Kuluminati
01-27-2011, 11:42 PM
I made this post a while back, but for some dumb reason I'd thought I'd wait until New Years to post it...well I got wasted and totally forgot about it until I stumbled onto the document on my pc :D.
Anyway, here is the post...hopefully some of the ideas will be helpful:
As we head into 2011 with a somewhat successful season after so many terrible ones, I think its safe to say we have plenty to look forward to in the coming years. This website is a great place for Raiders fans to get together and be able to talk freely about their team; unfortunately it seems barely anyone knows about it. We need to get the R.O.C. out there to Raider fans…once word spreads people will come in droves.
Here are my suggestions:
1. Get the site to show up when searching for “Raiders message board” or “Raiders forum” in Google.
When searching using either phrase, the first site to pop up is RF.Net and after that a couple of random websites and some that have sections of their site dedicated to the Raiders. The only other dedicated Raiders forum that pops up on the first page is RF.Org. I’ve looked through 9 straight pages when searching using both phrases and I have yet to see a link to R.O.C. appear. We have to change this.
I did a little research, and while you can pay people for SEOs (Search Engine Optimization), Google offers Webmaster Tools ( https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=sitemaps&passive=true&nui=1&continue=https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/&followup=https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/&hl=en ) for free that should help improve site visibility. In the short time I’ve been here, I don’t know who owns R.O.C., but whoever is the admin, if you can do this it could really help attract Raider fans. I’ll continue to look up other methods to help get our site onto the first page of Google searches.
Another thing I found that could really help is expanding the name of the site. Look at the site name, it reads: “R.O.C. – Powered by vBulletin”. That gives no real description of what this site is about, and is probably what is keeping the site from being shown during Google searches. It should probably be expanded to “R.O.C. – Oakland Raiders Message Board & Forum – Powered by vBulletin” or something along those lines.
2. Get rid of the “Teh PREEMIUM Section”
Look, I don’t really know what happened with some of you guys over at RF.net that forced you to create R.O.C (I’m glad it did happen because this site is awesome)…but that section kind of looks pathetic from an outsider’s perspective. It was funny for a while, I thought it wasn’t permanent but now it seems like it will be. It’s also a useless section because it takes posts away from the “Raider Talk 24/7” section.
3. Close off the chatbox during Game Day/ switch to a different ChatBox program that features instant messaging.
Not really a big deal, but I think it would be best if the chatbox was closed off during Raiders games. If people want to discuss whats happening during the games, they could talk about it in the “Official Game Day Thread”. The reason for this is to help the site become more visible during Google searches. If someone searched for something specific that was Raider related and it happened to be said/linked to in one of the Game Day threads…it will show up on a search. Also, it helps to make the forum look livelier.
The other option is to find a ChatBox program that features instant messaging, as in as soon as you type a message it will appear. I believe most of those types of web chatboxes are made with Java…so it may slow down the website. This is why I recommend closing off the chatbox completely during Game Day, since that is when the site will be the most active.
4. Site Redesign
Obviously for purely aesthetic purposes, but I think a site redesign may be in order. The site as it stands seems a bit too dark, and doesn’t have enough silver to give it that “Raider-feel”. I could help…somewhat. I’ve made some forums in the past using free forum hosts such as InvisionFree and I’m sure vBulletin isn’t too far off. Another method is to use a “Skin Selector” and let the users pick from pre-made templates how they want the site to look. Most templates are available for free, and quite a few of them are pretty good.
*EDIT* Whoever added the new logo at the top & bottom of the page, kudos, it has helped the site look much more fresh. Still would be nice to have another option for a silver/lighter colored forum, but I can deal with this one.
5. Start becoming more active with Twitter/Facebook.
I don’t use Twitter, but I’ve signed up to the ROC FB page and it’s basically dead. If someone could be bothered to update it every other day or so with major Raider-related news it might help attract more users to the site. If no one else would like to, I’d be happy to takeover the ROC FB page. Once constant updates start happening, if everyone could refer the FB page to your Raider friends & family we could have a pretty active FB page and hopefully some of those people start using the forums as well.
6. Give ROC-BOT his own forum & hide his posts from the “Latest Posts” section at the top.
I think it'd be nice to give ROC-BOT his own forum section and/or where his posts don't show up in the "Latest Posts". It would be nice to be able to start a thread on the "Around the NFL" section of the forum and not have it buried 30 mins later by posts from ROC-BOT. If its not possible to hide his posts, maybe just get rid of ROC-BOT? I'd rather be notified in the latest posts section of valuable threads made by fellow bros than get notified of a story ROC-BOT posted that you could easily find on NFL.com or any major site.
7. "Shrink" the layout of the forums?
I guess this could've fit the "Site Redesign" suggestion, but meh, I wanted to end with 7 suggestions rather than 6.
Another football message board I visit is http://www.texanstalk.com/forums/ , and as you can see the width of their forum is a bit smaller than ours. I find that this allows text to be read much easier, especially in long as hell posts like this one. Also, instead of having empty space on the sides like that forum, maybe put something Raider related or even pics of Raider players...although I'm not sure of the legality of doing that.
If anyone has any suggestions they would like to add, please do so. Also note that I am willing to help in whatever way I can, I’m not just barking orders and expecting the admin(s)/mods to do them. We need to work together to make the ROC the #1 Raiders message board bros :bro: .
Anyway, here is the post...hopefully some of the ideas will be helpful:
As we head into 2011 with a somewhat successful season after so many terrible ones, I think its safe to say we have plenty to look forward to in the coming years. This website is a great place for Raiders fans to get together and be able to talk freely about their team; unfortunately it seems barely anyone knows about it. We need to get the R.O.C. out there to Raider fans…once word spreads people will come in droves.
Here are my suggestions:
1. Get the site to show up when searching for “Raiders message board” or “Raiders forum” in Google.
When searching using either phrase, the first site to pop up is RF.Net and after that a couple of random websites and some that have sections of their site dedicated to the Raiders. The only other dedicated Raiders forum that pops up on the first page is RF.Org. I’ve looked through 9 straight pages when searching using both phrases and I have yet to see a link to R.O.C. appear. We have to change this.
I did a little research, and while you can pay people for SEOs (Search Engine Optimization), Google offers Webmaster Tools ( https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=sitemaps&passive=true&nui=1&continue=https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/&followup=https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/&hl=en ) for free that should help improve site visibility. In the short time I’ve been here, I don’t know who owns R.O.C., but whoever is the admin, if you can do this it could really help attract Raider fans. I’ll continue to look up other methods to help get our site onto the first page of Google searches.
Another thing I found that could really help is expanding the name of the site. Look at the site name, it reads: “R.O.C. – Powered by vBulletin”. That gives no real description of what this site is about, and is probably what is keeping the site from being shown during Google searches. It should probably be expanded to “R.O.C. – Oakland Raiders Message Board & Forum – Powered by vBulletin” or something along those lines.
2. Get rid of the “Teh PREEMIUM Section”
Look, I don’t really know what happened with some of you guys over at RF.net that forced you to create R.O.C (I’m glad it did happen because this site is awesome)…but that section kind of looks pathetic from an outsider’s perspective. It was funny for a while, I thought it wasn’t permanent but now it seems like it will be. It’s also a useless section because it takes posts away from the “Raider Talk 24/7” section.
3. Close off the chatbox during Game Day/ switch to a different ChatBox program that features instant messaging.
Not really a big deal, but I think it would be best if the chatbox was closed off during Raiders games. If people want to discuss whats happening during the games, they could talk about it in the “Official Game Day Thread”. The reason for this is to help the site become more visible during Google searches. If someone searched for something specific that was Raider related and it happened to be said/linked to in one of the Game Day threads…it will show up on a search. Also, it helps to make the forum look livelier.
The other option is to find a ChatBox program that features instant messaging, as in as soon as you type a message it will appear. I believe most of those types of web chatboxes are made with Java…so it may slow down the website. This is why I recommend closing off the chatbox completely during Game Day, since that is when the site will be the most active.
4. Site Redesign
Obviously for purely aesthetic purposes, but I think a site redesign may be in order. The site as it stands seems a bit too dark, and doesn’t have enough silver to give it that “Raider-feel”. I could help…somewhat. I’ve made some forums in the past using free forum hosts such as InvisionFree and I’m sure vBulletin isn’t too far off. Another method is to use a “Skin Selector” and let the users pick from pre-made templates how they want the site to look. Most templates are available for free, and quite a few of them are pretty good.
*EDIT* Whoever added the new logo at the top & bottom of the page, kudos, it has helped the site look much more fresh. Still would be nice to have another option for a silver/lighter colored forum, but I can deal with this one.
5. Start becoming more active with Twitter/Facebook.
I don’t use Twitter, but I’ve signed up to the ROC FB page and it’s basically dead. If someone could be bothered to update it every other day or so with major Raider-related news it might help attract more users to the site. If no one else would like to, I’d be happy to takeover the ROC FB page. Once constant updates start happening, if everyone could refer the FB page to your Raider friends & family we could have a pretty active FB page and hopefully some of those people start using the forums as well.
6. Give ROC-BOT his own forum & hide his posts from the “Latest Posts” section at the top.
I think it'd be nice to give ROC-BOT his own forum section and/or where his posts don't show up in the "Latest Posts". It would be nice to be able to start a thread on the "Around the NFL" section of the forum and not have it buried 30 mins later by posts from ROC-BOT. If its not possible to hide his posts, maybe just get rid of ROC-BOT? I'd rather be notified in the latest posts section of valuable threads made by fellow bros than get notified of a story ROC-BOT posted that you could easily find on NFL.com or any major site.
7. "Shrink" the layout of the forums?
I guess this could've fit the "Site Redesign" suggestion, but meh, I wanted to end with 7 suggestions rather than 6.
Another football message board I visit is http://www.texanstalk.com/forums/ , and as you can see the width of their forum is a bit smaller than ours. I find that this allows text to be read much easier, especially in long as hell posts like this one. Also, instead of having empty space on the sides like that forum, maybe put something Raider related or even pics of Raider players...although I'm not sure of the legality of doing that.
If anyone has any suggestions they would like to add, please do so. Also note that I am willing to help in whatever way I can, I’m not just barking orders and expecting the admin(s)/mods to do them. We need to work together to make the ROC the #1 Raiders message board bros :bro: .