# Redirecting yet keeping orig. site? etc.



## jelleym (Sep 6, 2001)

A few years back, I decided to use Tripod free hosting, because it was recommended on Draac. At the time, I found it satisfactory, but subsequently, they've been degenerating from bad to worser to evil - insofar as, not only banners, but then tailers, popups, and now, AARGH! a sidebar framed on the left - coupled with the tailer now superimposing on the site's content itself! Seems like a ploy to deliberately chase away their free clients.

My site gets alot of visitors (45,000 since Feb 2002) but I'm positive they get turned off by that intrusive barrage.

Thing is, I want to keep the present site and wording as is (due to both the keywords, as well as some free tools which are intertwined with the site's URL). But, even disregarding the popup issue, the site's content also requires editing & updating, which might as well display in a newer, more-concise site.

So all I'm wondering, is:

(1) whether there's any tool which would allow me to prominently display a message to visitors, advising them to click for "ad-free update of this site", yet simultaneously keep within Tripod's and search engines' rules, to avoid the risk of deletion. I emphasize that I want to maintain the orig. site more or less "as is" for keyword purposes, so that searchers who seek info related to those keywords will find it.

(2) why search engines never had a policy of offering people a password for their indexed sites, so that people could thereby easily switch to new hosts without forfeiting their status on the indexed queue. Doesn't this cause amateurs to sorta remain prisoners of so-called benign hosts who turn malignant?

Just as an aside, the site isn't a frivolous one. If it were, I wouldn't be as frustrated.


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## Big-K (Nov 22, 2003)

jelleym said:


> Big-K, y'know you're right - I think I will open a new thread for this issue, so maybe you can respond on there. Here's the link:
> http://forums.techguy.org/showthread.php?p=1609921#post1609921
> 
> Meanwhile, to answer your Q:
> ...


keeping your keywords....hmm....well you can still keep the same meta stuff, but the same placing on the results, thats hard.

Could you try making it so that the site on tripod, when visited, redirects automatically to the new one? Say i searched 'medical' or something on google, and your site on tripod(http://whatever.tripod.com/) came up as the first one(example remember), and i clicked it. As soon as i get there, it directs you straight to the new site. If you can do that, then you might put an explanation somewhere on the site but its not neccesary.

Hope that helps. Good idea changing from tripod too. I had a site on there once, it was with sitebuilder, so i in the end recreated a new site(then realized i couldve used view/source). Alot of times i cant even get to my own manager.


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## jelleym (Sep 6, 2001)

What I'm seeking is just a short HTML type of script (which would include a non-jarring yet eye-catching message/link. Meaning - that site visitors would be drawn to that link OVER & ABOVE tripod's popups & sidebar.

The link might read:

Here's a Non-inTRusive conciser update of this site

Any such animal  
Also - what about question #2?

Bottom line:
Anyone else who had non-frivolous high-traffic sites hosted on Tripod - what did all these people do to maintain their indexed status, once Tripod kept tightening their noose to the point of choking?
Anyone know?


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## Big-K (Nov 22, 2003)

For me, i just gave it up...heheh. 

For your question, would a popupmessage do the trick? You know, the kind where a windows alert pops up and tells them something? If thats what you need theres a javascript code for it. I can pm it to you if you want.


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## AbvAvgUser (Oct 3, 2002)

For the popup message, you can keep this in the tag

onload="window.alert('Your Message')"

This will popup a message box as soon as your page gets completely loaded in the browser.


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## jelleym (Sep 6, 2001)

I'm not so sure whether yet *another* popup among Tripod's barrage of popups is such a hot idea.

But anyway, thanks! I may yet try the onload code & see how it looks amidst the Tripod nightmare.

I'm not sure WHAT to do! Another idea I'm considering is maybe to try for a "hiliter" effect, mimicking a yellow hiliter-marker which hilights text... or some such.

*UPDATE: I just now tried the code, but it didn't work. Nothing popped up - could it be that Tripod's programmers fixed it so such popups are suppressed?*


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## AbvAvgUser (Oct 3, 2002)

I am sorry for the error. You don't have to keep window.alert but just the following code

You can also keep following code that will redirect your visitors to your new site automatically.


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## jelleym (Sep 6, 2001)

Abv, is there a way to have a lemon-yellow popup (like hiliting) - or any other color I might want, as well as include the link to the updated site in the popup?

Like, it should display:
*For popup-free updated version click button.*

Then the button itself should state:
*Updated Version* (or some such)


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## Big-K (Nov 22, 2003)

by popup i meant alert message. Like the endless onslaught of them that windows itself has.


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## AbvAvgUser (Oct 3, 2002)

You can use the *window.open()* function of javascript in *onload=""* to open any other web-page as a popup. Then there is no limit for formatting and colors.


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## jelleym (Sep 6, 2001)

Thanks guys for all your help! 

I decided to go with a good old popup-free yellow hilite effect after all.
Just now I tried it via a simple td bgcolor and it's quite prominent - can't miss it - and it's also integrated with CSS a class=one so that when I mouseover, the text enlarges even more than I already enlarged it.


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## AbvAvgUser (Oct 3, 2002)

. See to it that you are not violating any terms of Tripod.


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## jelleym (Sep 6, 2001)

Well, their terms & conditions are humongous, but I excerpted a paragraph which just might apply to me (but I'm confused, because if so, how do other people manage to use Redirect scripts - including you, Big-K? Does Tripod/Lycos allow this?

Anyway here's that excerpt:



> Create and maintain a Lycos Network web page (including, but not limited to, an Angelfire or Tripod home page) that (i) redirects to another web page or (ii) stores or hosts content for remote loading by other web pages. For example, you cannot create a Tripod home page, post pictures to the Tripod home page, and have other web pages call the Tripod home page page to retrieve those pictures.


I.E. in the above excerpt, what's meant by *"redirects"* - just a redirect script? Or is a no-frills link also included in this red tape?


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## Big-K (Nov 22, 2003)

Nothin' wrong with a little loophole

I wouldnt have had that problem. My site was never very high on the listing anyways, so i just had to make a new one and host it somewehre else. I still havnt deleted the old one. I think ill do that now.


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## AbvAvgUser (Oct 3, 2002)

Oh!! Term (ii) prevents hot linking of images. That is obviously prohibited by almost all free hosting providers.

Term (i) prevents what you want to do. I guess, it would be better to give a link instead of auto redirect.


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## Big-K (Nov 22, 2003)

Yeah go with the link.


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## jelleym (Sep 6, 2001)

Y'know, now that I think about it, what if Lycos uses a "smart-search" program to detect keywords such as "popup-free" or "update" or "new site" in order to hone in even on *non-auto* redirects?


So I got to thinking that maybe an image would be best.

The problem is, I only have MS-Paint, rather than PaintShop, so is there anywhere I can download a GIF-button which states as follows:

POPUP-FREE CONCISE VERSION OF THIS SITE
dimensions:
1 1/2" high x 3" wide
color scheme:
lemon-yellow with bold-black text & black border


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## AbvAvgUser (Oct 3, 2002)

Give me your email address in a private message. I will send you a free GIF Animator by email. Its a small file of about 271 KB. You can make whatever GIF file you want with it. You can even import .bmp files into it and make .gif file.

However, I feel you are being over apprehensive.

In my opinion, if your site is so important, it is always better to pay and switch over to the paid version of their hosting. May be then they will allow you to do everything you want.


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## jelleym (Sep 6, 2001)

OK thanks!


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## AbvAvgUser (Oct 3, 2002)

Done!! Email sent with attached installation file. Please scan it before using it.


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## jelleym (Sep 6, 2001)

Thank you so much!

I scanned & downloaded it, and when I next get a chance I'll click the HELP icon. I already browsed it perfunctorily, but couldn't quite figure out how to upload my gif images (they appeared as just a small dot on the righthand side). I guess it works differently than MSpaint, maybe that's why.

I'll have to try & figure it out if I can.

Thanks again


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## AbvAvgUser (Oct 3, 2002)

Its a pretty simple and primitive GIF Animator. No frills, no nonsense kind of application.

Just click on the B icon, enter text, change some settings and you are ready with your basic scrolling text GIF file. Also click on E and T icons for transitions and effects.


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## jelleym (Sep 6, 2001)

Abv, thanks *so* much! I tried it & it worked. At least now I'll be able to take it from there - sometimes I need just a tiny booster-tip, rather than plowing thru table of contents if ya know what I mean.
 

OT:
...especially when I have so much going on in my life right now, such as trying to decide which computer monitor to get (13" or 14") due to my discovery that the larger the viewing-area of computer screens are, the more lethal they are for me. Just the other day another symptomatic guy emailed me an online article by a doctor which jives with our mutual experiences and explains it technically. So right now I'm using an old 1990 CRT which is tolerable for me. The 15" LCD is just laying around gathering dust - maybe I'll just keep it as a spare. Whatever. And forget the 17" NEC CRT - thank goodness I managed to unload it. It was like cyanide!


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## AbvAvgUser (Oct 3, 2002)

You are welcome. Do check out the preferences and options. You can add transparency too


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## jelleym (Sep 6, 2001)

I can't believe this, I was all excited about being able to redirect, then I checked and realized that all my Tripod sites aren't even findable anymore on Google search.

Probably because the ads Tripod imposed pushed my keywords way down.

Now what? Why, oh why, did I trust Tripod? Why didn't I choose Geocities or others? Then again, with my luck, any of those free hosts could have turned sour.


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## AbvAvgUser (Oct 3, 2002)

Does that not tell you that free sites and hosting are not reliable?? Sorry to hear that you have learnt your lesson the hard way. But still, you can start afresh with a paid domain and hosting and resubmit it to search engines.

And paid domain and hosting are no longer expensive. I have been giving domain + hosting accounts to my clients to my clients for as low as Rs. 1500 a year (about US $ 33). For even a little important site, don't rely on anything that is free.


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## jelleym (Sep 6, 2001)

Uh, maybe I should better explain my situation. I actually have a few sites on Tripod, and on each of them I sweated bullets trying to figure out optimal keywords, as well as specific wording for the text. So it would be very difficult to reproduce while still ensuring that they shouldn't be mirror sites of the originals.

I realize I might have no other choice.

Do you know if there's an easy way to more or less reproduce them while avoiding the "mirror" risk?


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## AbvAvgUser (Oct 3, 2002)

I am not a search engine listing expert. But most sites that come in top have paid for that spot. This is what I have heard.


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## jelleym (Sep 6, 2001)

So I guess I'm one of the exceptions, because most of the sites I'd indexed came in on the first page of listings, due to the keywords I entered and their placement. For example, say I'd have a site containing closet organizers. I'd put this as keywords:
organize closet organizers

to allow for anyone who would search for either:
organize closet
or:
closet organizer

and so on...


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## Anne Troy (Feb 14, 1999)

jelleym:

Please check this out:

www.selfpromotion.com

Also, I don't know what you've got going, but it would be soooo nice if you could put it in your signature, though I can appreciate a desire not to want to. But I have to tell you that (see my number of posts here at TSG, for instance) I post at a bunch of Tech sites, with my web in my sig. I just opened a forum there, changed my sig, and have 42 members in one week. That's like...unheard of. Look how my hits have gone up in one week: http://www.vbaexpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=50


You'll also see my sig (at that site) has someone else's site in it, to try to get a little traffic for him.

To my knowledge, get a lot of hits in a short amount of time, and Googs picks you RIGHT up....

If you send me the link to your site, I'll go there a bunch of times. Do the same with 10 other people you know. Tell them to make it their home page for one week...BIG diff!!


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## jelleym (Sep 6, 2001)

Dreamboat & thanks!







It's a complicated situation so I sent an email


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## Anne Troy (Feb 14, 1999)

Gotcha.
And I understand completely.


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