Site Reference Forums

I had a  link in one entry - and while no link juice, lets just say my SERPs were favourably influenced - when all the external links were removed the SERP results dropped.

Coincidence? Maybe but I think that if you can get included it is worthwhile.

tried to drop a link to one of my sites once...no go

wasn't my sharpest try ever but really did think it would be beneficial to the topic

i actually use Wiki a lot...i don't believe every word i see written in there but there's some great info

One of Wiki's commandments is "Thou shalt not pluggeth a web site." Direct plugs are no-nos, however, if your site just happens to have relavent info on the given subject, it's allowed to stay.

The downside is any schmoe, including me, can change the info on the page whenever they feel like it and however they feel like it, so to keep your site on it, you have to keep going back, and, when need be (and for me it was needed several times, including citing the Wiki rules that stated the dude couldn't do that, but he did anyway), go to the "Talk" page and fight for your link -- requiring logic and knowledge of the Wiki rules. (Yes, Laurie, I have no doubt you'd use logic and knowledge, but am writing this for anyone willing to read.)

My site still ended up being kicked off of the main subject area, for no logical reason, and with no explanation, so I've done something different, and am working on the obvious solution.

Something Different
It's now listed under "bears - other," or, at least had been for a while.

Obvious Solution
For some weird reason the entire 112 years of the history of the teddy bear is always summed up with Margarete Steiff, in Germany, started sewing toy bears in 1894 (OK, most state 1898, but that's part of this problem), but the Michton's in Brooklyn, NY, sold the first bear named "Teddy's bear" in 1902, with a paragraph on why they even made the bear. Most the time the history ends there, ignoring 2 World Wars, (one-third of all the teddy bears being made by the war years were coming out of Germany from Mohair coming out of Brittian, so there is obviously something important to tell at that point), Baby Boomers, and the bear artists' industry.

I'm taking that "become known as an expert in your field" idea, as far as it will take me. By studying up on the subject (and that entails at least three versions of the events -- Germany's, Britian's, and America's - and taking detailed notes from as many books as I can find on the subject, I will have the entire history of the TB in Wiki, plus I'm catching onto a slew of ideas for articles for the related magazines that may or may not have sites online. Everything gets published when the new site goes up, giving me a few more rungs on that ladder I've been slowly climbing for my ultimate goal.

Then again, in my case, I've added all the related sites along with mine, so it is a full presentation of "Others" under "bears,' so everyone with similar sites enjoys the link, increasing link love in a rotation of sites, as well as giving readers fun places to visit. With your sites, I'm thinking you could do something similar for sites that are connected to yours, too, Laurie -- at least the community site.