www.mt-fc.co.uk

There will be a link posted on the site on Monday when I am back in the office guys.

I will in include it on the Martyrs Social Networking page along with the Twitter, Facebook and Martyrs TV.

Good stuff, we are not short of publicity!

Still cannot really find the site on google, but there is a MerthyrTownFC on pitchero that is "under construction", if that one is ours I guess it would be useful if it could be closed down as it will only add to confusion and it has a higher search rank than the active Merthyrtown. To be searchable a page really needs to come on page 1 of google, and that will, in part depend on inbound links though that is not the only thing. Google uses an algorithm that is based on the idea of "authority" which also means the quality of inbound links. Wikipedia is a good start but it also means getting the links updated on blogs and media outlets who link to "further reading" alongside articles. Links can be created also if people who post on other forums add the new link to their signature for their forum posts, actual spamming of forums may work but is considered bad form. Maybe when you comment on football blogs you could as an aside mention the new link, but be mindful of formatting as simply inlcuding the text, as opposed to a properly formed hyperlink, is unlikely to be useful.

Website promotion does take some time, but it is something we can all play a part in by linking to the new page, when I get a bit of time I will set up a blog myself, and this will provide some inbound links. Social media such google plus is excellent in building search rank, indeed any webmaster should be making full use of the broadest range of social media, though sites such as stumbleupon does create masses of traffic but are seldom quality hits, it is unlikely to reach target audience but merely reach other stumblers who are building their own authority with view to promoting their own site.

Just a few ideas I am pushing out there, oh and it would also be a bit handy if the club were to have an official blog. While this seems like duplication of effort and is up to a point it is with a purpose, ie getting the ranking for the official page raised to that we come on page one of search. Hope this helps, behind the scenes I will be doing my bit, but thought I would share some of these ideas so that many hands etc...

Yes, I have still been unable to access the site through a search engine but fortunately got there via a link provided by someone, The Imp, I think, in one of his postings!
I got lots of references to Macclesfield Town otherwise!
But I usually find, anyway, that any information I need usually ends up on the Forum in due course.

The entry for us in the Club Directory on the Western League website gives a link to the new website:-

http://www.toolstationleague.com/merthyr/index.php

I don't know how things get to appear on Google, but as a quick test I just did a search there for Merthyr Town+Wells and the 5th entry down in the results gave a link to the page on the new website about the post-match interviews on Martyrs TV.

Merthyr Imp wrote:The entry for us in the Club Directory on the Western League website gives a link to the new website:-

http://www.toolstationleague.com/merthyr/index.php

I don't know how things get to appear on Google, but as a quick test I just did a search there for Merthyr Town+Wells and the 5th entry down in the results gave a link to the page on the new website about the post-match interviews on Martyrs TV.

Well this is actually a good illustration- the site is on google from day one, googlebot sees to that. Googlebot sort of travels from site to site link to link recording stuff on the net (thats not technically what happens but it is a good way to explain it) anyhow your test Merthyr Town+ Wells puts the link as fifth which is good for when anyone uses the search term, Merthyr Town + Wells. I am sure similar results woud occur for Merthyr Town + Bitton for example - problem at the minute is that when someone searches Merthyr Town FC the site does not yet appear on page one, nor page two. A link to the old site does, also a link to another pitchero page for Merthyr Town which is not active. The site will eventually rise to page one as the number of inbound links increase. The more people link to the page the better the ranking, but more importantly is the "quality" of those doing the linking. I promise first chance I get I will do something on this, I have a few ideas and a couple of things I can do to help this along, but I suggested a few things that bloggers, tweeters, people with facebook pages and so on can do, just by putting the link up will help, if you use facebook set the post to public.

I think that the problem of us being directed to the macclesfield town site needs to be addressed even if it means altering our website address slightly so that this does not happen.A few supporters i have spoken to are scratching their heads trying to get on our site.

Incidentally I think the best thing that could be done, by far, is if the webmaster of our old site were to put up a redirect, see here:

http://webdesign.about.com/od/http/a/aa021207.htm

For information: The new site is on page 11 of google search at present. So we come about 110th to 115th in the search listings for the term Merthyr Town FC. From here the only way is UP

Each new link to the page will edge that figure up somewhat.

Up to page 8 now, ranked number 75 to be exact. What will have an impact over time is there are a number of sites out there that clone wikipedia, so as that happens so the link is spread further through the internet and the number of inbound links increases. But we definitely on our way with this. this incidentally is on the search term MERTHYR TOWN FC without quotation marks. Of course the correct way to search an exact phrase is within quotes, but I am not sure how well this point is known to general web users.

Will monitor the progress on this and will see what can be done to build some links. In fact I think I will post a link to google plus now and make it a public post. Every little helps.

Result!!!!! Page 1 - just behind the wikipedia entry (3rd entry on page 1). Okay so now the site is easy to find- anyone searching for "Merthyr Town FC" will be able to find the page.