Hi All
I am in the position with my very poor performing website of whether to spend more money on it ( already spent several hundred pounds!) or scrap it completly and start again!, its not even giving me many hits( 5-6 a week) let alone any genuine enquires and no bookings, so would I be throwing good money after bad?
I would appreciate your views, thanks
poor performing website
poor performing website
gite-poitou-charentes.co.uk
It definitely does not need scrapping !
You are in a very competitive marketplace, so its going to be very difficult (as a sole trader) to compete with the big boys like listing sites who have much deeper pockets and far more expertise to get the SEO working, so sadly (like me) you need them to get the initial contacts. Then you can think of your website as "more info".
I am not an expert in SEO, but I suspect the best you can do is look at the content and headings. Think about all the phrases people might search on and ensure that these appear in your headings and that they introduce your paragraphs. e.g. I doubt people will search on "Relax and unwind" or "relax" - unless they're looking for Frankie comes to Holywood.
Now, even when they find you, I'm not surprised you don't get enquiries as your booking/contact form is "broken". Something wrong with the Captcha. (I'm sure Martin can fix that quickly for you)
You are in a very competitive marketplace, so its going to be very difficult (as a sole trader) to compete with the big boys like listing sites who have much deeper pockets and far more expertise to get the SEO working, so sadly (like me) you need them to get the initial contacts. Then you can think of your website as "more info".
I am not an expert in SEO, but I suspect the best you can do is look at the content and headings. Think about all the phrases people might search on and ensure that these appear in your headings and that they introduce your paragraphs. e.g. I doubt people will search on "Relax and unwind" or "relax" - unless they're looking for Frankie comes to Holywood.
Now, even when they find you, I'm not surprised you don't get enquiries as your booking/contact form is "broken". Something wrong with the Captcha. (I'm sure Martin can fix that quickly for you)
** Richard
PIMS: Holiday Rental Management system
They say we learn from our mistakes. That makes me a genius !
PIMS: Holiday Rental Management system
They say we learn from our mistakes. That makes me a genius !
I mentioned Google Webmaster on the other thread - it is very useful for seeing where you are positioned in Google for different keywords.
And on your webstats - what search engine words/phrases are people using to find you? Are they relevant? What is your bounce rate?
You also get an error when you go to look at the availability for 2012.
And there aren't many photos in the photo gallery - and the ones that are there don't use the lightbox plug in which is the least I'd have expected if my website was done by a professional. No favicon either....nothing to do with SEO, but most sites have one now.
The content of the site is as limited as the photos - there is no info at all on things to see and do in the area, or how far you are from airports and ferry ports. It is one of the most minimalist websites iI've ever seen! But I really think you at least need to show more detail on where you are and what you have in the area (distance from well known places like La Rochelle etc.)
And on your webstats - what search engine words/phrases are people using to find you? Are they relevant? What is your bounce rate?
You also get an error when you go to look at the availability for 2012.
And there aren't many photos in the photo gallery - and the ones that are there don't use the lightbox plug in which is the least I'd have expected if my website was done by a professional. No favicon either....nothing to do with SEO, but most sites have one now.
The content of the site is as limited as the photos - there is no info at all on things to see and do in the area, or how far you are from airports and ferry ports. It is one of the most minimalist websites iI've ever seen! But I really think you at least need to show more detail on where you are and what you have in the area (distance from well known places like La Rochelle etc.)
Hi Lv
I dont have access to webmaster tools, and i'm not sure what you mean by bounce rates ?
e-richard
I'm afraid that I just cant get my head round SEO but your comment regarding "relax and unwind" as an example makes perfect sence( wonder why it wasnt mentioned before!). If as you say to look at my site as more for info then it would seem to me that I would be better to invest with more listing sites than spending on my website,!
I dont have access to webmaster tools, and i'm not sure what you mean by bounce rates ?
e-richard
I'm afraid that I just cant get my head round SEO but your comment regarding "relax and unwind" as an example makes perfect sence( wonder why it wasnt mentioned before!). If as you say to look at my site as more for info then it would seem to me that I would be better to invest with more listing sites than spending on my website,!
gite-poitou-charentes.co.uk
Do you have access/control over your site or are you dependent on having to pay someone to make any changes? If the former then I'm sure you could improve things for little or no cost.
To give a useful response to your question I'd need to know what keywords/keyphrases you were targeting but even so there are a few fairly obvious SEO failings with your site:
To give a useful response to your question I'd need to know what keywords/keyphrases you were targeting but even so there are a few fairly obvious SEO failings with your site:
- You have no meta description tag. This doesn't affect SEO as such but is important to get someone to click on the search result. Without the tag, Google will display the first couple of lines from your site.
You have no meta keywords tag. Not used by Google but probably used by Bing/Yahoo. Common tags are probably worth including.
You have a robots.txt file which allows indexing but states "nofollow". That's not good - you want search engines to find all your pages. This will be hurting your page rank.
Running a keyword/keyphrase analysis on your site shows gite and poitou-charentes predominating. Your H1 and H2 tags are similarly weighted towards these keywords. The Google adwords tool shows that this is a rarely searched for phrase. Even so, you don't appear until page 5 for this search term.
Running your domain through a couple of backlink checkers gave no results. Backlinks are essential.
- You are using the Google Sitemap Generator Plugin which is good. However it shows your site isn't very "fresh". e.g. you haven't updated your availability page since 3rd November.
You have Google analytics running which is good. Bit confused as to why you don't have access to Google webmaster tools?
- Spend some time identifying the right keywords/phrases.
Ensure they are reflected in the meta tags, H1/H2 headings and page content.
Use Google webmaster tools.
Spend some time building backlinks.
Don't restrict search engine access to your site.
Keep the site "fresh".
Be realistic about how many "hits" you expect.Tripling the current level will be easy - getting hundreds a week, less so.
I had a quick look at your website, whilst I am no SEO expert I can pass on some of my knowledge via these few tips for you.
Get yourself listed here.
Google has 17 pages indexed. How many pages have you got? if more you need to have google reindex the website.
Meta descriptions are missing.
Meta keywords are also missing.
Some alt text to images are missing.
Some minor errors in the coding nothing deatic but check through all the othe pages just in case of a much larger error.
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http: ... ntes.co.uk
Apart from website SEO perhaps look at having a website in other languages and prices in Euros. Also take on-board what other here have said in the pass.
It is a shame that you do not do B&B as we pass by Futuroscope when we travel between here and The Netherlands.
Get yourself listed here.
Google has 17 pages indexed. How many pages have you got? if more you need to have google reindex the website.
Meta descriptions are missing.
Meta keywords are also missing.
Some alt text to images are missing.
Some minor errors in the coding nothing deatic but check through all the othe pages just in case of a much larger error.
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http: ... ntes.co.uk
Apart from website SEO perhaps look at having a website in other languages and prices in Euros. Also take on-board what other here have said in the pass.
It is a shame that you do not do B&B as we pass by Futuroscope when we travel between here and The Netherlands.
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
The comments above are all quite right with regards SEO; although there is a bit more to SEO than meta descriptions and meta keywords. But even that is more than what your webdesigner knows about!
However, whoever created your site should have added the most basic of SEO Plugins - ie All in One SEO. That would enable you to deal with some of the issues raised above (re SEO at least). AT the moment you have very basic SEO, and that is not done very effectively - which explains why you are not getting any traffic.
Also, one of the positive aspects of using the WP template for a website is the 'blog'. I can not see that you are using this feature. This is a pity because it gives WP sites an edge over more static sites.
You do have some good design features, for instance your navigation is simple and easy to use. So when you get some traffic and deal with some of the other issues raised, by LV for example, you should be able to secure yourself some bookings.
However, whoever created your site should have added the most basic of SEO Plugins - ie All in One SEO. That would enable you to deal with some of the issues raised above (re SEO at least). AT the moment you have very basic SEO, and that is not done very effectively - which explains why you are not getting any traffic.
Also, one of the positive aspects of using the WP template for a website is the 'blog'. I can not see that you are using this feature. This is a pity because it gives WP sites an edge over more static sites.
You do have some good design features, for instance your navigation is simple and easy to use. So when you get some traffic and deal with some of the other issues raised, by LV for example, you should be able to secure yourself some bookings.
Personal preference (and having used both), but I prefer Yoast's Wordpress SEO plugin. Horses for courses.
Sammyboy - whatever plugin you decide to use, don't forget that they don't magically improve your SEO on their own - they're just tools and have no intelligence. Your most important starting point will be to identify what keywords and keyphrases perform best as they will form much of the data input you'll need for the plugin.
By "perform best" I mean you need to do the research to find what search terms people use to identify properties like yours, then decide which ones offer the best compromise between popularity and competitiveness. As an example "holiday in france" has 250,000 UK searches a month so it's very popular, however, you'd be competing against thousands and thousands of other sites; "gite in pitou charentes" has so few searches it doesn't even register. Remember also that you shouldn't cram all your chosen keywords into every page on your site or into just the main page. Each page should have its own strategy. And do please remove that nofollow instruction on all your pages! For help with choosing your target keywords, do a Google search for "seo target keywords" and spend a bit of time reading the advice that's offered.
For organic searches, keywords/keyphrases in tags, headings and content are all important. Good quality backlinks will further boost your page rank, especially if you use those keyword/phrases as your link anchor text.
Sammyboy - whatever plugin you decide to use, don't forget that they don't magically improve your SEO on their own - they're just tools and have no intelligence. Your most important starting point will be to identify what keywords and keyphrases perform best as they will form much of the data input you'll need for the plugin.
By "perform best" I mean you need to do the research to find what search terms people use to identify properties like yours, then decide which ones offer the best compromise between popularity and competitiveness. As an example "holiday in france" has 250,000 UK searches a month so it's very popular, however, you'd be competing against thousands and thousands of other sites; "gite in pitou charentes" has so few searches it doesn't even register. Remember also that you shouldn't cram all your chosen keywords into every page on your site or into just the main page. Each page should have its own strategy. And do please remove that nofollow instruction on all your pages! For help with choosing your target keywords, do a Google search for "seo target keywords" and spend a bit of time reading the advice that's offered.
For organic searches, keywords/keyphrases in tags, headings and content are all important. Good quality backlinks will further boost your page rank, especially if you use those keyword/phrases as your link anchor text.
Yes of course gam, working out which keywords to use is an important step ... in reality it really is a matter of horses and carts. It is all very well having keywords, but if you are not using them effectively they are all but a waste of time. In any event, keywords and their manipulation are nowhere near as important as they once were. In the updates of the most recent Google algorithm update, Google have repeated quite often that what they are favouring is good quality, topical and recent content. I think all the SEO commentators agree, the days of a 400 words with three keywords repeated three or four time are dying if not already gone. This is certainly born out since the last update where I am increasingly surprised at some of the visitors that find me with a keyword search where that word only appears once on my site.
I am interested in your comments about the Yoast plugin. I hear it has many glitches, and it does not appear to get nearly as good reviews as the All in One SEO plugin does. I merely repeat what bloggers I know who have used both say. Its not popular amongst the blogging community I am in.
I have always used the All in One, and have done so for about 4 years now and it works well for me - I don't change what isn't broke. My post this morning (with a very topical and highly competitive set of keywords) was indexed and at the top of page two within an hour of posting. But if Yoast does something the AiO plugin doesn't do I would be interested in your observations.
I am interested in your comments about the Yoast plugin. I hear it has many glitches, and it does not appear to get nearly as good reviews as the All in One SEO plugin does. I merely repeat what bloggers I know who have used both say. Its not popular amongst the blogging community I am in.
I have always used the All in One, and have done so for about 4 years now and it works well for me - I don't change what isn't broke. My post this morning (with a very topical and highly competitive set of keywords) was indexed and at the top of page two within an hour of posting. But if Yoast does something the AiO plugin doesn't do I would be interested in your observations.
Thomas, who's recommending "400 words with three keywords repeated three or four time"? I've tried to point out that the best plugin in the world is useless without the input data. If it's a choice between a plugin with no idea about what to enter with it or knowing what to enter but having no plugin, I know which I'd choose. A plugin is just a tool to make things easy. You don't need one.
Yes, Google's algorithm is a lot more than a keyword search, but that's what's at it's core. What it adds is some clever heuristics to determine context and importance. Inputs to that are word (keyword) placement both on the page and within the code. You can play down keyword/keyphrases all you wish but they are still fundamental. But they do have to be used intelligently. Think about it - when people enter a search term they're choosing keywords to search for. Lo and behold, Google returns results with those keywords highlighted in the text, having also weeded out the dross. You don't think it's normal to get a search result that doesn't match the search term (keyword) do you?
I've not heard that Yoast has "many glitches" and have found none myself. In terms of popularity, WP SEO has 703,227 downloads and is voted 4.5 stars based on 948 ratings. That doesn't look too shabby to me. In contrast All in one has more downloads and a voted a little under 4 stars based on a similar number of ratings as WP SEO. Not shabby either and not much to choose between them on those counts. As I said, horses for courses. I prefer WP SEO - the "bloggers you know" don't.
It would be nice to think that All in One got your post to the top of page two within an hour of posting, but of course it didn't. It did make it easy for you to bring it to Google's attention, but it was your site authority (Google's algorithm result) and content that actually mattered.
An interesting discussion and one which goes to show that there as many opinions about SEO as there are practitioners and opinions (especially mine) should be considered just that. The post has gone way off topic though so apologies to Sammyboy. I'll try and keep my opinion to myself now
Yes, Google's algorithm is a lot more than a keyword search, but that's what's at it's core. What it adds is some clever heuristics to determine context and importance. Inputs to that are word (keyword) placement both on the page and within the code. You can play down keyword/keyphrases all you wish but they are still fundamental. But they do have to be used intelligently. Think about it - when people enter a search term they're choosing keywords to search for. Lo and behold, Google returns results with those keywords highlighted in the text, having also weeded out the dross. You don't think it's normal to get a search result that doesn't match the search term (keyword) do you?
I've not heard that Yoast has "many glitches" and have found none myself. In terms of popularity, WP SEO has 703,227 downloads and is voted 4.5 stars based on 948 ratings. That doesn't look too shabby to me. In contrast All in one has more downloads and a voted a little under 4 stars based on a similar number of ratings as WP SEO. Not shabby either and not much to choose between them on those counts. As I said, horses for courses. I prefer WP SEO - the "bloggers you know" don't.
It would be nice to think that All in One got your post to the top of page two within an hour of posting, but of course it didn't. It did make it easy for you to bring it to Google's attention, but it was your site authority (Google's algorithm result) and content that actually mattered.
An interesting discussion and one which goes to show that there as many opinions about SEO as there are practitioners and opinions (especially mine) should be considered just that. The post has gone way off topic though so apologies to Sammyboy. I'll try and keep my opinion to myself now
Gam, I think you have missed a couple of my points _ which were intended to help Sammyboy get his website ranking higher than it does.
I do not for a minute think its the plugin (which ever one I use) that got my post indexed and ranking highly. But a plugin does make it *much* easier/simpler to enter meta data, crucial for search engines. Particularly for people who only just understand what a keyword is, let alone all the rest. I chose the meta data as much as I chose the topic of the post. Just as I chose a custom URL - but without the plugin you can not, with WP anyway, customise your URL. So without the plugin you are at a disadvantage. And for a WP based site Sammyboy's website is at a great disadvantage not having which ever SEO plugin.
On choice of plugin, of course people will root for different ones based on preference and familiarity. One way glitches (I am sure there is a more technical term) arise is a result of incompatibility with other plugins. For example, I can not get a slideshow plugin to work on my site if I have a specific translation plugin activated. That is why some people get glitches with a certain plugin and others do not. While Yoast may work for you, with your suite of plugins, it is possible it does not work for 'many' other people using a different suite of plugins. So, if Sammyboy, or anyone, finds that one SEO plugin does not function properly, it may not necessarily be the plugin itself, but the way the plugin is functioning with other plugins, or different versions of the WordPress software itself.
Advice to novice bloggers around 2007/8, I am sure I have a number of examples bookmarked somewhere, was to produce posts of 400 words with three keywords repeated three or four time. Now, with more sophisticated search engine algorithms, that advice is simplistic - the webscape is much more complex. But my original comment that Sammyboy should consider making use of the blog element of his website stands, it is a great way of producing "current content" - something search engines now favour, amongst other factors, than content on static websites - all other factors being equal ... apparently.
I do not for a minute think its the plugin (which ever one I use) that got my post indexed and ranking highly. But a plugin does make it *much* easier/simpler to enter meta data, crucial for search engines. Particularly for people who only just understand what a keyword is, let alone all the rest. I chose the meta data as much as I chose the topic of the post. Just as I chose a custom URL - but without the plugin you can not, with WP anyway, customise your URL. So without the plugin you are at a disadvantage. And for a WP based site Sammyboy's website is at a great disadvantage not having which ever SEO plugin.
On choice of plugin, of course people will root for different ones based on preference and familiarity. One way glitches (I am sure there is a more technical term) arise is a result of incompatibility with other plugins. For example, I can not get a slideshow plugin to work on my site if I have a specific translation plugin activated. That is why some people get glitches with a certain plugin and others do not. While Yoast may work for you, with your suite of plugins, it is possible it does not work for 'many' other people using a different suite of plugins. So, if Sammyboy, or anyone, finds that one SEO plugin does not function properly, it may not necessarily be the plugin itself, but the way the plugin is functioning with other plugins, or different versions of the WordPress software itself.
Advice to novice bloggers around 2007/8, I am sure I have a number of examples bookmarked somewhere, was to produce posts of 400 words with three keywords repeated three or four time. Now, with more sophisticated search engine algorithms, that advice is simplistic - the webscape is much more complex. But my original comment that Sammyboy should consider making use of the blog element of his website stands, it is a great way of producing "current content" - something search engines now favour, amongst other factors, than content on static websites - all other factors being equal ... apparently.