Existing Site - Design & SEO opinions

shawty

Hi there,

I really have zero skills when it comes to design but I have implemented a small website for a holiday home. Tried to focus on SEO with this site but was wondering if there was anything else I could focus on SEO wise (outside of AdWords)

http://www.holidayhomelahinch.ie/

I am really asking because I have said I will do some work for a friend on their website which is a completely different business and I would like to use the latest and greatest SEO if possible..

With regards to design.. any tips on nice self-learning online website or anything?!

Thanks

hobbit stomper

The one thing I don't like about the design is the flash menu.
First, because it's flash (Mobile devices, older PCs, iPads won't be able to use it)
Secondly the animation kinda destroys the peaceful and quite website.
And then the blue color and font of the button just don't match the rest of the website.



SEO wise looks okay. You do spam the meta keywords though which is not good. Try focusing on 2-5 keywords.
You're also using tables to design the whole website, try using css and div layers.

Maybe think about a footer on each site. Like Copyright by XXX - and a link a contact site, where you just state your name, address, email, phone number and a brief description who you are. (not to be confused with the booking site which you already have, but rather a plain about us/contact site).

tricky D

You say that you have 'really no skills' which is an honest and true assessment. We all were in the same boat when we started.

Before I give you some pointers on how to proceed, I'll very strongly recommend that you do not do your friend's business site until you've got a much better grip on what you're doing. You very likely won't do the business any good and might harm your friendship (seen it happen before).

First stop is http://www.w3schools.org to learn html, xhtml and css. Use NotePad++ to edit raw code. It's the best way to learn properly, unlike so-called wysiwyg editors. Once you have the basics done properly you can look at other stuff like blogs, frameworks and so on.

Then look at sites you like and try to replicate them starting with simple layouts. Use Firebug on Firefox. Validate your code. Use css for layout not tables. No Flash.

Also look around for SEO tutorials, guides etc. At first stick to the basics: getting good links to the site and presenting the keyword oriented content in the best way using headings, alt, strong, title and meta tags properly. Avoid any tricks or hacks like stuffing too many keywords into meta tags.

Remember at all times that Google is your friend. Self-teaching is a vital skill for web designers and much it becomes a self-solving riddle if you learn how to use searching well.

Smashing Magazine and alistapart are good resources.

hth

shawty

Thanks, that's great.

I had been meaning to update the keywords Spamming but I was under the impression that the keyword meta tag was not taken into account by Google anymore.

As for my friends site. The website is in place already and he would like me to make updates and some small additions to it. I will not be changing the structure of the site. Sorry now that I am not putting it up here also but I do not want to put it here when I do not own the site.

I do need a much better grasp of CSS, I know that.. looking at sites I like and trying to replicate them is good advise I will definitely try that.

The Flash menu is something I will also look to change and not repeat.

hobbit stomper

Oh, harsh comments from tricky D there. Everyones opinion though

About the keyword spamming, yeah true google and most modern search engines don't really care about meta tags much when it comes to ranking, using the right keywords might help a tiny bit, but the chances of getting a lower rank because it's spammed are bigger. The meta description tag is still used though, by Google and others. On a direct hit result, google displays the meta description of the webpage as a result.

Example: Search for "YouTube" and first result is YouTube.com with the description "YouTube is a place to discover, watch, upload and share videos.", which is youtubes meta description.

tricky D

shawty wrote: »

Thanks, that's great.

I had been meaning to update the keywords Spamming but I was under the impression that the keyword meta tag was not taken into account by Google anymore.

It's ignored by most search engines, but nevertheless attention to detail says max 25 keywords with no more than 3 keyword repetitions, including stems. Do pay attention to your description though.

shawty wrote: »

As for my friends site. The website is in place already and he would like me to make updates and some small additions to it. I will not be changing the structure of the site. Sorry now that I am not putting it up here also but I do not want to put it here when I do not own the site.

Grand so.

shawty wrote: »

I do need a much better grasp of CSS, I know that.. looking at sites I like and trying to replicate them is good advise I will definitely try that.

The Flash menu is something I will also look to change and not repeat.

shawty

I really appreciate all kinds of advise on this.. I have been placing more focus on SEO than design recently so I'm playing catch up on the design front.

Looking forward to implementing some changes on my website now and monitoring the results.

EQStar

I'm a boards.ie newbie so please be gentle.......

In regards to not using flash on a website, what would you recommend instead? I'm don't know a whole lot about web design or applications so just wondering if anyone could give me feed back as to what would be better to use other than flash, I have looked at other sites & see one has used a GIF Image (animated, 2 frames).

Thanks!!

lil_lisa

This is really a question for the Design forum.

If you're just beginning to make a website and don't know where to start I would recommend having a look at W3Schools and teach yourself some HTML and CSS to get started.

p

If you don't know anything about design, then you'll probably get better results by spending a small amount of money and buying a template.

To give you credit though, you've got all the right content in there, maps etc... so fair play. Doesn't matter how nice the design is if you're missing that. If you can get both though, even better.

kelly1939

you could try blending in the adsence box.. put the background color the same as the websites ect or remove it all together.