SEO help with very small budget

[ronhollin]

We are a new ecommerce site with a very small budget. I have researched SEO for a month while building my website. I implemented everything I could find about SEO. Keywords, ALT Tags, Descriptions, content, etc, etc. Anyway I'd like to hire someone to "finish off" my site. I am seeking a very inexpensive service here seeing that I have done alot of the work already. Any suggestions?


Thanks

[robwatts]

Hi Ron

Is it the site in your profile?

If it is, then those urls with 3 parameters may take a while to get indexed. SE's dont really like urls with multiple parameters.

If you are on a low budget you might also get some good advice in the free help and advice forum (http://www.ihelpyouservices.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=7)

Good luck

[ronhollin]

Originally posted by robwatts
Hi Ron

those urls with 3 parameters may take a while to get indexed. SE's dont really like urls with multiple parameters.

What do you mean parameters

[robwatts]

somedomain.com/page.extension?parameter1=blah&parameter2=blah&parameter3=blah

Im not saying that they will never ever get indexed, but it may take a while. Some SE'S choke on urls like that.

Perhaps mod_rewrite (if you are on an apache box) may be a solution.

Why not create static pages for your most popular products eg a rayban-replica-sunglasses.htm

Like I said Ron, it might pay you to ask around in the free help and advice forum.

[scottiecl]

Like the new avatar Rob! :thumb:

[robwatts]

Why thankyou Scottie :)

Not a patch on yours though. :)

Amber (one of my children ) told me that 'Bonny Robbit ' was 'just silly daddy' so she picked this one :)

[scottiecl]

Why thank you!

My children are the opposite- they want to know where the bouncing bunny went- now it's "just mom". So boring. I will have to let them pick out another animated one soon.

[ihelpyou]

Hey Ron, Rob is right. Many problems so I would post in another forum. You need content.... you don't have any. You lead visitors directly into the shopping cart....you need static content pages. You virtually have zero content on the site to be indexed.

[ronhollin]

My index.htm page is a static page. All I really need is people getting to my index page, right?

[rockynate]

right.

They must be seeing something I'm not, I just see www.sunglassreplicas.com.

The site looks nice. Makes me want to order a pair...

[scottiecl]

Originally posted by ihelpyou
Many problems so I would post in another forum. You need content.... you don't have any. You lead visitors directly into the shopping cart....you need static content pages. You virtually have zero content on the site to be indexed. He's already posted in the website critique forum...

[ihelpyou]

Oh, now I remember. He got some good advice in that thread but the site has not changed. You still need content!! Otherwise, forget about the search engines.

[ronhollin]

Um..the site has changed. I've added ALT tags where needed and some other SEO. There's not a whole lot more I can do about the content. I want this site to be simple and not cluttered. I've looked at some people's websites that post on this board and I definitely do not want it looking like those. I feel by just stuffing it with words is counterproductive. Yes it might be optimizing to the gills with keywords, but it won’t “look” nice. I guess I have to find a balance.

[ihelpyou]

The only site I know of that you describe is my other site that I have not worked on in two years. ya can't go by that one. Show me another site out there?

I can show you a multitude of clients with "good SEO copy" of content that is produced to "sell". Trust me, your site needs content. You just can't simply have a shopping cart only and expect to make sales. You have to talk about your product so visitors know that you know what you are doing. I'm very sure there is MUCH to say about sunglasses and the different types, etc.

Saying that you don't want content is like saying you don't want your visitors to know anything..... just buy the damn things. :D

EXAMPLE: I would not touch your site and SEO if you refused to add content to it. Alt tags, etc will do you little good at all. Plus, doing ALL the other things like changing up your urls, adding other pages of content, etc, etc, etc...

[ronhollin]

Well, actually I have been considering pointing the links on the home page to static pages and then linking the images/prodcut text to the shopping cart.

[rockynate]

I would at least make the "all replica glasses $16.95" line an H1 tag - and fix the font size with a size tag or css.

You could even do a subhead with an H2 tag and your target keywords worked in.

What keywords are you targeting? discount replica sunglasses?

I guess I should find that other thread...

[rockynate]

I viewed the other thread.
I also looked quickly at the top 3 for the search "replica sunglasses" on Google.

There's some good competition there, but they certainly aren't fully optimized. They all have PR5, so you have a linking campaign ahead of you. I agree with the PPC filler in the mean time.

Look at these top 3 sites. They all have a substantial amount of text on the page at some point. Even as a block at the bottom in size 1 or 2 type - "About SunglassReplicas.com", and then a bunch of text about what the company is about: discount designer replica sunglasses. What knock-off types you carry. What your return policy/guarantee is. Of course, the block of text should be liberally sprinkled with your keywords.

That's what everyone means when they say "copy" or "content". You need to talk to your customers. In so doing, you'll talk to the search engines.

[ronhollin]

I guess I'm struggling with coming up with more in this area. I'm not sure about PPC campaign. I spent $40 the first day and made one sale worth about $38.50. I saw that and said no way! I'm not sure as to why I had only one sale out of 75 clicks. I did bid on the word "sunglasses" that cost me $12.00. I think I should have left that word alone seeing that it is extremely broad. Taking out the keyword "sunglasses" I had a CTR of 3.6%. That seems a bit low to me.

[rockynate]

Yeah, you've learned the hard way. Effective PPC for a smaller, untested site such as yours includes spending some time on bidding for the less searched, but more specific terms. They are a lot cheaper. But you need to bid on a bunch of them to get good traffic numbers.

Just off the top of my head, check out the bids on:

fake designer sunglasses
cheap sunglasses
cheap replica sunglasses
knock-off sunglasses
etc.

Use the search term tools in Overture or AdWords to come up with other terms and look at their search numbers. There have got to be some good ones...

on Overture:
designer replica sunglasses - 31¢
fake designer sunglasses - 29¢


I'd also check out the cheaper PPCs like GoClick for even better pricing.

And look in the PPC area of this site for more info - including a link to get a free $25 account at my PPC - SearchSpot.com.

[ronhollin]

Originally posted by rockynate
Effective PPC for a smaller, untested site such as yours includes spending some time on bidding for the less searched, but more specific terms.

Well actually I did bid on about 15 words that ranged from about .10-1.50.

Just off the top of my head, check out the bids on:

fake designer sunglasses
cheap sunglasses
cheap replica sunglasses
knock-off sunglasses
etc.

I did use Overtures "Search Term Suggestion Tool" and came up with all of those words you suggested and more.

Use the search term tools in Overture or AdWords to come up with other terms and look at their search numbers. There have got to be some good ones...

on Overture:
designer replica sunglasses - 31¢
fake designer sunglasses - 29¢


And look in the PPC area of this site for more info - including a link to get a free $25 account at my PPC - SearchSpot.com. [/B]

[Blue]

I'm not sure as to why I had only one sale out of 75 clicks. Ron, you might want to think about taking the $40 you spent on PPC and hiring a good copywriter. I believe that you can get about a good page done for that amount.

Really, you're customers are going to want to read text about why they should buy from you. Think about it .... they can't hold your product in their hands nor look in a mirror to see how they look wearing your sunglasses, so you have to sell them in another way.


:cheers:

[ronhollin]

You guys have convinced me. I have undertaken that project.

[sytemaker]

Originally posted by ronhollin
My index.htm page is a static page. All I really need is people getting to my index page, right?

I think it's a mistake to think like that. Web sites are not like buildings with only one entrance to them. Visitors can come to you from all angles and each of your pages can be an entrance for them. It is therefore worth while to optimise as many pages as possible to present a number of entrance options as well as to allow you to include more key words/phrases in your efforts.

[joezeppy]

Hi Ron,

I just went in to buy a pair. Seems like a good deal, but abandoned when I saw your cc processing is not secure.

That's going to happen a lot.

To me that's a major mistake and has potential to be a bigger problem.

You don't want to be the last guy someone dealt with before a crook goes on a binge with your customer's credit card.

Let me know when you secure your processing. I want a pair of those sun glasses.

[ronhollin]

Yes, we are in the process of getting that set up.

[ihelpyou]

Good deal Ron!

That was the first thing I noticed and what i always look for before buying something off a site. If it ain't 'secured', the back button gets 'action' very quick-like. :)

[ronhollin]

Have you guys heard of GeoTrust? I am being hosted at Hostasaurus and they offer that SSL.

[joezeppy]

I've heard of them. I think they are as good as any, and cost less.

Even a shared certificate is better than none.

[ronhollin]

Yeah, I just signed up for there shared SSL....$125 is not bad

[motiv8x]

mod_rewrite will drop your page rank if you have a lot of parameters, becuase it creates a forward slash delimited directory structure.

for example file.php?a=1&b=2
would become something like:

file.php/a=1/b=2/

(you can define how this is rendered with mod_rewrite)

but keep in mind the deeper you go in your filesystem the lower the pagerank for that page will be.