WikiBeaks progress

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WikiBeaks

WikiBeaks

Supporting Vendor
Nov 20, 2017
16
2
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  • #22
OK, I just uploaded another iteration of the site. I gave up on trying to design one myself, and Multithemes was kind enough to give me a template to use. It has lots of fancy sliding around and looked better than anything I can do. I went through all the pages, and the links work for me, but I haven't tested in any other browsers.

Some of the spacing and arrangement is still not right but it has to wait for another day. I'm not happy with the navigation, there's a disconnect between the menu and how the pages actually flow. Hopefully one day it will start sending people over here.
 

Scott

Supporting Member
Aug 21, 2010
32,673
9,789
San Diego, California USA, Earth, Milky Way Galaxy
Parrots
Goffins: Gabby, Abby, Squeaky, Peanut, Popcorn / Citron: Alice / Eclectus: Angel /Timneh Grey: ET / Blue Fronted Amazon: Gonzo /

RIP Gandalf and Big Bird, you are missed.
I like the look, Karen! Has a fresh and interactive feel, graphics rich and abundant links. How can you better publicize the site to generate more traffic? Are there commonly used topical search engines in addition to Google? Is it possible to be included in a Google search for key words, such as "caring for parrots" or "how to care for a parrot?"
 

Kentuckienne

Supporting Vendor
Oct 9, 2016
2,742
1,631
Middle of nowhere (kentuckianna)
Parrots
Roommates include Gus, Blue and gold macaw rescue and Coco, secondhand amazon
As Shrek said about not slaying the dragon, "It's on my to do list!"

I do have a free AdWords grant and right now have over a hundred search terms listed. But to get closer to the top on search results there are lots of SEO things I need to do. One is to add rich content, pages containing CSS code so that the search box can pop up a quote and picture instead of just the site name. Plus I need to add more pages. If people link to the site, it helps. It used to be you could just put a bunch of invisible meta tags on a page but the robots have got real smart about it. Google even has great tutorials and tips on site. I'll have more time to look at some of them now - grabbing the theme saved me so much time. Instead of trying to figure out how to program each little element. I don't have quite as much control as if I were using a blank slate, but I remind myself that this isn't a learn-CSS-build-website-for-fun task, it's a purpose driven task. To intercept Google searches of people looking for parrots to buy, and stick some info in front of their eyeballs before they go to the pet store. To that end I do have to make the site interesting so people will click a link or two - that also creates a bump in the search rankings. Even coming to the site and clicking a link to go to another site is better than a bounce - someone who clicks the link, looks at the page a moment, hits the back button.

I was about to post a question here about this very thing. Since I want to send people to ParrotForums, what search terms should I use? Someone who would really benefit from PF, what are they searching for? Parrot biting, parrot sick, parrot screaming, parrot stop screaming, etc.? Because there is an additional layer of navigation I could do. In theory. If someone searched for, say, parrot biting and got my link, if I can know they searched with that term they could be sent to a different landing page with more specific information related to that search. If they search for parrot for sale, then they need educational materials and scary videos of Macaw Betty in parakeet cage 17 years, don't get me started, it's the main reason I do this. If the parrot is sick, they could be shown that page first. but that takes another level of programming ability I don't have yet. So in the mean time if I can make the first page interesting, and cluster enough stuff near the top to catch interest, then maybe visitors will stay. I don't want to recreate the wheel, so many worthy sites are already out there, but do need to create enough interest to generate clicks.
 
OP
WikiBeaks

WikiBeaks

Supporting Vendor
Nov 20, 2017
16
2
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #25
After weeks of wondering why Google keeps saying our website is unreachable, I learned things. Now we have a robots.txt file, an approved sitemap, and hopefully are on the way back to the land of the living. What amazes me most isn't how complicated doing the computer work is, but how simple it is. There's a learning curve, but today's systems are far more forgiving than in the olden days.
 

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