Website help thread

[Jaffacake]

Can anyone give me any idea why after years my website would suddenly stop being found by Google? It used to always be top or there abouts but I havent checked it for a while, probably over a month, and now I have just tried typing in 'spray tan basildon' and apart from being listed on hot frog etc it is not being found? :irked: I can still find it if I type in the actual address so it is still live..

the address is www.about-tan.co.uk

Any ideas? you need to speak to me in layman's terms because I dont have a clue about this sort of thing! lol

Thanks guys xx

 

[xAnnaBannAx]

I was wondering, hoping and praying if anybody would be able to have a look at my site and tell me what I need to do as its just all getting too confusing for me lol

when I type in my web address in the search engine...it comes up wih a title of delete home...then the home page shows up with 2 logos...but if you click on home again it disappears!

and then theres all the meta tag business....Im not sure what to write :irked:

HEEEEEEEELLLLL
LLLLLPPPPPPPP :cry:

www.fancyfinger.com

 

[Ruth Mills]

The home page you go to when you first go to your site is deleteHome

But then you've also got another one called "Home" in your navigation menu, which goes to HOME (a different page from the other one).

So that explains the strange behaviour - they are two different pages...

 

[xAnnaBannAx]

I see what you mean...tried to delete the deletehome page but it wont let me grrr

 

[Jolicatellas]

I'm curious about this myself b/c I don't know how or what makes people rank on the first page of google.

I assumed you have to keep searching your site and get others to search your site often to give google the idea it is high in demand and so they list it at the top??

I typed in 'spray tan basildon' and you're listing at the top with 'Local Business results for spray tan near Basildson UK'. But you're actual web site 'about-tan' still wasn't appearing by page 12...

 

[Jaffacake]

Yes, I appear under other things but not my actual website, it always used to be in the top 2 or 3?? cant understand it? I havent updated it for few months, wonder if that is the problem? but then I haven't updated it for longer than that in the past and it still worked :irked:

Maybe it's because some of the links aren't working anymore? maybe I need to update them with tanning links or something? A lot of them are still on there from when I used to do nails about 4 years ago!

Anyone?

 

[ValencianNails]

You do appear on there, in the list of local business results to the right of the map. You're "I" on the map on both searches in the UK and also the whole web :green:

 

[Jaffacake]

Yes, but that is Google local businesses or something? I'm on hotfrog and a few others too but my own website was being found before right at the top of the page, now it appears on page 12?

I must have mucked it up somewhere along the line :cry:

 

[Bev Rose]

You do need to keep regularly changing things on your site - even if you remove a word & then type it back in again - it shows the search engine spiders that the site is live and updated. They won't pull sites that have no 'movement' iykwim?
HTH's xxx

 

[Jaffacake]

Yes, I did update it a while back,but it's been left alone for months before and I havent had this problem... I wonder if I did something to the meta tags by accident or something? dont remember touching them though, just updated the special offers page I think?

 

[jayt]

Hi Folks

i have had my webpage now for about a year. I get quite a few hits but not a lot of business from it. Would you mind having a look and giving me your thoughts.

Thanks in advance

www.jaytherapy.co.uk

 

[djnield]

Having a quick look I saw google only indexes some of your pages. Do you have a sitemap? Make sure you get one, else update the one you have.

There's also a broken link that needs correcting on one of your pages. I couldn't see much in the way of relevant back links to your site so that's definitely something to help you improve.

Google do change there algorithms time to time which might explain why you're doing as well as you once were. They obviously think the likes of hotfrog are more relevant than your actual site!

 

[Mrs.Clooney]

Hi geeks, please could you share some thoughts and advice here? My new website has been up and running for just over 2 weeks now. I know these things take time but I really am eager to improve business and my website rankings on the search engines.

I have my website listed on a couple of beauty/make-up sites (both paid for listings).

I have also contacted a couple of local beauty related businesses regarding reciprocal links to websites. One politely declined, the other did not reply. I am networking another avenue at the moment, but I don't think it includes web advertizing ..... only referrals.

I have my web link on my Facebook, but is this the same as advertizing on Facebook?

Also, I have seen people advertize their links on Twitter. I am registered there but can find no option for a link?

Any nudges in the right direction will be greatly received. What else can I do?

 

[Ruth Mills]

There is a minor fix I need to make to your site tonight; Web Geoff mentioned this on another thread yesterday. Am also going to try adding a Google verify-v1 tag too, which should help verify if Google has indexed your site properly yet, and when it had last done so if so.
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[Web geoff]

Hi Tracey,

Dont rush these things, it should take google about 5weeks to find you and index you. Add a statistics counter called Statcounter into your website and keep your eye on it, soon enough you will notice that google from Mountain View has been to your website, this will then mean they are indexing it.

Get all your keywords and website titles ect all set up for this indexing, it may be months before they come and view your website again, so get it right on the first index, then improve even more from there.

There is large debate as to whether telling google your website is there, or letting them naturally find it has advantages, personally i dont tell them, I let them find my websites naturally.


Geoff

 

[lucy85]

I am really struggling creating a website I cannot seem to think what to write without it sounding either cheesy or not very professional. I also am not sure whether or not to use mr site as that looks like it may give me a lot more professional looking website has anybody used this?? I am also thinking about having one designed however they look so expensive just wondering also if anyone has any oppinions on this or anything to do with website creating really just wondering what other people have decided to do and what anyone can recommend because I'm sure it can't just me having issues creating a website. Thanks Lucy xx

 

[Ruth Mills]

I am really struggling creating a website I cannot seem to think what to write without it sounding either cheesy or not very professional. I also am not sure whether or not to use mr site as that looks like it may give me a lot more professional looking website has anybody used this?? I am also thinking about having one designed however they look so expensive just wondering also if anyone has any oppinions on this or anything to do with website creating really just wondering what other people have decided to do and what anyone can recommend because I'm sure it can't just me having issues creating a website. Thanks Lucy xx

I have seen some web sites created with Mr Site that are visually very good; where I am not so keen on Mr Site is that I have seen issues in the underlying HTML code that it generates (which often contains errors in the HTML syntax). Thankfully most web browsers are fairly lenient towards this, even though it is far from ideal from a technical and accessibility perspective.

Similar products to Mr Site are Dreamweaver and FrontPage.

Other options if you want to build a site yourself are online template-based site builders such as those used by Webs/Freewebs, Yola, Weebly, Microsoft Office Live, Vistaprint 1and1, etc - several people on here have used those to design their sites. The main pitfalls are if there is Google advertising on some of the "free" sites that can detract from the look of the page, and some only give you a subdomain (e.g mysite.webs.com as opposed to mysite.co.uk). And some providers only offer a limited range of templates, so you risk ending up with a site looking very similar to someone else's. And again the HTML syntax of the template-generated sites isn't always perfect.

If choosing the professional web design route, ask to see a portfolio of existing sites by the web designer/company to see if you like their overall look/style. Check both setup fees and ongoing hosting/maintenance/support fees. Check to see if they will charge extra for updating your site. Also see if they offer any form of content management system which would let you make your own changes. There is probably a huge range of prices charged, so make sure you get as many quotes as you can before committing yourself!
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[Mrs.Clooney]

You do need to keep regularly changing things on your site - even if you remove a word & then type it back in again - it shows the search engine spiders that the site is live and updated. They won't pull sites that have no 'movement' iykwim?
HTH's xxx

Thanks for this Bev, I didn't know this. How often do you need to change things? I know people whos website are only managed annually and they are constantly on page 1 at the top. How is this?

 

[Mrs.Clooney]

There is a minor fix I need to make to your site tonight; Web Geoff mentioned this on another thread yesterday. Am also going to try adding a Google verify-v1 tag too, which should help verify if Google has indexed your site properly yet, and when it had last done so if so.
Posted via Mobile Device

Thanks Ruth. I appreciate all that you do even though I don't know what you are talking about :lol:. You are a star.

Hi Tracey,

Dont rush these things, it should take google about 5weeks to find you and index you. Add a statistics counter called Statcounter into your website and keep your eye on it, soon enough you will notice that google from Mountain View has been to your website, this will then mean they are indexing it.

Get all your keywords and website titles ect all set up for this indexing, it may be months before they come and view your website again, so get it right on the first index, then improve even more from there.

There is large debate as to whether telling google your website is there, or letting them naturally find it has advantages, personally i dont tell them, I let them find my websites naturally.


Geoff

Again, this all sounds very technical, but thank you.

Ok, now where else can I advertize on the interet? I can't spend anymore money so it needs to be free. Recs please?

 

[staceystan]

i am a new business and would like some helpful tips on where to go for my website desgin/hosting etc that doesnt cost much or any money...i have tried a few free websites that dont really have a good domain name options and with restricted design options...can anyone help?x