Still not ranking

[BargainJones]

Hello,

I've been trying for some time now to optimize my site for the following keywords: two way radios, cordless phones, radar detectors. I've signed up with lycos' inselect program with only my homepage. I feel that the site is fairly well optimized with good keyword density and I'm still working on link popularity. Problem is my site just doesn't appear in the results of these keywords. I use HotBot to get results from Fast and Inktomi because with the 48hour crawls they reflect the most recent changes. Would appreciate any advice or explanation as to why this page isn't ranking.

site: http://www.bargainjones.com

Thanks,
KJ

[Mertu]

Just a quick check of Google shows zero links to the site.

A search for the domain name shows plenty of references, but the ones I saw were paid ads on various sites with no direct link to the site itself.

I'd suggest working on getting real, static links to the site from other sites. Without some "independent verification", the search engines might not trust what's on the site.

Getting into the directories might be a bit of a problem since just a cursory examination seems to imply that the site is an affiliate/store-in-a-box site for/from Premier Products (aka myhotbuy, aka hotbuys4u).

[BargainJones]

Hi,

Thanks for taking a look. I was just accepted into the yahoo directory today. They say 3-4 days before it takes effect. I think with google, they haven't re-crawled my site yet to reflect new links and new page setup. I guess I was more worried that my keywords weren't being 'picked up?.?' I'm still waiting for the ODP to finish its review. Hopefully the 'store in a box' won't affect that process. One problem that I have is that, being a store in a box, I can't optimize all of my pages. That could be a big problem but I'm doing what I can with what I have.

Kj

[Mertu]

Getting incoming links will help with Google indexing the new design as well. (I noticed the old design in the Google cache.) The more good links pointing to the site from elsewhere, the more likely Google will be to follow one to your site.

[BargainJones]

Thanks Mertu. I guess I'll keep chipping away at my link popularity. Does that also explain the poor rankings by inktomi and fast?

KJ

[Advisor]

You are attempting to optimize for HUGELY competitive keywords. Have you optimized also for longer variations of your keyword phrases?

It could take you forever (or never) to rank highly on your chosen keywords. You need back up words that are more realistic. Do some WordTracker research and then re-optimize the site for a better set of keyword phrases.

Jill

[BargainJones]

Hi Jill,

Thanks for the advice. I've tried to be a bit more specific using terms like uniden cordless phones and cobra radar detectors which has helped somewhat. I rank ok on the fast and inktomi searches for terms like "best buy on ...", however, these terms aren't searched very often it seems. So I think wordtracker is a good idea.

Thanks again,

KJ