vB Welcome Headers as Images

Greg Findley · #1 (**permalink**) 13-05-2008, 17:47

Hi RayB and all the A1 team,

I have a suggestion regarding the standard vB welcome messages.
I used this method on my old Chess Forums site and saw membership signup rates increase quite dramatically, and I'm sure it doesn't do the old SEO any harm either...

Install the plugin to get welcome headers...
http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=119572

Then turn the welcome headers into images...
http://www.vbseo.com/f28/how-make-yo...rs-image-7549/

With the vBSEO link their suggestion is simply putting the standard text into an image, but I would suggest going one further and making an inviting graphic to really catch peoples attention, particularly for the new guests.

Hope this helps,
Greg

openmind · #2 (**permalink**) 13-05-2008, 17:57

I like this idea and anything that converts lurkers into members must be a good thing...

Greg Findley · #3 (**permalink**) 13-05-2008, 17:58

It just gives you the chance to create a nice appealing graphic to get lurkers on to the all important registration page, and makes the forums stand out from the 100s of vB forums that have the standard 'You're not a member yet' messages!

As well all know A1BF is much friendlier than that

RayB · #4 (**permalink**) 13-05-2008, 18:14

I'm not sure I understand this - does that mean I'd have no welcome text, just an image?

openmind · #5 (**permalink**) 13-05-2008, 19:38

Correct to avoid any duplicate content issues but personally I don't see this as a big issue.

But then what do I know? I'm a host not an SEOer

Greg Findley · #6 (**permalink**) 13-05-2008, 20:44

Eseentially you have an image doing the same job, so an image of that text or an image with text as more of a graphic invite, check out www.scottishbusinessforums.co.uk I recently added this feature for them, with the banner like this...

Quote:

It also dillutes the value of other keywords on each forumhome, or thread display, because they show up on every single page.

Spiders can not read the text in images (yet!

), so we should take advantage of that to keep content relevent keywords as important as we can.

Greg

RayB · #7 (**permalink**) 13-05-2008, 22:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg Findley

Eseentially you have an image doing the same job, so an image of that text or an image with text as more of a graphic invite, check out www.scottishbusinessforums.co.uk I recently added this feature for them, with the banner like this...

Greg

So, the age old dilemma - great for sign up, awful for SEO (the first sentence on a page is massively important)

Greg Findley · #8 (**permalink**) 14-05-2008, 07:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by RayB

So, the age old dilemma - great for sign up, awful for SEO (the first sentence on a page is massively important)

No dilemma here? Great for sign up and great for SEO...

Leave this part in...
Welcome to A1 Business Forum, the free Advice and Help Forums for Small Businesses based in the UK.

Change this part to an image...
You need to Register before you can post. Click the Register link to proceed. Registration is Free and only takes a moment! If you are new to using Forums you may want to read our FAQ Section

RayB · #9 (**permalink**) 14-05-2008, 08:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg Findley

No dilemma here? Great for sign up and great for SEO...

Leave this part in...
Welcome to A1 Business Forum, the free Advice and Help Forums for Small Businesses based in the UK.

Change this part to an image...
You need to Register before you can post. Click the Register link to proceed. Registration is Free and only takes a moment! If you are new to using Forums you may want to read our FAQ Section

Gotcha! That makes perfect sense!!!!

I'll get it done

Greg Findley · #10 (**permalink**) 14-05-2008, 08:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by RayB

Gotcha! That makes perfect sense!!!!

I'll get it done

Sorry probably didn't explain it clearly enough first time round!