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Author Topic: Need help with website
Sithmonkey27 
Registered: Oct '04
Date Posted: 5/7/07 8:55pm Subject: Need help with website
Hi! I lurk here and around other Star Wars boards a lot but I rarely post (I am not a very social person) but I need some help. A little over a year ago I came up with the idea to create a wiki where people could post stats and information about resources for the star wars roleplaying game, D20 and D6. At first it was fairly successful but that quickly faded. For a wiki to be truly successful it has to have a large active user base, something which obtaining is a lot more difficult than I had originally hoped. My original hope was to get a fraction of the success of sites such as Mr. Moridin's excellent SWRPGNetwork but in a format that could be always changing and updating, even if I didn't have the time to update it myself. So I am searching for some fresh opinions. What do you think? Have you got any tips?

Here are some of my thoughts:

Not enough content - It has over 100 articles but many are short

Site is slow - I know the server can be slow but I can't afford the current hosting package as it is, I would have to have a good userbase before I upgraded

Ads - are ads annoying to people? I figured that they would help pay the hosting fee but so far they don't even cover that

So what do you guys think? How can I get more people to use the site and thus ake it better? What can I do to improve the site? Is there any point in continuation of hosting the site?

I really want this to be a good resource but I need your guys's help!

The Star Wars Roleplaying Game Wiki

P.S. If google ads really bother you I recommend Firefox and Adblock Plus

 

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NarCranor 
Registered: Mar '05
6327_Red Leader
Date Posted: 5/8/07 12:27am Subject: RE: Need help with website
Well, I have my own star wars fan site, www.fandomcomics.com so i might be able to offer a few suggestions. First, hosting. We have an ad-free host, lunarpages. We pay annually, and its like 200 dollars a year? something around there. Way I see it, for as much time as I get out of working on the page and things for it, a cost of 200 bucks a year, (like 14 bucks a month or something) is a bargain. It might even be cheaper than that (Its been a few months since I checked). If you are 18 or older and have a job, or are just good at saving birthday money, 200 bucks a year should be something most people can afford without too much trouble. So if you are paying way more than that, Id suggest switching.

As for making your site popular and helping it grow? Only one real sure-fire solution to that. Promote it harder. I try and hit forums as often as possible, and pimp my site every single chance I get (notice I even pimped it in this thread). Its in all my sigs on a dozen or two dozen forums. I network like crazy and promote it on an induvidual basis. We brought on a new person after being around for 2 years that specific focuses on PR and Promoting.

Thats how you get people to visit your site. Keeping them there depends on the content you have up. To make a site truly popular, it takes one or both of two things, hard work and luck. Most of the people I know that run sucessful star wars fan sites that most of the online star wars fan community is at least aware of, are putting in hours working on it every week because its their passion. Wookieepedia is popular and to a point, self-sustaining, but that is because the man running it put months and months of effort into it first, along with a core team of guys.

So my solution to most of your questions is to just put more time in and work harder if you want to acheive your goals. Might not be the answer you want to hear, but unless you partner with wookieepedia somehow to have a special RPG area, not sure what else to offer in the way of advice!

Best of luck in your endeavor!

 

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http://www.FandomComics.com
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Rogue_Thunder 
Registered: Jan '03
14369_Vader Concept
Date Posted: 5/11/07 6:28am Subject: RE: Need help with website - Date Edited: 5/11/07 6:31am (1 edits total) Edited By: Rogue_Thunder
Well you did something great by posting it here, just do that, but on more sites/forums. Try to get people to link to it, so you can get higher up on google search results.

As for the ads: they don't really bother me, so long as they aren't lewd, or too flashy, and once in a blue moon I'll actually click on one, but not often, so long as the ads that come up aren't bad ones, then I see no problem with keeping them up to help you out with operating costs.

I just added it to my favorites and I'll check it out in a bit. If it has good content, then I'll pass along word to my friends. That's one of the best ways to grow: word of mouth.

Good luck!

Ed: I'd also recommend making the front page a little more catchy, by doing some of the stuff wookie/wikipedia does, like "Article of the Day" or "On this day" kinda things. It makes it look like it's updated every single day.

 

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Perhaps I may become a highwayman again
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