How would you link back in this (raffle) situation?

[BizBoost]

I'm donating some time to a non-profit geared towards protecting children from predators. To raise funds, they'll be raffling off a classic car. I'm comfortable with every aspect of helping them do this except I want to get some opinions on choosing between 2 site locations and backlink retention strategy.

Circumstances:

The main site is in Drupal, the raffle page is a modified Wordpress blog. There will be future raffles of this nature.

Question:

1. Would you have all links point to raffle.mainsite.com then have that REDIRECT to whatever is the current raffle? So, when Raffle A ends and Raffle B begins (months later), some people might still be surfing in from a Raffle A comment link but I'd still like them to end up on the Raffle B for the chance they'll still participate.
2. If yes to question 1, and being reached by redirection in order to control traffic from all previous raffle links, would you have the raffle on a completely separate site of its own? It's being run in a pre-launch signup, then launch, format. I don't see how that can be done easily with a Wordpress blog *within* Drupal. And, even if you're savvy enough to do it, is it just easier to host it separately?

I did consider putting this in the web design or programming section but I don't want this seen only by programmers or web designers. I want the possibility of any others with relevant experience to see this as there might be other concerns (SEO) that I don't yet see.

Thanks fellow Warriors,
Eric

[LaunchBrain.com]

Why aren't you keeping things simple by just doing everything with WP? Drupal is far less effective for SEO and as a CMS. Just sayin' ;-)

[kiddoman]

I would like to choose the product webpage related with my homepage! You should consider the users' searching habits with Google or Yahoo!

[Steven Heron]

BizBoost, if you want me to help send me a message.

Basically I recommend linking to a permanent page of some kind, that way you'll be building authority under that page. Also, what keywords will you be targeting? Why are you building backlinks? What is your planned outcome?

[BizBoost]

Originally Posted by LaunchBrain.com

Why aren't you keeping things simple by just doing everything with WP? Drupal is far less effective for SEO and as a CMS. Just sayin' ;-)

I was not around when everything was started. It's a fairly new org but building relationships steadily with politicians, radio personalities, etc. The site was done in Drupal and was more than you or I would ever pay for a site, believe me.

Anyways, yeah, I'm going to see that this gets created on a domain of its own as it IS a modified Wordpress structure.

Originally Posted by kiddoman

I would like to choose the product webpage related with my homepage! You should consider the users' searching habits with Google or Yahoo!

While I almost always adhere to our subculture's basic marketing tactics, this is for a very limited duration... 5500 tickets and 3 months. The keywords we use for each raffle will be slightly different except most will probably contain the word "raffle"

Originally Posted by Steven Heron

BizBoost, if you want me to help send me a message.

Basically I recommend linking to a permanent page of some kind, that way you'll be building authority under that page. Also, what keywords will you be targeting? Why are you building backlinks? What is your planned outcome?

Agreed, my strongest inclination was to link to raffle.mainsite.com and then 301 redirect to whatever page held the current raffle. That would pass through all referrer statistics, too, correct?

I'm heading out but I'll pm you right when I get back, thanks.

Eric

[JoelWong]

Drupal certainly doesn't help much in SEO. But if you really need help, PM me, i can help you.

[BizBoost]

Originally Posted by JoelWong

Drupal certainly doesn't help much in SEO. But if you really need help, PM me, i can help you.

Very kind of you, Joel, and will keep this in mind.