SEO help for our website

Technology
1

Hello Peeps


We need to get more traffic to our website and welcome any ideas you all have for doing this. We run a retreat/chambre d'hotes here and are finding that traffic is slow.


here is the url http://www.openingspace.co.uk



Thanks



Simon



2

Hello Simon.

Without wishing to be rude you have some work to do BUT you will without doubt see results from doing that work.

As has been pointed out by others here it is a case or 'where do you start?'

  • short, poor or just no meta keywords, Debate meta tags another day but in the meantime... get em in there.
  • ditto meta descriptions.
  • H1, H2, H3 tags not used and died a long time ago, You need a style sheet (CSS) driven site.
  • Title tags and alt text very poor
  • Non-descriptive file names on photos. (0001.jpg tells Google nothing)
  • badly formed URL's could also be more descriptive to improve SEO (who%20we%20are......htm)
  • Sizes. Some things are to small.
  • The whole layout of the site is best described as 'broken' in some browsers.
  • You say very little on the most important page of the website. The home page.
  • Try out the site on an android tablet. its horrid :-/

Now the good news.

This site does have alot of content scattered throughout and if it were me I would have no trouble using 99% of it.

Start again with a new CSS driven design and just drop in your current content (renaming the pictures as you go) and you will be fine.

oh... and as Helen says... ditch the music

3

The pages takes too long to load, I think the photos are too heavy and I'd ditch the music if I were you. Most people hate sounds such as birds, waves and music on webpages. Also whatever about scrolling down people dont like to scroll across. Try to have the same layout on each page as this looks more professional. There are lots of free layouts available so maybe try one of them. Too many photos on "Things to Do". Three or four would be enough and then the page would be shorter.

Have you a Blog? That can generate a lot of traffic, along with Twitter and Facebook. Though it does take time to write up but you'd be surprised how many followers you can get. Many people are into Reiki so you could get lots of links through a Blog.

Good luck!

4

Detach yourself emotionally, I know you must have spent a lot of time on it but if it's not generating bookings, it serves no purpose. I suggest you start afresh, you need a site that is more sticky and you must have share links. Out of the box stuff on most CMS.

5

not sure will ask Nigel

we want to keep the site if we can

6

Did you install Google Analytics yet Simon? Have you decided whether to keep the site or move it to another platform?

7

You need share links on your site and a Facebook fan page and a twitter account where you can post about late deals etc. I would also consider scrapping your site and rebuilding it on Blogger or somewhere similar. Easier too manage and update that way too.

8

great stuff

you'd be welcome Valerie

Si

9

Me, Twerp and 2 dogs - have to leave the cats at home - yep, I'll definitely need some sort of healing. Sounds blissful.

By the way, you're on Twitter as well (not that anybody reads mine but you never know)

10

many thanks

hope to see you here for a coffee and cake sometime

11

Have posted it on Facebook - I'm hoping my overworked London lot will come visit your page.

12

cheers Valerie

thanks

we have business cards we can send you if you like

13

I was going to share it on Facebook but there's no button. Looks like the sort of place one of my 'bezzies' and his husband would enjoy. I'll work round that but might be something to consider.

14

Hi Vanessa

I am sorry you have trouble seeing the text, I do not know how to address this problem but it is noted and we will try to sort it out. Thanks for your kind words

15

Links back to your site are valuable, the higher the page rank of the site linking back to you the better. Google favours websites with lots of good quality (High PR) link-backs.

What is the page rank of your site?

16

Hi Simon - well your post got me to look at your website - so you've had another visitor! LOL

I like what you do and the text and pictures on the site say it well. I would however like to point out that I found the text hard to read, particularly the page links at the top of your pages. I usually have my browser (Firefox 13) open to about two-thirds the size of the screen rather than full-size. All websites I look at re-size into that but yours doesn't. That makes it even more difficult for me to read the text down the left side as half the green text is over the lovely picture and cannot be seen. When I maximise my browser window it renders properly.

I know your post was about SEO and traffic and I haven't answered that but I'm sure others will and I look forward to reading their suggestions too.