Forum Moderators: phranque
After speaking to many people, score.org and 2 lawyers, we've decided to follow the scare letter and close thewidgets.com. The only way I can state my point would be in court and that would cost way too much.
My Question: As I have to close a site that is almost 4yrs old, what should I do? PR5
I plan on using a redirection script on the old site to the new. Any other suggestions?
As far as these guys, this is what I will do.
Yahoo- May resubmit for indexing or use Overture to get specific KW's
Overture- Change url of ads.
Google Ads- Same as Overture
Ink- Submit new site to Position Tech.
AOL- Google covered
Google SE- How long before I loose ranking? The new site will somewhat mimic the old one (index is a copy, all new sub pages). Will Google penalize me for that?
Anyone else I'm missing? The focus for the next few months will be on getting back our PR for the new site.
Thanks all!
Spinner..
PS: TM everything!!! The rules to the game are screwy!! Unless you have BIG BUCKS, the first one to write the letter is the winner.
There are members better qualified than I to advise you on this, but I believe that with a script (I assume you're thinking javascript), you'd lose the effect of your inbound links. I think you'd be better off with a 301. I've heard that there are issues with 301s on Google, but I've recommended 301s to clients dumping mirror sites that had picked up inbound links, and we've had no problems.
WebSpinner, I happen to be familiar with the site in question - it's a small world. :)
I'd think the hardest part is that being 4 years old, with the site having established branding and name recognition, you'll have to re-establish with a new site name and domain name. To some extent that can be done by personal contact; in this situation what I'd personally give the most thought to is picking the new domain name, which this situation shows is a very important matter over time.
I'm assuming you're likely interested in Holiday sales, so now is definitely the time. If you make a change this coming month (August), you'll be picked up in time for what we can guess will be the Google update at the end of September, which is very timely for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
As far as I know, a 301 redirect is the best way to go since it's seamless and search engines will pick up the change over time.
As soon as there's a 301 you can contact the ODP editor in your category for a change; from what I've seen some categories have very active editors. ODP shouldn't present any problem.
With Yahoo if you were grandfathered in and don't now have to pay for annual renewal, that will end up costly. Because of their history and reputation for service it might not work, but it might be worth a try to contact them with a brief explanation of the situation and see if you'll get a random act of kindness and get a change made.
The PR5 is not really a problem, PR5 is very easy to get with only a few links. Contacting the people linking to you will probably get a change made in most cases, as well as being an opportunity to let the people know about the name change.
If you've got a customer base with a mailing list, I'd get a mailing out with a grand opening special to announce the new name, and if you'll be doing any holiday specials you can also send out a mailing for that. That could be a sales boost anyway, and start up with establishing name recognition for the new domain.
