Anybody got any foolproof site promotion tips?

[Andy Welch]

We are very close to uploading our site and going live, and I'm wondering if anyone has any advice on metatags etc., Does every page need its own metatags or does the home page effectively tick all the boxes. We currently have a static site that has been up for about 3 years - we're number 1 in Google (which is obviously great ) but I wonder if we'll still be number one when we completely replace our old site with our new one. Advice please! Our old site address is www.thetokenhouse.co.uk - the new site is much better - so please don't laugh! - ANDY WELCH

[Bun]

Hi Andy,

What search term are you number 1 in Google for?

[chris ashdown]

Welcome andy

The general feeling is that many items like Metatags have been superseeded by the large search engines which now look more at content and links. It is still a good idea to place matatags on each page along with keywords and description as you never know for sure whats around the corner

No 1 for google is good but for what keyword, I just checked "Gifts" and there are 56 million sites but you were not on the first page or also under gift shops

Wish you all the best

[Bun]

Sorry about that......but I've recently upgraded my site (changed server and started to use Catalog) I've still got he same domain name, which ranks well, but all my product pages have dropped out....if you do a search on here for some of my recent posts you'll get lots of info regarding this topic

Cheers

[Andy Welch]

tokenhouse

[Andy Welch]

tokenhouse - now I know that's a pretty obscure word, and that it's not that difficult to come No. 1 with an unusual word... but we've been here for 35 years so thousands and thousands of our ex customers are spread all over the UK, and they all know that word!

[Bun]

tokenhouse

To be honest Andy it wouldn't be that hard to get tokenhouse in at number 1 as it's very unique.....I've got the same with my site Eccleston Angling Centre Ltd. The trick is to rank well with keywords (products) you sell in the shop. Before you upload your new shop do check out some of the suggestions other folk made regarding this very subject in some of my threads......trust me it will be worth it. I know it's tempting to put your new site up there......but just hold your horses till you've got all angles covered

[Bun]

tokenhouse - now I know that's a pretty obscure word, and that it's not that difficult to come No. 1 with an unusual word... but we've been here for 35 years so thousands and thousands of our ex customers are spread all over the UK, and they all know that word!

You beat me too it

[RuralWeb]

I know it's tempting to put your new site up there......but just hold your horses till you've got all angles covered

My advice is to get the site live as soon as possible and continue working. Google likes sites that are being constantly updated and will rank them higher than a site that never changes. Also it will take several weeks/months for your pages to be indexed so the sooner you start the better.

[pinbrook]

The advantage to having the keyword "tokenhouse" ranking well is that you can use it as a bench mark.

when you are trying to get other keywords ranking highly and suddenly they dissapear, check tokenhouse, if its still there then something amiss with the new keyword. However if both tokenhouse and the new keyword dissapear you know its Google playing its dancing game and probably nothing sinister.....

[Bun]

My advice is to get the site live as soon as possible and continue working. Google likes sites that are being constantly updated and will rank them higher than a site that never changes. Also it will take several weeks/months for your pages to be indexed so the sooner you start the better.

From my experience it certainly would have helped if I would have sorted out .htaccess redirects and custom error pages before I put my new site up live. I don't think there's anything wrong in getting the site up there......it just needs a bit of preparation first.

[jont]

tokenhouse - now I know that's a pretty obscure word, and that it's not that difficult to come No. 1 with an unusual word... but we've been here for 35 years so thousands and thousands of our ex customers are spread all over the UK, and they all know that word!

That's fine but exisiting customers will have you book marked or will enter the URL directly into their browser - the use of a search engine is primarily to find things you are looking for ... whether it's a gift for Auntie Sally or the size of Hitlers moustache... always nice / essential to get new customers and they will not be as specific in their serach terms when trying to find something to buy.

As Malcolm says get the site up and running straight away even if it still needs polishing - time and even a small amount of content will help start the Google ball rolling.

[Luddite]

size of Hitlers moustache...

Couldn't find it. God i'm easily distracted this morning.
Nick

[zee_b]

Hello Bun,

I really like your site. Looks amazing.

Your pictures eg: NEW JUST IN , how did you get your images to zoom and and out like that?

And how did you go about getting the funking blue borders around ur pictures too?

If its top secret, then i understand :-)

Z

[Bun]

Hello Bun,

I really like your site. Looks amazing.

Your pictures eg: NEW JUST IN , how did you get your images to zoom and and out like that?

And how did you go about getting the funking blue borders around ur pictures too?

If its top secret, then i understand :-)

Z

Hi zee_b,

"top secret" No, certainly not :-)

All the flashing/moving images are animated gifs.....they're done with a program called Ulead GIF Animator. The blue borders were done in Photoshop. It's just a case of creating a template in Photoshop and then dragging each product image into it.....it's just an easy way of getting your images all the same size.....makes them look a bit more uniform.

Thanks for the compliment