Looking into the future (hmmm crystal ball) I have a website/forum based on a book. The book is set to become a film and shooting starts in january. At the moment most of my traffic is organic from google (listed #6/7 depending on the day) The film will also star Johnny Depp. It waivers between 20-80 uniques a day with between 120-250 page views.

 

What are your predictions about this? Do you think that the film is going to increase the number of visitors dramatically? More importantly, has anyone here had something similar, say for a new computer game etc and can impart any wisdom about the comming exposure?

 

Thanks for any replies, I hope I have posted this in the appropriate board, as although I'm not doing anything to promote the website I'm looking for views on what kind of result a film release could have and ways to prepare.

my predictions are a 50/50 on this:

 

1 : the film company will commission a website for the film and flog it mercilessly, making yours fade into obscurity

 

2 : the film compnay won't do a website (or won't market it much) and you will experience a large rise in visits, with a low pages-per-visit.

 

if you do experience a rise in visitors, your site will p*** off your host and the whole thing will slow down, making visitors quit before they even arrive.

 

If you are planning to sell things on the site then it may be the time to take a risk and upgrade your server, or at least set up a chain for quickly changing server if you experience a large rise in visits and an associated slowdown.

 

Try googling the digg effect, or slashdotting for info on how others survived a huge fast rise in page serves.

Yay! I solved the riddle; can I post the answer?

 

Anyway, what Penguin said is all good advice: traffic, server upgrades, etc.

 

Do you think that the film is going to increase the number of visitors dramatically?

 

I don't see how it couldn't, even if you get bumped down in the rankings (start major SEO now!).

 

But I think you really need to consider the purpose of the website and how that will fit into the movie. Will you be providing information that is unique and wouldn't be found on your typical studio-made, trailer-loaded movie website? Is this a money-making venture (or could it be a money-making venture)? If it's strictly for-pleasure, how much of your own time and expenses are you willing to put into it before your brain explodes?

 

I don't think you can gauge what an appropriate reaction is until you know the answers to these questions and what you hope to get out of it.

Arrghh! You know I hadn't considered that the film will (most-definately) have a website of their own. Though thinking about it 'pimp' is the right kind of word for these sites, which albeit instantly do well in search engines, (how?-backlinks from everywhere under the sun? Online Newspapers, Blogs etc?) but they rarely provide unique content around the subject. Then, if people are interested in the story/book/author behind the film then that's where my site comes in.

 

I've already done tons of SEO, but what should I try in order to maintain ranking in SERPS when this beomoth film site comes out? Forum signatures? Directories by the thousand? Any advice here would be grateful. I should mention that the site is keyword domained, with the primary keyword being the Author's site, and there is my site and another site with using the keyword as I do, only focusing on the news about the film - we have exchanged links and saw our sites shoot from page 4 to page 1 in google when we did this.

 

Regarding Hosting, I have an unlimited account on a bulk user (the top-paid shared hosting service for that host) and all the TOS suggest that they are extremely capable of handling large rise in visitors, they state that if it is not possible for them to meet demand then they refund the cost of the package the site is on. I would be prepared to get a dedicated or VD server should the need arise.

 

As for site content, I sure do hope to provide a whole lot of information about the book and movie when that comes, and hope that visitors sign up to the forum to discuss the film and the book if they decide to read it. Sure there are some ads on there which I hope will cover the costs involved.

 

Thanks for your replies guys they have been incredibily helpful

Regarding Hosting, I have an unlimited account on a bulk user (the top-paid shared hosting service for that host) and all the TOS suggest that they are extremely capable of handling large rise in visitors, they state that if it is not possible for them to meet demand then they refund the cost of the package the site is on. I would be prepared to get a dedicated or VD server should the need arise.

 

Just having an "unlimited" account is not a guarantee, if your site starts to use a lot of server resources it will be pulled - all hosts will do that on a shared account. Check their TOS, I'm sure you'll find the hosts definitions there. This brings up the "unlimited hosting" myth...lol

 

What you can do is make preparations in case you need more server resources. Often a good host will give you prior warning of any problems (unless you get a sudden spike in traffic when they may have to suspend your site first) and will offer some upgrade solutions for you, whether that be a VPS or dedicated server. Be aware that if you use a lot of data transfer you could face some hefty monthly bills!

Thanks bluedreamer,

 

I understand the nature of UL hosting, and the TOS of this host are vauge and as such is why I pointed out what they said there. Even so, I submitted a support ticket asking how many visitors/page views the shared hosting account can be accomodated. I hope for a direct honest answer (tinged with a sales pitch no-doubt)

Just keep adding content to the site.

Make sure you state it's an unofficial fan site.

Add adverts to monetize from the web traffic (amazon, ebay, film posters etc)

Well, the host got back to me and said as an example the current top user of their shared hosting uses over 1000GB data transfer per month. Is it me or is that huge? (Bearing in mind my site does not have a huge page load, which depends on how much you use of course)

Well, the host got back to me and said as an example the current top user of their shared hosting uses over 1000GB data transfer per month. Is it me or is that huge? (Bearing in mind my site does not have a huge page load, which depends on how much you use of course)

 

My host (Bluehost) allow up to 3000GB of transfer per month. Both of these numbers are huge for most people but it's hard to predict what you'll be using. Assuming you won't have tons of video/audio content - it's a book site - this seems like an insurmountable transfer amount.

 

Also, I don't know too much about it but you'll need to consider the other people sharing your box (is it box? I can't remember), as all of their sites will slow down if yours gets a lot of traffic, and vice versa. It's luck of the draw too, so if you're on the same box as another high traffic site, there could be trouble...