website advice please?

[dj wayne]

Hello all and thanks again for the warm welcome i am looking into all your advice for the website and getting it prepared as we speak i just wondered those of you with a website how do you find people find your website i spoke to yell.com who want another 165 plus v.a.t on top of the 380 iv already paid just to have a website link on my advert seems a bit much is it worth it do you think?.
I appreciate all your advice and see by reading some of these threads that a lot of you seem to get a lot of bookings via your website i did have one about a year ago but found i got nothing from it maybe i was doing something wrong.

[PropellerHeadCase]

The concensus hereabouts seems to be that Yell.com isn't worth it, let alone extra for a hyperlink. This does somewhat depend on your intended clientele, but Yell.com seems to generate tyre-kicker and eke-every-penny-of-value-out-of-a-meagre-number-of-pounds brigade (I think I just broke my hyphen:().

[pagan_flame]

Your website is like a party - no-one will come if no-one knows where it is... so it's up to you to get the adverts out!

1. Linkbacks - every link to your website from another one pushes you up the search engines. Note the link to my website in the signature - that's another linkback for me from this post!

2. Emails - every email you send to anyone for anything should have your website address on it.

3. Any paper correspondence... see 2. :D

4. Business cards also should have your website address on, if anyone asks / takes one at a gig then they should be able to get a good idea of what you are about from your website. Or even if someone just wants your phone number - give them a business card, don't leave home without some in your wallet!

5. Website URL sticker on the back of your car - doesn't have to be the disco van, as the free-range chavs might then break into it outside the venue... for a couple of quid or so gets your website address shown to each and every person who pulls up behind your car. And your wife's car. And your Mum's car. Etc Etc. :rolleyes:

[CRAZY K]

The concensus hereabouts seems to be that Yell.com isn't worth it, let alone extra for a hyperlink. This does somewhat depend on your intended clientele, but Yell.com seems to generate tyre-kicker and eke-every-penny-of-value-out-of-a-meagre-number-of-pounds brigade (I think I just broke my hyphen:().

Rate Tart is the other word you may be looking for Alan:D

CRAZY K

[sandysounds]

A very nice person on here (think it was Rob) supplied me with a list of directories....free and paid ones.....and a list of results he'd had from each (invaluable because it helped to weigh up whether it was worth spending a bit on it or not).

I spent hours listing myself on all these sites....even the paid ones weren't overly expensive....with links to website....and many gave you discount or free if you did a reciprocal link. As a result traffic to my site has increased....as has enquiries. Its early days still, but looking at my stats for my site three directories in particular are sending a steady flow!

I'm also creeping up the google ratings as well which i believe is a result of reciprocal links?

[Have a disco]

Im afraid that I may have to start using Yell.com hyperlink as another source to boost my web ratings but Im currently fighting there price.

I have stumped them already regarding all the other sites I am listed upon that cost me a fraction of the cost of they're one advert for a year????

[Shaun]

*Moving this over to the "Website Help" forum section.*

[PropellerHeadCase]

Your website is like a party - no-one will come if no-one knows where it is... so it's up to you to get the adverts out!

1. Linkbacks - every link to your website from another one pushes you up the search engines. Note the link to my website in the signature - that's another linkback for me from this post!

2. Emails - every email you send to anyone for anything should have your website address on it.

3. Any paper correspondence... see 2. :D

4. Business cards also should have your website address on, if anyone asks / takes one at a gig then they should be able to get a good idea of what you are about from your website. Or even if someone just wants your phone number - give them a business card, don't leave home without some in your wallet!

5. Website URL sticker on the back of your car - doesn't have to be the disco van, as the free-range chavs might then break into it outside the venue... for a couple of quid or so gets your website address shown to each and every person who pulls up behind your car. And your wife's car. And your Mum's car. Etc Etc. :rolleyes:

This is something I learned a few years ago when I was cleansing a database for a local auction firm...

Everytime I encountered a purchase record by a business where the business owner had put scant detail about how to contact him/her I'd find that the business in question was, three to four years (or less) down the line, no longer in operation. Everytime I encountered a purchase record where three or four methods of contact had been supplied the business was still in business. Take from that what you will.

[discomobiledj]

This might help your website move up.....
..

Search Engines and Higher Rankings
There is no Fast and Easy way to reach the top of the list on Search Engines it takes many weeks or even months! If you don’t have the time and patience to read this then you certainly wont have the patience to do the things needed to help yourself improve your website and rankings.

Lets start with the most Basic ways to improve your website.

Meta Tags

Meta tags are a collection of words that refer directly to your website. For example if you sell plastic cups you would use the following examples. plastic cups, plastic, cup, disposable cup, cups, cheap cups, and so on..

Meta tags help Search Engines define your website so it can be found and categorized by search engines. This used to be the only way search engines could work out what your site was about, unfortunately it was abused to much in the past and is now being used less and less by search engines. It wont harm your website to have Meta tags as long as you use words directly linked to your website content. It may harm your site if you failed to use Meta tags or use inappropriate words.

Keywords

To replace meta tags most Search Engines now use keywords, this is a collection of words similar to meta tags but the words are found in your website content not hidden in the coding. The keywords need to be in nice paragraphs and easy to read by people and not just a LIST of words. It is best if you can find 3 or 4 GOOD keywords to use in your content and try to get these keywords up to about 7% density but make sure it is nice to read and as I said above not just a list of words.

You can check your keyword density with one of the many free keyword checkers on line. This is a personal favorite of mine.
http://www.webconfs.com/keyword-density-checker.php

Content is King

The more content your website has the longer people stay on your website and if you update it with regular new content you will get more regular return visitors and this will help you up your ranking. Google suggest 200-1500 words per page + pictures and other media is suggested.

IN-bound links

Links from other websites related to your website improves your ranking with many of the different search engines. But try not to get links from sites that have nothing to do with your content and avoid BAD links from sites that promote spamming or misleading information as this can work against you.

OUT-bound links

If you have in-bound links it is recommended that you link back to the site to show it is a reciprocal link.

Spelling & Grammar

Many websites slip up on bad grammar and bad spelling this reduces your ranking more than people think.

Fonts & Color

Try not to use to many different fonts on 1 page, and make your background & text colours work together so it is easy to read.

Media

Files such as flash, music, video, pictures are welcome additions to most websites but do not FORCE people to listen or watch anything as soon as they arrive on your home page, give them the option to start and stop it if they want to and keep picture files small so they load faster.

Remember each search engine does things a little different so while you maybe listed 1st on MSN (they get their data from yahoo) you may not be listed 1st on Google as Google is more popular and harder to reach the top.

I hope this basic information will be useful to some people and try not to get drawn into fake sites that promise to do all this for you for a FEE most of them are just after your money & email address.

And remember it takes TIME so have patience....

[One Vision]

In simple the more other websites have your link to your site (preferably with a description of your site) the more the chance of being visited which in turn goes a long way in increasing your chance of being found within the first 3-4 pages of search engines.

[Vectis]

In simple the more other quality & relevant websites have your link to your site (preferably with a description of your site) the more the chance of being visited which in turn goes a long way in increasing your chance of being found within the first 3-4 pages of search engines.

It matters.