How effective are doorway pages?

[michaelday]

Hello,

Is the doorway page supposed to be subdirectory of the main page or is it supposed to be totally separate url? For example if the main site is mainsite.com
should the doorway page be mainsite.com/keyword or othersitekeyword.com
If the doorway page is separate url how effective can it be when there is no important links to it?
Thanks!

[drbill]

Hi michaelday and welcome to Wmw.

both ways are considered doorway pages. I prefer to use another domain so that if the engines do get upset with something i am trying i don't mess up the listings of my site. I have found that using other domains give better link POP that using a dir on the mainsite as you called it.

[michaelday]

Hello drbill,

Thanks for your help. If I have another domain strictly for doorway purposes, how can it have better link POP, since there are no important links ( yahoo, looksmart...) to it? Am I correct when assuming that such doorway pages are more effective when targeting "blue widgets" as a secondary keyword as opposed to "widgets" as a main keyword, since "widgets" would have much stronger competition.

[stavs]

Dr Bill

I think you have basically taken the words out of my mouth - I am baffled about doorway pages. I purchased webpositiongold some time ago and I couldn't understand the emphaisis on doorway pages. These are my doubts/concerns:

1. I very rarely see subpages being listed high in the search engines.

2. If using another domain to create a doorway page, presumably, if the domain is just one page (I.e. a doorway page) the engines will surely see it for what it is.

Can anyone shed more light on this matter. I would like to understand more than just the principles of doorway pages, but some ideas of how to Actually make them work for me and also, which SE's respond favourably to this strategy (and those that won't).

I would be very grateful for help on this matter.

[paynt]

This may be taking it out on the limb but I consider every page I produce a doorway into my site. We think people are using specific keywords or keyword phrases to get to sites and we all fight for position with those. It took hub development for me to really see just how many alternative keywords actually bring people to a site and those can be very difficult to develop specific pages for.

My specific experience in doorway pages sustains my belief that they must first be filled with content. You’ll have to talk with others about keyword density. I know for some this is an art but for me I try to create great content that also sells what it is I’m promoting. I balance them with the keywords in meta tags (although how much these are used is debatable), in bold and italic text, in h1 and h2 headings at least, in alt tags, in anchor text for links. I also make sure the page isn’t hanging out there on a limb by itself but is linked well to the site and into and out of the site.

Remember, this may be your only opportunity to capture the attention of your visitor. I would try to make the best of it once they get there.

[mona]

>>My specific experience in doorway pages sustains my belief that they must first be filled with content. You’ll have to talk with others about keyword density. I know for some this is an art but for me I try to create great content that also sells what it is I’m promoting. I balance them with the keywords in meta tags (although how much these are used is debatable), in bold and italic text, in h1 and h2 headings at least, in alt tags, in anchor text for links. I also make sure the page isn’t hanging out there on a limb by itself but is linked well to the site and into and out of the site.

Yes, yes, yes. Also, instead of just one page, I've started making almost a mini site -one main page with six sub pages. All on topic, focusing on one main kw phrase, and a hand full of other kws related to the main kw(themes!).

>>I have found that using other domains give better link POP that using a dir on the mainsite as you called it.

I think this is true, as well. I did something like this. Lets say the domain name is widgets. com. I called the DW page colored.widgets.com
Then I named the sub pages colored.widgets/blue.com
colored.widgets/red.com

I linked the DW site to the main site and the main site back to DW site.

I also searched for small on topic directories and submitted the site there, as well.
I also submitted it to Inktomi and Lookmart.

[angiolo]

>>>I have found that using other domains give better link POP that using a dir on the mainsite as you called it.

Ditto. The doorway page tecnique should be renamed to
doorway dominion.