Re: critique please

Hi Bob,

>I've followed this thread with considerable interest although it is somewhat off topic to list. And it seems to me there are several issues here which are quite interesting.

Thanks for writing as you have prompeted me to explain a few things.

> The bells and whistles of web design are tools. If you understand them in the context of their impact on a search engine spider, you can use them without taking a hit on getting a site indexed. Know your tools, and what the search engines see them as and you will not have a problem.

I failed to make that clear in my post that stirred up so much trouble. I wasn't denegrating all such uses of new technology--I use some of them myself--I just know from reading countless articles and from personal experience that unless other measures are taken to accomodate the search engines that a site may not get listed when using high tech methods to produce the site.

I have been focusing on making websites as economical as possible because the economy of Spokane is so bad and up till now I have been trying to glean local clientel. Thus any more work being placed on the web designer because the client wants these high tech gadgets just raises costs for the client. I'm just trying to keep costs down, is all. I'm as frugal as a church mouse, in personal life as well as with my business. But, as someone else said, if I don't incorporate more of those high tech gadgets into my own site I'll never attract the right clientel either. So my focus is now begining to change because of the wise input of the members of this list.

>Lorrie understands, as I do, that a significant number of people living in the rural areas are limited to 56K.

Actually, I'm using a 56K that is limited to a 33.6 because of the older phone lines out in the country where I live, and it usually operates at 28 baud.

>Finally I see a lot of helpful comments concerning Lorrie and her business, but have yet to see anyone ask if she's bothered to analyze the traffic flow of her site. When faced with a dilemma like a business tettering, you can start applying changes willy nilly in the hopes that at least one of them will make a difference. Or you can sit down and analyze the problem, then come up with a reasonable solution set to apply.

I have all my clients plugged into sitemeter.com--the best site meter I have found yet (a freebie) and I analyze the hits weekly for each of my sties--checking out which search engines have my sites listed and what people are searching for. I've analyzed those listings till I'm cross-eyed and it hasn't helped enough so I decided to try something new and ask for a critique on this list.

>The log files should tell you. Are the bulk of the hits to the mainpage and mainpage only? Are the number of email contacts received from the in-site form matching the number of hits to that form? Where are the hits coming from and how does that reflect the previous promotion of the website? And finally, is it really reasonable to expect a large volume of traffic for such a narrowly focused website?

Most of the hits to my web design site are for my graphics and very few for "web designer Spokane".

>Considering the content of the site, I'd have to say no, its not reasonable to expect more than a few hundred hits a month, after all, its just another Website Design website.

Actually I am currently getting 311 per week so that's about 1200 per month. I was getting about 28 per week this time last year so that's quite a jump. I've been tweeking my keywords and improving my site all year--always trying something new. As I stated in one of my posts my sites come up on the first page of results for most of their major keywords and I think that's why the hits are so high. I've got that part down right. The problem was I didn't have the right focus for my site as someone else mentioned.

ALSO, ODP messed up the listing of my site a few months back when they redesigned their web designer listings and I had to write several times to get mine back up--it was an oversight on their part. But now Google has dropped my site from their directory because of it (i'm still getting the major portion of my hits from Google engine however). And even in spite of that major problem I'm still getting more hits each month, so I must be doing something right.

>There are millions of them out there, and only so many people looking for a website. But I'd say the same thing if she were selling real estate or selling Fiddle Faddles. When you narrowly focus your site, you also narrowly focus your traffic. Thats just common sense folks. Think about it and you'll see why.

Very true, and as someone else suggested I need to aim for a more national focus and not expect to just get business from Spokane.

>I think if there is any problem, its more like a general uncertainty of where the economy is going. People just aren't spending like they used to, and neither am I. I do wish Lorrie, nothing but the best and hope she can weather the tough times. But I think she needs to take a step back from the "look" of her design and think about the overall problem. Just changing the look of a site isn't going to bring in more customers.
>
>	Bob Minnick, Northern Webs

Thanks for your comments. I agree wholeheartedly that I need to change my site and not just it's looks either. Someone mentioned that I have a lot of artistic talent and thus I have changed my site (just this morning in fact) to reflect those abilities by posting several examples of my art work. But I also need to delve into using more high tech myself which I plan on doing and downgrading my disapproval of the same.

I appreciate all the help everyone has given me on this list and I'll be putting it to good use.

take care
Lori Eldridge
www.loriswebs.com

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