General Advice - Attracting Traffic

[PlazaCommerce]

I have a website that allows golfers to search for local professionals in order to book golf lessons.

I've tried to implement decent SEO as much as possible, such as clean URL's, a simple design and easy to navigate.

I'd be interested in hearing from other people about how to attract more traffic. The traffic I'm interested in is golfers who want lessons.

I've registered a feeder website, and that ranks well (2nd in Google) for Golf Lessons Sheffield however it doesn't bring much traffic.

PPC seemed very expensive (I have £60 in an Adwords account) at £2 per click.

The site ranks well for certain professional names who are included in the database, but what I really want is 1st page Google for Golf Lessons and Golf Lessons London.

I don't want to post a link to the site, as I don't want this thread to appear in Google for search terms, however if you search Golf Lesson Search in Google it is the first result.

 

[paulus]

I'd be interested in hearing from other people about how to attract more traffic. The traffic I'm interested in is golfers who want lessons.

Write about things that people are interested in and then get links to those pages.

What are golfers who want lessons interested in (among other things)? They want to learn how to do X, Y and Z. One option you have is to create a series of golfing tips. They are likely to be more interesting (for the reader) and link worthy (to other webmasters) than a dry list of golf tutors and contact details.

 

[PlazaCommerce]

Write about things that people are interested in and then get links to those pages.

What are golfers who want lessons interested in (among other things)? They want to learn how to do X, Y and Z. One option you have is to create a series of golfing tips. They are likely to be more interesting (for the reader) link worthy (to other webmasters) than a dry list of golf tutors and contact details.

Thanks, I was thinking of creating a blog feature on the site where existing professionals can write articles. Users may then comment on this.

I was thinking it may be a waste of time me doing this, but its interesting that you immediately came up with that as well.

 

[nitro23456]

I shouldn't think it would be too hard to get on page one for golf lessons london. You are right to be thinking about organic traffic in preference to ppc in my opinion.

I would invest in getting on page one rather than ppc or use ppc to target a wider audience. You could try posting on golf forums with a sig link just to attract a few more people as wellm

 

[Webtistic]

Can you give us a little more information on what steps you have taken to improve your SEO, and the amount of effort you have spent on link-building activity?

As previously mentioned, that is not a competitive search term and it should not take too much effort to have your site ranking well for it...

 

[PlazaCommerce]

Can you give us a little more information on what steps you have taken to improve your SEO, and the amount of effort you have spent on link-building activity?

As previously mentioned, that is not a competitive search term and it should not take too much effort to have your site ranking well for it...

OK, as far as SEO goes:

I've implemented URL re-writing so that displaying all pros in London now shows url.com/GolfLessons/London

Each pro profile contains their name in the URL (for example url.com/pgaprofile/garywatkinson)

Each custom page that the pro creates is also using URL re-writing to display the title of the page in the URL

There is a page that contains a list of ALL pros (called PGAProDirectory)

Each region can be accessed by clicking on the "Region List" page. This displays a list of all regions and associated SEO friendly URLs.

The home page and other public pages all high high density for "Golf Lessons"

I've registered Golf Lessons Sheffield as a feeder site. This worked well for Sheffield so I'm hoping to do the same for London

Off page, I've done the following:

Registered for a couple of golf forums, and added signature with a link
Tried (without success) on many occasions to get listed in DMOZ
Got some of the pros on the site to link to the site from their clubs website
My brother (PGA professional) has a shirt which he wears to events, and also sponsored a leader board at a recent event
Brothers golf bag also has a logo on it
I'm about to get a car sticker made which will go in the back window
Added the site to about 20 golf directories and general free directories.
Created a Facebook group (not sure how to get members for this!)
Created a Twitter account. As well as general announcements, the site automatically tweets when a pro registers or adds a lesson (www.twitter.com/lessonsearch)

Most traffic comes from people typing in individual professional names, but the traffic is minimal. Biggest referrer is the Golf Lessons Sheffield website but still minimal (50 so far this month).

 

[harryboon]

Do you have an SEO budget as 'golf lessons london' wouldn't be hard to rank for at all

Google KW tool states around 880 exact searches last month for 'Golf Lessons London' BTW

 

[PlazaCommerce]

Do you have an SEO budget as 'golf lessons london' wouldn't be hard to rank for at all

Google KW tool states around 880 exact searches last month for 'Golf Lessons London' BTW

That figure is pretty much what I thought.

I had an issue with the term "Golf Lessons Sheffield", so I created a feeder website which has now shot to number 2.

Would I be better creating another, similar feeder website for Golf Lessons London or try to optimise the current site better?

 

[harryboon]

what you want to do is to build links, relevant one way contextual links from relevant sites, ie online golf shops, golf course websites etc etc, it won't be hard its just a matter of ringing up people or emailing them, basically anything to do with golf/sports will be fine.

Seriously it won't take you long to do it

 

[eventdomain]

Not bad, certainly niche.....

I would advise NOT charging until you get about 2000 pga pros listed - it will then be a good, useful resource. Are there enough Golf pros to do this?

If you can get every single Golf Instructor listed in the UK, this could have some nice value.

Suggest you get it filled and then contact the local press.

 

[PlazaCommerce]

Not bad, certainly niche.....

I would advise NOT charging until you get about 2000 pga pros listed - it will then be a good, useful resource. Are there enough Golf pros to do this?

If you can get every single Golf Instructor listed in the UK, this could have some nice value.

Suggest you get it filled and then contact the local press.

I believe that the service will be useful to pros as soon as we get enough people looking for lessons. Behind the scenes, there is a full booking management and marketing tools portal for each pro registered.

Are there any legal issues with simply adding professionals to the site, without actually contacting them? The information would be found just from Google, so in theory the information is already publicly available. If I can spend a couple of months adding several hundred pros then the site would attract more visitors.

Once visitors come, and start booking lessons the pros may then choose whether to pay for the service or be removed from the database.

 

[eMagCreator]

Don't you think outdoor advertising would be a better place for you to find clients or maybe advertising in some golf magazines or something? At £2 per click you are not going to get much unless you convert at a very high rate.

 

[PlazaCommerce]

Don't you think outdoor advertising would be a better place for you to find clients or maybe advertising in some golf magazines or something? At £2 per click you are not going to get much unless you convert at a very high rate.

I've pretty much dismissed PPC for this, as the figures just don't add up.

The primary issue I have at the minute is getting enough pros on there to justify spending money off-line.

I think the plan is to spend the rest of the year and winter(typically a slow time for golf) adding as many professionals on the site as possible and then crank up the offline marketing next year.

First priority is to get on the first page of Google for "Golf Lessons".

 

[eMagCreator]

First priority is to get on the first page of Google for "Golf Lessons".

Get yourself signed up for a full account on here then so you can have your URL in the signature as UKBF is very well ranked on Google. You should also get posting some links on Gumtree and on Digg.com etc to build your site links etc.

Golf Lessons only gets 349,000 results when using Google.co.uk UK results only so it shouldn't be too hard getting up there. When you was using Google did you make sure your adwords were only targetted for UK and not World? £2 seems really expensive when there are so little UK only results?????

 

[PlazaCommerce]

Get yourself signed up for a full account on here then so you can have your URL in the signature as UKBF is very well ranked on Google. You should also get posting some links on Gumtree and on Digg.com etc to build your site links etc.

Golf Lessons only gets 349,000 results when using Google.co.uk UK results only so it shouldn't be too hard getting up there. When you was using Google did you make sure your adwords were only targetted for UK and not World? £2 seems really expensive when there are so little UK only results?????

I must be doing something wrong on the site as its nowhere to be seen for Golf Lessons. Can you see anything obviously wrong (assuming you know the URL, if not, I'll PM you).

 

[eMagCreator]

I must be doing something wrong on the site as its nowhere to be seen for Golf Lessons. Can you see anything obviously wrong (assuming you know the URL, if not, I'll PM you).

You'll have to PM the URL

 

[eMagCreator]

Well I am no SEO expert but it seems to be well done in regards to your Meta titles etc but the site is light on content which Google of course loves plenty of so maybe you should create some more pages such as latest news or hints and tips etc which are content rich.

I just typed in "golf lessons in birmingham" into .co.uk UK results only and you appeared on page 1 so you are there when somewhere.

Try running a free site report here for some free feedback and tips: http://www.interleado.com/free-account-sign-up.php

 

[PlazaCommerce]

Unfortunately, that site isn't me! Although typing Golf Lessons Sheffield show my feeder site at number 2. Maybe as well as creating additional content I should also create more of these feeder sites (for Birmingham, London, Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle).

 

[eMagCreator]

Unfortunately, that site isn't me! Although typing Golf Lessons Sheffield show my feeder site at number 2. Maybe as well as creating additional content I should also create more of these feeder sites (for Birmingham, London, Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle).

Oh it was you, it linked me to your page: http://www.golflessonsearch.com/CityGolfLessons.aspx. One other thing that will help is having a .co.uk domain and host. I can see your .co.uk domain is available to get it purchased now and start using that one. Google will rank your site better in the UK search if you have a domain for that country.

 

[fisicx]

If that's you site then the chances of ranking well are almost zero. There is almost no indexable content and almost every page has the same title.

If you have "Search for golf lessons in Leicester" as you title you are never going to get found for "book golf lesson" and variants therof.

In any case, won't someone looking for lessons just ring up the local golf course and ask?

 

[Dave Thomas]

not sure whats happening with the PPC if you are paying £2 .......even for generic "golf lessons" it is about £0.65 and with even longertail appendages like "golf lessons london" "sheffield" etc this is more like £0.35?????

 

[Dave Thomas]

didnt read well i meant you should only be paying £0.65 etc had client in same field

 

[PlazaCommerce]

I've now created a blog feature which will start to have content over the coming weeks. Does anyone have any advice on how to make the site more appealing on the eye? I'm not a designer, so nothing too complicated really but just tips that have maybe worked for you in the past.

 

[eventdomain]

There is almost no indexable content

I assume the Golfer profiles are going to end up as the indexable content?

eg: get it filled to the max with Golf pros, then sell it off to someone big.... but I doubt this site will be a massive hit with Golf enthusiasts unless you turn it into a huge Golf portal where its the No1 place everyone goes to for Golf information.

but this will take you years, and do you possess enough industry knowledge. Trouble is, this is easily copied, I could do it as I spent 2 years as a manager for Olympus Sport running the Golf dept, flogging lithium serlyn golf balls and Sam Snead novice clubs etc etc.

Suggest you will need to fill this fast, and take it beyond the basic site it currently is. This is what you're up against:

http://www.golftoday.co.uk/ - very nice!

question is can you do this better? I really feel content is the way to go with this, as enthusiasts will love that, news on all the tournaments in the world, rankings, profiles on the top pro players, maybe some video? - links to other golf resources etc etc etc

Dunno what Golftoday is worth, but its probably quite a bit.... maybe a blog is good for content openers, but you'll need more than that.

 

[PlazaCommerce]

Golf Today is basically a portal site as you suggest. This site focuses on the average PGA pro who is working in your golf club rather than the likes of Lee Westwood and Tiger Woods.

Each professional has access to a complete golf lesson booking management and marketing application for a fee each month.

The industry knowledge is there, my brother is a PGA professional trying to make ends meat and is the one who suggested it.

I'm not attempting to compete with the sites you suggest, in fact I'll be using them to advertise the site.

 

[eventdomain]

I'm not attempting to compete with the sites you suggest

but you'll need to display content to get the interest and the traffic who will book the lessons online, isn't that the whole point of this. This site is basically a golf lesson booking service, but to do that justice, you'll need to acquire lots of local traffic, as this is the product for the PGA pros.

The search engines like and index content, so that's a smart strategy to adopt, that's if you expect to take advantage of free traffic? and Golf magazine/site advertising is expensive.

This is what I think needs to be done:

1. Keep the site free and aquire every PGA Club Pro in the UK

2. Build it up with traffic, then you can charge fees to the PGA Pros

The bigger this site is, the easier it will be to sell and you can charge more in fees bcos you own the market for this activity.

 

[PlazaCommerce]

Those 2 points are pretty much what I intend to do now. I'm not expecting to make a penny out of the site until at least spring next year.

I noticed that for UK search on Google, golf lesson is now a term than shows us on the first page so I'm happy with that. Hopefully the blog will increase traffic once I get some articles done.

 

[Probafix]

Great way of getting traffic is by creating a lead capture page that offer something free like information or e-books.

 

[HonestSEO]

Try this.

Keyword analysis: Identify the search terms in your industry that are achievable and are getting some traffic.

Web Page Layout: Make sure once you have selected the right keywords you place them in the correct areas in the site so that the spiders can easily identify what product or service you are offering.

Linkin: Use the search terms again to internally link the pages together ensuring that the keywords your linking from go to the relevant pages. Also incrementally build external links using the search terms again to link back to the relevant pages in your site. Quality is better than quantity so research links properly, this is your business so spend time now and it will pay dividends.

Any probs reply to me and ill help where i can.