Q and A: Why doesn't our client's site generate business?
Dear Kalena...
What's wrong with our client's site? It's at http://www.holidaymode.com.au/
Our client is slow with feedback, but every now and again they let me know not much business is being generated.
The site has been through a few changes to attempt to enhance it and to make it user friendly. The Itinerary planner doesn't get used much – too complicated? The site seems to be indexed OK.
It's a highly competitive market and I'm about to suggest to them that the site's ready for another complete update. They're not willing to use PPC.
Your expert assessment will be much appreciated.
Ros
Kalena's Answer:
Hi Ros
Nice to hear from you again. I've had a look at your client's site and it seems to be well-indexed by Google as you said. I see that 479 pages have been indexed and the last cache was updated on June 22. A couple of suggestions:
1) The site currently uses "|" symbols in the title tags. I'm not sure if all search engines are able to index these. Some symbols such as "&" and "%" and "#" can act as stop signs for search robots and can prevent them from indexing all of the HTML code. I'd remove them and use hyphens instead
2) The META Description tag on the home page isn't formatted in sentences. It's simply a bunch of keywords stuffed together and it looks like a META Keywords tag instead. Because some search engines display the content of the META Description tag on their search results pages, you want to format the tag so that it is in readable, logical sentences that are enticing enough to make viewers click on the site listing. Your current description may be putting potential visitors off.
How new is the site? I notice it hasn't yet built up much link popularity. If the site has only recently been launched, you might find it is still suffering from Google's aging delay for competitive keyword rankings as discussed in detail here. While you and your client wait it out, ensure the site is submitted to niche directories and start building on those backward links.
If the traffic is building but the conversions aren't, you might encourage your client to invest in a professional usability review to see what's causing visitors to drop out somewhere between click and conversion. I highly recommend Usability Effect for providing this service. If you mention SEC in the comment box of the order form, you'll get 10% off your invoice.
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What's wrong with our client's site? It's at http://www.holidaymode.com.au/
Our client is slow with feedback, but every now and again they let me know not much business is being generated.
The site has been through a few changes to attempt to enhance it and to make it user friendly. The Itinerary planner doesn't get used much – too complicated? The site seems to be indexed OK.
It's a highly competitive market and I'm about to suggest to them that the site's ready for another complete update. They're not willing to use PPC.
Your expert assessment will be much appreciated.
Ros
Kalena's Answer:
Hi Ros
Nice to hear from you again. I've had a look at your client's site and it seems to be well-indexed by Google as you said. I see that 479 pages have been indexed and the last cache was updated on June 22. A couple of suggestions:
1) The site currently uses "|" symbols in the title tags. I'm not sure if all search engines are able to index these. Some symbols such as "&" and "%" and "#" can act as stop signs for search robots and can prevent them from indexing all of the HTML code. I'd remove them and use hyphens instead
2) The META Description tag on the home page isn't formatted in sentences. It's simply a bunch of keywords stuffed together and it looks like a META Keywords tag instead. Because some search engines display the content of the META Description tag on their search results pages, you want to format the tag so that it is in readable, logical sentences that are enticing enough to make viewers click on the site listing. Your current description may be putting potential visitors off.
How new is the site? I notice it hasn't yet built up much link popularity. If the site has only recently been launched, you might find it is still suffering from Google's aging delay for competitive keyword rankings as discussed in detail here. While you and your client wait it out, ensure the site is submitted to niche directories and start building on those backward links.
If the traffic is building but the conversions aren't, you might encourage your client to invest in a professional usability review to see what's causing visitors to drop out somewhere between click and conversion. I highly recommend Usability Effect for providing this service. If you mention SEC in the comment box of the order form, you'll get 10% off your invoice.
---------------------------
[If you found this post helpful, you might benefit from downloading our free Search Engine Optimization lesson]
Labels: search engine optimization (seo)
1 Comments:
The site looks very busy. Nothing really stands out. What keyphrases are people coming in on? These pages do not seem to be optimized very well. Also if the sitemap has over 100 links you would want to split it up.
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