MILAVIA Forum - Military Aviation Discussion Forum

Author Topic: How to make an Aviation Website Stand Out?  (Read 20317 times)

Offline Webmaster

  • MILAVIA Webmaster
  • Administrator
  • General of Flight
  • *******
  • Posts: 2842
  • Country: nl
Re: How to make an Aviation Website Stand Out?
« Reply #12 on: February 03, 2007, 01:30:11 AM »
Well, I don't want to go off topic here too much. But you can start by adding META tags in the header of your pages, like keywords and descriptions. Also, all your pages seem to have the same title SA photography, which means all search engine results are titled SA photography. They don't say anything about the content of that particular page. Google only lists 11 pages of your site. It finds only 65 websites linking to your site (it is said the list only includes sites with a PR of 4 or higher. Inbound links from popular sites are very important for search engines, it affects your page ranking, so it determine your # on the list of results for a keyword and also how frequently the indexing bots visit your site to see if anything is updated. Aviation is a very popular keyword, so imagine all the pages before yours in the search engine results, just having that word on all your pages will not help much.

Take a look at:
Google typ in: site: www.scorpionaviation.com
Google typ in: link: www.scorpionaviation.com
http://www.checkpagerank.com/
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/main?url=http://www.scorpionaviation.com

Also keep analysing your stats, to see which sites and keywords are sending you traffic.
  • Interests: Su-15, Su-27, Tu-22, Tornado, RNLAF
Niels Hillebrand
MILAVIA Webmaster

Offline ramjet

  • Pilot
  • **
  • Posts: 12
  • Country: gb
Re: How to make an Aviation Website Stand Out?
« Reply #13 on: March 05, 2007, 01:56:16 PM »
Hi guys, first post so hello to everyone!  ;D
With regards to this topic - the most important thing is links, links, links - but preferably quality links. The higher the PR of the site you link with the higher your site will go in the rankings.
Don't be afraid to ask people for links, you'll be amazed who'll link with you!  8)
Change/update content regularly.
Like Niels and myself try and run Competitions, also add interactivity to your website - I've got loads of FREE Games, Wallpapers, Screensavers, E-cards, Email, Forums, Chat, Military Aviation Mouse Cursors (Courtesy of Paul Zimmerli at Sheppard AFB) etc, etc.
Get your visitors involved with your website.

Cheers, Roger Whitcomb - www.milairpix.com

Offline Webmaster

  • MILAVIA Webmaster
  • Administrator
  • General of Flight
  • *******
  • Posts: 2842
  • Country: nl
Re: How to make an Aviation Website Stand Out?
« Reply #14 on: November 30, 2007, 01:30:37 AM »
Welcome Roger,

Good to see you here. Sorry for my late reply. You're doing great with those competitions. I noticed your site went offline for a bit today or yesterday. Moving hosts?

Yes, links are important, but in the end, natural links (one-way-links) work better than link exchanges. Anyway, I'm anxiously watching my stats now, as somehow my Google PR dropped to 0.  ::)

  • Interests: Su-15, Su-27, Tu-22, Tornado, RNLAF
Niels Hillebrand
MILAVIA Webmaster

Offline Raptor

  • General of Flight
  • *******
  • Posts: 1388
  • Country: sg
  • What's the next big thing?
Re: How to make an Aviation Website Stand Out?
« Reply #15 on: January 01, 2008, 02:07:47 PM »
There's a Google Public Relations?
-JCLim

Offline Webmaster

  • MILAVIA Webmaster
  • Administrator
  • General of Flight
  • *******
  • Posts: 2842
  • Country: nl
Re: How to make an Aviation Website Stand Out?
« Reply #16 on: January 01, 2008, 03:41:09 PM »
Page Rank
  • Interests: Su-15, Su-27, Tu-22, Tornado, RNLAF
Niels Hillebrand
MILAVIA Webmaster

Offline Raptor

  • General of Flight
  • *******
  • Posts: 1388
  • Country: sg
  • What's the next big thing?
Re: How to make an Aviation Website Stand Out?
« Reply #17 on: January 02, 2008, 12:53:58 PM »
Oh, sorry. Wasn't paying attention to the class. :P
-JCLim

Offline Elias

  • Pilot
  • **
  • Posts: 23
  • Country: gr
Re: How to make an Aviation Website Stand Out?
« Reply #18 on: February 07, 2008, 04:16:48 PM »
Since I am someone who recently joined Milavia.net here's my take on the topic...

I used to be a moderator for an online games tournament website and most of my "job" (if you like to call it like that) had to do with promoting online tournaments to various teams. It was a time consuming process that required me to send emails, make frequent forum posts and in general think "outside the box" in order to make sure that the website stood out from the rest. Here's some of the things that I think matter in any website regardless of content.

1. Design and layout. I strongly believe that website design and layout are very important in increasing traffic. A bad design will turn visitors away while an "ok" design will make the website look like everything else out there. However a unique yet easy to use design will create a strong first impression to first-time visitors that will entice them to explore the rest of the website and hopefully make them come back. In other words design and layout should serve as the "red carpet" that leads them to the entrance (its unique features for example).

2.Promotion. Like others mentioned before, word of mouth is important in bringing in more traffic but unless you spend endless hours sending out emails to individual users constantly then there is only this much you can achieve. The best way is to get your website's name (banner) in other (aviation-related in this case) websites. Aim high and low - try to get your banner not only in other websites that are on the same caliber as yours but also in better known websites. You will be surprised how much you can achieve this way. Even if you don't manage to get your banner in a website, try indirect methods - launch a competition and promote it as a news item on the bigger websites for example. Try to make personal connections with aviation bloggers and invite them to discussions in the forums - after all they share the same passion for aviation if they spend time writing about it.

3. Create value for visitors. Getting people to the website is half the job done. What makes the website so unique as compared to the all the other websites out there? Is it the pictures, the articles or the passionate discussions at the forums? What would make visitors to return to this website over another one? If you already know the answer then try to promote the heck out of this feature and try to capitalize on that.

Take for example www.defensenet.gr... It's the official website of a greek defense magazine that focuses on two things - news and its forums. Obviously comparing against a well-established news organization might be overwhelming (if not impossible) but it makes my point. Focus on what the website does best and try to capitalize on that.

4. Get more people involved: Aviation is a topic that has a lot of passionate fans around the globe and at the same time running a website on your own may not be the best way. Have people who like to write about aviation run your front page and write frequent articles   , or passionate moderators who will frequently launch competitions, polls or topics that will make users come back -but most importantly- participate. 

5. If you can't beat them - join them: I am sure that over the years you met people who run similar aviation-related websites. One website might be good because it has great pictures, another one because it has great articles and another one because it has great bloggers. Why not talk to these guys and try to put everything under one roof  (a merger if you like)? You instantly create new content for your website (the same for them) and you instantly get more people involved so you can focus on what you like the most. Even if you don't put everything under one domain this solution has a lot of advantages. 

In case you were wondering when I first started looking for military aviation-related websites the first thing I came across was its reputation - the rating that it got on the top 100 aviation websites. Then when I got here, it was the forum topics that kept me going through the pages. What made me come back was the warm welcome from all forum members. 

Just my two cents...
« Last Edit: February 07, 2008, 04:56:54 PM by Elias »

Offline Webmaster

  • MILAVIA Webmaster
  • Administrator
  • General of Flight
  • *******
  • Posts: 2842
  • Country: nl
Re: How to make an Aviation Website Stand Out?
« Reply #19 on: February 10, 2008, 09:43:37 PM »
Excellent post Elias, I think you've put together a good webmaster guide and you've touched almost about everything I am doing/considering as a webmaster.

1. I'd like to add that you also need to follow the "standards", don't be too unique when layout is concerned, be generally consistent in the navigational structure with other websites. This helps the ease of navigation, as the visitor does not have to become accustomed to your website first before he can navigate it without thinking too much. Unless of course it's unique layout is coupled so closely with your design, and that experience is the value you offer instead of content. However, generally those kind of sites don't last very long. Most important, be consistent throughout your own pages! Open door maybe, but I still see many websites that struggle with this.

2. I'd put your number 3 here, because it's so much easier to get links when you have something to offer and you don't have to ask anymore, they'll start asking you, or better yet start linking you.

3. Yes, well that's the basically the question of this topic. Any thoughts on that? Regarding your example, what makes it unique is not so much it's focus on news and forum, but that it's in greek and has a offline magazine. But I get your point on capitalize on the unique feature. But that does become a bit more difficult when you have multiple features that you feel are unique, or the uniqueness lies in the combination of non-unique features. Or maybe you're not unique then.

4. You're spot on, but it's easier said than done.

5. I've thought about this, but there are a lot of "but"s and "if"s about this. When do you know you can't beat them? Sometimes the only way of joining is by giving up your built up 'establishment' and intellectual property (I can't beat Wikipedia, so I should join them? you'll be all in tears). Plus there's the fear of losing autonomy and control. There's also some conditions for a successful collaboration, which sometimes (due to the nature of the virtual world for one) are hard to predict:  interdependence, commitment, trust, communication, conflict resolution, compatible values and believes. Having said that, I've got some great partnerships with some people/websites, and that works well. There's also room for collaborative attempts at making it more of a network of sites, or collaborative projects supported by the different webmasters. But a real merger won't work I think.


Reputation? You mean that 4/5 stars, and 19th place on Avitop? Well, I'm glad you're here, but I don't how much it says about reputation...?
« Last Edit: February 10, 2008, 09:49:11 PM by Webmaster »
  • Interests: Su-15, Su-27, Tu-22, Tornado, RNLAF
Niels Hillebrand
MILAVIA Webmaster

Offline Elias

  • Pilot
  • **
  • Posts: 23
  • Country: gr
Re: How to make an Aviation Website Stand Out?
« Reply #20 on: February 12, 2008, 04:29:13 AM »
1. I totally agree - no argument on that.

3. I would say that the strongest point of milavia are its forums. Their recent re-organization with the addition of the news section is an excellent idea. If you could incorporate some news on the front page I think it's going to be even better.

4. I guess I am thinking my recent experiences with the tournament website I mentioned on the previous post. On that website we managed to get a number of people to get involved on way or the other. Sometimes it worked sometimes it didn't - but in both cases we managed to gain some staff and weed out the ones who didn't fit.

5. Don't take this literally -it's just an expression. I know that Milavia is not on any kind of competition and it's not trying to "beat" any other website. All I am saying is if you have connections in the wider aviation online community why not try to do something jointly? I will give you an example... On the tournament website I mentioned, we wanted to add online radio with live coverage to some gaming events. We came across another gaming enthusiast with some experience, who initially started making podcasts for our website (we basically offered him free hosting space for his podcasts). Then after a while the podcasts developed to online radio program that were run during the gaming events. We always maintained control of the whole process (since it was our website) while at the same time, our "radio staff" did what they enjoyed most.

Another example... We had an excellent relationship with a modding website. Their major problem was that their creations (mod maps) didn't get enough attention from the gaming community. Our problem on the other hand was that our tournaments were (initially) just like any other tournament and we wanted to do something to distinguish ourselves from the rest. So we contacted the creators of the website and after some extensive discussions we convinced them to create a never seen/never played before map that was going to be played exclusively on our tournaments. I can't tell you how much it helped our website.

As far as milavia's reputation is concerned, I am not sure if reputation is the right word... Maybe popularity is more appropriate. All I am saying is that I was looking for a military aviation website with forums and I found just that. The aviation top 100 websites gives milavia a good rating plus if you google "military aviation" the first thing that comes up is Milavia.  :)
« Last Edit: February 12, 2008, 04:33:11 AM by Elias »

Offline SukhoiLover

  • Fighter Ace
  • *****
  • Posts: 269
  • Country: pt
Re: How to make an Aviation Website Stand Out?
« Reply #21 on: August 21, 2009, 07:51:56 PM »
I´m just so fu*king frustrated right now.

I´ve been checking out some military aviation related blogs written in Portuguese and i´m shocked with what i found.

I found dozens of sites poorly written, with lots of spelling mistakes, lots of expressions in English and non-sense sentences ( which indicates someone just took an English phrase from some English website, used google to translate and posted it without even making some editing), completely disorganized blogs with a very unprofessional attitude into to it and literally TONS of technical mistakes about the planes and a good tea-spoon of speculation, and dozens of links who don´t work.

While that, if you take a look to my blog:

-It is as organized as it can get, its nearly impossible to get more organization using Blogger

-I take great care with everything on it, every weekend i check ALL the links of my blog to see if they are working fine

-Once a month, i check ALL THE POST i made so far to see if there is any broken link or image who might have disappeared.

-I use a professional tone and when i post i review everything at least twice to ensure there is no typos, grammatical mistakes, etc.

-When i´m going to write an article, i spend at least one month researching information, deciding how i wanna write the article and selecting the material to make sure they are as accurate as they can possible be, and at least another month writing the article and reviewing it over and over again looking for mistakes

-Finally, while these other sites use sources who came from Gods know where, i use mainly books and websites whose contents are of good quality (Milavia for example is a great source because i know it is made by someone who is as careful as i am).

-Almost none of the other blog have a way to contact the webmasters, while that my blog as its own link for anyone with questions, doubts, critics, etc


So, whats my point?

The other blog who are cheap, poorly written, with wrong information and a complete mess get Tons of visitors a day.

Mine just gets 40 a day on average.

So, this makes me wonder, whats the point of dedicating so much time to make sure that my blog is top notch when in the end i just get a miserable amount of visitors while the other cheap blog get hundreds?
« Last Edit: August 21, 2009, 07:57:18 PM by SukhoiLover »
http://sukhoitribute.blogspot.com/

English version: http://sukhoitributeenglish.blogspot.com/


Pavel be proud of your legacy!!!!

Offline AVIATOR

  • Hero of Flight
  • ******
  • Posts: 821
  • Country: au
  • TALLY HO CHAPS
Re: How to make an Aviation Website Stand Out?
« Reply #22 on: August 21, 2009, 11:58:16 PM »
Because Suk you get pleasure out of your work same as I do writing stuff on here. I do it for myself. If I did it for others I'd have stopped long ago as I rarely get any response. People are only interested in controversy not nice posts. That's why this week when we all had that argument about your love of Russian built aircraft and everyone wanted to shoot at me, we got the most activity I have seen on the forum.

If you want visitors to your site start saying radical stuff. They'll come in droves.

Offline SukhoiLover

  • Fighter Ace
  • *****
  • Posts: 269
  • Country: pt
Re: How to make an Aviation Website Stand Out?
« Reply #23 on: August 22, 2009, 12:16:11 AM »
If you want visitors to your site start saying radical stuff. They'll come in droves.

I guess people prefer trash talking to quality.

But i´m not gonna start bullshiting just to get people on my blog, i´m gonna keep my standarts.

In fact, right now i´m writing a major article about the Su-33 which also involves some story about Russian Navy carriers and it is giving me a lot of work, just hope people recognize all my efforts and time spent doing it.

P.S- Once again thank you Webmaster, Milavia is my main "internet" source again together with sukhoi.org.
http://sukhoitribute.blogspot.com/

English version: http://sukhoitributeenglish.blogspot.com/


Pavel be proud of your legacy!!!!

 



AVIATION TOP 100 - www.avitop.com click to vote for MILAVIA