Know-How Exchange : Website Critique

Robert,

For the most part your site looks good. The problem is that some of the look is preventing good SEO.

You use many images. You have messages that are created by images instead of html, i.e. "HIPAA and web-based transcription technoology" is an image instead of text. The problme with images is that search engines do do anything with them. Your images do not contain "alt tags", something some search engines do look at. I would highly reccomend redoing the site to use more html and reduce the use if images. If you like the style learn some CSS so that you can use background images to establish the look and have the text be html. This will help search engines find your content much more easily. For any images you use be sure to include alt tags.

I disagree with Mike that the menu needs to be on the left. That is where most people are used to it so there are reasons to put it there. The nice thing of having it on the right is that is where people usually keep there mouse do to scrollbars. One thing I would change about the menu is to not use images for the text part, just the icon. Again, search engines llike text. I would also make it more obvious that they are links by changing the color when people roll over them.

Overall you have a good call to action and it is obvious what you do right of the bat, which is what should be happening.

I also noticed you are not using any meta tags. You should be using keywords and descriptions at a minimum. Search engines are relying on this less, but they are still important. The description is often used by search engines to disply by the link in the search results. Make sure this is something that would get people's attention.

Make sure you use the keywords that people would search for. Use them often in both the text and the meta tags description. It is important that search engines relate these words to your site.

The other big SEO thing is to get qualiity sites to link to your site. This is the hardest to do as you do not have much control over this. Be sure to participate in forums or comment on blogs that relate to your site. Be sure to include a link to your site.

I hope this helps,
Mike

Hi there -
I have a few suggestions about optimizing your site. First, the home page could use more content to explain exactly what you do, why you're different, and how you ultimately benefit the visitor. Search engines like sites that offer rich content. Several industry sources have noted that a Web page should have at least 250 words of text to be considered "information rich" by search engines. You could certainly say more about the services you provide. :-)

Also, that huge photograph takes up nearly all of the first screen of your home page. That's valuable real estate for optimized content. If it's possible to rework the graphic design, I'd recommend reducing that photo size significantly.

The one question I have is -- what's unique about THIS particular transcription service? It was difficult to tell by reading the content. Many transcription companies boast same-day service. I have experience in differentiating online transcriptions services and would love to help you further if you're interested. Also, I was looking for proof that you're a top-rated transcription service as it states in your page title. Couldn't find it.

Best of luck!
Cheers-
Pam

From an SEO standpoint, there's a lot you can do. The basics are covered in this free report about your website: https://website.grader.com/wsgid/2067252/default.aspx

You don't simply want lots of traffic, you want traffic that converts into paying clients. People probably wouldn't find you via YouTube, but it may make sense to have a 3 minute video showing the process of your service from a prospect's viewpoint. Again, blogging probably wouldn't help - but a series of articles on how to improve your medical records to save $ would be of great interest. These articles would be both on your website and published in article banks as well.