Bangor University Orienteers New Website!

[gordz]

Hey,

We've finally got our first website (as we only formed less than a year ago!)...

http://www.bangororienteers.tk

Just wondering what you all think of it?

And also, we've tried to get it listed in google (for free obviously because we're students) but it's just not appearing anywhere! Any ideas and tips would be much appreciated!

Thank You.

[Scott]

And also, we've tried to get it listed in google (for free obviously because we're students) but it's just not appearing anywhere! Any ideas and tips would be much appreciated!

I presume you've tried here? It generally takes a day or two to actually start appearing in searches.

[gordz]

Yeah we tried that about a month ago, and then more recently too now website is pretty much finished. But still nothing. They do say there though that they don't guarantte that every website submitted will be listed, so I don't quite understand how that system works and what classifies as a site worth listing?

All I want is for people to be able to type "bangor university orienteers" or "bangor university orienteering club" and be able to find our website, as other clubs and unis have trouble contacting us and finding out how we're doing etc.

[Scott]

Do you have any other websites linking to you? Googlebot only indexes new pages that have (a notable number of) links from pages that are already in its index. This forum thread will help, but make sure you've got as many incoming links as possible (BOF/WOA/Eryri?).

[gordz]

Hmmm, we have a link on our facebook page, and now obviously here, but that's it. How would I get one linking from BOF or WOA? Do I just email them saying could you put a link to our website on there?

Do you know specifically how many links I would need for google to recognise our site?

Sorry with all the questions, I just assumed that once you had a website, that was it, it would be on google and people could find you!!!

[Scott]

There a good intro to how Google indexes websites here. A quick check shows that your site hasn't been added to the index yet. It might just be a matter of waiting until the index is updated, but increasing the number of incoming links is generally a good idea anyway. Are you affiliated to BOF and WOA as a club? If so, I'm sure they'll add a link to your site if you email them and ask (BOF have a page of info for all affiliated clubs which you don't seem to be on). I expect Eryri would link to you if you asked them, seeing as you have a link to them.

[Angry Haggis]

And also, we've tried to get it listed in google (for free obviously because we're students) but it's just not appearing anywhere! Any ideas and tips would be much appreciated!

Your website is enclosed in a full-window frame, with another zero-size frame at the bottom (i.e. it contains content which is hidden to the person viewing the page on a normal browser.) Try viewing the page source to see this. Google traditionally frowned on (and so put a low priority on) websites enclosed in a frame, particularly ones pointed to a completely different domain (*.webs.com). They do say they will try to follow framed weblinks though. See here.

Additionally, the zero-size frame at the bottom is a classic SEO trick and Google is generally not keen on such things, especially as it effectively is a hidden link: See here.

You might like to submit the frame's weblink to Google, namely http://www.orienteers.webs.com, as this is the actual web address of the site.

Just me posting about the above will help too, assuming NopeSport allow Google to scan the forums.

Finally, get an account at http://www.google.com/webmasters/ and follow the advice there - it's good!

By the way, if you don't like ads on your website where someone else gets $$$, then I would recommend using a site such as http://wordpress.com.

[mharky]

Get rid of Dizzy!

[gordz]

And also, we've tried to get it listed in google (for free obviously because we're students) but it's just not appearing anywhere! Any ideas and tips would be much appreciated!

Your website is enclosed in a full-window frame, with another zero-size frame at the bottom (i.e. it contains content which is hidden to the person viewing the page on a normal browser.) Try viewing the page source to see this. Google traditionally frowned on (and so put a low priority on) websites enclosed in a frame, particularly ones pointed to a completely different domain (*.webs.com). They do say they will try to follow framed weblinks though. See here.

Additionally, the zero-size frame at the bottom is a classic SEO trick and Google is generally not keen on such things, especially as it effectively is a hidden link: See here.

You might like to submit the frame's weblink to Google, namely http://www.orienteers.webs.com, as this is the actual web address of the site.

Just me posting about the above will help too, assuming NopeSport allow Google to scan the forums.

Finally, get an account at http://www.google.com/webmasters/ and follow the advice there - it's good!

By the way, if you don't like ads on your website where someone else gets $$$, then I would recommend using a site such as http://wordpress.com.

Cheers for reply. We decided on http://www.bangororienteers.tk rather than the freewebs one as members of our club couldn't remember it, and we didn't want to fork out for a proper domain name, so found you could get .tk domains for free.

And that wordpress sight looks interesting if it genuinely doesn't have ads! Hate the way ads have to be on our site, but I suppose that's what makes it free for us!

Very interesting and informative all those links, had never even heard of that zero-size frame thing you were on about!

Shame nothing in life can ever be simple and straight forward!

[gordz]

Get rid of Dizzy!

Ha, and dizzy is gone now, didn't even realise that was on there, doesn't play on our computer!

[andy]

Shame nothing in life can ever be simple and straight forward!

http://www.undeb.bangor.ac.uk/orienteering/

you have webspace there on the (presumably free for you to use) bangor uni site, why not use it?

[Scott]

http://www.undeb.bangor.ac.uk/orienteering/

Those are some high-resolution logos .

[Paul Frost]

You could register bangororienteers.org.uk for as little as £7 for 2 years.
A proper hosting account with all facilities can be had for less than £30 year.
There are many free content management systems (CMS) like ExpressionEngine (I use the $99 version for the SOA, 6Day, EckO, RouteGadget sites), Wordpress, Joomla etc. that allow you to create powerful dynamic websites.

Sometimes free isn't the cheapest option. Your website is possibly the most valuable asset you have when it comes to publicity.

Good content is also very important to Google and the people who visit the site.

[Gross]

Good content is also very important to Google and the people who visit the site.

So now the powers that be suggest orienteering websites are designed for Google rather than orienteers Yet again..... Boll**cks

[Scott]

Good content is also very important to Google

Really? I thought Googlebot was pretty much indifferent to the quality of your content, and rather more interested in your incoming links and your ability to include relevant keywords in your text.

Personally, I think the importance of having an easily-memorable top level domain is pretty low for organisations such as orienteering clubs, especially small ones such as Bangor - it's far more important to be the top link on a Google search for "Bland Valley Orienteers" than it is to be http://www.blando.org.uk, as Google is how everybody aside from your regular members and those following links from elsewhere is going to access your site. That said, you could quite easily buy a .org.uk domain for under £5 a year, and have it redirect to your cheaper hosting elsewhere.

Gordz - on a different topic, am I right in thinking that Bangor aren't BOF affiliated on the grounds of cost? The relative cost of club affiliation for new, small uni clubs is something that's been bugging me for a while, and it'd be interesting to have a real-life example to back it up...