Just started a new blog and forum.....

And I need a few tips. First off, I apologize if this is not the right place.

My first question is this: I submitted my blog url to Google and it's been indexed (I have google analytics), but it's not showing anything from my forums. The forums is in a subdirectory, site.com/forums. Do I need to submit the forums separately to get it indexed.

Also, the google webmaster is saying I don't having any internal or external links. Well the main page of my blog contains a link to my forum. And the forum has internal links in the navbar. AM I missing something here. Additionally, I have outgoing links to other sites on my blog as well.

I have more questions, but I guess these are as good a place to start. I have been reading and researching and will continue to do so. Thanks in advance for your assistance.

 

Another Question? DO I need to create an XML Sitemap for my forum? I have one for the blog and it has been submitted and indexed. I wonder if there is something I'm missing, why my forum is being recognized.

 

Help me understand this? How can a site or forum rank in the 5th position in Google search but only have a PR of 3? Is pagerank really that important?

Obviously it is. I'm thinking, if my competition is only a PR 3, how hard will it be for me to make the 1st page in a few months. hmmmm.....***keeps reading posts at DP****

Also, how is that that a forum that has thousands of members and long history only rank PR 3? What am I missing?

 

whats your blog/forum?

 

Do you mean the link? I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post it. Don't want to get tossed out. lol

 

This is probably better suited to the review section of the forum.

 

Thanks!! Maybe a mod can move it for me.

 

Just checked and I cant post over there until I have at least 10 posts. Maybe someone could help me out here.

ETA: I've been a member here since last year and I'm pretty sure I've posted b4. No idea what happened to my other posts. Maybe they got deleted due to inactivity.

 

So no one is going to answer any of my questions huh? I guess I will just keep reading. It never amazes me how people treat newbies on a message board, forgetting they were once new. Just sad.

 

Just focus on your blog first. Add lot of content update it daily get as many backlinks as you can. Once you get your blog ranked, it will be a lot more easy to rank your forums

 

Try to bulid some quality links for your forum as well. You might not see the effect right away but say in a months time you will see your forum indexed properly. Hope this helps

 

Thanks for responding. It is truly appreciated. I KNOW this is probably a question that is asked over and over again, but how does a newbie build back links? I've submitted a few of my articles to Digg and Mixx and Google Bookmark. I'm also a Facebook user and have links there. Does that count as a backlink? Thanks again for taking the time out to help a newbie. I'm looking forward to learning and growing here.

 

Just another point I would like to add to this discussion: I did a comparison (some tool I found) with a site that came up on page 1 of Google for the same key words I want to rank for. In every aspect we were pretty much even (although my site is new), but that site had like over 1900 backlinks and I had 0. Their PR is 3.

So this lets me know how seriously important backlinks are in your positioning in Google. I guess I have a long way to go, but we all have to start somewhere. I'm very optimistic.

 

backlinks are sites linking to you! Why not make some friends in your niche bloggosphere and then swap links?

 

Thanks for the tip Swimace. I guess I need to get busy.

 

Link your forums around the internet with dofollow hyperlinks.

It will show up in time.

 

Do you mind elaborating on how to do this? Dofollow hyperlinks? Where exactly am I doing this? I feel kind of insincere just showing up to sites I'm not a part of and dropping a link.

I need to read up on dofollow links as I've seen this mentioned on here numerous times. Thanks for the input.

 

usually when someone comes to a forum and has not done any reading then you will most likely not get any response, if some comes to a forum and has done their reading and has shown a genuine attempt then you will get a more favorable result.

without your forum link it makes it difficult to judge... be patient and you will get an answer provided you have done your home work, on other forums it may take days before you get an answer...

 

Thanks for your input. It is duly noted. And you're right. I need to read more first. You know how excited you can get as a newbie.

 

http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1235139