Originally posted by SylphidesMom@Dec 9 2004, 08:54 AM
Internet marketers use advanced keywording techniques and all sorts of methods to artifically force their website up to the top of a google search list. Institutions are spending tons of money and research on how to do this--some hire full time staff with PhDs to figure out how to exploit their "googability".
One thing I find particularly annoying is that a couple of years you could run a search on any topic and find all kinds of useful websites. I was running a search about two months ago on a given topic and couldn't get one single useful site. Instead, I kept getting miles and miles of Internet shopping sites that listed a related item for sale. I ended up using alternatives to google. Even Yahoo and Dogpile, etc. brought up the same shopping lists. My son clued me in to a lesser known search engine and I was successful with that one.
*Sigh*. The people's Internet has been hijacked by commercial and corporate interests.
So, we have to figure out what magic hidden text will put us at the top of the list and embed it in the pages. 
<div align="right">index.php?act=findpost&pid=21554
[/QUOTE]
Oh, there is that precious picture!
If you are using Internet Explorer, you can find the code used in the web page by going to the page and clicking on "View" (in the top nav) and then "Source". You will then see the code for the page. Of couse, this doesn't tell you everything about the strategy the company is using to obtain high rankings.
My company pays thousands of dollars a month to a company to work on our rankings. It is very difficult to get up there in a top spot. One technique that is supposedly important to obtaining high rankings is to have lots of links in to your site. It is called "Link Popularity". Another technique is to have lots of relevant editorial on your site... the editorial should have your relevant keywords imbedded in the text. That way when someone searches on a topic, the editorial will come up and there will (should be) a link from the editorial, to the Forum. Notice how much editorial there is on MO....
The techniques above are for natural (organic) rankings but companies can also be seen on relevant search words' results pages by "paying to play". In other words you buy the banners or other listings on pages in which your keyword appears. You can buy by impressions and then the ad goes away after it has been seen a certain number of times... depending on your budget. On some sites you pay per click and the price can be from .01 to over $1.00 every time someone clicks on your name.
All this is quite expensive..... but if you are selling something, you can usually make your money back by those clicking coming to your site and buying something. In cases like SM where there is no revenue for Joe when someone clicks, it can get extremely cost prohibitive.
The way that I happen to find MO was not through the rankings or even looking for a forum.... I Googled on a topic I was interested in and the results pulled up a posting from MO. (Apparently our posts are indexed by the search engine spiders.) I clicked on the topic result and found myself in the MO forum and was then hooked.
IMHO this is the very best way for this site to get new members..... especially members who will be valuable contributors. These are people who are out there searching for information about their dogs, so they are likely to be interested in seeing and sharing information. The more posts we can get on SM that have "meat" to them ... that are more than what you would find in a chat room, then the more likely SM will rise to the top of the search engines because the topics will be picked up as relevant results in a search.
I'm sure you all have noticed that a lot of members come and go. Member retention should be a priority. However, there has to be something here to keep them and IMHO that "something" is valuable information shared among members and the ability to politely express an opinion without being personally attacked. When visitors see members being inpolite to each other, my guess is they may bolt from this site pretty quickly.... often before even becoming members. Don't forget.... we are on display for potential members... they are going to come here and look us over by reading through the posts. Hopefully, they'll like what they see... it is up to each of us who want this site to succeed ....
Sorry... didn't know this was going to be so long!!! :new_Eyecrazy:
