10 replies to this topic

[boomboombickerson]

My goal is to get our website into Google’s top ten for what I think is the most relevant one word search that applies to our site, a search that can produce up to nearly 7 million results, depending on when the search is done. As I write this the website is in the #45 spot and I’ve seen it up to #40.

The keyword is "bubblegum" and the website is bubblegumheaven.com. It's all about blowing bubblegum bubbles, the world's biggest. The actual goal is to have it surpass a website called "Bubble Gum," at geocities.com/SouthBeach/Lagoon/4623/, a site which most days ranks #9 or #10 (which would put us in the top 10). Our reasoning is that while the "Bubble Gum" site (the only other site above us which is dedicated to bubble blowing) is over 10 years old, our site (which is about 10 months old and is created by the world's greatest bubbles blowers, including two Guinness World Record Holders, and features a worldwide bubble blowing contest, the BUBBLEGUM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP) is far superior and up to date. If you take a look at "Bubble Gum" you'll notice there are several notifications on it that say that the pages have not been updated in over 10 years.

For many years the"Bubble Gum" site was bubble blowing's greatest website, and deserved it's Google ranking. After all, while today the word "bubblegum" means many things to many people, (just look at all the things in the search that are called "bubblegum" that have totally nothing to do with gum you chew), bubble blowing was the reason bubblegum was invented in the first place, so I figure at least one if not more bubble blowing websites should be on Google's top ten. We feel that our site should be up there too, not just because it's a better site, but also because people who care about blowing big bubbles are simply underserved if they see the "Bubble Gum" website and think that’s the best website there is for blowing big bubbles. Just check out the two sites. You'll see what I mean.

Anyway, once again we are trying to make our big advance into the top ten. If you have any comments or suggestions on what we might do next to help get there, that would be great!

Bobby "BOOM BOOM" Bickerson

P.S. One other funny thing about this search. Sometimes Google will give a figure like 6,940,000 results and other times the figure will be like 3,870,000. Does anyone know why that might happen?

[mal4mac]

My goal is to get our website into Google’s top ten for ... "bubblegum" and the website is bubblegumheaven.com.

A worthy aim. Bubblegum bubble blowing definitely deserves a top ten place!

I would start by putting the site in your signature. That will not boost SERPs but might get people flowing in from here who could give you advice or link to you.

I think you need to work on the graphic design of the front page. I'm a words person so don't ask me for detailed advice on this. Maybe you could hire a graphics designer at elance? I find the type garish and the still pictures boring. Why not have a utube video up front showing a big bubble being blown? Surely there must be some humorous videos out there on bubble blowing. A bubble blowing cat? Kid being shocked by giant bubble exoplosion? Baby laughing at giant bubble?

If you get a really attractive, dynamic front page links should flood in from school sites! That'll get you to the top ten.

[Jill]

Please read the Tips for Newbies for starters. And also the rules on website reviews here.

Let us know if you have any specific questions on what you read.

[adibranch]

site redesign is in order either way.. your homepage is just a long list of links in the copy (which in itself isnt good), and to be honest theres no structure to it whatsoever and it looks spammy. I know this isnt a site critique post, but you need to drag the site into the millenium.

Get a decent menu system and a good easy to read layout. Work on user navigation and useability.

[torka]

The actual goal is to have it surpass a website called "Bubble Gum," at geocities.com/SouthBeach/Lagoon/4623/

Given that Geocities is shutting down soon, could be all you have to do is be patient for a little while and that site may no longer be an issue for you.

--Torka

[boomboombickerson]

This is really a fabulous thread so far!

mal4mac:

I agree there's a lot of improvement to be made for the reasons you mention and a more attractive website would bring them in. But with extremely limited resources the whole thing has to be done on a shoestring (or more accurately, on the skills we have available at hand).

Having seen the website go from nothing to the #40 spot, I think there's a good chance we can get to get where we want to be on that shoestring. Maybe one day, with some success we can get to that really super attractive website. Stick with me through this post 'cause I have more to say about what you've said.

Jill:

Thanks for the advice. I'll take a look at the list and maybe take you up on the offer.

adibranch:

No doubt about it our website could be better, and over the time hopefully it will improve. But my question is, do you think if I were to make a good number of the changes you're suggesting, that that alone would help push me toward the top?

Torka:

Thanks so much for the note on Geocities. I didn't know that was going to happen. If that site disappears, assuming everything else stays the same, that will make our site not only the best bubble website but the highest ranked one as well, plus it will move us up one space. Oh. And congrats on the BOMBlastic dreamy-eyed avatar.


mal4mac:

You mentioned better graphics would get school links coming in. That made me think of something bad but also something good. First I'd be really surprised if we got school links, because schools and bubblegum just don't seem to mix. Kids and bubblegum, on the other hand...

That got me to thinking. And thanks to what you've said, you've inspired another idea that I think I will soon be posting some questions about here. Thanks!

Bobby "BOOM BOOM" Bickerson

[adibranch]

adibranch:

No doubt about it our website could be better, and over the time hopefully it will improve. But my question is, do you think if I were to make a good number of the changes you're suggesting, that that alone would help push me toward the top?

no, although a well coded site can help eliminate problems which may prevent or help good indexing, the site template itself wont help serps. But, what a redesign will do is help retain your visitors, encourage links, and promote a 'healthy' site. I had a look at your site and to be honest i didnt even bother reading any of it, to me it looked like a bad dated site with a load of links.. i had no idea what to look for or where to look... i gave up within seconds as the site simply doesnt grab your attention. The same thing will be happening with 90% of your visitors.

You dont need money to do a revamp either, use an open source CMS with a template (these generally have a decent level of basic SEO built in), or use an off the shelf product if you really need to.

Edited by adibranch, 13 June 2009 - 05:25 AM.

[Gwen]

I think the idea of putting a youtube video with a spectacular bubble being blown right on your home page is terrific. I think you could make that happen by scratching around in your community a bit. There are many, many teenaged kids out there with all of the equipment and know how you need ( I live with one), and I bet you could find some young person who would be willing to shoot a little film for you for next to nothing- just the fun of doing it. I would put an ad up on Craigslist and see what comes of it.

[mal4mac]

You mentioned better graphics would get school links coming in. That made me think of something bad but also something good. First I'd be really surprised if we got school links, because schools and bubblegum just don't seem to mix. Kids and bubblegum, on the other hand...

I had a 1980s flashback of kids using school websites to set up links. I forgot how strict teachers are :-) Of course, kids do so much social networking these days that they can set up links from facebook etc. I sometimes forget about these new fangled things and the speed at which kids adopt them...

You don't have to do much to improve the look of your page. Black text on white would vastly improve it! Look at the bubblegum page on Wikipedia, which is a good example of how to implement text, links and images on a shoestring budget. Their top image is a lot more attractive than any you have -- you could do worse than 'steal' it and stick it at
the top of your page!

The site they link to, 'the story of gum', also has a nice, neat, simply style worth emulating (needs a few images 'up front' though!)

P.S. Ask yourself why no one has linked to you from Wikipedia. Wikipedians are likely to delete any site which doesn't meet minimum style standards -- for instance, looking as good as Wikipedia (which isn't hard...)

Edited by mal4mac, 16 June 2009 - 03:42 AM.

[boomboombickerson]

Update!

I did some stuff on the frontpage that backfired and kicked me back from #39, it's highpoint, all the way back to #115. It had to do with more links. Pretty ill advised I guess.

But then I put an end to that nonsense and did some work on the page, and really changed the look of it a lot. I put a video on there which isn't the best one in the world, (this whole thing is kind of a spare time work-in-progress) and removed all the links from the pages and put them on their own pages. All the links that are on the page now go to other pages on the bubblegumheaven.com website, which then transfer off the site. Hopefully its at least some kind of improvement and it will be something that helps.

Anyway, after doing all that the site has moved from #115 to #84. While that's not #39, at least to me that's going back in the right direction.

Again, thanks for all the great suggestions. As time allows I'll be back looking at this page and seeing what I can do.

Bobby "BOOM BOOM" Bickerson

[Jill]

Anyway, after doing all that the site has moved from #115 to #84. While that's not #39, at least to me that's going back in the right direction.

Hate to burst your bubble(gum) but you really don't know that it wouldn't have made that move without you having ever done a thing. In fact, it's highly likely, especially in the deeper pages of the SERP.

Be careful about assuming cause and effect with any SEO. Rank checking is definitely not going to help you much in learning what works and what doesn't as you'll see by not touching a site and watching it's rankings change just as much as when you make changes.