Question on site redirecting?

[busy1]

Why does my site have the (page/page/498787.htm)on the end of my domain name instead of just http://www.thegifts2give.com


I pay for my own domain name at network solutions.
I use Ciymax for the host and the shopping cart that came with the site,if that has anything to do with why I have this long address, I don't know.

Is their any way to get it to just read
http://www.thegifts2give.com
Thanks,
Lynn

[rlrouse]

This was done by Citymax. This page:

http://www.thegifts2give.com/index.html

would normlly be the homepage for your site, but Citymax has set it up as an entry page to their own site. Not good IMO. I would recommend finding a new host. Did you choose them because of the online website builder?

[mm99]

Hi Lynn...

We briefly touched on this once before when I think you were wondering why you were having problems getting ranked or something. I was having the same sort of problem with Cafepress.

Her (my client) site was set up pretty much the same way, and made it diff to make the site more se friendly. The domain name was set up under godaddy as a redir to cafepress and had a little greater problem because the root actually was cafepress.com/hersite instead of your domain name as is the case with you.

rlrouse suggests finding a new host, but I know you chose them because of the online builder he mentioned. Finding a new host would mean starting all over, and I know that that is probably not what you want to do.

The "page/page/498787.htm" is not very se friendly and you probably lack the ability to put a desc on each page as well. It would be nice to be able to put "gifts-for-men" in place of a series of numbers but site builder programs simply have a database of numbered pages of their various clients and that's that. There really isn't anything you can do about it.

You asked if using Citymax had anything to do with it and the answer is yes. To get it to read "http://www.thegifts2give.com" you can set it up under another host and use a java meta redirect to the Citymax homepage. A seperatly hosted redir will allow you to write an se friendy redir complete with links to your site in the noframes area. I'm not sure if that's really what you want to do though. Having your redirect hosted at one location and your site in another has it's drawbacks. I feel that there would have to be a better reason other than just the fact that you don't like the way it looks, for example.

Are you having problems getting ranked and you think this is the problem? or you just don't like the way it looks. If the problem is getting ranked, it's probably other things that are playing a greater role, and some of those things have to do with the limitations that are typical of site builder programs. By the way, it has nothing to do with network solutions, they simply sell domain names and for what it's worth, it would not make any diff who you bought the name from.

Trying to get (at least some) site builder type sites ranked, believe me, ain't easy.

Hope this has been of help...

peace...Paul

[busy1]

Hi Rlrouse,

Yea, I chose them because of all there perks, like pages, polls, guestbooks, etc. etc.
Basically, back then though they didn't give you a trial first so I was disappointed in a few things right away. They gave me a blank editor basically and offered a choice of frames or tables so I built tables knowing the search engines would never read inside the frames.

I don't like how they set that entry page up for themselves.I am new to all the ins and outs of this stuff, at least with search engines.

As far as getting a new host, I may have to do that someday but right now I am paid up for the year and I have a pretty big site and I really don't even know where to begin. I thought about Dreamweaver or some of the others for next time.
Lynn

[rlrouse]

Hi Lynn.

If you really plan to move your site to another host when your term expires (and I really think you should), I would suggest that you purchase Dreamweaver, Frontpage, or whatever you decide to use now insteand of waiting.

These programs do have a learning curve, and the sooner you get started learning and practicing the better. Just a suggestion. Good luck with your site!

[busy1]

Hi again Paul,
Yes, I remember talking briefly about this. It wasn't a rank problem really though. I seem to be doing ok-ish for now. I'm not sure it is even a problem with the search engines, it doesn't seem to be with google. I was just wondering why the numbers where there and what they meant.

I had read here how it was best to place your keywords where my numbers are and realized that I didn't have the option.

Your right about not wanting to start all over. The site is big and the SE results haven't been too bad so far. I moved up to a 5 on the googlebar from a 3 for whatever thats worth. :-)

However sometimes I find it a pain to not have complete control over my site.
One other example is trying to change my html in my title, Ciytmax has what they consider this nifty little space all made up for you, that you type your title into in and it converts it, I wanted to add some html to my title tag other day and citymax said it doesn't offer that service. Needless to say I ignored them and edited it anyway. :-)
I ended up taking it back out because I wasn't sure if what I added would be a help or not. I can add html in the body but not the title tag, description or keywords without going around their system.

In summary though I really am not having much trouble with the numbers, I just wanted the option of having control with changing the numbers to keywords and finding out why they were there in the first place when I haven't seen to many others with them.
Now, I know. Thanks alot Paul, you've been a great help as usual!
Lynn

[busy1]

Hi Rlrouse,
Could you suggest others like Dreamweaver that would be easy to build, but be a good one. Is Dreamweaver a hard one to learn.
Thanks for all your help!
Lynn

[rlrouse]

Dreamweaver isn't all that difficult to learn, it just takes a little time and effort. If you're used to Microsoft applications, Frontpage will be a snap, but in the long run you'll probably be better served by Dreamweaver.

Please do keep in mind that this is a personal preference and there are probably hundreds of people on this forum who prefer Frontpage.

I know my answer isn't exactly what you were looking for, but I have never been very proficient at dancing...

Maybe someone else has another recommendation?

[mm99]

Hi Lynn...

I was curious as to how you got "around the system". Generally, from what I've seen, there's really no way to do it because you lack access to the html to do it.

No way I can do it with cafepress. Just the title, and it is the same as what you see on the menu, and the line at the top of the page. All the desc and kw are the same on each page. You enter it once and that's it.

If you have a pr of 5 you have no problem there as far as I'm concerned. Are you selling stuff though?

As far as editors go, it's Dreamweaver hands down. Front Page is lagging in developement (last I heard 2 yrs) and any Macromedia product is always at the cutting edge of their market. For a good lightweight editor, try 1st Page 2000:

http://www.evrsoft.com/

it's free to download and I use it all the time. It has built in java scripts and supports other web languages as well. They are getting ready for a major update next year, I think.

peace...Paul

[busy1]

Hi Paul,

I'm ok with the search engine results I am getting now, I have been making some changes on my keywords this week after playing with word tracker and I think now I will be able to better target my field. I do get sales, but could be doing a lot better.

As far as getting around citymax's system, I don't want to sound like I am hacking into anything of theirs or anywhere near smart enough to do so, or dum anyway you want to look at it. LOL

When it came to this dead end with the title and not being able to edit the title tag with html, I just messed around with the controls I had and was able to find the title tag in the body, which I do have edit control over.

First - I opened the browser to my site and viewed the source, where I can see the title tag.(sitting their right on top as usual)
Second - I opened my editor and right clicked edit source to the body.
Third _ I scrolled down the html until I found the title tag. (Buried deep inside the body, without the usual tags)
Fourth - I added a code to the title.
Fifth - I deleted the title I had inside Citymax's title bar.
Sixth - I kept it for a short time, and then decided the code wasn't worth it. (see "Neat Trick") in google.

I will check out page2000 & dreamweaver while I have this site so I can learn it and when renewal comes along I'll be ready. :-)
Lynn

[mm99]

It sounds like you have a setup like we have with cafepress. Your title is the same as the line below the top menu. You put it there when you set up the page, and it automaticly uses it in the title. I think that is more or less the way most page builder programs are set up.

I think it would really be nice if after the page is set, they allow you to edit and make changes to the code they produce. They probably think we're to stupid and we'll screw something up!

We just simply copied the homepage, installed it elsewhere and linked to the cafepresses product pages. It allows us to do whatever we want with the homepage, and add other pages that they won't allow. Right now we have a links page there as well. The only real problem is that having our site in 2 diff places is not very se friendly.

You should just build what you have, add new items or whatever...I think you'll do great. You've got good PR...just takes time. SMC has a good program and great products, so you certainly won't be lacking there. You might explore other channels as well though, if you haven't already.


peace...Paul