Preparing Content for this site
Promoting your web site
Statistics on Site Rankings
Our Policy about linking to other sites

Preparing Content for this site

Once you have your Home Study done and you want to place your information on this site, you can greatly assist the process by reviewing this page and preparing the following information.

Each Waiting Parents section is prepared from a template. Because I strictly do this site as a part-time, volunteer project, it assists me in getting new Parent's information up more quickly. This is also helpful for Expectant mothers because they become familiar with a standard menu and layout as they move from section to section within the site.

Each Waiting Parents section contains the following pages:

• Home Page: This page includes an initial photo and links to the following pages:
• Contact Information: This is a form that is supplied by me that a Expectant Mother can fill out. This form generates email to you so you can contact her directly.
• Dear Expectant Mother Letter: This is a letter written by you that conveys your message to the Expectant Mother. Feel free to view other parent letters to get an idea about this. You should create this letter as a word document or text file and email it to me for including in your section.
• About Us Page 1: This is usually done as an "About Him" profile page which can include photos, background, interests, anything you wish. You should create this letter as a word document or text file and email it to me for including in your section. If you want photos on this page, do not include them in the document. Photos should be sent separately. Simply add a comment like (place photo of JoeCamping here).
• About Us Page 2: This is usually done as an "About Her" profile page which can include photos, background, interests, anything you wish. You should create this letter as a word document or text file and email it to me for including in your section. If you want photos on this page, do not include them in the document. Photos should be sent separately. Simply add a comment like (place photo of JoeCamping here).
• Photo Album: This section will usually contain 12 to 16 photos with captions. You should send full-size images. I will crop and thumbnail them for the site. While I can process images of any digital format, I prefer the following:
  • jpg or jpeg format
  • 300 dpi
  • at least 400 pixels x 400 pixels
  • intuitive naming: JoeAtWork.jpg
  • Provide a doc or text file that gives a list of captions for use with the pictures.
• Thank You Page: This is a page prepared by me that is displayed to the Expectant Mother after she submits the Information Request form. This is a page that she is encouraged to print and keep. It includes your email address and phone number for her future reference.

You can send your files in a variety of different ways, the most convenient to you being the best. I have had waiting parents e-mail all of their files, burn them to a CD and mail it, or even just have everything in hard copy form (pictures included) mailed for me to scan, post to the web and mail back to them. Any method is just fine. If you do have non-digital files that you wanted to send by regular mail, please send them with a self-addressed, stamped envelope to:

Open Adoption Services
Daniel Moore
12136 NE 107th Avenue
Kirkland, WA 98034

And I’ll make sure you get them back as soon as possible.

Also, please note that prospective Birthmothers are given your e-mail address as a reference upon sending an e-mail to you through our site. Many waiting parents have stated that they would like to remain relatively anonymous, initially or have an e-mail address separate from their current personal e-mail account. This is not unusual and most people create a “second” e-mail account just for this purpose – e.g. JohnandJane_adopt@myISP.com. Depending on their ISP, most people have the ability to create multiple e-mail addresses under their accounts. Others use free e-mail services such as Yahoo, Juno or Hotmail for their “other” account. Another good tip is to have a separate phone line or 1-800 number installed just for this effort. You can always provide more info once you're connected with someone. You can start off with just an e-mail address if you wish. Just let me know what information you’d like me to include when you’ve got them set up.

Choose some search engines and indices that you wish to register with. Most of the links listed here will take you directly to the area for submitting your web page.

• AltaVista
• Go.com
• Google.com
• Yahoo
• HotBot.com

If you are submitting to an index or service that asks you for a title or description, I recommend the following:

• Title: Jack and Jill hoping to adopt
• Description: Hoping to Adopt. Jack and Jill are a loving couple seeking Open Adoption. We have room in our hearts, our home and our lives for child.

The actual URL of your web page will be as follows:
http://www.open-adoption-services.com/adopt/portfolios/Jack_and_Jill/
NOTE: If this path is displaying on two lines, it will need to be on a single line with no spaces when you are submitting it to a search engine.

Search Engine submission is tedious work. There are hundreds of search engines and indices. You may wait weeks for your listing to show up. You may have to register with each one several times. The rewards go to the persistent. The real jewel in all of this is that it is free. If you are willing to sit and do the work, you will get the result without spending a dime.

If you are interested in learning about how this site ranks in the search engines, follow this link to:
Statisitics on Site Rankings

Good luck - Daniel

That's it! If you wish to continue or have more questions, please drop us a line...

WaitingParent@Open-Adoption-Services.com