Poor Index page?

[BigFinn]

Hi chaps,

have a look at this please: www.carclinic.co.uk.

That's my index page: it basically splits traffic between my online panel shop and the general-information site about our bodyshop business.

I'm worried about SEO.

Here's what I've done so far:

-Submitted my site automatically via Addweb software
-Been in touch with other sites called 'carclinic' and things like it, asking for reciprocal links
-Been through my meta tags and come up with a list that (to me) ties in well with what we sell

Here's what I'm planning to do:

-Wait a bit longer, while being afraid of going out of business before even getting started properly
-Expanding the catalog of parts we sell

Question:

-Is the home page/site design counterproductive for good SEO ranking? Should I in fact run the sites seperately (or link to the bodyshop from within the panel shop?

Any other comments would be welcome - I'm a tyro in web design.

Thank You
BF

[pinbrook]

one of the keys to good SEO is to have keywords in your body text. It is these words that SEs look for when determining what your site is about.

you have no keywords on your front page, you should look to pad this out with more info about what you do. ie encourage people to enter.

If people make the "wrong" decision and enter the non shop site of the site it is impossible to get to the shop (several back button presses on the browser eventually brought me back to the home page). you should look at cross linking the 2 parts of the site more effectively

Don't rely on the website to bring the majority of business to you, you are in a more traditional business where I would have though Yellow Pages is peoples first place to look, that and local knowledge.

[wjcampbe]

The question really is whether the common portal is a good design for customers, and I would say YES!

You have an unusual setup with the acatalog folder inside the cgi-bin folder - what drives that?

Your sitemap link is a different font, size and colour from the other links on the top of your catalogue pages - and its not working - can you repair that?

I would try to add door skins as a priority, and also sills and boot/bonnet lids. Can you add bolts/rivetting kits for attachment or are these weld on panels? Perhaps flush out the descriptions with some attachment/fitting details to help shoppers decide if your product fits their need.

Could be nine months to a year before sales volume builds to where it is self-sustaining - can you afford a Motoring News advert to help get traffic in the interim?

Check out Google adwords costs on very specific phrases such as "Repair panel nearside front wing Fiesta" and see if that is within your budget.

Good luck,

[BigFinn]

And is it legal and good form to...

...put competitors names in your meta tags to try and 'poach' hits from their searches?

Seems a bit cheap to me, comments please?

BF

[BigFinn]

You have an unusual setup with the acatalog folder inside the cgi-bin folder - what drives that?

Your sitemap link is a different font, size and colour from the other links on the top of your catalogue pages - and its not working - can you repair that?

Hi wjcampbe,

thanks for the reponse.

I'm not sure why the acatalog folder is where it is - the rest of the site is written in Dreamweaver and I recall my more experienced web-designer significant other having a problem when amalgamating the two sites - index pages had to be renamed. Might that be a reason?

The sitemap is the default settings, for font, colour and appearance. I don't know where to change that.

Cross-linking the sites is certainly a point to take on, I'll get on that now. I'm wary of putting keywords on the portal page - is there a good way around this (meta keywords only, or the old white-on-white text chestnut)?

A clean portal strikes me as a usability issue, plus I think it makes the site (and the firm) look 'bigger' and more corporate to a new visitor?

BF

[pinbrook]

I'm wary of putting keywords on the portal page - is there a good way around this (meta keywords only, or the old white-on-white text chestnut)?

A clean portal strikes me as a usability issue, plus I think it makes the site (and the firm) look 'bigger' and more corporate to a new visitor?

BF

in answer to number 1 - SEs tend to ingore meta tag keywords, and they will penalise you for white text on white background. The only way to get good listings is to play ball and not use underhand tactics. By playing ball i mean good page titles and keyword rich body text

number 2 an entry page which does nothing except request the visitor to click again does nothing for usability. A visitor needs to be hit in the face with a wet fish as soon as they arrive.

[RuralWeb]

Why have you split the site in two? Your index page is the most important in terms of targeting your primary key word/phrase - your has NO valuable content. Google is currently only indexing your index, I suspect the fact that your site is in the cgi bin is stopping the spiders looking at the rest of the site (they dont go in cgi bins generally).

Are you using tracking software to track your visitors?

I would combine the content of both sites/subsites into one, bin the splash page and add quality content at 200-300 words per page, write pages for each keyword/phrase, move the site into the root directory on the server, avoid using free space if you are, monitor your SE rankings/links using www.webceo.com or the like, list your top 10 competitors on google and look at the sites that link to them and ask for similar links, look at thier keyword selections and DO WHAT THEY DO.

It will be a long road but unless you sort out your index,hosting and the cgi bin I do not think that you will get there. Content is king your site has very little.

Best of luck

[party_pete]

Sorry to hijack this thread, but i've a related question;

"Google is currently only indexing your index"

How do I find the above information?

I've seen this and many similar statements before but can I find out which of my pages are indexed on which search engines?

[RuralWeb]

If you type "site:yourdomain" into the google search box then google will list all the pages of your site it is indexing.