Question

Topic: E-Marketing

Increase Ranking/learning About Marketing &website

Posted by Anonymous on 6/21/2009 at 2:52 PM ET 250 Points
Hi, I had a designer build my website for me in October last year, as I did not have a clue how to do it myself. I have learnt a great deal since then, but there seems to be no advice anywhere that is free. My website is a Zencart. However, I am having difficulties uploading attributes for instance, and there is no info anywhere to tell me how to use the admin. Every time I ask my web designer, he charges me approx 10 pounds, as it seems quicker to get him to do it for me, but I really want to learn the whole picture.

I am trying to increase my ranking, I have listed my website on a large number of directories and a few others websites. You mentioned as a reply to someone else regarding this subject to get your website listed on high PR sites, however, each time I have contacted High PR sites, they have not been interested in listing mine as a link.

Please, I would be very grateful for some sound info regarding the two subjects above.

Lastly, I have been receiving approx 2,000 hits on my site each day, but each time I update my blog (weekly) my hits reduce down to between 190 - 300. What would the reason for this be? is it just coincidence? I spend all my time trying to figure out how google/internet/websites/rankings etc actually work and no one can help me unless I pay them.

Thank you for your advice in anticipation.

Jacqui
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 6/21/2009 at 4:30 PM Accepted
    It'd be helpful if you posted a link to the site, or listed it in your profile.

    Short of giving you more specific advice, here's a couple resources for learning about search optimization:

    https://www.seomoz.org
    https://www.seobook.com

    Both these sites offer paid and free information for improving your rankings.

    Cheers,

    Jesse
  • Posted on 6/21/2009 at 7:32 PM Accepted
    Your website designer is entitled to charge you for the time and effort he expends on your behalf. That's not the problem.

    The problem is that most web designers are not really marketers, so they focus on a lot of the technical stuff, or the graphic design elements ... not on the things that really make your site a commercial success. Usually you have to do that part yourself ... which means you need to learn what makes the needle move for your business and your target audience.

    The first sign that there's a problem with your site is that the top of your homepage (above-the-fold) is filled with copy! The internet is a visual medium and your product line lends itself to visual display, so scrap 90% of the text, or move it to the bottom, and put the images of your best selling items right at the top of the homepage where people can't miss them.

    Next consider where and how your customers learn about your site. Do you contact them and give them the URL? Are you advertising and promoting the site? Have you carefully identified your prime target audience and targeted all your copy at meeting their needs?

    There could be a zillion reasons why your ranking is low. You may need to start with PPC/search advertising to begin to build your site popularity. If you're just waiting for organic search to draw awareness, it could take months/years. That's perfectly normal. There are a lot of folks out there who would love to have their site on the first page or two of a critical keyword search ... and they're all learning that it costs money and takes time.

    Hope this all helps some. Just having a website out there is not enough to generate the kind of awareness you need. You need a plan (and a budget) to let people know you're there and why they should check out your site.

  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 6/22/2009 at 8:42 AM Accepted
    Start with looking at https://www.zen-cart.com/forum/
    There's a wealth of information already there and if you have qns, you'll quickly get specific answers from the active online community of ZenCart users.

    Your website currently has a rank of 1 (10 is highest, zero is lowest). Here's an article to help you understand how to build ranking using directories: https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/3159/Man-Still-Better-than-Mac...
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