www.geschenkkorb-by-design.com

Basketshop · #1 (**permalink**) 05-04-2004, 06:30 PM

Hi all, please take a look at my site. Give me your honest opinion, rip it up if need be. My hits aren't to bad but stats tell me people aren't staying very long. It could be the page setup or product I'm not sure. The site has been up for about 4 months now. Thanks for your time and efforts!

James
Geschenkkorb by Design

Conficio · #2 (**permalink**) 05-05-2004, 12:13 AM

Hi James,
I'd guess it might be the dual language. Only a few people do understand both languages (like me and may be you). So half of all written text is useless, even for the dual language visitor it is duplication. It also does not fly with search engines, as you can't even clearly specify the language of the page. Get content negotiation going in your web server and show the people the page in the language their browser requests. Alternatively, build two separate domaines *.de and *.com

It also might be the variety of your offerings. You have about two dozen categories and only one choice in most of them. It might be better to have gift baskets for formular one fans only, but offer one for each team's fan.

The general design is a little loose. Lot's of white background and too small pictures. Get bold and use some better design principles. A source could be The non-designer's design book or a pro designer like Very Creative Haus

Good luck

K<o>

Basketshop · #3 (**permalink**) 05-05-2004, 04:14 AM

Thank you for your input. I agree with you on several of your points. As far as background and bold I felt that staying simple would be best. Although, I will be making a few changes shortly.

As for .de and .com, the .de it should be up within the week. But do the two languages really confuse the search engines? The meta tag language is assigned to German.

Thanks,
James

Conficio · #4 (**permalink**) 05-11-2004, 06:37 PM

Hi there,
yes I believe the dual language does hurt your search engine results. It simply lowers your ratio <keywords>/<# words in general>. It also pushes inevitably all words down the page. Rumor has it, text at the top of a page is considered more relevant, than bottom content.

However that may be, it even more hurts your human readers. It is simply 50% content irrelevant or redundant, depending on the viewers ability to read both languages. Neither is positive!

Good luck

K<o>