Website - search engine optimisation HELP needed

[junejuno]

I have my website up and running but I haven't a clue about SEO (search engine optimisation). I know the term but not how to do it.

I have looked at what to do but my head is a mess trying to get my head round it. Plus I just can't find the time to do it.
I have read so many bad stories about people paying for this and being no better off. Can anyone recommend someone who will actually do this for me?
Any help most appreciated. Please send a private email/message if necessary. Many thanks.

 

[Ruth Mills]

I've had a quick look at your site, and my recommendations for optimising your site as it stands for search engines are as follows:


(1) Your "description" meta tag currently says: "Zenya - carlisle. Hair*Health*Beauty. Beauty Salon". This would be better re-written as proper sentences, e.g.

"Zenya is a Hair, Health and Beauty Salon in Carlisle for men and women, offering Botox, Dermal Fillers, Hair styling and colouring, Hair Extensions, Collin facial treatments, Waxing, Tanning, Massage, Eye Treatments, Manicure, Pedicure and Nail Enhancements".


(2) Your "keywords" meta tag currently says "Zenya, Beauty Salon, carlisle".

This could be expanded to detail the treatments and brands that you use,

e.g. "Zenya, Beauty Salon, Carlisle, Cumbria, Botox, Dermal Fillers, Hair, Collin, Facials, Waxing, Tanning, Massage, Eye Treatments, Manicure, Pedicure, Nail Enhancements, Nails, Hair Extensions, L'Oreal, Bed Head, Shiatsu, Reiki" etc...


(3) Your images are missing "alt" text. "Alt" text is used to specify alternate text to describe the image - this is important for search engines, and also people using screen readers (e.g. blind and partially sighted people and some disabled people). As several of your images are of brand logos, you're missing out on search engine brownie points by not mentioning the name of these brands in the "alt" text of the images.


The actual text on your website seems OK from a search engine optimisation point of view - as you're getting good mention of which treatments you are doing and which products you are using, e.g. the Collin facials. Improvements you could probably make to the text from an SEO point of view would probably involve more "name dropping" of brands in the text, etc.


Hope that sounds OK - it's coming from someone who subscribes to the "common sense" school of search engine optimisation, who believes that there's a lot that people can do themselves to improve their site's placement on search engines, without paying megabucks for a third party company to do mysterious things to your site that they're not able to explain in plaing English...

 

[junejuno]

Wow Ruth,
Thank you so much for this. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking time. I hope that you don't mind that I have sent you an email.

Kind regards, June

 

[Ruth Mills]

Wow Ruth,
Thank you so much for this. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking time. I hope that you don't mind that I have sent you an email.

Kind regards, June

Thanks June - that is fine about the email.

Hope that helped though - I wouldn't consider myself a "guru" in terms of SEO, but I do have a strong grasp of web technology in general, so have a good working knowledge of the mechanics behind SEO anyway, and, like I said, I believe that a lot of it is common sense rather than rocket science...

 

[App'ment Diary]

You have probably gathered this but Ruth is spot on, the other "cost effective" way to climb the search engines rankings is to get as many links to your web site as possible, have you thought about putting a page up on Facebook and Twitter, free and simple ways to get links to your own site.

Otherwise see what local business have a web site and as if they will do reciprocal links. Basically the more traffic you have coming to your site the higher it will be ranked.

SEO companies can charge the earth for very little return, making the changes Ruth has suggested and doing the above will no doubt save you a lot of money and at the same time produce similar if not better results.

 

[Ruth Mills]

You have probably gathered this but Ruth is spot on, the other "cost effective" way to climb the search engines rankings is to get as many links to your web site as possible, have you thought about putting a page up on Facebook and Twitter, free and simple ways to get links to your own site.

Otherwise see what local business have a web site and as if they will do reciprocal links. Basically the more traffic you have coming to your site the higher it will be ranked.

SEO companies can charge the earth for very little return, making the changes Ruth has suggested and doing the above will no doubt save you a lot of money and at the same time produce similar if not better results.

Definitely - especially Google with its "PageRank" algorithm, which gives sites greater prominence in its search results that have more relevant links in from other sites.

 

[daisyjones]

I've heard having a blog is a very good way to get your website ranked high because of all the original content.

Especially if you put brand and treatment names in the post titles etc

 

[Ruth Mills]

I've heard having a blog is a very good way to get your website ranked high because of all the original content.

Especially if you put brand and treatment names in the post titles etc

Yes - but for a professional website it's better to refer to it as a "news" page rather than a "blog" - still a very good idea though as if you update it regularly then it will keep your web site "fresh".

 

[junejuno]

Thank you all so very much with this. I have learned such a lot and although I still have to implement some of the things mentioned, I am well on my way with it.

Special thanks have to go to Ruth, without whose personal help off site I could not have managed. With support and step by step instructions on how to implement the changes, Ruth managed to get me sorted. I can't begin to say how helpful she was and how much I appreciated her guidance. Thanks again

 

[eden_beauty]

hi ruth can you help me with this too? my website is Eden Health & Beauty - private salon based in West London - Home, i'm getting many visitors but no enquiries is it something i'm not doing? im on all the free websites and google too etc etc..help pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese!!!

 

[Ruth Mills]

hi ruth can you help me with this too? my website is Eden Health & Beauty - private salon based in West London - Home, i'm getting many visitors but no enquiries is it something i'm not doing? im on all the free websites and google too etc etc..help pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese!!!

It's a good sign that you're getting lots of visitors, as that would imply a mixture of good search engine optimisation, and also that lots of people are clicking on links in to your site.

One thing I've noticed is that you have to navigate to the appointment booking page to find the contact phone number - what I think would be better is if you could put contact details (e.g. email address and phone) at the bottom of every page - that way you're making it easier for potential clients to find your contact details, rather than having to navigate to another page on your site.

Although you say you don't publish pricing on your site, I personally think it would be a good idea if you did, as perhaps people are put off by not being able to see the pricing at a glance?

Then what might help is if you could "jazz up" your treatment menus a bit, maybe spread them across more than just the one page? Mention the products that you use in more detail - see if you can ask permission to use logos and other promotional images for products on your treatment pages. And perhaps go for a slightly larger font too - some of the text on the treatment menus is in quite a small font, which would be hard for partially sighted people to read, and also might put people off in general if they don't like looking through a lot of small print.

Perhaps get some photos taken of your salon that you could use throughout the site - as that would make it more interesting for people visiting the site too - if they see that it's a nice salon environment then that would make them more likely to book too...

Hope that helps :hug:

 

[Mrs.Clooney]

You have probably gathered this but Ruth is spot on, the other "cost effective" way to climb the search engines rankings is to get as many links to your web site as possible, have you thought about putting a page up on Facebook and Twitter, free and simple ways to get links to your own site.

I tried to get a link on Twitter and it did not give me the option. How do you do it and what am I missing?

My other query is; does it make any difference to have ones link on their personal FaceBook page as I have? Or do I need a separate FaceBook entry entirely just for my business? Ta x

 

[Ruth Mills]

I tried to get a link on Twitter and it did not give me the option. How do you do it and what am I missing?

My other query is; does it make any difference to have ones link on their personal FaceBook page as I have? Or do I need a separate FaceBook entry entirely just for my business? Ta x

For Facebook, it would be an excellent idea to set up a Facebook group for your business - you could then link to the Facebook group from your site too - the Facebook group would be a great place to promote special offers etc in addition to on your web site.

But put links in to your site from both your Facebook group and your personal facebook page - basically the more links in, the merrier, as that will count as more links to boost your Google PageRank...

 

[Mrs.Clooney]

For Facebook, it would be an excellent idea to set up a Facebook group for your business - you could then link to the Facebook group from your site too - the Facebook group would be a great place to promote special offers etc in addition to on your web site.

But put links in to your site from both your Facebook group and your personal facebook page - basically the more links in, the merrier, as that will count as more links to boost your Google PageRank...

Ta again Ruth. I will chat to you about this in an email. I am trying to get motivated again after my holiday. I'm still dreaming of the sun lounger by the pool and seem to be permanently in siesta mode, lol :green:. I need a kick uo the butt!

 

[App'ment Diary]

hi ruth can you help me with this too? my website is Eden Health & Beauty - private salon based in West London - Home, i'm getting many visitors but no enquiries is it something i'm not doing? im on all the free websites and google too etc etc..help pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese!!!

Ruth is right with the suggestions made. It's not well known but statistically if someone browsing your site and cannot find what they are looking for straight away they will try somewhere else, so ensure your contact information, special offer(s) and products you use are all in their first line of sight i.e. at the top of the page, if they have to scroll they might miss it!

People generally don't like to click through on a site unless they have good reason and can view something "extra" so unless you can give them that something extra like making a booking there and then or viewing extra information about your products or latest promotion they probably won't.

Have a look at your stats page for your site and I'm sure there the home page will have 80-90% of all your hits.

Hope I've been of some help but if I can help anymore just let me know