Help with links - SEO tips

[Salima]

I want to rewrite the small copy next to the first three left hand links of my website (Cars, Property, Jobs) on the home page: www.kingstonontheweb.com because I feel that they read.....well crap actually is the word (I didn't write them originally!)

Problem is the website has had a lot of SEO work done by the head company who wrote the text for these links and I dont want to interfere with and possibly hinder my rankings for these sections by not including whatever keywords you're supposed to write for these things so that they are Google friendly.

On the other hand I dont want to leave it as it is because as I mentioned, even though it's just a few lines - I think they could be written a lot better

Any tips/suggestions on how I should write and what I should include in them would be most gratefully welcomed.

[PlainText]

I agree the copy is not doing you justice. It's full of random capitalisation (why? people rarely use caps when googling) and what's with the American spelling of center? This is the UK! Center will never get picked up by search engines unless American expats are hunting.

I've done a quick redraft for you, while retaining the keywords:

Cars for Sale
If you need a Kingston car hire company, or are searching for a car dealer for a used car for sale, we have listings for all Kingston car sales.

Jobs online
Looking for jobs in Kingston? Explore our online job centre in Kingston - you can find all types of Kingston jobs and a job vacancy in Kingston to suit your needs.

Property
Search here for all Kingston estate agents and Kingston houses for sale in and around the area. We have Kingston properties to suit all needs.

[PlainText]

I've just had a quick look at the other links on the right-hand side - there is a spelling mistake in "affordable" in the hotels section. And again, you need to get rid of the random capitals in the copy for all the sections up to and including Events. In Restaurants, takeaway should be one word, not two.

[Salima]

PlainText - what can I say .... apart from the fact that you are very aptly named. THANK YOU for such a quick and detailed response.

You are right about the general copy - thanks for bringing it to my attention, I also wasnt comfortable with the fact that my links are supposed to have "all cars" and "all properties" or "all jobs" in Kingston on my website. After running the site for only four months - beleive me, it's along way off from "all" anything!

[PlainText]

Yes but "all" covers you on google searches. If someone types in "all jobs kingston" that should bring you high up the page. And as you add links and listings, that "all" will become more and more true.

I write a lot of web copy, using key words, for small businesses. I do editing too, including rewrites, and proofreading. If you want any more work done, give me a shout. My rates are very reasonable.

[PlainText]

And another tip: web designers are great at techy stuff, but rarely good at English. They build a site and hand it over to the client and it's almost never proofread, so it will be full of the horrors mentioned above. It's always worth paying someone like me to check the copy and make improvements. Sloppy copy makes a business look sloppy too. People think if you can't be bothered to check the details of your copy, are you going to have the same attitude to customers?

This is a general comment and not aimed at you, Salima! But it's one that's very worthwhile thinking about.