Damn..Anybody come around here anymore?

[ROBERTS]

That's been an issue here for almost 15 years.
But there's also a more sinister hand at work. We're being actively censored at the search engine level. Used to be, if you did a Google search for anything BDSM, or especially BDSM comics, or BDSM art, or bondage art...TONS of DoFantasy hits and images, tons of my art, and the other artists...all would fill the first few pages of such searches.

I tested that the other day, and none of us showed up at all until a few pages into the search results. I've known for a few years now that Google is just a big part of the Empire now, and set on censorship and filtering out anything the Empire doesn't approve of...most Google searches these days turn up a flood of unrelated and confusing results useless to anyone..it has however reached that point where it's certain Google is engaged in active censorship.
Oh yes, it's a niche' market...on a planet of 7 Billion people. Even a niche' should make you millions. Back before bank censorship, Homeland Security, and total control of the Web, it DID.

[Cossack]

Or, maybe instead of it being a conspiracy theory it's the fact that a decade old design isn't at all set up for good SEO. To echo Naj, it's not mid 2000's, it's squarely 1999.

Specifically, most of the dofantasy pages are dumps from Word or FrontPage. Not only is it silly to have that on the web in this day and age, it takes Bego a tremendous amount of time to update it and edit pages.

And what does come up on google for 'bdsm comics' is a bunch of TGP pages that do a shitty job of demonstrating what's here - and is an immediate turn-off. Turns out that's what happens when you pay people large amounts of money to do referrals.

Dofantasy could easily be doing a LOT better if it controlled its brand and redesigned its sites.

[Damian264]

Re Mr Roberts recent Google comment.

I just tried using BDSM Art as access and retrieved a plethora of addresses to sites. My concern is of course accessing a trick site that contains a virus. Wonder who puts them there?

[ROBERTS]

I agree Cossack, we do have a serious problém in updating web design and keeping up with promotion at DoFantasy...at present, there's no effort at all.
But it's also true that active measures are undertaken by Google to filter search results. this isn't conspiracy theory, it's openly discussed fact, and the effect is to keep everyone in line with the wishes of das Reich. Once upon a time, just a general search of my name would bring up two full pages of my comics. Now? I've been erased.

[Cossack]

To the extent Google filters/changes/edits search results, you can discuss it all you want, but the reality is that they just don't care enough about any of this stuff. They have much bigger fish to fry. There's content farms, phishing pages and all sorts of other folks actively trying to game the system that they're fighting. There is no one at Google whose job is to make sure that your or someone else's bondage art doesn't come up on the first page of the search results.

In the case of "gary roberts" - the hockey player has a lot more pages about him that are cross linked in various ways. It's not an unreasonable statement that most folks looking for that name aren't actually looking for bondage comics. Probably what happened was that most people searching for your name didn't click on links to your comics and clicked on the hockey player instead, which in turn causes google to prefer those results.

If you do want to raise yourself in Google search results - start with thinking about where you want someone to end up. Do you want them to end up here - http://www.roberts-comics.com/0TheArtist.htm ? Well, then maybe start by not titling that page "Pagina Nueva 1" and linking to it with your name in the link. Or maybe you want them to go to http://www.darkstarprods.com/ - oops, that's a parked domain.

Create a modern site & page that has some actual content (from google's perspective roberts-comics.com looks like it's nearly empty) and then get people to link to it using your name.

This isn't rocket science. There are people that will do this for you for anywhere from a couple of hundred dollars to a couple of grand. Lots of people. You don't even need a really good person. Your run of the mill random web designer will do a decent job with SEO.

I don't mean to single you out with this - but, f@ck, guys, I've been coming to dofantasy sites for well over a decade. There's a wealth of amazing comics and art in here but the place looks like a 90 year old hoarder's house that hasn't been fixed up in decades. The forum is a mess, dofantasy.com is a mess and bdsmartwork.com is a mess. The creaky referral system while effective has obliterated the value of the brand. And you wonder why no one comes to visit anymore.

Yes, its a different world and piracy of dofantasy comics is basically instant but that doesn't mean you have to give up and roll over. The world has changed in a bunch of ways so change with it. Because it would be an huge sadness if all of this went away. Dofantasy has been the absolute beacon of bondage art - in the entire world of 7 Billion people - this family of sites is completely unique.

While you still have money flowing through the system from at least the old timers (and you do, I can even guess how much by looking at the order # sequences) go and invest it so you have something that can last another 5-10 years and continue encouraging some of the amazing art that dofantasy has done for the last 15 years to bring up the next generation of Roberts, Fernandos, Merricks, Templetons, etc...

[fernandofan]

Ha---it is a fact, as Cossack related, that the long-retired hockey player ccoincidentally named Gary Roberts does come up first when you are really searching for the artist. However, I just refine my search terms to include "bdsm" or something in that vein.

As far as Web design goes, I don't really know shit, but this site does seem a bit cluttered.

As far as all the Fernando speculation goes, I do hope he is okay and working hard on a new comic. It is too bad that he hasn't kept in touch on his own site because it was a pretty lively place for a while. Fans are starved for any interaction with thier favorite artists and the site has withered in his absence.

[darkfist]

I agree Cossack, we do have a serious problém in updating web design and keeping up with promotion at DoFantasy...at present, there's no effort at all.
But it's also true that active measures are undertaken by Google to filter search results. this isn't conspiracy theory, it's openly discussed fact, and the effect is to keep everyone in line with the wishes of das Reich. Once upon a time, just a general search of my name would bring up two full pages of my comics. Now? I've been erased.

I often wonder about this. I don't know how big the Dofantasy staff is but I'd like to see them do a little better promotion to attract more customers. This could lead to increased traffic and sales, and maybe more artists will take notice and start creating new stories for us here.

[Naj]

I think Cossack has hit the nail on the head, and I'm glad someone with a decent understanding of web design came here and pointed out all the ways in which the site could be improved. I tend to go with Hanlon's Razor, summarized thusly: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

Or in this case simple Google analytics.

Hopefully Bego will take note and try to attract a web designer that can code a Dofantasy 2.0 to revitalize our market and community rather than simply use the old system and hope it's still functional as time goes on. "Don't fix what ain't broken" is a reasonably good adage, but it doesn't really apply to the internets. Also, pretty much everything associated with this website is barely functional... so while not broken, it may be soon. A little more user friendly layout, if nothing else, might create some vast improvements. I can't imagine it'd be that hard. As Cossack surmised, there's probably a vast pool of web designers. Surely we can find a kinkster who'd be willing to help out?

[fernandofan]

Pretty DEAD in here lately..

I think I just saw a tumbleweed roll by. Has everyone gone back to school or something?

[Naj]

Well besides the fact that I'm generally more reactive as far as posting goes, not that I have anything interesting to show anyway, I just marathoned two comics and two BDSMartwork updates, so I'm taking a well deserved break while waiting for things to come down the pipeline. Can't speak for anyone else.