My website just exists..need more hits from target markets

TechnoPimp

Hello all, this is my very first post. I`m beginning to think that my graphic design website needs a complete overhaul as far as keywords & meta tags and maybe some other areas. My site has been in existence for quite some time & the only calls I ever get are from other graphic designers seeking work. How can I generate more traffic from my target markets? Also I hear that webforms are good for extracting email addresses from people that visit my site in order for me to follow up with them. I`m using homestead as my website builder so if anyone knows something that I`m not doing, please advise.
 
Thanks so much!
 

www.LyfeProductions.com


 

Videography

You must like the colors blue and purple.Overall.  The colors suck.  I have no problem with an off-white on black, but dark purple on black is hard to read.  Add yellow (as on some of your other pages) and it really sucks.  Yellow and purple is really uncomfortable for some people to look at.  Home page - the text is all about you.  Wrong thing to put on your home page.  This is your only opportunity to get the viewer interested in looking at anything else in your site.  This is where you state the client`s problem and how you can solve it.  It can be as simple as "You need to Brand your business; I can do that for you".  It`s not about you, its about the client`s needs.Get rid of the horizontal scroll.  It adds nothing to the website and could be conceived as amateurish.There is no consistent style through your pages.  The text colors change, your logo (branding) should be on every page, preferably smaller.The 3D effect on the nav buttons are hard to read - they look out of focus and you should really do a mouseover change to highlight when the mouse is on a clickable button.What do the graphics on the left column have to do with your business?  Show some samples of your logo designs, not people at computers.Your portfolio is quite well done, your web pages should follow the same style.  The contrast is just too much.  Also, on your Contact page: get rid of the flying mailbox button.  Again, it adds nothing to your page and this one really does look amateurish.  Look, you`re selling yourself as a graphic designer, so design some knock-your-socks-off graphics for your website and link buttons.  Resorting to cheap motion GIF files doesn`t say "professional".There`s no About Us page?  Why should I hire you?Your "Answers" page is quite long.  Whom are you preaching to?  I would make it shorter.  I didn`t realize that your CD Business card image was a slide show until it finally loaded.  Not especially bad, but together they are so large (over 300Kb) that it takes a long time to load.  I would just do a montage image.

Webline

You do need a new website as far as recoding ... who built this? There is tons of hidden text in your index page, a definite SEO killer .... start with something coded properly .... I would venture you get nothing positive as far as search results.
BTW .... how to tell what your code is like if you didn`t write it? Right click a blank area of your page, then select `View Source" from the menu. OR, on your main page at the lower part that is solid black. left click your mouse and drag it around ... you`ll see the hidden text.

TechnoPimp

Thanks to all for the advice. Webline..I used homestead to build this site. I knew about the hidden text. I was told that hidden text was a "trick" that could be used to get picked up by the bots? How would you suggest that I recode everything? In Lamiens terms, not too html savvy.
Thanks.

Webline

It`s a trick that backfires ..... people do it as a form of keyword stuffing, and might fool bots for awhile, but they catch on and eventually you`re penalized for it ( this was the case in the recent past, I`m assuming it`s still the same ) .... one of the golden rules of site building that you don`t make sites for search engines, you make sites for people that are search engine friendly .... so don`t waste your time and potential traffic with text that only bots will read, but create content people will read.
You need to either find a template to base your site off of, or have one designed for you .... or learn html/css and all that and start from scratch..... the Homestead site builder creates horrid, bloated, ineffective and inefficient code; I`ve recoded a few Homestead-created sites before .... dump it for something I already mentioned.

Videography

..I used homestead to build this site.I recently switched to "WYSIWYG 5.0" to build my static sites.  It is a departure from other web site building SW, but it gives me everything I need and I picked up the interface quickly because it is so similar to Visual Baic (my favorite programming tool).  Best of all, it passes the W3C validation tests with only one  easily corrected error.  All the other low-priced programs that I evaluated had dozens or more errors.

googleguy

 I`m beginning to think that my graphic design website needs a complete overhaul as far as keywords & meta tags   There has been some recent postings about how SEO is easy and there is no need for professional help. I hope you dont mind, but I would like to use your site as an example for the typical "do-it-yourself" SEO issues we see over and over........ Lets just look at your meta-tag information. Here it is right off your websites code. keywords" content="multimedia, multimedia presentations, CD-ROM, business card cd, business card cds, business card cd-rom, business card cd-roms, cd business cards, cd-rom business cards, Lyfe, Lyfe Productions, audio, video, conversion, music, vhs, vhs to dvd, dvd, vcd, vhs to vcd, cd, dvd-r, dvd+r, dvd+rw, convert, convert to dvd, vhs-c, vhs-c converted to dvd, to dvd, video, jewel case, jewel cases, cd labels, service, musicians, vinyl to cd, vinyl, audiocassette to cd, Christmas card, Christmas Cards, Christmas card cd, Christmas Card CDs, CD Christmas Cards, CD Christmas Card, CD-ROM Christmas Card, CD-ROM Christmas Cards"> You have everything from audio to musicians to cd christmas card. Now, take a look at your home page. How many times do any of these "keywords" appear in your content?You have 1 paragraph of content. Here is the definition of a meta tag:A specific kind of HTML tag that contains information not normally displayed to the user. Meta tags contain information about the page itself In the SEO world, we use meta information to give the search engines an idea of what we want indexed. If it was as easy as just listing the "keywords"....everyone would have every keyword possible in their meta information. There needs to be a clear direction for everything you do for SEO. There needs to be some thought behind choosing an SEO strategy. Meta information is just one piece of the puzzle, you also must consider content, links, page descriptions, keyword density...on and on. So, you are actually hurting your search engine friendliness, instead of helping.....Here are just some of your issues..... 1) The "keywords" used as meta tags need to be more specific and must be narrowed down. You cant tell Google that your page is about "musicians" if its not. 2) You have no content!!! When Google or Yahoo send their spiders out to collect information about your site, what will they bring back?  Do you think the site would rank highly in their eyes for graphic design (which isn`t even one of your "keywords"). I hope you take this the right way....I hope it helps you and I wish you the best of luck! GO GET IT!!!!!!  http://www.searchmarketingsystems.net/googleguy8/21/2008 12:31 AM

nappygirl

Hello all,
This is Nappy girl.  This is my first time posting anything.  I am new to the community.  I am also looking for  ways to market my website on line.  I am looking for information and direction that will help me have better visibility when certain words are searched.  I spoke with Network Solutions about their product for marketing but I wanted to do more research.  I don`t want to commit to anything until I have done some research.  I have no knowledge of code.  So if there is something out there that is user friendly or if there is an inexpensive service available, please let me know.  Thanks.  My website is  www.naturalhair.orgnappygirl8/22/2008 2:04 PM

nappygirl

Thank you for suggestion.  How do I start a topic?
Nappy girl

vwebworld

Thank you for suggestion.  How do I start a topic?
Nappy girl

 
Hi, Just go to the forum category in which you want to make a post (web critique, marketing, etc) At the top of the list of posts there are two large buttons: "Post a new Topic" and "Create a Poll".  Just click "Start a new topic" and make your post and save.
 
~Roland
vwebworld8/25/2008 12:01 PM

nappygirl

Thank you so much for your speedy reply!