Compliment sandwich please :)

Yours Truly · #1 03-05-2008, 07:06 PM

Say something good followed by something bad and so on

Nah say whatever you see please

All advice is acted upon and not taken to heart

Thanks,
Dan

Notorious · #2 03-05-2008, 07:12 PM

Invest in a custom skin

Joe Ward · #3 03-05-2008, 08:28 PM

I would work on customize the template colors and header area more.
You do an intense evaluation of your forum name and descriptions for better keyword optimization. Many of the descriptions contain a bunch of generic text that could be removed.

Ace Shattock · #4 03-06-2008, 01:21 AM

Hi Dan,

Well, to start, you really wowed the Cincinnati rep last week..If you don't watch Family Guy, that will have made no sense, and I apologise

)

You could look into customising your Welcome Message, and turning it into an image. This will cut down on the irrelevant text per page, concentrating on the content.
Perhaps invest in a new logo/header design. While I am not exactly a petrolhead, I do know a few, and they appreciate a bit of flair/prettiness.
I would change the depth of the 0-post forums, so their details aren't shown. They can be a detriment when visible on the front page.

Yours Truly · #5 03-06-2008, 05:03 AM

Ace, that was just you in disguise!

Joe what do you mean by generic text?

And Ace i'll look to address them all now

Ace Shattock · #6 03-06-2008, 05:46 AM

Ahh, phew. It was just too risky for me to use the other side of the sandwich that Stewie did.

Yours Truly · #7 03-06-2008, 06:22 AM

I don't look like snoopy or have funny dog breath

Joe Ward · #8 03-06-2008, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Have something you're looking for?

All events national or local to be posted here

A place to chat about anything non car related.

A place to chat about anything car related - Please do not post technical questions in here

Pictures that don't fit into any of the other categories

Show us your Civic's or any other cars you may have!

There is not enough meat here. Even the off-topic ones still allow for creative ways of sneaking in keywords into the descriptions. "Discuss things like..." and follow it up with examples that are actually valuable keywords to have on your forum homepage.

Start by building a big keyword list, and then apply them appropriately:
Free SEO Tools & Search Engine Optimization Software

Considering using slugs to get rid of stuff like "anger management" in the URL for stuff in this forum. It could skew results and/or AdSense relevancy. Alternatively, since this is just a creative title that has no real value to your forum, you can change it to something like:

"Road Rage Rant" or "Civic Rant" or "Civic Fans Vent".

Yours Truly · #9 03-06-2008, 10:43 AM

Thanks Joe

What do you mean by

Quote:

Start by building a big keyword list, and then apply them appropriately:
Free SEO Tools & Search Engine Optimization Software

?

Honestly i really know nothing about SEO nor none of the lingo

Joe Ward · #10 03-06-2008, 11:09 AM

You can use the keyword research tool there to start creating a list of related keywords for your site.

Go to the keyword research tool and enter "Honda Civic" (to get started). It will give you a table with related keywords and the # of times they are searched for daily.

Scan through the list and copy/paste any keywords that you think are related and good into a text file or spreadsheet to save.

You can then try other starting keyword combinations to get other keyword suggestions.

Build up a list of 100-200 different highly related terms.

Then check your forum descriptions. Scan the list and see if you think you can find opportunities to get any of those keywords into the forum descriptions.

This will allow you to get many more related keywords onto your forum homepage. The goal is not to overload or over optimize, it's just to get more *related* keywords onto your homepage, and to reduce the very generic keywords that will not help you at all.

From there, you can use that same keyword list to determine what kind of coverage of those terms you have on your forum.

Since they are all related to Honda Civics, presumably since they were flagged as related, and you carefully selected them... then these terms should be on your site.

Any of them that are not, are opportunities for you to create new content.

Once good way is to build a topic map out of the words. Start with "Honda Civic" and then create lines (like tree branches). Organize all of the terms onto the tree hierarchy. A full topic tree will evolve and will likely be very detailed in some sections.

Note: This is probably better to do by hand with paper and pencil since erasing will be required quite frequently.

I'll try to track down an old tool that creates these trees automatically. TBD

Then simply circle a dense branch of related terms. It's quite likely that this represents a great opportunity to create a thread or article about these topics.

Another method is to build a much larger list of keywords. No need for treeing it (i.e. building a topic map). In this case, build up a list of 1,000 to 2,000 keywords or more.

Then start creating "worthwhile" threads focusing on each term. If you are stumped as to what to write about it, then search for the term in combination with one or more of your competitors forums, or other websites. When you find a thread or article, you simply "precis" it.

What this means is to review the thread or article, and note key points. Then use this to write a shorter, "creative" summary of the topic. Preferably, add your own details to it, or pose an original question note covered in the original.

When doing this, focus on multi-term search phrases that will be easier to rank for. This will yield better short term rewards for your efforts. Note: Ensure that you use the target search phrase in your thread title, and use it at least 1 more time within the document, preferably with some variations of the same term and some related terms where appropriate.

This might sound like I'm suggesting creating content for robots. I'm not! Create ONLY VALUABLE CONTENT that is written for humans, but in a way that is also friendly for search engine crawlers. People first, crawlers second.

Remember - beside the writing, the work involved in the process is tracking down other valuable content related to the target term that can be used for summarization, to re-purpose with a new focus, or to use as a base to poise more interesting discussion points within your threads.

Yes - you could simply create an bunch of automated threads with the search term as the title, and a post body stating "Discuss xyz here...", but I am not advocating this. I would consider this spam content that does a disservice to all web surfers.

Your goal should be to improve upon the content available at present, so as to provide a positive resource for web surfers, thereby earning the privilege of gaining their visits.

Yours Truly · #11 03-06-2008, 11:41 AM

Joe, You are a legend! Thank you buddy

One small question would someone be able to find me a "topic tree" so i can see what one looks like then go on from there

Once again, Thanks Joe!

Joe Ward · #12 03-06-2008, 12:34 PM

I found this, interesting although not exactly what I meant:
KwMap of keyword "honda civic"

I was referring more specifically to:
Topic Maps - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

See also:
How To Mind Map With Tony Buzan (Education: Exams)

In this instance, it's a little easier than a mind mapping process. You are really just organizing a bunch of terms that you have already available into a logical structure of organization, from more abstract to more specific details, and showing interrelationships.

Close interrelationships of a bunch of terms are opportunities for easier to author threads or articles.

Likewise, combining of very *unlike* components of the map make for some quite unique content, if there is a logical way to relate them that adds value for your users.

Joe Ward · #13 03-06-2008, 12:35 PM

If anyone has the link to the old search engine that would create very detailed mappings of keywords using a Java applet, please post the link here. I cannot remember then name, or find it during my search so far.

Yours Truly · #14 03-06-2008, 12:42 PM

Joe i think i love you

Joe Ward · #15 03-06-2008, 12:46 PM

Well Dan, I'm flattered.

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