I could use a few more hits -- on my website, that is. Or how to get a free 15" AK.

Bill Martino

Bill Martino

Joined
Mar 5, 1999
Messages
34,096
Since the counters on my website have a propensity for quitting for no reason I checked my latest counter this AM to see if it was working -- and it seems to be -- maybe.

I used to get right at 100 hits per day but the latest counter tells me I'm getting only about 75 -- I could use a few more.

With all the computer and net experts we have here on the forum I know there is somebody who can get the hits back to 100 per day or even more.

If anybody wants to tackle this job on a personal basis I'll offer this deal. Get the counts to 150 per day and I'll send you a 15 inch AK for your effort.
 
Here's a suggestion so trivial it's free:
(Costs what its worth)

Make sure every possible synonym for khukuri that you can stomach appears on the site. That way you maximize possible hits from search engines. There was a thread on finding khuks on E-Bay with a bunch. You could stuff all these in a paragraph explaining gorkha vs gurkha, etc.

Some unscrupulous sites take this to extremes, and just tack on the whole freakin' dictionary, but within reason, it makes a lot of sense.
 
Can't guarantee 150 per day so I'll hit it a few times per day for the low low price of free.

Why does the counter matter anyways?
 
Hmmm...thinking...all my traditional "methods of persuasion" cannot account for hits on a sight, nor can they be considered "selling".


Hmmm...
 
If not, I could set up a macro that would hit it as many times as you need. :)

Part of the drop is probably from my not being able to get on here much in the past several months. I was probably hitting the HI website around 25 times a day for a while. :D
 
Thanks for PM chuckles.

I'm surprised any of the links work and/or go to the right place. As I've mentioned before I use AOL press and it's probably the worst web publisher there is and I'm certainly the worst webmaster and I use the term very loosely.

Getting any sort of website up and running was largely a matter of pure luck.
 
Well, Uncle Bill, as far as I can tell you've been a good little budhist boy, so the universe has to owe you a few small favors. :D
 
I think bobwill1 has a point.

How many people recently got their first khuk?

I was sure hitting the site pretty darn often until I got one in my hands.
 
Originally posted by Bill Martino
Since the counters on my website have a propensity for quitting for no reason I checked my latest counter this AM to see if it was working -- and it seems to be -- maybe.

I used to get right at 100 hits per day but the latest counter tells me I'm getting only about 75 -- I could use a few more.

With all the computer and net experts we have here on the forum I know there is somebody who can get the hits back to 100 per day or even more.

If anybody wants to tackle this job on a personal basis I'll offer this deal. Get the counts to 150 per day and I'll send you a 15 inch AK for your effort.
Click to expand...

Uncle Bill - I'd be willing to help certainly (though I've got an AK already ;) any other spare khuks? ;)).

I don't know what you've been using to design the page nor how AOL pages work. Are they like ruel's Homestead provider and have their own system, or have you got the HTML code of the HI site on your hard-drive?

I could try playing about with the front page if you like (I can 'steal' the HTML code for it off of the web, copy it into my editor and make a test page). Unless someone else wants to do this.

The main thing I would recommend/do is to make the link to the actually shop much more prominent. The 1st time I visited it took me a bit to find out where I could actually buy a khukuri--and I was actively looking. And if someone is just browsing you want to be able to lure them in.

I don't know how your 'hit'-counter works though. I use CQCounter - which is FREE and doesn't pop up adverts and let's one see all sorts of interesting bits of information like, if someone comes in through a search engine like Google, what keywords they used to search, or if someone came through a link from another website, what site that was. And it keeps track of statistics on what sorts of operating systems people browsing one's page use, what language (English, French, German, Hindi, Nepali-;), &c.) their computers use, what time-zones they're in, &c., &c.

If my WebRing gets off the ground that could help too. Les Adamson Antique Arms joined - though they need to get the navigation bar code in yet (as does ruel, or just paste some sort of WebRing icon with a link to the 'Hub'). If I could get enough people into the Ring, that could certainly lead people to the HI site (Joel of Islamic Daggers said he was interested in putting his site and the Shah Jahan's site into the ring too, though I haven't heard back from him yet).

cheers, B.
 
QUOTE]Originally posted by firkin
Here's a suggestion so trivial it's free:
(Costs what its worth)

Make sure every possible synonym for khukuri that you can stomach appears on the site. That way you maximize possible hits from search engines. There was a thread on finding khuks on E-Bay with a bunch. You could stuff all these in a paragraph explaining gorkha vs gurkha, etc.[/QUOTE]

Bro I believe Firkin has an excellent idea here. I almost didn't understand the word 'khukuri' the 1st time I saw it although it only took a moment to put 2 & 2 together.
Ladies, Generally Not Being Knife People, looking for a khuk for their husbands as a secret gift might not do that and pass the H.I.Website by not recognizing Nepal as a place of origin.
( Hay'ull I always used to think that all khukuris came from India and that most were junk.)
You might put a list of the words together as Firkin has suggested and then say something like, "By whatever name the khukuri is known as, khukuri is the proper spelling and pronounciation and we make and sell the absolute Finest Khukuris in the World!!!!" at the end.
It dayumed sure coudn't hurt and may actually increase the amount of hits by more than what anyone might suspect.

Guys the more legitimate hits H.I. gets the more people are apt to be interested in buying a khukuri.
When they see for themselves that an H.I.Khukuri is the finest in the world they are more apt to buy.
Getting any links that are not correct also needs to be done badly.
The only saving grace is that there are an awful lot of websites with incorrect links even though that should not be.:(
The more khuks that are sold the better equipped Himalayan Imports is to stay in business very long, long, term, hiring the help that's gonna be needed some day.
Uncle Bill isn't getting any younger and we've bounced that subject around before here.

And Uncle Bill is the one that keeps the forum going. I try to help Rusty when Bro is outta town, but neither Rusty or myself can bring the interest that Bro can by just posting, "Thanks for the good info."
or something similar, it doesn't take much coming from Uncle Bill.
One of these days H.I. may need a PR man just to man the forum and perform other duties, perhaps in a more office type tasks than what Uncle Bill does.However No One will Ever Be Able to Replace Uncle Bill or Bro as he is to some of us.

There's a lot more to it than just the above that also needs to be taken under consideration, but it's not up to us to do it.
All we can do is what Uncle Bill asked and what we're trying to do now.
I just wish there was something real I could do to help, but I would have to have at least an 18" AK.:p :D
 
Uncle Bill - have you got any better pictures of the 'Flagship' Salyan (sp?) Khukuri?

B.
 
More "ideas" and pseudo-rant (I know they're cheap(free!) and don't get any real work done, but its all I've got to offer-- haven't learned any of this everchanging website stuff, I just know a little low level UNIX):

I think a net surfer's initial view of the site should show a few (small for quick loading, maybe click for a bigger one, or a link to more examples) pictures of actual everyday tool-use of the knives by Nepalis. (I can't recall seeing any!) As wide a variety of tasks as possible. Describe what western impliments aren't needed because they use a khuk instead. Could mention the small tools and compare older khuks to swiss army knife. My impression (maybe wrong) is that only HI offers a tough, usable khuk AND quality, usable small tools. If true, mention that. Certainly you've got the BEST. Maybe couple of kami pictures and maybe some woodsplitting and what not by us westerners too. Some catchy phrase like "One of the world's most versatile tools (knives?), you can own the best" might help too. Probably less corny than that, but you get the idea. One picture of a kothimoda and some nice carving. Talk about toughness, but I'd pass on presenting depictions or descriptions of hacking up japanese sword targets or automobile bodies on the first impression page.

I suspect a lot people might have some preconceptions that a khuk's sole function is dismembering people. Many of these uninformed people may leave as soon as they see the word gorkha/gurkha if you don't make a first impression of a versatile tool that many people use that they migh want to use too. Point out that its a multipurpose tool for gorkhas too. (I've seen quite disturbingly rabid discussions of khuks and gorkhas elswhere on the net.) Many folks wouldn't think of buying a bayonet, saber or double-edged dagger, new or old. (Personally, I find that many of the contemporary double-edged daggers and "tactical knives" around appear to be useless for anything except venilating people, and too darn ugly to display, but I'd love to own a keri or gracefully formed sword) But the same people happily buy a heavy knife for the emergency kit, or a machete, hatchet or wood axe of the types they're familar with that are designed as working tools that they've grown up or at least seen used. Despite the fact that they're aware of battle axes and tomahawks, execution axes etc. True, some people will use single-bit hatchets and axes and be terrified of a double bit-axe or bearded carpenter's axe, or use a meat-carving set but be afraid of a meat cleaver or breaking knife, but there's no way you won't lose them.

I could be wrong, but I don't think you'll lose people who are into swords, bowies, or martial arts with this approach. They'll already know about the martial arts aspects, or will stay interested enough to read further down the page where you could start to get into that stuff.

As things stand now, I think to really get this impression, one needs to read parts of the FAQ and maybe even some of this forum. Lots of people won't bother to look at more than one or two other links.
Ideally you need this stuff distilled in one place so they can decide to buy without loading any other pages. A lot of work, I wish I was more useful in this regard.

Don't get me wrong, the stuff on the two non-shopping sites is great and fun to explore. Keep it available. But there's some people that you have to convince with one look at one page, or they're gone forever. I hope there's something in the above that might help.
 
I'm playing round with a design. Thanks for the input firkin.

I'd thought about this myself - but I'm not quite sure how to get the 'tool-angle' in the first part.

Well, when I've got a 'draft' I'll let people see what they think.

B.
 
Uncle Bill, those of us here with web sites of their own could probably add a link to the HI webpage. Just did that on my knives page. I only get about 20-30 hits a week, so its just a small bit of help from me.

Andrew Limsk
 
Hi Uncle Bill:

Save the K, there’s nothing wrong with your site. It’s clean, informative and intuitive. However, you may be suffering from ’technical problems’.

For the last month or so I’ve been connecting, or trying to connect, to the HI site about four times a day. I do this out of professional curiosity; in the big and wide I’m a Senior Software Engineer, with many years experience.

What I’ve observed is:

Using four different PCs my average connection success is between 60 and 70%. Three of these boxes are in my office, and have a permanent Internet connection via DSL. The fourth box is at home, and uses a dial-up connection thru AOL (Almost On Line). It seems to make little difference which type of connection I use.

When I actually connect, about half of the time some (most?) of the pix fail to download correctly. All I get is the placeholders. This also seems to have no bearing on the connection type.

I find both of the above odd. I would have thought that using AOL’s browser (a modified Netscape engine) to connect to an AOL hosted site would have yielded a better rate than going thru the DSL.

My best success rate (close to 70%) was obtained by using the hypertext link on Beoram's site, rather than going direct.

I wonder if the drop off on the hit counter reflects lack of interest or lack of connectivity.

Any similar experiences or insights from the forum computer gurus?

Blessings upon you and yours,

JimF
 
Ben,

VERY NICE WORK!!!:) I think that re-design of the HI website is great!! I think THAT alone is worth a khukuri! Its clean, well designed and gets right to the point--the khukuris. You get to jump right to the knives, which is what most people will do. Then after they see them they will want to know more about their origin, quality, etc... and those folk who do things in the opposite order can do that as well:D
 
Beoram,

Don't know if your looking for comments/suggestions but I thought I'd throw my half pence in. The page looks great and seems easy to navigate to the store. Have you considered using more hyperlinks to different pages instaed of a long scroll down the page? Again, nice work.
 
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