Site Review Plse - don't hold back !!! [Archive]

Kate (newbie)

14-Nov-2008, 09:20 PM

Hello !

I'm an Actinic Virgin at the moment but I have big plans to be a full blown Actinic Slut - if you can help me out !!!

This is my first site. I (think) read everything and done everything I can.

I really interested in SEO so any advice is greatful
Any improvements as well - I see lots of threads for added features but scared this will affect my SEO ranking

Tell me straight - I'm used to critisim (long story) !

Thanks so much in advance.

PS what does "IMHO" mean?

Golf Tee Warehouse

14-Nov-2008, 09:25 PM

IMHO = In My Honest Opinion or In My Humble Opinion

Golf Tee Warehouse

14-Nov-2008, 09:35 PM

Only had a very quick look and noted the following:

1. The price listed doesn't make it clear that VAT is excluded until you go to the cart.

2. The progress bar in the checkout doesn't look good

3. It may be worth making it clearer to customers that the quantity field should be entered with the number of minutes of film, as you may find many will not read further down and keep the quantity as 1 maybe you could add the word minutes after the quantity box.

Generally I quite looked the overall look, although I am not a designer.

RuralWeb

14-Nov-2008, 09:52 PM

All your previous posts implied that you were a site owner not a designer building a site for a client. This does wind some people up including me - if you are a designer then come clean about it.

Golf Tee Warehouse

14-Nov-2008, 09:56 PM

Hi Mal,

Is this aimed at me or Kate?

P.S. I am a store owner and NOT a designer

RuralWeb

14-Nov-2008, 10:57 PM

Both barrels ate Kate. If people are honest store owners then they will get all the help they deserve from me but if they are designers that hide behind thier clients then from past experience I don't want to help tbh. now if I've got it wrong and Kate is a site owner then I take it back but let's see what she says - after all she said don't hold back.

Darren B

14-Nov-2008, 11:31 PM

My biggest point is who are you, weres the address & phone number?

the T & C's are missing until checkout, same theme used here http://www.kitesrus.co.uk/ with the t & c's added to the bar and they include the address.

malbro

14-Nov-2008, 11:44 PM

Both barrels ate Kate. Cannibalism on a Friday evening :D

malbro

14-Nov-2008, 11:51 PM

Tricky

15-Nov-2008, 09:03 AM

Kate

Overall I like the clean look of the site, and a great service to offer, but I looked at one of the sections and noticed this :

Some better transfer studios try to reduce this ''flicker'', using variable-speed equipment and attempt to ''match up'' the speed.

Are you saying there are other companies othering a better service, and customers should go there...

The resultant film quality comes out awful, but you do not know because you can not remember what it was like the last time you saw it 20 years ago!

Yep, don't need to comment on that !

Golf Tee Warehouse

15-Nov-2008, 09:16 AM

I think the text metioned in the previous post has been copied from other sites as a quick search of google will show.

Tricky

15-Nov-2008, 09:37 AM

Well spotted Darren, your sharp this time in the morning...

Mike Hughes

15-Nov-2008, 09:41 AM

All your previous posts implied that you were a site owner not a designer building a site for a client. This does wind some people up including me - if you are a designer then come clean about it.

This seems a bit harsh Mal, Kate's first post:

Just Starting Out

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello Everyone,
I've must have read every post on here in last 2 months. You old pro's probably forgot how hard it is starting up and thus prob don't appreciate how helpful this forum really is to Actinic Virgins like me. Superb forum!

I'm setting up several websites to bring my old dad into 2008 (the exciting world of transferring cine and video's onto DVD ! LOL) I've tested and I'm buying Business Plus.

It doesn't look to me as if Kate's been pretending to be anything other than she is. Is there a reason for the cynicism? (speaking as one cynic to another).

Mike

george

15-Nov-2008, 09:43 AM

I'm an Actinic Virgin at the moment but I have big plans to be a full blown Actinic Slut

Great idea for a (very low cut) t-shirt. :D

grantglendinnin

15-Nov-2008, 09:56 AM

Darren - agreed.

As has been mentioned before the-long-ass-domain-name-filled-with-hyphens-wont-help...

Try running your site through Copyscape (http://www.copyscape.com/) and you'll soon see your biggest problem.

Presumably you are aiming at the Cine-to-XXX market. Then why have all your three main pages about these topics got the exact same content repeated? That certainly won't do you any favours.

One thing I have noticed is your product options, which allow your customer to select how long you hold on to the original film - the meanings aren't clear cut, and in reality you don't give the customer the option to have his/her films returned to him/her in the condition they were sent.

Regarding the checkout, I agree with all previous comments, it's far too dark. And your prices are thrown in at the last minute. I thought 'sure, £1.50 per minute isn't too bad'...then you throw in labour costs and astronomical postage costs. Let's be fair - a 'Second Class' packet can only cost a maximum of £2.49 to send. Search the forum for 'postage costs' and have a read - you'll find no customer is going to pay so highly inflated postage costs. I for one wouldn't pay more than two quid to have a DVD sent through the post via second class mail. Further to that, is the £10 'Handling' fee really necessary?

Not particularly impressed with the 'testimonials' page - formatting is very poor, some just copied straight from Outlook. Have you gained the customers permission to use their personal e-mails to you in the public domain?

Finally, I'm not a fan of your slogan:
Big enough to Cope - Small enough to Care
Is it just me or does the phrase 'Just' come to mind?

You did say not to hold back, after all:rolleyes:

RuralWeb

15-Nov-2008, 10:03 AM

Thanks mike
Kate I'm sorry for my remarks as I have a particular dislike for gypsy designers on the forum. I'm out at the moment but will take a look at your site and post some comments for you.

RuralWeb

15-Nov-2008, 02:14 PM

Ok as promised a few ideas after looking at a few of your competitors:

Your design is using a standard template which is ok but you could make it fit your market a little better by making it black and white to fit in with the older film conversion.

Get a banner made that illustrates your product - you have miliseconds to get your message over so a banner with a black and white grainy image slowly fading to the right to show a colour clear image would do that.

Build a custom buy button to fit in with your theme - make it big and red

You have external links on the other services page which open in the same window taking visitors away from your site - make them open in a new window.

Get a video made showing what you do eg youtube - you are a moving picture site so get some movement going on.

Setup a links page and link to relevant sites eg forums, image librarys etc

Put testimonials on the product pages they relate to

Sean Williams

15-Nov-2008, 06:38 PM

Hi Kate
on a product page, I agree that what one is actually buying isn't clear enough - pehaps put the word minutes after the Quantity box.

I'd put in the link to the minutes calculation after the Product title, rather than at the bottom - customers can be hopeless about seeing information - I always try to put the most important stuff where they trip over it.

Maybe add 'per minute' or 'per minute of transfer' immediately after the Price £1.00.

Regarding what to do with the old films - is there a charge for returning them? If so, I'd mention it here too.
Also, I'd put as the default first choice what in your experience most customers want you to do.
It does occur to me that maybe returning the films should be the default as this would avoid a customer coming back at a later date and wanting films that have been destroyed. To choose anything other than receiving their old films back automatically, the customer has to make an active opt-out, thereby putting you in the clear - no nasty legal disagreements at a later date.

I agree about the vat - I have a feeling it may be a legal requirement that the vat status has to be displayed.
I'm pretty sure that prices including vat have to be displayed if your site is a retail, rather than trade, site.

HTH

Kate (newbie)

15-Nov-2008, 07:07 PM

Hi Guy's,

Thanks a million for the response. Hope I haven't upset the Forum.

Firstly I'm NOT a designer (wish I was) - please see my very first thread to prove it ! http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?p=248484

Quote: "Hello Everyone,
I've must have read every post on here in last 2 months. You old pro's probably forgot how hard it is starting up and thus prob don't appreciate how helpful this forum really is to Actinic Virgins like me. Superb forum!

I'm setting up several websites to bring my old dad into 2008 (the exciting world of transferring cine and video's onto DVD ! LOL) I've tested and I'm buying Business Plus."

No problem though Mal. I do see where you're coming from! I may have misled you. Yes I am "doing it for a client" (my DAD - LOL !) but he does employ me part time as I go to college (family business). But I've never made a website before, honest LOL :)

Anyway - you all have made too many suggestions to comment on (thanks) so I am just going ahead and amending our site.

QUICKIE: Is it the done thing to make all these changes and then come back for a final review ???

Finally: I do like the T-Shirt idea ! but .... if I'm and Actinic Virgin, and you are Actinic Sluts, does that make the Designers Here "actinic whores !!!"
Not that I'm calling you a whore Mal - tee heee :D ;)

RuralWeb

15-Nov-2008, 07:11 PM

I would make more money if I was!!

Feel free to come back as you do changes. Best to keep it all on this thread though as people will have the full story behind the site then - best of luck.

Kate (newbie)

15-Nov-2008, 07:18 PM

I think the text metioned in the previous post has been copied from other sites as a quick search of google will show.

Hi Darren,

Getting paranoid now so thought I explain a bit more ....

We have been using a co. called www.VT.TV to advertise our services on their site. We not getting much business from them now so want to do a site of our own.

We'll keep it on vt.tv as we may get dribs n drabs from them but we aiming at getting our own site up - where SEO is all about Cine-to-DVD and hopefully people searching that term will find us. Currently it's being diluted within vt.tv website.

Hope this explains it all.

Duncan Rounding

15-Nov-2008, 07:41 PM

It does, but you stand the risk of some of your pages not being listed because of duplicated content. You may not get listed in favour of vt.tv if google considers you have duplicated the content from that site.

RuralWeb

15-Nov-2008, 08:23 PM

where SEO is all about Cine-to-DVD and hopefully people searching that term will find us
You have to do more than hope these days! - tbh I would not be using the search term "cine" I would be looking for old film, 8mm etc.

You need to use the google keyword tool and see what people are actually searching for and optimise each page for a single phrase. Look at your competitors and what they have in thier title tags to get some idea of what you should be targeting.

You have analytics fitted so you need to be looking at this every day and aiming to see an increase in traffic every day. Take your top 10 keywords/phrases and start tracking them

TraceyHand

15-Nov-2008, 08:32 PM

Finally: I do like the T-Shirt idea ! but .... if I'm and Actinic Virgin, and you are Actinic Sluts, does that make the Designers Here "actinic whores !!!"

hahahahahaha

*takes the 5th*

RuralWeb

15-Nov-2008, 08:37 PM

Just had a quick look for you and perhaps an index tile of 8mm cine to dvd transfer wouldbe a better place to start. You have most of these words in the homepage text so just group them a bit better.

Make sure you repeat them but no more than about 5% and make your Transfer your Old Cine Films into the keyword text and make it an H1 tag. Remember we told you not to make your banner text an H1 tag - well this is the reason ie you make each page heading the h1 tag and so you target each page. If you had made your banner text and h1 tage then you would have been penalised for 2 h1 tags on a page.

Kate (newbie)

15-Nov-2008, 11:52 PM

Superb - thanks Mal.
Tracey - keep posting, make sure these boys don't gang up on me !

RuralWeb

15-Nov-2008, 11:57 PM

Now change your signature to match your targeted key phrase ie

8mm cine to dvd transfer (http://www.cine-to-dvd-transfer.co.uk/)

RuralWeb

15-Nov-2008, 11:59 PM

Go to site options and uncheck the compress html box - refresh the site

RuralWeb

16-Nov-2008, 12:04 AM

Now go into each section and the page setting tab. In the page title field enter a UNIQUE page title that matches the H1 tag on that page (no more than 40 characters including spaces)

RuralWeb

16-Nov-2008, 12:07 AM

The webfusion hosting (30 day trial on my website) you have just added will definately help with your seo - I have all my clients websites on it. GOOD MOVE

RuralWeb

16-Nov-2008, 12:16 AM

Once you have done those changes - post back and we can look at it again

Kate (newbie)

16-Nov-2008, 12:17 AM

The webfusion hosting (30 day trial on my website)

Yep! - thats where I got it !!! Thanks;)

Kate (newbie)

16-Nov-2008, 12:22 AM

test my signature

RuralWeb

16-Nov-2008, 12:22 AM

You should be working not posting:D

Kate (newbie)

30-Nov-2008, 08:42 AM

still working on this everyone ! The delay has been re-writing the entire site for unique content. Prob was I just copy and pasted all the details from the old site. Google saw my NEW site as a duplicate and gave me poor ranking.

I couldn't take the old site down as its not ours - its another firm who pass us business and want to keep it up.

UNIQUE CONTENT - was suggested my Norman and MAL and they are ABSOLUTELY right see this report http://www.marketingdon.com/2008/06/creating-unique-content-for-google/ Can't thank you enough particularly Mal ;)

Kate (newbie)

30-Nov-2008, 05:49 PM

Just had a quick look for you and perhaps an index tile of 8mm cine to dvd transfer wouldbe a better place to start.

Mal / anyone,

:confused: I understood all the other stuff but regarding your use of work INDEX

does this mean that I change the HOME PAGE - PAGE SETTING | PAGE FILE NAME from "index.html" to "8mm cine to dvd transfer.html" ? or should I leave this.

RuralWeb

30-Nov-2008, 05:56 PM

Leave the page file name alone and change the page title

Kate (newbie)

30-Nov-2008, 06:03 PM

ooooh you scared me - that was quick !!!

thought so, thats great many thanks. 1 other little thing Mal ...

I changed my /acatalog/ to say /cine/ however google now shows BOTH pages in its listing (duplicates). If u happen upon the /cine/ pages you get the latest prices but I worry about if they get the /acatlog/ then its old and out of date, but whats worse is whatever page you click thereon shows the old pages.

I cant understand that if i have redone (overwritten) these pages then how come the server is showing them?

RuralWeb

30-Nov-2008, 06:19 PM

It's because when you changed the acatalog you in effect created a duplicate of the site on your server due to the new file names.

Actinic will not delete the old pages so you need to clean them off your server manually. As you say everything will work on them including ordering. Changingthe acatlog name on sites that have been uploaded do need a bit of tinkering with

Kate (newbie)

30-Nov-2008, 06:40 PM

right, i didn't know you could do that. I will log in to webfusion now and delete them thanks

Kate (newbie)

30-Nov-2008, 06:48 PM

Hey Mal, I am so chuffed with our results in Google , we got some amazing positions. I am gob smacked

1. In top 5 for "Cine to AVI" - click here to prove it http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=cine+to+avi&btnG=Google+Search&meta=cr%3DcountryUK%7CcountryGB

2. In top 5 for "Cine to DVD Bristol" click here http://www.google.co.uk/search?num=100&hl=en&newwindow=1&safe=off&q=cine+to+dvd+bristol&meta=cr%3DcountryUK%7CcountryGB

3. In top 25 for "Cine to DVD Londonl"http://www.google.co.uk/search?num=100&hl=en&newwindow=1&safe=off&q=cine+to+dvd+london&meta=cr%3DcountryUK%7CcountryGB

4. In the top 10 for "Cine to DVD Manchester" http://www.google.co.uk/search?num=30&hl=en&newwindow=1&safe=off&q=cine+to+dvd+manchester&meta=cr%3DcountryUK%7CcountryGB

5. In the top 10 for "Cine to DVD SCOTLAND" http://www.google.co.uk/search?num=30&hl=en&newwindow=1&safe=off&q=cine+to+dvd+scotland&btnG=Search&meta=cr%3DcountryUK%7CcountryGB

RuralWeb

30-Nov-2008, 06:50 PM

we got some amazing positions
Its easy when you know how;)

Kate (newbie)

30-Nov-2008, 06:53 PM

well ...... I'm still learning but I'm so glad I went for ACTINIC (i nearly went for mr.site and volusion) and even better I'm so glad about this forum, you guys are just tops! There is certainly no way I could have done this without forum. :)

bamboo

01-Dec-2008, 01:31 PM

Hi Kate
Just read through this thread. It's great to see someone who asks, listens and then implements, most don't because they confuse 'business' with personal.

Not wanting to steal Mals thunder but one other thing you can do is change all the page descriptions to tell the organic searchers either what the page is about or give them a pre-sell to confirm to them that your site is the one they should go to.

Google displays 155 characters from your page description which doesn't sound a lot but if you can do this it really does pay big dividends on the bottom line.

Type Dan Thies into Google (not the UK limited one!) and look at the descriptions on the top three sites. They are all essentially saying the same thing and yet all are different but speak directly to the customers mind set.

They should because Dan Thies owns all three of these pages and many others in the top ten. He is competing with himself to knock the opposition below the fold and it works!

RuralWeb

01-Dec-2008, 03:03 PM

He is competing with himself to knock the opposition below the fold and it works!Its called Google Bombing and I would not really recommend it TBH

bamboo

01-Dec-2008, 04:13 PM

No it isn't Google bombing!

A Google bomb (or "link bomb") is Internet slang for a certain kind of attempt to raise the ranking of a given page in results from a Google search, often with humorous or political intentions.[1] Before 2007, Google's search-rank algorithm could rank a page higher if enough other sites linked to that page using similar anchor text (linking text such as "miserable failure");[2] but Google changed the ranking by January 2007 to list pages instead about the repeated linking of that text.

As if I would suggest such a thing. :)
I said he owns all three pages and they belong to two different companies which Mr Thies also owns. So he is not doing anything wrong.
I have another friend who owns a fire extinguisher supply company and he has segmented out his customer base and realised he has three different types of customer so he has created two more sites to 'compete' with the first (one for each segment that is bang on message) which they do without any penalty from Google.

Sorry for going off topic but I felt the explanation was warranted.
Any way use the page descriptions as it is extremely valuable real estate on the Google results page.

RuralWeb

01-Dec-2008, 04:45 PM

kate - have a read of this (http://www.ruralwebdesign.co.uk/acatalog/FREE_SEO_Book.html)it has all you need to know plus if you want some software to do your SEO (http://www.axandra.com/go.to/ruralwebdesign/4) for you then this is the one I would suggest you get.

Kate (newbie)

01-Dec-2008, 08:30 PM

:) That's so kind of you guys thanks very much. It appears that there is no end to this thing it is really clever stuff though. I'm seriously wondering if Google is human as it's just too wise, I peddling the notion that Google may be aliens keeping us occupied whilst planning a big invasion! :D

TraceyHand

01-Dec-2008, 08:35 PM

I'm seriously wondering if Google is human as it's just too wise, I peddling the notion that Google may be aliens keeping us occupied whilst planning a big invasion! :D

Kate, you might be right!

parklifeclothes

02-Dec-2008, 06:43 AM

:) I'm seriously wondering if Google is human as it's just too wise, I peddling the notion that Google may be aliens keeping us occupied whilst planning a big invasion! :D

See the effect Actinic can have on your mind, turns you barking:eek:

Kate (newbie)

04-Dec-2008, 08:16 PM

Kate (newbie)

04-Dec-2008, 08:29 PM

I changed my /acatalog/ to say /cine/ however google now shows BOTH pages in its listing (duplicates). If u happen upon the /cine/ pages you get the latest prices but I worry about if they get the /acatlog/ then its old and out of date, but whats worse is whatever page you click thereon shows the old pages.

I cant understand that if i have redone (overwritten) these pages then how come the server is showing them?

It's because when you changed the acatalog you in effect created a duplicate of the site on your server due to the new file names.

Actinic will not delete the old pages so you need to clean them off your server manually. As you say everything will work on them including ordering. Changingthe acatlog name on sites that have been uploaded do need a bit of tinkering with

Having a nightmare sorting. I am with WEBFUSION RESELLER SHARED server. There is nowhere in WEBFUSION ADMIN to find pages to delete. I spoke to WEBFUSION and they say its an ACTINIC PROBLEM, I quoted them MAL's comment above and I am waiting for them to come back.

Has anyone else had this prob and how did they solve - SOLVE meaning HOW to delete old URL's on WEBFUSION SERVER. :mad: I've eaten a hole pack of Hob Nobs with anger and thats made the problem even worse cos I'm gona be fat as well !

TraceyHand

04-Dec-2008, 08:32 PM

LOL Kate
Bless ya!

Can't you ftp into the site using an FTP program?
You could remove the whole acatalog folder in one go that way

RuralWeb

04-Dec-2008, 08:34 PM

The easiest way is to use some FTP software and delete the files using that. You cannot do it within actinic. There is a file manager in your hosting control panel.

Kate (newbie)

04-Dec-2008, 09:34 PM

Can't you ftp into the site using an FTP program?
You could remove the whole acatalog folder in one go that way

The easiest way is to use some FTP software and delete the files using that. You cannot do it within actinic. There is a file manager in your hosting control panel.

oh thats Great, thats the missing link ! Many thanks - I will use the one in Webfusion then. Another thing to learn ! :confused: I'm going to be a geek ! :D

Sean Williams

05-Dec-2008, 10:24 AM

As has been said - you need to access your site directly using an FTP programme.
On recommendations from elsewhere in this Forum I have been using Filezilla and find it's the best FTP software I've used and I've tried quite a few.

Go for the Geek - it's great. Imagine never having to excuse or justify your behaviour/appearance ever again! "Oh don't worry about her - she's a Geek".
Marvellous. Best get out of [social] jail card there is IMO :D

Ask Tracey :p

TraceyHand

05-Dec-2008, 10:52 AM

bamboo

05-Dec-2008, 10:57 AM

Sean Williams

05-Dec-2008, 11:16 AM

If using Firefox then it has to be FireFTP. Been using it for years without any problems whatsoever, is rock solid, dead easy to use and free.
The trick is find something that works and stick with it.

Hmm - haven't tried that - thanks. I'll give it a go.
I know there's this wonderful world of Firefox plug-ins, I just don't have the time to investigate them :(
Use Firebug, though of course. What a cool piece of software.

Off-topic - I use Opera as my main browser (then FF, then IE) and the latest version has a really cool Bookmark (Favourites) synchronisation thingy - Bookmarks are kept synchronised across all computers that you set up to match each other - fantastically useful for separate locations/laptop etc.

I expect someone will be along in a minute to mention this has been available for years on such a such a browser :)