i hear your feelings about this. do you have any suggestions about what would be a better way to word the petition?
Well, a petition is a request for action.
vanzorge wrote:
i hear your feelings about this. do you have any suggestions about what would be a better way to word the petition?
Actually, I've read this petition about “The 3000” several times and I still can't figure out what action they are requesting. Thats what the organizers should open with. "We, the undersigned, request that you {take some action}.” Follow on after that with the reasoning behind that request and the justification for it.
Also, you really shouldn't change the petition after people have signed it. But you could invite the signers of the current petition to sign the new one.
I also wouldn't put it only on the WhiteHouse site. I'd do that in addition to another petition site like iPetitions.
Finally, when I first read this post, I clicked the link on the “Sign the petition HERE” line. Once I was there, I saw no information other than the unfocused rambling letter. When I clicked the "Blog" tab on that site, I saw, “There are no blog entries yet. Check back soon to track the progress of this petition.” Also, out to the right, I see this:
So, I made my first comments here without reading the website from the first link.
Sponsor
(No Sponsor Information)
Links
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I'll leave with two more tips.
First, for search optimization, make your link text the title of the petition, or a shorter version with keywords. Like this:
When you have the better petition, You can use different keywords, like "Petition to bring home all of our troops from Iraq," or "Petition to keep a defensible United States military force in Iraq."
Please, sign our Letter to complain about 3000 troops being left behind in Iraq. ( <-- Click the link )
Search engines pick up the keywords in the link text and the "target page" of the link gains rank for the words in link (the underlined blue text). You don't want your petition to rank for "Click here." You want it to rank for keywords related to the petition, so use those keywords in your link.
Second, whatever site you use for your petition, make sure that someone who lands on the petition can get to your website. Some people will find you by way of the petition. There's nothing on your current iPetitions petition to get anyone who goes there back to your website. Either they like it and they sign, or they don't fully understand it and don't sign and get frustrated that there is no other information available. Use all the features of the petition site you choose.
If you use iPetitions, cross post every blog post and news release about this petition to the iPetitions "blog" and use the "Links" section to link to all your other information about the petition. The first link should be your website. After that, other links to related information, for example to a FreeRepublic keyword search, A Twitter #the3000 hashtag search, and maybe a facebook fan page. You could also get some RedStaters to blog about it with a "the3000" tag and have a search for that tag on RedState.com.
There's just no excuse for having that iPetition site completely devoid of any information other than the letter itself (or the new petition).