When searching the internet for ways to improve traffic to my website I see BLOG BLOG BLOG BLOG.

 

Well, not that I'm lazy but I find it easier and quicker to update facebook then I do a blog (easily done by a mobile phone/tablet). Facebook is also finding me the right audience. People in my area and looking for my product

 

So I've transported my facebook page to my website, however I have NO IDEA how that will affect my website SEO.

 

I'm new to all this stuff and trying to learn daily, ways to improve the SEO of our site.

 

http://www.homedecorhull.com/updatesandreviews/

 

Is this the right way to do it? I really don't think a blog would like right on my type of website.

 

Thanks in advance

 

 

So I've transported my facebook page to my website, however I have NO IDEA how that will affect my website SEO.

It won't help at all. Take it back off.

 

If you want to improve your ranking you need to start work on your content. That means writing descriptions for everything. It also means creating category pages with lots of words on them. This is going to keep you busy for a long time. Writing product descriptions isn't easy but it is 100% necessary.

 

You also need to do a lot of work on the site structures it takes far too long to get to the product pages.

 

Are you getting visitors to the site? Are they buying stuff? If you are getting visitors but not buying stuff then you need to change the site. If people are buying stuff focus on getting them to buy more. Related products, up-sells, product groups and so on.

 

If you don't like writing don't put a blog on the site.

Edited January 21, 201610 yr by fisicx

Hi Fisicx

 

Our products have a lot of work on them - Descriptions and a hell of a lot of tagging (SOOOOOO BORING)

 

It's helpful to know that the facebook page within the website does nothing for SEO - Thats a shame, however I'm finding a lot of people are going to the updates/reviews page and then linking to facebook to look over more of our products (we're still uploading a lot of products) and checking out the reviews.

 

Most of our website visits come from Facebook/Google too. We're doing a lot of work on targeting the right people via Facebook to be honest.

 

When it comes to products, we've done the same as many of our professional competitors when it comes to categories etc. I'm a newbie website builder but its probably easier to get to our products than it is 80% of our competitors - We're also using better images.

 

Our visitors are relatively small at the moment with between 20-50 visitors a day (which isn't bad since the company and the website is less than 6 months old). We're still waiting for several directories to update their sites to our details (including Bing). On the activity log we're getting positive feedback which shows that people are searching around in each of the products to find what they want.

 

theres a few more SEO things we need to do - on each of the products. We're working on that but I believe the site is delivering what it needs to right now.

 

"Are you getting visitors to the site? Are they buying stuff? If you are getting visitors but not buying stuff then you need to change the site. If people are buying stuff focus on getting them to buy more. Related products, up-sells, product groups and so on."

 

You believe we need to change the site? We've sold a few items, not as many as I'd like but we're just in the process of building the website. We don't have enough products in my opinion.

Related products, up-sells and product groups is on the list of things to do - after uploading more products.

 

Also I do appreciate the feedback but looking at 5 pages and then telling me what you have above doesn't really help me much.

 

Thank you,

Edited January 21, 201610 yr by Jimmyrobby85

also

 

https://moz.com/blog/make-facebook-comments-box-indexable-by-search-engines

https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/206544007-Using-Facebook-with-Squarespace

 

Like I said I'm new to all this stuff so just trying to work it all out.

Edited January 21, 201610 yr by Jimmyrobby85

Ahoy!

 

I really wouldn't concern yourself with a blog right now, it's a lot of work and you're right to focus on the products. As for all those Facebook comments, it's a tough call. The problem is even though you have posted them they first appeared on Facebook and thus you're now 'second source', the content isn't fresh. Maybe use a random 'review' per product page? Just thinking it would cover the base of letting customers know you're good whilst reducing the risk of weak content. As for the site, I'm indifferent on design but have a few things I did spot you might want to look into.

 

URL Structure

I think this could be tighter, remember that parent > cat > sub-cat > product for breadcrumbs, url and more. By creating a hierarchy you can pass keywords down the line. I would try experimenting with...

 

Store > Wallpaper > Designer > Product

domain.com/store/wallpaper/designer/product-name

 

Duplicate Content - Based on some of the products I've looked at I think you might have a weak / duplicate issue with the introductions. The problem is to do with all wallpaper categories (and others) having the same introduction and it's not in an aside or common footer. Take a look here.

 

Just my 2 pence worth

Edited January 21, 201610 yr by BrowserBugs

Thank you Unhinged, that is actually really helpful.

 

Remember I'm new to this stuff, as you can see from newer products. I've started to do what you've just said in relation to the URLs.

 

Another thing to take into consideration is that this website has been made to back up an open store, we're not so much just trying to sell products online but build a wallpaper supply brand (that comes with time anyway)

 

All this kind of information helps though, in relation to the URL formats and the duplicate information. Lots of work for me to get on with

 

The duplicate content is something I need to work on, A lot of it is a copy and past for the pure reason which is all to do with the time I have available - another thing is I really don't know what to type for each product, especially those that come from the same collection/brand (I tend to have the same introduction) and I think I need that as I can't write an individual sell line for each product (I dont have the imagination or time lol)

Worked really hard on the tagging side (not sure how relevant that is though?) especially on the products.

Edited January 21, 201610 yr by Jimmyrobby85

You believe we need to change the site? We've sold a few items, not as many as I'd like but we're just in the process of building the website. We don't have enough products in my opinion.

I spend a lot of my time reviewing and assessing websites. I can tell within a few moments what needs changing on a site. With yours I knew by the second page.

 

You say you have sold a few items. By now you should be making 2-3 sales per day from your 50 visitors. You should them be working hard to increase this to 5-6 and then even more sales per day. The only way to increase sales is to change the site. It's not SEO you need, it's sales. Focus on what makes money not what brings in more visitors.

 

You say you have worked on descriptions. Can't see one on this page: http://www.homedecorhull.com/wallpaper/love-note

 

And all that tagging won't achieve a thing.

 

Work on the category pages. These are the ones Google will be looking for. The products pages aren't going to rank - there is just way too much competition. So focus on the things you can rank for - local decorations supplies rather than actual products.

 

I'll add some more pointers tomorrow but squarespace probably isn't the right platform for your business...

Edited January 21, 201610 yr by fisicx

Yes Lovenote, was one of the first products I put onto the website. I need to go over all the old products and update information on them (even if its just a quick sales line and information on the product)

 

I'll take your advice in relation to the categories though - Should I have some form of sales pitch/information details on each category section?

A quick paragraph?

 

I'm also thinking of creating some form of brand page, to show all the different brands we sell (not sure how to do this though)

 

On the updates/reviews page the reviews are a copy of the facebook review and written into squarespace so google should catch that informaiton.

 

How come tagging isn't helpful?

 

Most of our page visits are from local advertising/facebook to be honest. I've noted that a lot of people coming from google etc are typing

 

Wallpaper hull

home decor

and

Home Decor Hull

 

so we obviously aint getting a lot of new customers from our online presence.

 

I appreciate all the advice

 

Thank you

Edited January 22, 201610 yr by Jimmyrobby85

The big DIY and home decor stores have huge marketing budgets. They will be spending thousands on SEO and will dominate the SERPS for just about all the products you have on your site. Which means there is no point in trying to compete.

 

By all means list the products you have in store but don't bother with the shop. Provide a click and collect but don't try to sell paint.

 

What the site should do is market your local, family run, friendly store. Make it clear you are some huge chain, promote the personal service, local delivery, home visits and so on.

 

If you sell specialist equipment make a big deal out of this.

 

The searches show people are looking for shops like yours - so this is what you need to push.

 

Plan the project properly. Get your site structure organized, write the content, select the images, workout the navigation, the calls to action, the header and footer and everything else. The theme doesn't matter. If your content is good you will get people picking up the phone to ask about colouring in wallpaper or photo wallpaper.

 

Give people a reason to come to the store. Don't try to sell tins of paint online.

 

And for those readers who wonder what this has to do with web design: it has everything to do with web design. Web design is not really about code, or styling or colours. It all about the information you present to your potential customers. The layout is just a container for your content. As long as it's easy on the eye nobody really cares about your theme. Look at facebook, ebay or amazon - almost no bling - it's all about the content. There is a huge amount of design but it keeps you focused on the products - no distractions.

And for those readers who wonder what this has to do with web design: it has everything to do with web design. Web design is not really about code, or styling or colours. It all about the information you present to your potential customers. The layout is just a container for your content. As long as it's easy on the eye nobody really cares about your theme. Look at facebook, ebay or amazon - almost no bling - it's all about the content. There is a huge amount of design but it keeps you focused on the products - no distractions.

 

Amen!

That's great advice, now to try and work my project around it.

 

Need to work on getting our search up for photo wallpapers - we are also one of the few that supply a certain German chain of wallpaper.

We put the paint on to show we sell it but I think we're just going to change that to put available in-store (as is with the supplies)

 

I've got so much work to do on this bloody thing haha.

 

Thank you again your critique, it will be taken on board and changes will be made (when I can)

Edited January 23, 201610 yr by Jimmyrobby85

I've got so much work to do on this bloody thing haha.

 

This is the biggest understatement, make sure anyone else involved knows how much work it is to make a decent ranking site. All to often unrealistic timelines creep in from other parties in a business.

Oh the on-site stuff is only the half of it. If you're not willing to spend many 100s of hours doing this type of work get someone to do it for you.

 

Alongside the site - you need to do off-site SEO which has meant for me

 

Getting set up on multiple directories (ensuring they all have the same information) - Some of them are a pain.

Getting set up on Google and Bing (I should probably do a few others too) to ensure the business is registered to their sites - This takes some time on its own haha

Getting a Facebook page up and running - Active and advertising it non-stop for 3-4 months has got us to 1k likes (I'll be promoting more soon) We get a lot of website visits from our facebook page

 

off-line

Leafleting local areas with over 2k leaflets

local adverts and promotions

 

For anybody with a small business if you have the skills and you're eager to learn and work SUPER SUPER hard you might be able to set up a successful website (though I think it'll take years to get it going) and that'll mostly be to do with reputation. That's what we are trying to do.

 

If you have the money (Which we dont) I'd suggest spending a few thousand getting it right.

Edited January 25, 201610 yr by Jimmyrobby85

Good onsite SEO can trump most offsite for local searches.

 

Getting set up on multiple directories (ensuring they all have the same information) - Some of them are a pain. - Pointless - Google has devalued 99.9% of all directories

Getting set up on Google and Bing (I should probably do a few others too) to ensure the business is registered to their sites - This takes some time on its own haha - Pointless - the search engines will do their own thing

Getting a Facebook page up and running - Active and advertising it non-stop for 3-4 months has got us to 1k likes (I'll be promoting more soon) We get a lot of website visits from our facebook page - How many of those visitors converted? In any case, posting on Facebook won't help your SEO

Sorry wasn't just talking about SEO in my last post fisicx.

 

Facebook page brings us a lot of sales actually - some through the website but most visit the page/website then come in-store. The look of the website matters for that - professionalism

 

Neither Google or Bing do their own thing and actually it isn't pointless setting up the business accounts - it might not affect SEO but its really important for online presence. It updates your details onto Google maps (Inlcuding website, phone number and business name etc) so clicks from that kind of do help SEO as certain people will search for our shop.

 

When you have an open shop its not all about getting people to buy online, someone looking online and coming in-store to buy is also a win.

 

We are not trying to be just an online shop, we're trying to attract more into the store too - which is happening.

 

If we wanted to be competing online we'd pay, at the moment the website is paying for itself (facebook more) by getting people in purchasing items.

it all depends upon the nature of business. if you are in the field of services then its ok what ever is the source you have no concerned but if you are trying to get earning from traffic then you will have to focus on organic traffic. over all social media traffic is not bad.

Well, thats good, i think that for traffic, blog and facebook may generate traffic for a website. Best of luck

We're a wallpaper stockist - so we sell wallpaper/paints etc. Facebook is brill, twitter is ok. Pinterest is ****e, as is instagram (as far as I can see) tried google + which seems to be crap too lol

If you are posting on Facebook, then it will not affect your SEO. As you have said that you are getting relevant people from Facebook posts then you can continue facebook But if you want to improve visibility in search engines then you have to start a blog where you can share your experience, information posts, etc. People will also find your website through search engines. So in that way you will get traffic from both search engines as well as Facebook.

Facebook is one of the best social media sites. Which is used to reach targeted audience and get more engagement to your website.

On the off chance that you need to enhance your positioning you have to begin take a shot at your substance. That implies composing portrayals for everything. It additionally implies making classification pages with bunches of words on them. This is going to keep you occupied for quite a while. Composing item depictions isn't simple however it is 100% fundamental.

You additionally need to do a great deal of work on the site structures it takes excessively long to get to the item pages.

Is it accurate to say that you are getting guests to the site? It is safe to say that they are purchasing stuff? On the off chance that you are getting guests however not purchasing stuff then you have to change the site. In the event that individuals are purchasing stuff concentrate on inspiring them to purchase more. Related items, up-offers, item gatherings et cetera.

On the off chance that you compose a short article and just post it to web-based social networking, it will get covered as you posted more. It is amateurish to propose somebody go to your Facebook page and look through a stream of presents on locate a particular article. A blog makes it simple to discover past posts, so you can without much of a stretch allude individuals to them and connection to them from different parts of your site or from online networking stages, for example, Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. The simpler you make it for your customers to discover important data, the more they will esteem you, believe you and HIRE you!