Promoting a Century 21 Site - by CorellianRogue on 22:59 03 Aug 2003
I'm helping a friend in developing an online sim to replace one that was running for 3 years.
Currently, the sim has a "Century 21" page, that reads like a movie teaser. "Coming late fall..."
I think that the site, even with the one page, should start basic promotions right now to establish itself in SE's and other promotion types. For example, webrings?
Good or bad idea?
I'm helping a friend in developing an online sim to replace one that was running for 3 years.
Currently, the sim has a "Century 21" page, that reads like a movie teaser. "Coming late fall..."
I think that the site, even with the one page, should start basic promotions right now to establish itself in SE's and other promotion types. For example, webrings?
Good or bad idea?
Promoting a Century 21 Site - by din on 07:03 04 Aug 2003
If the final form of the site is not finished .. if it is under construction it does make it a tough call. Is done enough to take new members ? If you an take members it might make things easier more places will list you.
If asked I would add it to to the FSFA ring or Jack or Silver Key .. but i'd reject a 'coming soon' page if it was a cold submission.
If you have a definate timetable for the site going live. I might start submitting to spidering engines about a month before that live date. Some less reviewed things like classified ads, top lists, and banner exchanges to build product awareness.
For a coming soon page i think its content should be geared to getting whoever comes there to either register right then, jouin an announcement list, bookmark the page or something. cause it is unlikelly they will click a banner a second time if they have that 'under construction' thought in their head .. and you do not want to promote and get visits from the same people more than once.
Starting as early as possible is not a bad idea, but submitting to different places is a case by case scenario.
If the final form of the site is not finished .. if it is under construction it does make it a tough call. Is done enough to take new members ? If you an take members it might make things easier more places will list you.
If asked I would add it to to the FSFA ring or Jack or Silver Key .. but i'd reject a 'coming soon' page if it was a cold submission.
If you have a definate timetable for the site going live. I might start submitting to spidering engines about a month before that live date. Some less reviewed things like classified ads, top lists, and banner exchanges to build product awareness.
For a coming soon page i think its content should be geared to getting whoever comes there to either register right then, jouin an announcement list, bookmark the page or something. cause it is unlikelly they will click a banner a second time if they have that 'under construction' thought in their head .. and you do not want to promote and get visits from the same people more than once.
Starting as early as possible is not a bad idea, but submitting to different places is a case by case scenario.
Promoting a Century 21 Site - by Brad on 07:08 04 Aug 2003
The main thing is that you cannot promote to most directories with a site that is under construction. Most editors are not going to add it. Now it might not hurt to start uploading all your background data -- world, characters etc. And the webrings might work - I'm not sure how people would react at hitting a not yet open website - annoyed or intrigued.
One thing you can do is put up a Click here to add to favorites javascript and also an announcement mailing list signup - "Want to be informed when X Game opens? - sign up to our announcement list." -- that sort of thing.
The main thing is that you cannot promote to most directories with a site that is under construction. Most editors are not going to add it. Now it might not hurt to start uploading all your background data -- world, characters etc. And the webrings might work - I'm not sure how people would react at hitting a not yet open website - annoyed or intrigued.
One thing you can do is put up a Click here to add to favorites javascript and also an announcement mailing list signup - "Want to be informed when X Game opens? - sign up to our announcement list." -- that sort of thing.
Promoting a Century 21 Site - by CorellianRogue on 00:12 05 Aug 2003
Thanks for the feedback. One thing I didn't think about was adding the game's world first, which may allow some lead-in time before launching. After maps, background, history, ect are loaded in basic forms, with a way to join the group, the hard-core promotions can begin.
My main concern was getting good SE placement, and to start from the gates hard and strong, I think solid content is needed.
Talking to the game's webmaster, most of the traffic came from google, even though it didn't place on the first page of keyword search results.
His second best promotions were banner exchanges. Now, where can I find a good general scifi banner exchange for later? Hmm...
Thanks for the feedback. One thing I didn't think about was adding the game's world first, which may allow some lead-in time before launching. After maps, background, history, ect are loaded in basic forms, with a way to join the group, the hard-core promotions can begin.
My main concern was getting good SE placement, and to start from the gates hard and strong, I think solid content is needed.
Talking to the game's webmaster, most of the traffic came from google, even though it didn't place on the first page of keyword search results.
His second best promotions were banner exchanges. Now, where can I find a good general scifi banner exchange for later? Hmm...
Promoting a Century 21 Site - by Brad on 09:34 05 Aug 2003
Two basic approaches:
1. Get lots of good quality inbound links.
2. Build big, and target a page for each really important KW or phrase.
The first part is fairly self explanitory. Building big: is like a sailing ship unfurling every square inch of canvas sail to catch even the slightest breeze. So, make as much of your data in text and spiderable. Put up all your world information and make it public (that alone is good advertising).
Now, you want to target "pbem"? Write a nice page that explains "play by email" and "PBeM" - what it is, how it is played etc. Nice indexable text with KW density around 3 - 4 %. Repeat for other phrases where you can.
The idea is to provide lots of text, targeted pages, so that you pick up all those 4 - 5 word searches that are easier to compete for instead of duking it out for a single word that is already hotly contested.
Here is a great tutorial on basic search engine optimization. This is tried and true stuff and pretty simple to incorporate when building the pages. I highly recommend it.
Of course I recommend submitting the site to the niche directories. I'm glad to hear that banner exchanges worked for him before.
You might want to look into buying or bartering some advertising on niche portals too for launch to really put the push on. Mostly Viral Top Traffic Alternatives to Search Engines has some excellent ideas for promotion outside of SE's.
| Quote |
| Talking to the game's webmaster, most of the traffic came from google, |
Two basic approaches:
1. Get lots of good quality inbound links.
2. Build big, and target a page for each really important KW or phrase.
The first part is fairly self explanitory. Building big: is like a sailing ship unfurling every square inch of canvas sail to catch even the slightest breeze. So, make as much of your data in text and spiderable. Put up all your world information and make it public (that alone is good advertising).
Now, you want to target "pbem"? Write a nice page that explains "play by email" and "PBeM" - what it is, how it is played etc. Nice indexable text with KW density around 3 - 4 %. Repeat for other phrases where you can.
The idea is to provide lots of text, targeted pages, so that you pick up all those 4 - 5 word searches that are easier to compete for instead of duking it out for a single word that is already hotly contested.
Here is a great tutorial on basic search engine optimization. This is tried and true stuff and pretty simple to incorporate when building the pages. I highly recommend it.
Of course I recommend submitting the site to the niche directories. I'm glad to hear that banner exchanges worked for him before.
You might want to look into buying or bartering some advertising on niche portals too for launch to really put the push on. Mostly Viral Top Traffic Alternatives to Search Engines has some excellent ideas for promotion outside of SE's.Promoting a Century 21 Site - by Arislyn on 17:40 05 Aug 2003
CR, I'd be happy to add a link from my site for you. *grins* I know it's not much, but I figure every little bit helps!
CR, I'd be happy to add a link from my site for you. *grins* I know it's not much, but I figure every little bit helps!