Best way to get my site known?

[Federer]

What would be the best method (apart from Adsense) to get my GEOHotels website known? Would writing an article/blogging about it be the best solution to start getting a little targetted traffic? The site has been LIVE only a few hours...

 

[gazzip]

Get it ranked high in the search engines but that can take a month or two in Google, usually quicker in Yahoo & MSN, you could also submit it to www.dmoz.org/ and get it in to as many directories (related to the place )as you can.




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[shockie]

advertise directly on relevant websites (blogs, forums, etc).

 

[DotWeekly]

What would be the best method (apart from Adsense) to get my GEOHotels website known? Would writing an article/blogging about it be the best solution to start getting a little targetted traffic? The site has been LIVE only a few hours...

I didn't visit your site, but I would add a blog TO it if you do not have one already.

Keep on blogging about the Hotels that are featured on your site. Provide helpful info in your postings. These will rank much faster then a basic site will. Use specific Long Tail Keywords... Be sure to include links IN your posts to your main site etc.

Hard work will do you the best and understanding a little SEO. Really, just a little will help you a lot. No need to get really super deep on SEO to do well.

 

[samuelhr]

Does it have unique content?
Does it have a reason for visitors to be there?

If you answered no to either of these, don't bother. I see this time and time again; people see a nice site bringing in $$$ through a unique idea and produce a clone that doesn't work as well and doesn't have the original and unique content in the hope that they'll make back whatever they've spent on it and profit. It's useless, you can throw as much advertising you want at it, without unique content and a reason for visitors to be there you won't make anything.

This is my main gripe with the 'webmasterworld', people are under the illusion that if you pay $100 for SEO and $100 on adwords you'll get a popular site, then there's the people who think that starting up a blog on a domain will instantly get the money rolling in, none of this works;

1. Unique content.
2. Content that users want to see/read.
3. Make the user experience awesome.
4. Don't stuff your pages with adverts, building a website should never be about the money, it should be about accomplishment and helping people understand about what you enjoy.
5. Keep the content flowing, find out what the users of your site want and give them it, they'll reward you.
6. Throwing money at a site is never the way to go, google ads, unless you're selling a product everyone wants, will never succeed compared to viral advertising. Take 'the lonely island' group for example, they built awareness of their album by creating something they knew would be a viral hit, they didn't have to pay for horrible little google ads or flashy banners that pop up on myspace layout sites, they had free advertising because their content was worth watching.

Please, create websites because you're passionate about the subject and want to offer something to people, don't do it because you're desperate for money, it's destroying the internet. I, as I'm sure many other people do, bookmark a website, or subscribe if I enjoy the content and want to see more, the sign of your website being worthless is when you're paying people to subscribe to your RSS feeds or become a member and post on your generic forums.

I hate to see what the internet has become, I'm fine with people making money through their own creativeness and talent, but creating worthless websites really annoys me, beyond comprehensibility.

 

[owntype]

If the domain is keywords rich, e.g. ChicagoHotels.com, then it deserves the time and efforts in SEO. Otherwise, you have to pay to advertise your site on relevant sites as Shockie suggested.

Good luck!

 

[samuelhr]

If the domain is keywords rich, e.g. ChicagoHotels.com, then it deserves the time and efforts in SEO. Otherwise, you have to pay to advertise your site on relevant sites as Shockie suggested.

Good luck!

Can I just ask your reasoning on this? Let's assume for the purpose of this that his site isn't anything unique, why would the best method be advertising on relevant sites when the majority of people looking for hotels would go straight to search engine? Obviously there's the chance that someone may see the advert and think "Oh cool, that reminds me that I need to look for a hotel for my trip in a few months..." however let's assume 90% of people search for a hotel site using a search engine. Now, let's assume that the site has no way of getting into the top 20 search results (Beyond that it doesn't really matter, nobody goes through to page 3 when there is sufficient links containing what they need on the first/second pages) why would it be worth spending money on SEO and advertising when they're never going to see any marketshare and their site will simply site as a 'dead' site with no real usage? Maybe the odd clickthrough on an advert, but they'd never see a return on investment and any traffic will soon fizzle away because Hotel finding is rarely a repeat thing (unlike news sites etc). Also, if a user did arrive at their site, surely they'd notice it's pretty empty, not many hotels and options as opposed to the big sites that include a lot more.

 

[Archangel]

Get it ranked high in the search engines but that can take a month or two in Google, usually quicker in Yahoo & MSN, you could also submit it to www.dmoz.org/ and get it in to as many directories (related to the place )as you can..

I agree fully... unless you wanna run around the field with a sign during a major sporting event.

 

[Archangel]

Eric Ward's URLWire service. It's got to be unique (your site) and you need to pay up before you'll even be talked to. The best marketing $'s I ever spent!

Hmmm What's the link?

 

[owntype]

Can I just ask your reasoning on this? Let's assume for the purpose of this that his site isn't anything unique, why would the best method be advertising on relevant sites when the majority of people looking for hotels would go straight to search engine? Obviously there's the chance that someone may see the advert and think "Oh cool, that reminds me that I need to look for a hotel for my trip in a few months..." however let's assume 90% of people search for a hotel site using a search engine. Now, let's assume that the site has no way of getting into the top 20 search results (Beyond that it doesn't really matter, nobody goes through to page 3 when there is sufficient links containing what they need on the first/second pages) why would it be worth spending money on SEO and advertising when they're never going to see any marketshare and their site will simply site as a 'dead' site with no real usage? Maybe the odd clickthrough on an advert, but they'd never see a return on investment and any traffic will soon fizzle away because Hotel finding is rarely a repeat thing (unlike news sites etc). Also, if a user did arrive at their site, surely they'd notice it's pretty empty, not many hotels and options as opposed to the big sites that include a lot more.

If it's not keywords rich, then it's more likely a brandable domain so to get it indexed on top of Google/Yahoo is a tough job and needs longer waiting if there's a lot of competitors.

Advertising on relevant sites helps visitors to notice your site and remember it more easily. It doesn't mean SEO is not important in this case, since those relevant sites ranks high in Google with targeted keywords, their ranking helps the right visitors find your site. That's simple.

 

[atrivlib]

Guest blogging

Once you have some good content ask around to guest blog on other travel blogs. Try to write articles that talk use the keywords you want to rank for and ask for a backlink as "payment".

 

[Federer]

Thanks for all your suggestions, tips and CONSTRUCTIVE comments.....

All content on the site is UNIQUE and most of it is USEFUL for website visitors. I have included a "POINTS OF INTEREST" that could be handy for families, couples or those just wanting to book a business trip with a little recreation. Some great, inticing new UNIQUE articles are on the way and I am thinking of which features I could add to make the browsing experience great.
80 visitors yesterday after just a few days of development. The website will be on page 1 at Google within 3 months max, probably before. Take a look at the .org version (just ads, sponsored links, no unique content...) > page number 1 at Google.com for "Wilmington Hotels".... my goal with this site it to eventually provide a wealth of USEFUL infomation for ANYONE wanting to travel over to Wilmington. To include some sort of portal with an extensive choice of hotels is MUST - especially given the keywords in the domain itself. If I can enjoy a little rev. from a few bookings or featured hotel ads (very few) on front page, then why not. But no adsense will be added at any stage of the development.

Even though there is still a lot of work to be done, I have received a lot of positive comments and feedback. Any more comments (pos or neg) are most welcome.
Thanks.

 

[banners]

Get sued & in the media!

 

[DnEbook]

mention it next time you win the tennis !

 

[Federer]

Yes... maybe I could win the tennis and get sued for foul play at the same time... then mention my 2 new sites... this should serious traffic and media attention

Seriously now... the sites are both progressing well. New pages have been added on each, Restaurants, Dining, Attractions with fresh unique content. We're now changing the search box to make it look more modern and inviting. Got tons of page views yesterday.... let me know what you think. I am getting more and more passionate about both places... but especially Alanya

 

[Jeffrey]

Writing in first person, like using the "I" is good i think, it has a touch of being "personal" to your readers. Pretend that you have experienced them first hand. Or if you have experience in real life the better!

 

[Federer]

site is now indexed (AlanyaHotels.net) and has shot up the rankings just a few weeks after development - The site is now around RESULT n° 15 out of 530'000 (PAGE 2) over at Google.com - "Alanya Hotels"

 

[shockie]

not bad, that's a good start. keep building from there. :tu:

(p.s. not that it would necessarily help with seo, but you might want to center the site.)

 

[MicroGuy]

Become a Twitter-Holic, gain thousands of followers, start networking, make sure you are providing a service that is in demand, focus, drink lots of coffee, have fun, make sure you are enjoying what you do, use a really great hosting service like mediatemple.net, work strange hours, sleep and dream for more ideas, be kind to children, did I say focus. That should get you started.

 

[cobainer]

Start Social Media Marketing....