Any "search engine" experts??

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ed4copies

ed4copies

Local Chapter Manager
Joined
Mar 25, 2005
Messages
24,757
Location
Racine, WI, USA.
Curtis (Mesquite Man) asked me for ideas to help out the Penefit.org site.

One thing that occurs to me--the pens that are offered would make GREAT Christmas presents, especially for those who get some satisfaction out of helping others or contributing to "good causes".

Certainly "Cody's family" is a good cause and the pens start at a very affordable level.

Is there a way to get searches for "Christmas presents" and other very generic terms to find this site?

Thanks for any input!!!
 
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If you can get to the html code for the index page, you can include whatever terms you want in a meta-tag. There's no guarantee that a search engine will find those terms, but having them there enhances the chances that a bot will eventually find the site;.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the process of indexing sites involves time. Frankly, it may be a bit late to create a site that you want to be indexed in time for shoppers to find it for this Christmas.
 
You should also take time to be sure the text in the pages include those words in a meaningfull context (otherwise it might be discarded as spam).
Some other thing which might help is people linking back to the site.
But as monophoto said, there's no guarantee it shows up in the results.
I assume your major target is google and no one really knows how the search engine at google works (outside the company that is :smile:), plus they change the search algorithm from time to time.
 
Please bear in mind that this is NOT a commercial site. The site was established to provide help for a cancer victim (Cody) and his family. So, the idea of spending money to bring folks to the site seems to run contrary to it's purpose.

It's up to Dan and Curtis---and I do appreciate ALL suggestions----but I believe we need to find a way to increase the bidding on the "hand-made pens" without adding expenses for the site.

(Yes, another little challenge!!)
 
If we could get all of the folks who made a pen for the auction to send an e-mail to 10 friends/family, letting them know about the auction and to get them to promote their OWN pens, that would reach 750 or so potential buyers!
 
I also think that if anyone is on Facebook and they put it in their status, that would reach a lot of people.
 
We even have a facebook page! Search FB for penefit and you will find it or visit Facebook and click on the facebook link in the upper left corner.
 
Socially networking sites like FB and MySpace etc are great. But don't forget that you can also pass the word out on other forums that you might belong to as well....
 
Any chance of getting it on the local news in Dan and Cody's area? Might not be in time for Christmas, but would help spread the word...
 
What drives up google ranking to the top five spots is 500-700 word articles with a 2% keyword saturation. These should be on their own pages, and have meaningful text for the readers (not just gibberish for the web crawlers).

My web sites are always on the front page of google searches and one is on the top five consistently because I write short articles based on search word and phrases. It takes some skill to write them and knowledge as to how to load them on the page.

For example, writing a short article on amboyna wood and it comes from the narra tree and how a pen made of it isn't easy to make but it does make a coveted Christmas gift and so forth.

This doesn't cost money, but it does cost time and lots of it. To keep the search engine results high on the first page, one must keep writing new and unique SEO articles and posting them to the site on their own page, linking to other pages on the site for products.
 
As others have said... We are too late to make the web crawlers have us catch things in the engine.

The best bet is a facebook/twitter/ other social network flooding. The more word that can be spread there, the better. Especially if you can get others to "pass it on".
 
The word Christmas is probably very saturated when people try to "rank up" the site using that word. You would be virtually up against anyone who is trying to sell Christmas gifts or describing in the retail market Christmas.

Parson gave a great piece of advice with the words describing the pens, along with benefit, cancer, fund raisinig and a few other key words that will provide some good search returns. Text within the page is a powerful tool, along with the links for the site from other sites. These two things should get you higher up if the engines find it in time and update it. If you have text on the pages DO NOT use them in an image, make sure they are text. The bots will not use the text in the image.

The book on SEO Optimization from the Idiots series is a very good book if you are serious about making it more SEO friendly.
 
Once you have your meta tags updated with words like "xmas, x-mas, gift, giving, christmas, etc.....", it is a matter of time when left to it's own devices..... however, most major search engines have a way you can go in and request that they index your site more quickly. It's still not immediate, but it may well bring it under the wire for christmas. Plus, depending who the site is hosted with you may be able to pay them a wee bit of money to push a link to the page a bit. Sure, it can be big money for serious SEO stuff, but yahoo for example has a service where you can put down 5 or or 10 bucks to go towards bidding on better ad results and whatnot for a short period of time, and that might be perfect for a short term jumpstart.

Also as mentioned above, setup a facebook page for the pens..... or yourself or however it's being marketed...... that'll turn up immediately on facebook and probably get some GOOD exposure.
 
It's likely a bit late to attempt to get a good organic listing by Christmas. It often takes months to get found and placed by the search engines. The best bet is by FaceBook and similar sites.
 
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