Hey everyone! I just wanted to make this post to notify you all of the fantastic work darklink28 has been doing with our front page (http://hyrulecastle.org) and wanted to tell you all that you should be paying attention! He works very hard, and it would be great if you all could appreciate his hard work for HC by reading his news posts and commenting occasionally! He does great work and deserves some credit so that is why I made this post. So support darklink28 and read/comment on his posts! Secondly. We do need more news writers pretty badly, so if you are interested send me a PM. Toko
Thanks for the kind words Toko! I've been posting/compiling a ton of screenshots and gameplay/video clips from TWW HD lately, as right now things are pretty crazy. So definitely stay tuned to the front page if you're interested in the game! I'm planning to download it the moment it's available on the eShop, and starting the 20th, I will be doing daily blog entries, along with some captured gameplay to chronicle my experience, culminating with a review. Definitely don't miss it!
It's funny right after this I went to go re-read one of the stories I wrote today and had a little redundancy so I edited it. I'm a real editing freak. But the important thing is getting it right. Also, I want to echo what Toko said about those who are perhaps interested in writing for HC's front page. I know that when I first started...well when I first started I would have said I was great, but the truth is, I had a bit of growing pains and had to learn as I went along. It's easy to read articles like I've been doing for years, but to actually write them, sound concise, phrase things in a professional manner, keep a level of objectiveness yet at the same time being able to add my own flavor to articles and analyze information...it's not easy. But! You don't have to be perfect to start out, I sure wasn't, and you will have the full support of both Toko and myself! One of my greatest strengths is that I'm able to find information quickly from a variety of sources, and I may be a better editor than I am an actual writer. Not to say that I would trample over someone else's work because I wouldn't, I'd just be giving a helping hand. I'm able to find a ton of information relatively easy so that burden wouldn't be on you, so if you're worried about that, don't be! Even if you don't think that writing news stories is your cup of tea, that's okay too, because I know that Toko is looking to fill other positions as well! There is an application process, so it's not automatic, but, you would have a lot of support, and I think we're building something special.
Hey, I'm sorry if this offends but I actually forgot there was a front page. The forum index is what comes up when you google search "hyrule castle rp" and not to mention that the home buttons are small, camouflaged and off to the side compared to the attention grabbing "Community Forums Join our amazing members" button which has a stark contrast to the normal background. The worst part is, while current members may know about the home page, future members will likely start at the index page when they sign up and assume that's what serving as a home page. To top it all off the home page is for the most part a list of recent announcements most of which are echoed here, but without direct access to the rest of the forum or the CBox, so we need to make a reason to go there in the first place. It's something to think about anyway, even just bumping the home page past the index page on a google search will probably do it wonders.
What do you mean by a "list of recent announcements most of which are echoed here"? Dark puts up a lot of stuff that isn't in the forums, including his own original content. On the other side of the coin, though, I agree with you. It is kind of "out of the way" and very obscure. This is part of the reason that I made this post, because we need to bring more attention to it. Do you guys have any ideas as to how we can bring more attention to it? There is a lot of quality content on the front page, and soon we'll be adding a comic series done by Aurelia!
I mean look at the top five announcements/posts (barring the absolute most recent one, that's basically this thread), three of them (similar ones mind you) are contained within this thread: http://forums.hyrulecastle.org/index.php?threads/new-ww-hd-screenshots-video.2047/#post-16668 And yes, I know darklink adds his own original stuff too, but a lot of it he posts to the forums as well. Also, there's a lot more discussion and interaction on the forums than the homepage, not to mention you don't need a new account and the software is more stable.
I actually don't post that much from the front page to the forums. I thing the WW screenshots are the only thing. I think there would be a lot of interaction on the front page and discussions if people commented on stories. I know that whenever I get a comment I respond and there is a level of interaction there. Ultimately though, what you stated about most members just going to the forums is true because it started out primarily as a forum for RP. We have been more active than larger sites like Zelda Universe in posting content over the last few months, and that has been primarily with one person. There are things I have to pick not to write about simply because there's too much out there. Imagine what we could do with a team...
Also, if you simply google "Hyrule Castle" the homepage does appear before the forums. I think obviously, if someone googles "Hyrule Castle RP", they will wind up with the forums coming first; if they are simply looking for RP, then yes they will wind up here. But if they are looking for Zelda news/content, game information, etc., they're more likely to find our homepage. On a website, there are always going to be people who just bookmark the forums and visit those primarily. It really happens quite often and isn't unique to HC. I firmly believe if we continue to put out awesome news/content, get beef up our game information, finish certain parts of the site like "About Us" and such, and continue to put ourselves out there and network more, we'll attract more traffic and become more visible. It's just a process that takes time.
Also, one more thing; I think that adding a title to the website other than "Hyrule Castle" would be helpful so that in searches, people would be able to really understand what our site is. Something like "Hyrule Castle - A Premiere Zelda Website" or something to that extent. It is very simple, yet if someone were to find us in a search they would be able to instantly understand, to an extent, what we are. Right now all that comes up is "Hyrule Castle" and then the beginning of Toko's sticky post. When I'm referring to the title, I'm referring to the title that appears in the tab bar. And then for each subsequent page, like "lore", it would be "Hyrule Castle - Role Play Lore". It's important to distinguish the role play parts because that would come up in searches.
