Getting our website noticed?

[AngelJill]

Hi there

We went live last month with the online shopping function of our website but looking at the stats we are having trouble getting our site noticed. We have begun some reciprocal linking & listing on free web directories already. We have also been approached to list on some paid childrens directories but not sure if these will prove to be worth the money?

Any advice welcome.

www.angelgiftcompany.co.uk

[Enigma121]

Hi,

Looks like your site would benefit from some additional SEO work to improve it's ranking. The cost for this varies depending on the search tags you are looking to capture - based on the level of competition that your site has. If you'd like a quote, PM me with a summary of the keyphrases you'd like to rank well with.

You'd also do well to add content that's on topic to your target audience. It's rarely enough these days to provide a plain brochure / catalogue site. You need to offer something of a "information service" or novelty that will pull in the punters.

Reciprocal linking has been devalued recently, as Google in particular no longer places much value on it. I wouldn't spend masses of time with reciprocal linking campaigns, but there are some simple tricks we can offer if you have dynamic page support (ASP / JSP / PHP) that will help out.

Paid directories can be lucrative, but it's a matter of picking the best investments you can. Either based on sheer volume of traffic or targetting your target niche. With a little keyword research you can determine where this niche is for your particular product line (again taking you back to good SEO practice).

Look forward to hearing from you.

[Astaroth]

Have to say that I like the look of your site but whilst it is off topic for this thread the layout isnt working with my browser (Firefox v1.5.0.1) - may want to look at it or get your designer to review.

[AngelJill]

Hi yes thanks for that. We are aware of the Firefox issue - it has been fixed on our test site & we are just waiting to release the fixes to the live site

Thanks for the feedback

[Tin]

Hi

Your first problem is that as far as the search engine robots are concerned you appear to have 2 home pages, this one (which any external links would likely link to)
http://www.angelgiftcompany.co.uk/ and this one which is linked to using the link text 'Home' from your internal pages
http://www.angelgiftcompany.co.uk/index.aspx.
Personally, I'd dump the former and use the latter as the home page.

If you'd like solid experienced friendly advice in 'laymans terms' send me a PM and I'll be happy to get you going up the search engine ladder. :)

[dan_moore]

Hi

Currently it is as if you have two homepages - which will be penalising your ranking at present for duplicate content (at least until the latest google update comes along which promises to take steps to deal with these issues). Make all your references consistent, either with or without the index.aspx but pick one!

People are also coming to your site via http:// as well as http://www. which is a potential problem; I would suggest resolving this through adding the following rewrite rule to your .htaccess:

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^angelgiftcompany.co.uk
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.angelgiftcompany.co.uk/$1 [r=301,L]

Cheers

Dan

[c2webdesign]

There are a few options you can try to bring about some immediate traffic:

1. Add a competition and post in to as many competition portals as you can find. Not always very targeted but is a good way to bring in visitors, good as a marketing research tool (entry to the competition) and you can add to future mailing lists

2. Post helpful messages on related forums (including website link) - good way to bring in visitors

3. Add your link to free related directories (although visitors from these will usually be sparce at best)

4. Try Google Adwords

If you're thinking about long term SEO I would recommend a few changes:

- Exchange links with related websites (gain one way links if at all possible)

- Make sure the Title tag of each of your pages is different. At the moment they are all the same

- Make sure they keywords you are using are being searched on

...and finally a personal change I would recommend is a big bright button on the home page directing the visitor in to the rest of your site - ideally underneath the image of the box. It will help. :)

If you looking for any other ideas contact me through our website and I'll see what other pointers I can russle up!

Hope this helps though.

[SillyJokes]

I know you must be desparate for traffic but this makes you very vulnerable to every tom dick and harry who charges 'just £10' for inclusion in some dodgy directory site where your site link will never be viewed again.

Please consider every paid for inclusion web directory with a hefty pinch of salt - very few are worth it.

Get yourself a feed into Froogle, work on your search engine optimisation, maybe do a little Pay Per Click advertising like those on the right hand side of the Google results but be prepared to field enquiries from companies offering SEO who can spot a new start up at 50 paces.

Also watch those spiralling PPC costs - it is effective but you need to keep on top of whether it is paying or not.

Write some articles, network but work hardest on search engine optimisation

(Competitions will bring traffic but are a bit of pain to set up, run and organise for a load of very untargetted hobbyist traffic.)

[mattk]

There are literally hundreds of online directories that will list your company for free and who will provide a search engine friendly link back to your Web site, no reciprocal link required. Obviously, some directory listings are worth more than others, but your sites doesn't even appear to be on dmoz, which is THE directory listing to have even if you have no others!

Have a look here (http://www.matthewkerry.com/directories.html) for a spreadsheet with over 300 directories that fit the bill!

[SillyJokes]

Many of these directories will decline a simple link. If you have an affiliate scheme and therefore a way for them to get paid they are sometimes more accomodating.

[mattk]

I disagree I'm afriad. I've listed sites on almost all of those directories and all they need is a title, description and url in order to get you listed.

[Tin]

As Matt has already said, plenty of genuine directories will list sites via a basic submit if you provide them with just an email and url. You'll also find by digging around a bit that there's quite a lot of directories which will allow you to do custom submits, you don't need to have affiliate sites.

[AngelJill]

Hi

Your first problem is that as far as the search engine robots are concerned you appear to have 2 home pages, this one (which any external links would likely link to)
http://www.angelgiftcompany.co.uk/ and this one which is linked to using the link text 'Home' from your internal pages
http://www.angelgiftcompany.co.uk/index.aspx.
Personally, I'd dump the former and use the latter as the home page.

If you'd like solid experienced friendly advice in 'laymans terms' send me a PM and I'll be happy to get you going up the search engine ladder. :)

Tin
Thanks for the advice you gave us. Things are improving - haven't dumped the home page yet but our Google page rank on most of our pages now is 3 or 4. We still have lots more work to do but the sales are starting to trickle through so fingers crossed & thanks again.

[Tin]

Glad to have helped. When you think you're ready for some more specific advice just drop me a PM or give me a ring again. :)

[toystoyou]

Hi Angeljill
I'm also having the same problem.
I've done some keyword SEO on my site concentrating on the niche market and am getting sales and found from that, but not enough. I've had to pick the niche market cos there are so many sites selling kid's toys, unforutnately!
I've also added content and am adding more as often as I can. And I've set up reciprical links and continue to do so.
I've also listed in free shopping directories.
So, yes I'm getting found but not as much or as often as I need to be.
How do I go forward from my 'niche market' to reach customers who type in words like "educational toys"? I'm thinking about doing some Google AdWords but my budget is limited.
Perhaps you might be interested in a reciprical link? Help both of us in the tiniest way?
Hope you're having a good day.

[toystoyou]

Hi Angeljill
I'm also having the same problem.
I've done some keyword SEO on my site concentrating on the niche market and am getting sales and found from that, but not enough. I've had to pick the niche market cos there are so many sites selling kid's toys, unforutnately!
I've also added content and am adding more as often as I can. And I've set up reciprical links and continue to do so.
I've also listed in free shopping directories.
So, yes I'm getting found but not as much or as often as I need to be.
How do I go forward from my 'niche market' to reach customers who type in words like "educational toys"? I'm thinking about doing some Google AdWords but my budget is limited.
Perhaps you might be interested in a reciprical link? Help both of us in the tiniest way?
Hope you're having a good day.