Chris H
Magician Among Spirits
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2008
- Messages
- 846
A recent SWIFT post by Jeff Wagg, and the 'What Do I Do Next?' PDF released by the Skeptics Society a couple of months back have inspired me to become a bit more of an active skeptic. As a result, I'm in the process of developing a series of websites that provide critical analysis of the claims made by the most high profile psychics in the industry. Based on a similar concept to Robert Lancaster's 'Stop Sylvia Browne' site, but targeting different, and multiple individuals. Whilst I hope that the sites will be useful to those within the skeptical community, the target audience is the supporters of the alleged psychics, and those who are unsure where they stand on the issue. I am launching these sites in an (albeit small) effort to "even out" the quality of the content that is available online regarding the claims made by these psychics.
My goal is to have each site listed on the first page of a Google search. Ideally, I would like to have each site returned as one of the top three results, alongside the performers official site and their Wikipedia entry. The sites I have already begun work on are;
In addition, I already have plans underway for sites "dedicated" to other individuals, such as;
(I considered a Uri Geller page as well, but I think he's become so irrelevant these days that he's not worth wasting the time and/or money on).
I may consider adding more people to the series in the future, and would be interested to hear about any other individuals whom you think would make good targets.
Each site will contain profile information, details of the individual and their claims about scientific testing (in addition to their response to the JREF MDC), resources for learning more about topics such as cold reading and critical thinking, a PDF brochure (that can be printed out and distributed by anyone around the world who is dedicated enough to stand outside a theatre in the evening and hand them out to exiting patrons), and other articles that I plan to write over time.
Whilst I certainly have my own opinions about whether the performers mentioned can do the things they claim to do, it is not the intention of my site/s to pass judgment. Rather, I intend to present as much evidence as possible, and allow the visitor to make up their own mind about what they think.
I have already come up with quite a diplomatic brand name for the sites, however I'm reluctant to reveal it until the launch, for fear of it being stolen by the likes of the scumbag who stole the stopsylviabrowne.com domain. For now I'll just refer to it as xxx.com (although I believe that one is already taken
). Having said that, my name has already been taken if I decide to go with the single domain name option explained below.
The main purpose of this post is to ask those who are a bit more web savvy than myself what would be the best way to go about hosting/addressing my site.
I am unsure as to the best way to go about hosting the site. It would be nice to have a domain name for each site, such as xxxjohnedward.com, but this will obviously increase the cost drastically, as it would require me to have a hosting account that can host multiple sites, plus the additional cost of potentially a dozen or so domain names. However this site is targeted at a non-skeptical audience, and I want each site to come up under a search for the individual psychic. If I were to host one site, and then have sub folders for each (such as xxx.com/johnedward or xxx.com/peterpopoff), is it possible to configure Google (and other search engines) to show each "sub-site" as an individual site?
There are certainly benefits to the single umbrella site option, such as having one unique "brand name" with the ability to add newcomers to my brand without worrying about someone else stealing the domain before I get the chance, and of course only one once a year payment for one domain and one hosting account.
If you've got any advice that might help get me started, I'm very keen to hear it.
Cheers,
Chris
My goal is to have each site listed on the first page of a Google search. Ideally, I would like to have each site returned as one of the top three results, alongside the performers official site and their Wikipedia entry. The sites I have already begun work on are;
- John Edward
- Allison Dubois
- Peter Popoff
- Scott Russell Hill
In addition, I already have plans underway for sites "dedicated" to other individuals, such as;
- Benny Hinn
- John Of God
- Derek Acorah
- James Van Praagh
- Rosemary Altea
(I considered a Uri Geller page as well, but I think he's become so irrelevant these days that he's not worth wasting the time and/or money on).
I may consider adding more people to the series in the future, and would be interested to hear about any other individuals whom you think would make good targets.
Each site will contain profile information, details of the individual and their claims about scientific testing (in addition to their response to the JREF MDC), resources for learning more about topics such as cold reading and critical thinking, a PDF brochure (that can be printed out and distributed by anyone around the world who is dedicated enough to stand outside a theatre in the evening and hand them out to exiting patrons), and other articles that I plan to write over time.
Whilst I certainly have my own opinions about whether the performers mentioned can do the things they claim to do, it is not the intention of my site/s to pass judgment. Rather, I intend to present as much evidence as possible, and allow the visitor to make up their own mind about what they think.
I have already come up with quite a diplomatic brand name for the sites, however I'm reluctant to reveal it until the launch, for fear of it being stolen by the likes of the scumbag who stole the stopsylviabrowne.com domain. For now I'll just refer to it as xxx.com (although I believe that one is already taken
). Having said that, my name has already been taken if I decide to go with the single domain name option explained below.The main purpose of this post is to ask those who are a bit more web savvy than myself what would be the best way to go about hosting/addressing my site.
I am unsure as to the best way to go about hosting the site. It would be nice to have a domain name for each site, such as xxxjohnedward.com, but this will obviously increase the cost drastically, as it would require me to have a hosting account that can host multiple sites, plus the additional cost of potentially a dozen or so domain names. However this site is targeted at a non-skeptical audience, and I want each site to come up under a search for the individual psychic. If I were to host one site, and then have sub folders for each (such as xxx.com/johnedward or xxx.com/peterpopoff), is it possible to configure Google (and other search engines) to show each "sub-site" as an individual site?
There are certainly benefits to the single umbrella site option, such as having one unique "brand name" with the ability to add newcomers to my brand without worrying about someone else stealing the domain before I get the chance, and of course only one once a year payment for one domain and one hosting account.
If you've got any advice that might help get me started, I'm very keen to hear it.
Cheers,
Chris
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