest number of retards online.

Uploading during the early evening or past midnight has the disadvantage of having a more adult crowd that is more likely to submit their own mods so yours gets pushed off, but it is probably still better if your mod is targetted at discerning players (quest mod, dungeon, balance mod) and the peak hour ADHD crowd would just ignore it.

You should always upload your mod on both the Nexus and the Steam Workshop, and not at the same time. You want to minimise the risk of wasting both airtime opportunities for the same reason (holiday, big ticket mod released on the same day, some ass spamming 10 separate mods in a minute).

Also, their target audience is slightly different: the SW audience has much lower standards and is easy to blind with shiny trinkets, but also has goldfish memory* and if the mod looks slightly complicated they skip it. Also they can actually downvote mods and will do so if they don't like it, so try not to anger anyone.

*goldfish actually have a memory span of several months though.

Some stats for comparison's sake:

Apocalypse Spells:
6031 End
View -> UDL: 28.185%
UDL -> End: 2.253%

Thunderbolt Shouts:
223 End
View -> UDL: 18.842%
UDL -> End: 5.216%

Aurora Doomstones:
73 End
View -> UDL: 8.314%
UDL -> End: 7.758%

Excellent Racials:
38 End
View -> UDL: 9.695%
UDL -> End: 6.199%

Battledress:
96 End
View -> UDL: 4.551%
UDL -> End: 2.487%

Almalexia's Regalia:
77 End
View -> UDL: 4.141%
UDL -> End: 2.759%

 

Edited May 14, 2013 by EnaiSiaion

[Zaldir]

The whole point of uploading a mod on the Nexus is so people can download it, so anyone claiming they don't care about popularity is by definition wrong.

Uhm... You are by definition wrong now.

 

There is no "whole point" of uploading something to the Nexus. Everyone has a different reason. Just because your reason is to get as much popularity as possible does not make that the "whole point" about it.

I upload my mods because I simply want to share what I have made. Not for popularity, not so everyone can praise me for what I have done, but so that people can download and have fun playing the mods. Personally, I think getting feedback is great, but not the "whole point" - it is not the reason I do it.

 

If you are modding for popularity, you are (in my opinion) modding for the wrong reasons.

 

 

Mandamus' quote fits quite nice here...

Some people seem to forget that modding is supposed to be fun :/

 

Mod because you like it, not because someone else wants you to. Mod what you want, not what someone else wants. Mod for yourself, but share it with others.

[DrakeTheDragon]

 

The whole point of uploading a mod on the Nexus is so people can download it, so anyone claiming they don't care about popularity is by definition wrong.

I uploaded my Oblivion mods here, because I was asked to do so.

I'm 'not' uploading Skyrim mods here, because I wasn't asked to do so for one, and for the second I don't intend to even mod that game.

 

But if this really has become all what modding is about, popularity and succeeding in some meaningless made-up virtual rankings, then it's for the better I decided not to.

Thanks for this confirmation. I was almost starting to feel bad for it already. Not anymore now.