Hey, guys!
There may be many reasons why there's not more traffic here, but I agree that the reasons are probably attributable to a number of factors:
1) Walther owners represent a very miniscule segment of the market, and the P99, the latest and greatest... really has nothing wrong with it.
2) Other boards draw traffic because of other subjects, and a large, diverse membership base, meaning you can do your 'one stop shopping' for information elsewhere.
3) Lack of promotion... it's up to each of us to do our part to promote the site.
Regarding search engines, this is a highly complex issue, and it's not as simple as you might think. Suffice to say that there's more to it than just slapping up Metatags, and please keep in mind the anti-gun policies of many engines, others also won't list you... unless, of course, you PAY for a listing.
Search engine rankings will come with hits, and hits will come from all of us promoting the site. Looks llike we're going to have to do it the old fashioned way... word-of-mouth. Other boards come up, because they have TENS OF THOUSANDS of members, and HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of posts. That's what get them noticed, and listed, by the search engines.
I guess if we don't get some more brisk activity in the next month or so, I may fold the site, since it doesn't seem to be doing anyone a service. This is, no doubt, one of the reasons why Walther and Smith, as the manufactuer and importer, don't bother investing the corporate resources to do it themselves... there's no ROI in it for them.