How it Works
LobbyingForum provides an efficient, easy-to-use, and safe platform for calling
attention to issues that concern you. Our aim is to provide you with very
efficient functionalities to help you successfully achieve the goals of your
petition. This includes efficient promoting tools, guides to writing a petition,
great customer service, and safe, standardized petition forms in PDF format.
This is all free of charge.
See how we can help you succeed with your campaign:
WHY YOU SHOULD CHOOSE US
LobbyingForum’s goal is to be the leader in online campaigning. We are different
because we provide very effective tools on an easy-to-use platform that will
appeal to followers of your campaign. Here are some of the features:
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Market and Promote
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- Tell a friend" function with the capability of sending messages to multiple email addresses.
- Connect to other people and share interesting topics via our many links to social networking and social bookmarking sites.
- Search engine–optimized petitions to maximize your campaign’s exposure.
- A sophisticated search-and-filter function allows users to quickly find sample petitions and inspiration for petition forms.
- You have your own account, where you have an overview of all the petitions you find interesting, as well as any campaign you ever started.
- Guides on how to write a petition.
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Interact
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- A petition background page where you can constantly provide new information for the followers of your campaign. Unlike many other petition sites, you have great flexibility with us.
- Great overview of each petition where people interested in your campaign can easily view all signatures, participate in discussions, and add links to relevant sources. With LobbyingForum, you will be able to create a community around your petition.
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Keep Updated
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- RSS feeds for keeping up to date with all new events for a petition
- Bookmark the petitions you like to quickly access them.
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Petition Delivery
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- All petitions are available in CSV and PDF format. Unlike most other petition sites, this service is totally free with us. A PDF petition minimizes the risk of someone manipulating the results of your petition and gives it more credibility.
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Security
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- Possibility to remove unwanted discussion posts, links, and signatures to keep you in control. You are the administrator of your own campaign.
- We use antispam filters and human verification codes to prevent spam on discussion boards, irrelevant links, and automated signatures.
- We respect your privacy and will never share your account details with any third-party.
- We provide great support. We want you to have your questions answered quickly.
- We take security very seriously, which is why we only host our servers with an award-winning hosting company.
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To Top of Page
Start a Petition
Sample Petition
How you choose to promote your petition will have a significant impact on how much attention it will attract.
- Tell a friend
With this function, you can alert up to ten people about an interesting petition. Each message will contain a short description of the petition and a direct link to it. You can edit each message to make it more personalized, and you don’t have to be a registered user to use this service. Make sure you send these emails to recipients who might be interested in the petition.
- Link to your petition
To successfully promote a petition, you should try to link to the petition’s URL on as many websites as possible. This can be done, for example, on newsgroups, forums, blogs, and other websites, where comments and discussions are possible. The URL for each petition can be found in the browser window. It is often a good idea to include it in the petition background information as well.
- "Share"
Another
way of linking to your petition is to target social bookmarking services and
social networks. This enables you to share the petition with other people on a
large number of other websites and will increase your link popularity, which is
very important in increasing search engine rankings. Outbound links, i.e., links
from your petition to other websites, also affect your rankings. You can read
more about adding outbound links here.
- Word of mouth
Even though you have a number of efficient online marketing tools at your disposal, it is still a good idea to tell people you know about an interesting petition. Surveys show that a lot of online traffic is generated by recommendations from friends, family, and colleagues.
- Advertising
In some cases, you might want to advertise your petition on search engines. You can also contact media such as radio, TV, and local newspapers and try to get them to cover your petition. Putting up posters and handing out flyers are other ways of promoting your petition.
KEEPING UPDATED
- RSS feed
Through the RSS feed, you can keep updated on the latest events for a petition that interests you, such as a new discussion post, a new signature, or a new link. If you are the author of a petition, this is also a good way of keeping updated on any new activity. The feed is accessed via your Internet browser. All you have to do to set it up is follow the instructions once you’ve pressed the RSS button. This will only take a moment.
- Visit us regularly
Of course, visiting the petition page regularly will ensure at you are completely updated. By bookmarking the page, you will be able to access it quicker, and the page will be added to your browser favorites.
INTERACTING
- Discussions and comments
In the comment section, you can interact with other registered users and discuss the petition and any surrounding issues. This is a great way for interested people to engage in dialogue and educate each other about the petition to create a community around it.
- Petition background
Here, the followers of a campaign can find all relevant information about a petition. If you are starting a petition, be sure you spend some time on this section, as it will be what other users see, and it will determine their interest in participating. A good idea is to add a link to your petition’s URL that others can use. You can also include your petition text here so that your people can quickly see what your campaign is all about.
The petition background information can be updated as often as you like. When you have successfully achieved the goals of your petition, this is a great place to tell the followers of your campaign.
ADDING LINKS
Links are a great way of adding relevant information to a campaign. This might include necessary background information to put a petition into proper context and to keep other users updated on new events. Both the author of a petition and other registered users can add relevant links. These outbound links also have a positive effect on search engine rankings.
ADDING SIGNATURES
You can sign a petition by being a registered user or by just filling out the necessary information. If you are a registered user, please make sure you update all personal information in your account before signing.
A petition should be signed with your real name to make the information relevant. If you are a U.S. citizen, the state and city where you live will be added. For non-U.S. users, only the country and city where you live will be added apart from your name.
LobbyingForum emphasizes creating petitions that are secure and relevant not only to the creator of the petition but also to the recipient. Hence, all of our petitions can be delivered in PDF format.
To Top of Page
Start a Petition
Sample Petition
PETITION WRITING
When you start a petition with us, you will have a 12-hour window to fine-tune your petition’s title and text. After this time period, these fields are locked for security reasons. On many other petition sites, you don’t have this option, but we realize that it is important for you to have time to make your petition as appealing as possible and for the recipient of your petition to trust the way the signatures was collected.
You have three options as to how you deliver your petition. You can just send a link to your petition page in an email, send it in CSV format to your registered email address or download it as a PDF. Afterward, these files can be sent to the target of your petition via email. The PDF alternative increases relevance, since you are using a standardized, recognizable format, which is more secure than CSV. On the other hand, the CSV format is more flexible. Unlike most other petition sites, both of these options are free of charge with us.
The PDF petition file will contain your name, the name of your petition, the petition text, and a list of all the signatures (name, city, state, and country). It will also contain information as to when the petition was started and when the PDF file was created.
For examples of successful petitions that you can use as a template visit Top 10 Petitions. You can also have a look at our guide to writing a successful petition.
FIND A PETITION
To search for a petition you should either use our search function, where you can enter a specific title, and then use our filter function or you can go straight to the petitions page where you can filter based on specific criterias.
HAVE YOU RECEIVED A PETITION?
If you have received a petition from someone using LobbyingForum you can trust the way the signatures were collected. We ensure the security of the site by hosting with an award winning hosting company. We furthermore use anti-spam filters, human verification codes, PDF petitions and we only allow the creator of a petition a 12h window to amend the petition title, text and location from the time the petition was created. If you have any questions about collection methods, security etc then please contact us.
SOCIAL NETWORKING
Visit and join our groups on:
Bebo
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
ADMINISTRATION
If you are the author of a petition, you are your campaign’s administrator. Make sure that links and signatures are relevant to make your campaign as successful as possible.
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Be sure to provide updated information about yourself in the Manage My Account section and add any future changes. This information will be used, for example, when you sign petitions.
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