August review

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008 | News

The recent site redesign was a specific reaction to make the site more search engine friendly. This has been an educational experience for me and has brought a whole host of tools to my attention. I’ve learned what drives folks to the site, I’ve learned that I have a lot of work to do, and I’ve learned a lot of cool little things as well.

Let me start by saying thanks to RetroRemakes for not only hosting Cymon’s Games but being the driving force behind the non-search engine traffic to it. Without OddBob there would be no Cymon’s games. That said, if you have a website or frequent message boards please, PLEASE link to Cymon’s Games. I’m sure one of the programs already on the site would be perfect in many situations. They say word of mouth is the best advertising, and around here it’s the only advertising.

Of all the search terms that have driven people to the site anything “Numbrix” related has been the #1 way folks find the site, by a lot. What’s a lot? How about over 75% of search engine querries that come to the site. (Maybe I should do that more often.) And while I would not have targeted Maryln Vos Savant’s readers intentionally, chances are more than a few of them may stick around. I guess I should have guessed that would happen when I referenced a syndicated feature. (Actually, maybe I should probably do that more often.)

Numbrix isn’t my only draw, tho. I am netting some traffic from folks looking for homework help. In fact “palindrome” seems to come up often, leading me to believe that either some teacher is using my homework suggestions, or great minds think alike. For those coming for homework help, when you write your “c program to find the super palindrome number” please send it to me. I’d love to post it on the site.

Wumpus is another search engine draw. This pleased me because if classic type-in conversion like Wumpus, Ruler, or Hamurabi are your thing the next few weeks should be good for you as Super Star Trek and Star Merchant are in the queue.

If I’m not expressing it enough, tweaking Cymon’s Games has been a thrilling adventure for me.