Opinions and suggestions appreciated

coopd · #1 (**permalink**) 03-05-2008, 03:50 PM

Hello,

I would appreciate any input you can offer regarding my website and my merchandise.

My website is primarily used to promote my Cafepress shop.

One thing I don't understand is my website's index page is a PR 3 but I am getting very little google searches.

Thank you for your time,

Diana
Diana's Photography - photo cards and gift items
Diana's Photography - Photo Cards and Gift Items : CafePress.com

davebarnes · #2 (**permalink**) 03-05-2008, 06:02 PM

Diana,

1. I went to your homepage and it is very stark. The photos are attractive, but I just don't feel welcome. Your site is better than most photographers.

2. I went to Search Engine Spider Simulator and entered your URL and got back:

Quote:

Diana's Photography - photo cards and gift items Diana's Photography nature and wildlife photography gallery | cards & gifts | articles | links | contact me Photo Gallery enter... my land in beautiful Cross Creek Florida My Gift Shop enter... greeting cards and gift items of flowers, butterflies and candles No photographs on this website can be reproduced in any manner without my permission. Thank you. � 2007 - 2008 Diana C Cooper

As you can see, the search engine indexing machine does not have much to chew on. You need more relevant text.

3. I would remove the nasty message as it makes no difference. Moral people won't and amoral people will steal your work.

4. Contact Me needs physical, postal, phone data.

5. I think you should only link to relevant sites. MP3Rulz.com does not fit in this category.

,dave

P.S. I am very biased about photographers' websites as I am the webmaster for: Commercial Photographer Chris Kokias Denver Colorado

Clicken · #3 (**permalink**) 03-14-2008, 05:16 AM

Hi Diana,

I agree with Dave that the pages need to be done so that everything seems bound to the page rather than just hanging in space. Borders and backgrounds can achieve that rather nicely if not over done and here are some suggestions to help with the google results.

For dianasphotagraphy.com:
Site Report Card this site shows that your site has a good overall rating and that you are placing on the first page of Yahoo and MSN but “not in the top 100” at Google for the keywords “photo cards, gift items”. This is probably why you do not see many clicks from there.

The site’s link popularity for Google is 3500+ which is a lot however the anchor text of those links may be a key factor for holding the site back in the results as well as some other points to consider.

If you do not have a Google account then you should set one up, it’s free, and use the Webmaster Tools which help you to get better results. It will show which pages are indexed as well as other things to get the best rankings possible.

They will let you tell them which pages to index and you might consider putting this robots code in the <head> of your pages as well.

Code:

<meta name="robots" content="index,follow">

I noticed that there wasn’t an ALT tag being used on your photos this will help a little also…

alt="picture description using key word" (use the quotation marks) put it after the image source with the width and height for each picture.

It would help to put more content on the page too. Perhaps an opening paragraph to express the purpose of the site and another inviting paragraph for the gift shop. Use the heading tags for these paragraphs to form an outline.

There are <h1> through <h6> tags available but you don’t have to use them all. There are four links and there could be a short paragraph explaining what is found through those links.

As for the gift shop and non-SEO related, I noticed that there wasn’t a Home link in the navigation. I had to use the browser back button to back tract to it. <sigh.> I just found it in the upper right corner, but it wouldn’t hurt to put it in the main navigation too. Speaking of which, it was eye straining to read the green on the grey, probably because the text was small.

I enjoyed the photos and think you need more of them!

coopd · #4 (**permalink**) 03-19-2008, 03:13 PM

Thank you Dave and Clicken. I appreciate you taking your time to review my website and for offering helping advice. I made a few changes and am still working on others. Have a great day!

Diana
Diana's Photography - Nature and Wildlife Photography
Diana's Photography - Photo Cards and Gift Items : CafePress.com

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
I'm Dropping In Google... Any Thoughts/opinions Appreciated!	Lampard	Google Discussion Forum	12	03-22-2007 09:01 AM
Please give opinions and suggestions	Jomo	Submit Your Site For Review	8	11-10-2005 05:21 AM
www.radiosale.biz - all suggestions would be appreciated	radiosale	Submit Your Site For Review	6	07-19-2004 01:29 PM
Any Help or Suggestions Appreciated	ColinTheGraphicDesigner	Internet Industry	4	03-18-2004 08:15 PM
Strong Opinions appreciated! See Poll...	telechurch	Services for Sale/Hire	0	07-20-2003 03:52 PM