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[I.Q. bandit]

Today I thought I would visit everyones website to get some ideas on what some popular setups are(with pros), and things like that. What I've noticed in the 4-5 I have looked at are all high-quality content sites.

I need to Um, well think of something really catchy to measure up with fellow, and/or fellowettes like you all. Really though. I'm glad I found this forum. You folks are quite good at what you do.

How long has everyone been building web pages?

[ihelpyou]

Well now, that may be the case for the rest of the members sites, but mine is not good as far as design goes.

I am not a professional and do not do sites for others. Only have built my own.

BUT, you are right, content is far more important than anything else to the search engines. The content and how you lay it out and how you word things. Always keeping in mind what you wish to be found on in the search engines.

[Blue]

....I'm sort of the opposite of Doug, in that I've been concentrating on the design of sites (that and hosting are my primary business) and have deferred the SEO portion of the sites I design to others.

And I wholeheartedly agree with you IQ about the value of these forums, in that I've learned more about SEO since the inception of these forums than I had in all my prior years in this business. In addition, I've been looking around lately at other SEO info/forum sites and have discovered that here, there is an additude of being friendly and helpful whereas at the other sites there is just an attitude!

Content Is King! And Long Live the IHelpYou Forums!!!

:cheers:

[ihelpyou]

Thanks Blue!

Yes, we have members here who have and do participate in other forums. This is why this forum wishes to be different from the others.

[JuniorHarris]

>"I've been looking around lately at other SEO info/forum sites and have discovered that here, there is an attitude of being friendly and helpful whereas at the other sites there is just an attitude!"

A pleasant change indeedy!~

:cheers: to Doug!~8)

[Perfection]

I do have to agree. I'm a member of a few other SEO forums, and while they are all good in there own way, I do have to say that this forum seems like the more friendly and helpful place to be.

[Advisor]

I started out designing Web sites back in 1994 (my own personal home page). From there I made a site for the IRC channel I started (#!Parentsroom - site still going strong at www.parentsroom.org). That's where I learned how to do everything! I spent tons of time figuring out how to get The Parentsroom site ranked high for stuff like "parenting chat" etc. Hehehe...I used to do everything with the site and really learned html and design from it also. I used to post everyone's questions by hand each week because I didn't have cgi access (nor the knowledge of how to use it even if I did). Man, it's amazing that my kids are still functioning considering the time I used to spend on that site!

From there I decided to start designing sites for others. My first paid design was from a fellow parent I knew from the Parentsroom. She owned a Temp agency near Flint Michigan. I really liked that site! And of course, I had her ranking high for all the relevant things like "temp jobs Flint" etc. It was great fun! I worked on my own business site also, and got some additional clients. One client that really tested my optimization skills was for a product that umm...well, it was to stop premature ejaculation! I had that site top 10 in all the engines for "premature ejaculation" before they finally decided to call it quits. They were making like 50 sales a week though I think, but it wasn't enough to sustain them. (LOL...no pun intended!)

After awhile (in 1997) I decided that web designers were a dime a dozen, and with all the design tools on the market, pretty much anyone could design a nice looking site. I was having trouble keeping up with the design trends and also with the SEO trends. I figured it would be much smarter to simply concentrate solely on SEO and leave the designing up to the more creative and graphically inclined among us. Best decision I ever made! Because I already was getting great results and had enough clients under my belt, I was quickly able to establish myself as an expert in the field. Thank you to I-Sales and I-Search for that also. I highly recommend posting to those two discussion lists to help build credibility (if you are intelligent and can write fairly well...if not, you'll only hurt your reputation!).

Another biggie in my career was launching Rank Write with my partner Heather. Almost over night we gained a whole new level of credibility. And that led to speaking engagements, etc., and the rest as they say, is history!

Whatever the future brings, I'm ready for it! Like that great Incubus song says, "I'll take the wheel and drive"!

Jill

[Mel]

HI I.Q.Bandit and All:

As you may have noticed if you have visited my site I'm not much of a graphics designer, but a great believer in content.
I have been involved in web page promotion for only two years which makes me a newbie compared to the likes of WebWhiz, but have been active in similiar fields (Scada systems for the power industry) for over five years.

I'm basically self taught, and learned a great deal from other forums, and thus know the value of them.

Each forum tends to develop its own character, depending on the owner and moderators of the forum - Ihelpyouservices forum is indeed one of the most helpful and friendly that I have visited. Congratulations Doug - IMHO help is what forums are about and this forum seems to be heading for popularity because it's providing that in a friendly manner.

There are other forums which seem to me to serve the primary purpose of advancing the owners business. I believe that if you help others it will be returned tenfold.

The only suggestions that I have for the forum are to continue to attract friendly professionals and to develop a clearly stated code of ethics. There's precious little of that going around these days.

Oh yes Doug about the ranking of members. I hesitate to post above the 100 limit as then I will be known as a genius member. I really don't think that prolific posting makes anyone a genius and certainly wouldn't describe myself as one. How about Guru or another descriptive term instead of genius?

[ihelpyou]

haha, you are right. No one here could possibly be a genius. :p

Okay. We have a vote for "Guru". What other names can we choose from???

[Advisor]

How 'bout "really helpful" member?

Jill

[ihelpyou]

Howbot ... ihelpyou Member? ;)

Really Helpful ... sounds good. What else?

[JuniorHarris]

+50 - ihelpyou Instigator

+100 - ihelpyou Researcher
+250 - ihelpyou Academic
+500 - ihelpyou Intellectual

+1000 - ihelpyou Mastermind
+2500 - ihelpyou Knowledgebase
+5000 - Doug Heil ;) <kidding!~>

[I.Q. bandit]

Hmm, maybe forumneer. :p

[Blue]

If the naming scheme is going to have something to do with how many posts one has, then I think the names should reflect something along the lines of....well.....how many posts one has!

After all, just because I have 1001 posts doesn't mean that I am any more knowledgable than someone with 10 posts.

So I vote for either a "how many posts" type name or something else that is :)fun:) !

[ihelpyou]

There is only 3 levels to choose from.

We have to define level one

Now it is "New Member"

Level 2

Now is is at 30 posts and "Master Member"

Level 3

Now it is at 100 posts and "Genius Member"

Tell me how many posts to reach a level, then tell me the name of that level.

I set the posts low when just opening the forum, but can change at anytime.