Would anyone mind taking a look at our website?

Get some feedback on your site or ad from other rental owners and techies. Also a library of online resources so you can make DIY improvements to your web presence.
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yourlamanga
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Location: La Manga Del Mar Menor, Costa Calida, Murcia, Spain
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Post by yourlamanga »

Thanks again for all the help, I will show your latest comments to my husband and have him reply. :D
"There are two seasons in Scotland: June and winter.” - Billy Connolly

http://www.yourlamanga.com/index.php
http://bit.ly/aGbQ6n - Homelidays
http://bit.ly/c7O4O9 - HR
http://twitter.com/yourlamanga - Twitter
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yourlamanga
Posts: 161
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Location: La Manga Del Mar Menor, Costa Calida, Murcia, Spain
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SEO by IP?

Post by yourlamanga »

Garri wrote:
yourlamanga wrote:
1) Re "Google does not use meta-tags" I maybe should have said "Keywords". Some SEO guys believe this too i.e
Yes, I guessed that is what you meant (see my earlier comment)
yourlamanga wrote: 2) Geo-Tags, Google may not use them just now but certainly Bing does. There's evidence that Google may use them more-so in the future. Having said that, if I type in "Taxi" to Google, how come I get local taxi companies, how does it know where I live?
Perhaps it's taking it from your IP?

I think there's strong evidence that Google will use geotags as it fits in nicely with Google Maps and search in general. Are they not using them now? I'm surprised about that.

If Google search results are dictated by your IP then for argumanents sake lets assume that someone in Spain wanted to book a rental apartment in La Manga. What would make my site come up? I would guess some factors would be:

1) Get the business address placed on Google maps (i.e the rental apt address) link to this map from the website. Put the co-ordinates into the meta-tags.

2) Set the language on the meta tags to amongst other things "Spanish".

3) Add Google translate to the website - just for safety.
"There are two seasons in Scotland: June and winter.” - Billy Connolly

http://www.yourlamanga.com/index.php
http://bit.ly/aGbQ6n - Homelidays
http://bit.ly/c7O4O9 - HR
http://twitter.com/yourlamanga - Twitter
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yourlamanga
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Wordpress

Post by yourlamanga »

OK, many, many thanks guys for all your help on the SEO side, looks like we've all gained something out of this, looks like I will be deploying wordpress this week...

(My 11 year old has just gotten a diploma in web design and I was going to move him onto CSS next but now i'm thinking Wordpress might be the way to go so that in 5 yrs time his qualifications will be relevant!)

Moving away from SEO now and just looking at the *purpose* of the website i.e to secure interest and get a booking, if it were you what other info would you want from a site like ours?
"There are two seasons in Scotland: June and winter.” - Billy Connolly

http://www.yourlamanga.com/index.php
http://bit.ly/aGbQ6n - Homelidays
http://bit.ly/c7O4O9 - HR
http://twitter.com/yourlamanga - Twitter
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Garri
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Re: Wordpress

Post by Garri »

yourlamanga wrote: (My 11 year old has just gotten a diploma in web design and I was going to move him onto CSS next but now i'm thinking Wordpress might be the way to go so that in 5 yrs time his qualifications will be relevant!)
To really get the best out of WP he will need to know the basics: CSS and HTML first; WordPress second and that will include PHP.

Your website in its current form wouldn't inspire me to give you a booking, it doesn't 'communicate' anything to me, for many of the reasons stated in this thread.
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yourlamanga
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Re: Wordpress

Post by yourlamanga »

Garri wrote:
yourlamanga wrote: (My 11 year old has just gotten a diploma in web design and I was going to move him onto CSS next but now i'm thinking Wordpress might be the way to go so that in 5 yrs time his qualifications will be relevant!)
To really get the best out of WP he will need to know the basics: CSS and HTML first; WordPress second and that will include PHP.

Your website in its current form wouldn't inspire me to give you a booking, it doesn't 'communicate' anything to me, for many of the reasons stated in this thread.
Thanks Garri, looks like we've got a fair bit of work ahead of us still. To be honest most of the wording etc was put on when we were quite unfamiliar with the area ourselves but now we really should be better placed to put together a more informative, interesting website. Thinking it might be better to put this to bed for a couple of weeks to let us work on it and if nobody minds I can resurrect the thread again and look for comments on the updated site?

This has been really useful so far and has give us the push that we need to bring the website more up to date. Will be back soon! :D
"There are two seasons in Scotland: June and winter.” - Billy Connolly

http://www.yourlamanga.com/index.php
http://bit.ly/aGbQ6n - Homelidays
http://bit.ly/c7O4O9 - HR
http://twitter.com/yourlamanga - Twitter
waikoloa
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Post by waikoloa »

I did not read through all the reviews, but what stuck out to me is that the header looks a little generic. Also there is way too much text underlined on the page. That is bad for two reasons, it is not that appealing to the eye and underlined words are typically now known to be links, which they are not. I know bolding words, etc is good for seo, but at the same time it has to look good. If you have your main keywords bolded on the home page once google knows what your page is about from that.
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yourlamanga
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Post by yourlamanga »

waikoloa wrote:I did not read through all the reviews, but what stuck out to me is that the header looks a little generic. Also there is way too much text underlined on the page. That is bad for two reasons, it is not that appealing to the eye and underlined words are typically now known to be links, which they are not. I know bolding words, etc is good for seo, but at the same time it has to look good. If you have your main keywords bolded on the home page once google knows what your page is about from that.
Thanks, unfortunately the website hasn't moved on any since starting this thread, we've had the best of intentions but have been running round like headless chickens over the last couple of weeks, other work commitments pushing this to the back of the queue.

I know what you mean about the underlining etc though, I raised this with my husband and he mentioned the SEO thing. He has made his own site for another business he runs which is here http://www.passivepropertywealth.co.uk/index.php and used some of the same 'tricks' with underlining, bolding etc and the site has generated many enquires however it's a different market from the holiday site and I do agree with you that the holiday site needs to be far more appealing to the eye.
"There are two seasons in Scotland: June and winter.” - Billy Connolly

http://www.yourlamanga.com/index.php
http://bit.ly/aGbQ6n - Homelidays
http://bit.ly/c7O4O9 - HR
http://twitter.com/yourlamanga - Twitter
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Garri
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Post by Garri »

yourlamanga wrote: Thanks, unfortunately the website hasn't moved on any since starting this thread, we've had the best of intentions but have been running round like headless chickens over the last couple of weeks, other work commitments pushing this to the back of the queue.
You've lost momentum and it seems to me that you actually have no intentions of taking on board any of the great advice you've received here. As you say, your SEO 'tricks' have been working on another site, so why change it?

Personally, I'd like to see Google and other search engines penalise sites that use these sort of tricks.
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yourlamanga
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Post by yourlamanga »

Garri wrote:You've lost momentum and it seems to me that you actually have no intentions of taking on board any of the great advice you've received here. As you say, your SEO 'tricks' have been working on another site, so why change it?

Personally, I'd like to see Google and other search engines penalise sites that use these sort of tricks.
:shock: I'm sorry but this is where you are completely wrong! :shock: For what it's worth there have been two evenings this week when I haven't even managed dinner, I shouldn't have to justify myself but we are extremely busy at the moment. To be honest I feel quite hurt by this comment. It's not a case of what is working on one website working on another, I have stated myself that they are two different types of website. We have had our holiday apartment website in some form or other in the three years we have had our apartment and the site has not been working for us. Neither myself or my husband are web designers however my husband read loads of books and created a website for his other business, I was merely trying to explain why we had all the underlined words as this is what he had done in his other site and it works for his other site as his other site does not rely on looking attractive. I have not once said that because it works for his other site then it will work for yourlamanga. :?

I am currently waiting for a chance for both myself and my husband to sit down (easier said than done) and go over the website together, he has more technical knowledge than I do but I am more of a words person.

At the moment he has downloaded Wordpress as recommended on LMH and has been looking into how you use it as a tool, this and all other advice we have been very grateful for. I have been concentrating more on our paid and free advertising on listing sites and answering numerous enquiries from potential renters.

I know that the review my website section of this site has been abused by others in the past but please do not tar us with the same brush, we are very grateful for all the advice and are planning on implementing it at the earliest opportunity when I fully intend resurrecting this thread and asking for further opinions. We work very hard in this house and also have two young children, Rome wasn't built in a day as they say, please be a little bit patient with us. :(
"There are two seasons in Scotland: June and winter.” - Billy Connolly

http://www.yourlamanga.com/index.php
http://bit.ly/aGbQ6n - Homelidays
http://bit.ly/c7O4O9 - HR
http://twitter.com/yourlamanga - Twitter
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Garri
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Post by Garri »

Well, everyone is busy and everyone works hard, and some us also have (small) children.

Reviews work best, in my opinion, when action is taken swiftly and momentum is built. Otherwise it's counter-productive because when you're ready to take action, everyone has to get up to speed and re-read the thread.

The moment is lost and the 'machine' has to be cranked up again.

You run a business, so you must realise how important 'momentum' is (it's a nuance that few people get)
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yourlamanga
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Post by yourlamanga »

Garri wrote:Well, everyone is busy and everyone works hard, and some us also have (small) children.

Reviews work best, in my opinion, when action is taken swiftly and momentum is built. Otherwise it's counter-productive because when you're ready to take action, everyone has to get up to speed and re-read the thread.

The moment is lost and the 'machine' has to be cranked up again.

You run a business, so you must realise how important 'momentum' is (it's a nuance that few people get)
With all due respect my husband took a lot of time out of his usual work schedule to bring the website up-to-date in the best way that he could according to his ability. He requested that I put the site, he had anticipated some tweaks here and there would be needed but hadn't realised how far out he was. He has behaved in a very non-egotistical way and has taken on board all your comments as I say and is willing to completely redo the website in WordPress form. However we have not had the chance yet and while I agree with you about momentum he has had to pick up the momentum again with his other businesses which pay the month to month bills. There are only 24 hours in the day and whichever way you want to look at it we are overstretched at the moment.
"There are two seasons in Scotland: June and winter.” - Billy Connolly

http://www.yourlamanga.com/index.php
http://bit.ly/aGbQ6n - Homelidays
http://bit.ly/c7O4O9 - HR
http://twitter.com/yourlamanga - Twitter
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