Would someone be willing to site audit us and give us some tips/advice?

[YNWA]

Hi,

Would someone or a whoever is willing to, help me get me head around what the OSE is telling me?

I had a few quotes from firms who used this and they basically tried to sell me the world for £500 a month.

So I have done my own SEO over the past 5 months and I think the figures are slowly going up, as are visits and sales (albeit slower than the visits).

The site is www.designerboutique-online.com, if anyone is willing to take a look around, throw me some constructive criticism, some praise and some tips/hints etc... that would be great.

Our budget is very small, hence the reason for doing it myself, so maybe if I could take some advice and put it into action, I could start making some big changes.

Some competitors to compare us with are:

www.odsdesignerclothing.com

www.tessuti.co.uk

www.uniquemenswear.co.uk

www.endclothing.co.uk

www.psyche.co.uk

Thanks

Will

[YNWA]

Hi Robert,

Thank you very much for the response. Some of what you say makes complete sense. Let me explain further.

This site was built in or around 2007, it is my uncles store, which is a bricks and mortar store as well. From 07 to Sept 2011, they basically didn't know how to run a website, and were burnt several times by SEO firms and also by the people who built the site and continue to do the updates we request for it. Its a very limited site and needs updating fast, as the features just are not there to help us grow. Take H1 for example, I have no control over this, the company that done this site is a multi million pound firm, owned by a national newspaper in the UK.

When I came in in Sept 11, I changed a few things and do it for free. As they have been stung for so much on the past, so they are already playing catch up on their budget and on their competitors, who have had all that time from 07-11 to build themselves up.

£500 is a going rate in the UK, and I would happily pay it. But the problem is that I don't think the budget is there to pay it without getting results. A company who have redesigned the competitions 2 sites and done a full SEO package for them, we looked at, almost went with but decided to try me to just start getting more visits and sales first. To see us through past Xmas. Our competitor are now dropping that SEO firm, who are a big company, becuas ethey are not getting them any results and are paying them a fortune, well over £500 a month.

Since I took over in Sept 11, our visits have gone up some 40%, our sales from Sept - Dec are up 40% on the same time last year. But for Jan and Feb, we seem to be dropping back down in sales. Our Twitter account has gone from 50 to 850 followers, we now have a FB page and on over 250 Likes. We have just set up a blog and a YouTube channel also. So we are progressing and growing.

The problem I see is we have a week were sales are great, then we die off for 4-6 days, then it picks up, then it might go dead for a week, then another bust.

When I first took over, I did the www. thing in Google, I have selected the www version. I have told the web design firm to 301 to that. So I am not sure why its web5, I will pick this up with them. They are a nightmare to work with and considering that site cost £15,000, yes £15,000 its an absolute joke for what they got in return. It feels like basic OsCommerce to me. Terrible stuff.

The title tags I am in the middle of changing, I know they are too long. When I first started I did them to just get stuff online, as the products didn't even have a title and were overloaded with keywords (like 30 words). So I am slowly but surely changing titles to fit into the 70ish characters.The descriptions, I do try to mix them up. With so many products and all similar bar the colour, it becomes hard to get this. eg. 10 t-shirts, same make, model and style, yet only colour is different. By the 5-6th one, your struggling to something totally unique.

The Like 2 Fight ad was put up for a friend, as we have big customers from the professional boxing, MMA, UFC etc... come in store. It will be gone soon. Thats another thing with those images, I have no control to say pop up in new window. I agree totally about that point, I hate that myself.

We get decent traffic through the Creative Recreation Trainers and various style keywords, same with Cruyff Trainers, certain style we rank well for.

I guess I am trying to do too much too fast.

As I say, we are willing to pay but the company is on a tight budget, it can't afford another failure at this, 4 years of failure has left them lagging online. The store does very well but online, things need to change. So I would rather learn this stuff myself and help for free at this moment, than risk them signing up a £3000 campaign that could see them go under.

If I drew up a list of tasks such as

-shorten titles
-try harder on descriptions
-get rid of like 2 fight ad
-sort out the www problem
-get the H1 shorted, what would your advise be on this? Throw the H1 on a keyword phrase?

• Anything else?

Thanks again for the response.

If anyone else has any pointers, I welcome them.

Thanks Will

[RobertFisher]

Thanks EGOL.

[Mrupp44]

WOW - That answer alone was worth $500 bucks.

[EGOL]

Robert:  What a generous and detailed response.  And it is full if immediately actionable improvements.  Nice!

Will:   You are entering a niche with a lot of competition.  They have been working for years.  They have fought to attain the high ground and have now turned to face challengers.  They are entrenched, sandbagged, fully loaded and ready to defend.

£500 a month?   I am working almost full time with an experienced employee to attack much much easier turf (in a USA market).  We have been hammering for over a year and feel like we are just getting started.

I am not familiar with the UK competition for your product niche.  £500 a month will move you up when you are deep in the SERPs.   However, I don't know if  it will make you dominant.  I am betting that you will soon climb to a level where everyone above you already has you severely outgunned and is spending more than £500 a month.    The question will become.... Is your SEO competent enough to move you into a level of profit that will fund a more vigorous attack - and still pay you will for your personal effort?

Good luck with the site.

[RobertFisher]

Will,

I appreciate your dilemma, but will start with a why are things as they are: I had a few quotes from firms who used this and they basically tried to sell me the world for £500 a month.

So I have done my own SEO over the past 5 months and I think the figures are slowly going up, as are visits and sales (albeit slower than the visits).

There is a reason that there are fees associated with SEO. There is a lot of work involved and there is a lot of learning involved. A corollary to this is medicine. As an RN I would often hear someone saying: They charged me $1,000 and all they did was look in my throat and and write me a prescription. No, the hospital bought land and built a facility, the nurses, doctors and techs all went to school for many years at a high cost and the hospital has to pay them based on that and their value in the marketplace. So, you paid $1,000 for the convenience of coming into a trauma center for a quick diagnosis of a flu or strep throat and for the ability to be given a prescription as opposed to having one of us kill a chicken, smear you with blood, and shout oba doba do while another one throws rocks at the moon. (Not really sure that would cure the flu, but I sure as hell wouldn't complain about it anymore).

So, there is a reason for the costs of SEO. I am going to give you a quick glance audit that will hopefully provide insight and assistance though. Secondarily, your second sentence re I think the figures is a bit troubling as they either are or they are not. You need to know that and how much precisely given that you are in eCommerce.

So, first and foremost, we speak often here of the www vs non www issue. You have a big issue in that when you enter your url without the www you get either web5 or a 404. This is costing you $$. I am not sure what you are built on, and the web5 reminds me of a server or platform some time back, but there are a lot of great coders who may see this and help. Minimally, you should go into GWMT and select www as your preferred domain. When there is no preferred domain and (for your situation) the non is not 301 redirected to the www, you are seen as two sites as opposed to one. Now, that said, you may have done this in some way server side or with a plug in that i am not seeing, but you have blocked visitors who do not use www when typing in a domain. (probably most mozzers and maybe 40% of population).

Next, here on SEOmoz, there are several guides you should read. Beginner's guide to SEO being the starter for you. Also this from Danny Dover on Small Business SEO.

You have overlong title tags (you are attempting to tell all in the wrong place. No more than 70 characters).

Your meta descriptions should be different for every page and should be designed to make me want to click on your site in a search. It is a sales tool for click through. So, instead of telling what you have, think of what are they searching for: men's designer shirts at great prices, easy to fit, fast and free delivery, guaranteed return for no fit, etc.

Your H-1 is the same on all pages (win a pair of creative trainers...) The H1 should apply to the page and the free offer should be side bar content.

You need to do some key word research to insure you know what people are searching on. (You can start with your Google analytics to see where traffic is coming from - what search terms.)

You have an ad for Like to Fight in the bottom left of page. When I click on it I leave your site but not for another window or tab. When I close like to fight, you are gone. This is a personal issue to me with eCommerce in that if they were searching for Armani burlap mens underwear, found you ranked, liked your meta description, clicked on it, then clicked on the ad and, not liking what they saw, closed it...well you may lose a potential customer. What if they search on same again, but see a different company they go after as opposed to browsing your store? I hope you own like to fight and it makes you more money or that they pay you a ton per visitor.

Lastly, you could use some good quality links. As near as I can decipher, your main traffic keyword is around designer menswear. I don't see you in the first 3 to 4 pages of Google.ie.... so, that isn't good.

You will need to learn a lot or pay someone to assist you. Now, I am not sure that pounds 500 per month is the best you can do there, so shop around. I would think that in pounds you could find someone to do an initial site evaluation for around 500 to 1000 pounds. Then likely about 200 to 300 pounds per month. (If they like clothes and are men, well make a trade). But, understand this, you will pay no matter what: If you do it you will pay in time to learn what needs to be done and how to do it and in sales lost during that time. Or, you can find someone and pay them.

Here is the good news, For what I gave you I ask only one thing: If you see someone who needs a hand, a cup of coffee, or pound or two to get a meal, help them out.

Good luck,