Proud Larry's Is Looking Real Good

Proud Larry's website has the right approach

(www.ProudLarrys.com)

One of the best designs in Oxford in my opinion!  There is a lot of websites in Oxford that have great design layouts and great marketing along with it and Proud Larry's website is on my top 5 list.

If you haven't stopped by their site lately then take a second and check them out.  Their newly design layout has a good touch of structure and design.  Being more of a music attraction you can see that is their main focus upon arriving.

I have A LOT of good things to say about Proud Larry's here is a list of a few great things that stood out to me:

• Has email marketing
• Great design
• Search bar
• Good URL structure
• Has Google Analytics
• Has a picture of the staff and the building
• Menu is on site rather than off site

Has email marketing

This is extremely important!  In order to get some value out of your website visitors an email opt in list is a MUST!  They have it in a great location which is above the fold and on the right side of the web page. The only down side is that it is only on the home page, stick it on all the web pages and that will drastically increase your opt ins.  *Remember: not all your visitors will arrive to the home page every time.  They may find your site while searching for concert pictures in Oxford, MS and that brings them to the photo gallery first. More on email marketing and the importance.. Click here

Great design

The design is laid out perfect.  The program this site uses is called Joomla and it is an user friendly CMS(content management system) which the design and layout for the most part is always easy on the eyes and functionality is great as well.  For another example of a CMS Joomla site visit OxfordSearch.com

Search bar

A search bar these days is important.  Why? because everyone searches, it's convenient.  The search bar is on every page as well which is also important.  The visitor at any given point may have a topic they want to find.  With the search bar being on every page this solves this problem. *Interested in the local search volume for "oxford ms restaurants"? Click this link for a full case study: Restaurant in Oxford MS search volume

Good URL structure

All the URL's on the Proud Larry's site have good structure.  This is due to the CMS which is used.  Joomla is a great user friendly management system and it is also liked by all the major search engines.

Has Google analytics

It does have Google analytics installed on every web page within their website.  Great plus here! Tracking your visitors, and using that data can help you increase your profits to a much higher level.

Has a picture of the staff and the building

This is ALWAYS good for any business website.  It's a must! Plan and simple.

Menu is on site rather than off site

Thank you! Not to many people do this.  Put your menu on your website, not in a pdf file.  This helps out with your content on your site.  More content equals more love giving in return from Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

With all the good about Proud Larry's site out of the way I would like to touch on just a few changes that need immediate attention.  Change the meta tags for the home page and on all the pages.  Insert the email opt in list on every page and get a location tab and insert Google Maps.

OVERALL RATING:  I give them a 8 and a hook! It would have been a 9 if the email opt in list was on every page.  Overall great website Proud Larry's!!

Jason is considered a top Internet marketing specialist for the local Internet Marketing company P.O.G. in Oxford Mississippi. To learn more visit: http://ProfitOptimizationGroup.com

Jason is considered a top Internet marketing specialist for the local Internet Marketing company P.O.G. in Oxford Mississippi. To learn more visit: http://ProfitOptimizationGroup.com

Ajax Diner in Oxford Needs a Website... That Can Be Found

**This post was originally written with the assumption that Ajax does not have a website.   Please excuse that assumption-- they actually do have a website (it's not too great... gives me an idea for a website critique).  However, it was soo hard to find their website on search engines that it is almost useless to have.  The point of having a website is to receive targeted traffic from it-- to get more customers.  If no one sees your website, what's the point?  Remember, a website is an asset; it should work for you.**

Everybody in Oxford loves to take a break from their diet and eat at Ajax every once in a while (sometimes too often).  It's by far the best home-style southern cooking in town... name something better and you will get an awesome prize.  However, just because the food's great does not mean that Ajax is doing everything right from a business standpoint.  Ajax desperately needs a website... people are basically asking for it (as you will see by search engine data below).

Ajax is obviously a very successful business with a loyal customer base which gives them all the more reason to have a website.  Every successful business needs a presence on the world wide web to complement their offline presence. 

So why does Ajax need a website?  Here's two good reasons:

1. Ajax receives tons of monthly searches on major search engines
2. Ajax can incorporate Email marketing into the site and bring in more customers
   

According to search volume trends on Google alone, Ajax is one of the most highly searched restaurants in Oxford.  There are on average about 837 Google searches each month related to Ajax (See other search engine volume for oxford restaurants).  That is significant online interest to say the least.  People want to visit Ajax's website... but of course, they do not have one so these interested customers are out of luck (and who knows, maybe they chose to eat somewhere else that day).  For the same reason that 208 in Oxford needs a website, so does Ajax-- PEOPLE ARE SEARCHING FOR THEM!  You can't be in a better position as a business-- having customers look for you... searching for you.  But, without a website Ajax is not there for those valuable customers.  Business owners must realize that people this day and time are using search engines more than we ever have... we are searching for anything and everything-- including YOUR BUSINESS!  You have to be there for those searchers/customers... enough said.

Time out: If you are interested in seeing search engine volumes related to Oxford, MS business categories visit the Local Search Volume page at P.O.G.

Email marketing.  I've written about it many many times before, but that's because it is so important for small businesses... especially restaurants.  If Ajax had a nice website with an area for visitors to "Sign Up For News and Specials" they could easily send out promotional emails to their customers that entice them to come in to eat lunch or dinner.  It definitely wouldn't hurt.  The great thing about Email Marketing is that it is permission-based --customers give you permission to market to them... doesn't get any better than that.  For this reason, customer responses to email marketing campaigns are much greater than traditional marketing avenues.  Put it this way:  if you were on Ajax's email list to receive "News and Specials" and they sent out an email that said "... Bring this email in (or show it on your smartphone) and receive a free appetizer with your meal (limit one per table).", wouldn't you likely go to Ajax to eat as opposed to somewhere else that didn't offer you a free appetizer... I think so.  It's all about treating customers right and rewarding them for being so rewarding to you... offer them a reason to come to your restaurant.  That is the power of Email Marketing --direct communication with customers that have asked for you to communicate (advertise) to them.

Those are two great reasons why Ajax needs a website, but given enough time I could probably think of a million more. 

Well it's getting to be lunch time so that's enough for now... Come to think of it, I think I want some Ajax... let me pull up their menu.  Oh, wait... I can't...

Adam is considered a top Internet marketing consultant for the local Internet Marketing company P.O.G. in Oxford Mississippi. To learn more visit: http://ProfitOptimizationGroup.com

Adam is considered a top Internet marketing consultant for the local Internet Marketing company P.O.G. in Oxford Mississippi. To learn more visit: http://ProfitOptimizationGroup.com

The Ravine Restaurant Needs Some Changes

Love the look, Not so much on the Marketing...

(www.OxfordRavine.com)

The Ravine in Oxford, Mississippi is by a long shot a great fine dining restaurant here in Oxford.  I love how you can get away from "the square" and get to feel the experience of being surrounded by a unique dining experience nothing like the usual dining in town.

The Ravine, along with the owner and chef Joel Miller, is on my top 3 best dining restaurants in Oxford and he continues to impress me each and every time I make a visit to the Ravine.

...Enough about the food and the dining experience

I'm here to critique the website...

Upon the arrival to the home page, I immediately look for a email opt in form.  Email marketing is extremely important to integrate these days if you have a restaurant website.  To learn more visit this link: Importance of an opt in list 

The goods and some minor changes:

1. Menu is on the website instead of a redirect to a pdf file.. this is good for the search engines. (I see so many restaurants that just have a pdf version of their menu... no good)
   
2. Love the photo gallery it's good to let your customers realize what kind of person you are outside of the restaurant, and the sneak peaks of the homemade favorites, ice cream and pasta is great!
3. Media page is good! The Facebook link is a good feature, but that needs to be on the home page and every page, add Twitter these days as well.
4. Guest rooms is great! But needs to have a place where your visitors can check for availability.
5. "Our Story" page is great to have on a website.. there needs to be a picture on this page.. of Joel and Cori, picture of the restaurant, or picture of Joel cooking in the kitchen, that would keep your visitors on this page longer, resulting in them reading the entire page of great content about the history of the Ravine.

The visitor counter at the bottom of the home page needs to go!

I know you might be saying well its good to see how much traffic you get and on what days it gets the most traffic.. etc..  That is good to know but not good to let your visitors see.  Back in 2000 this was popular, new technology these days allows you to track these stats and other detailed stats such as: where your traffic is coming from -- search engines, Facebook, Google, etc...; which keywords your visitors search for to find you on Google.. etc.

This feature is free and who better else to give something away for free.. yep.. you guessed it.. GOOGLE!  There is a tool called Google Analytics and this tracking code can be installed on all your pages within your website so it can track ALL your traffic.  Very important data to have and understand when owning a business website.  A simple analysis plus a minor change here and there can drastically increase your profits!

TIMEOUT! Important Fact Here: To View the Local Searches related to restaurants in Oxford, MS visit this link: Restaurants in Oxford Mississippi

Here's a screen shot of Bed and Breakfast searches on Google

(related to Oxford, MS)

Overall I give the Ravine's website a 6 and a hook!  The email marketing is important, the header image needs to be a clickable link to the home page and detailed analytics also needs to be added.

*Next time you find yourself wondering where to eat on Sunday.. Make a stroll out to the Ravine, you will not be disappointed.  I guarantee you will enjoy all the yummies they have on their menu!  On top of that I wish all the success to the Ravine in 2010!

Jason is considered a top Internet marketing specialist for the local Internet Marketing company P.O.G. in Oxford Mississippi. To learn more visit: http://ProfitOptimizationGroup.com

Jason is considered a top Internet marketing specialist for the local Internet Marketing company P.O.G. in Oxford Mississippi. To learn more visit: http://ProfitOptimizationGroup.com

Downtown Grill in Oxford MS Has Some Issues

Downtown Grill's Website Has Some

Good and Bad
(www.DowntownGrill.net)

       If you are a local Oxford native like me, you may have step foot into one of Oxford's premium Dining experiences on The Square. Downtown Grill Restaurant has been around for several years now and it sits in a prime location on the northwest side of downtown Oxford, MS. Serving both lunch and dinner it can sure hit the spot if you are looking for high quality food and dining atmosphere.


Enough of me propping up the restaurant, I'm not here to tell you how good the food is. I can leave that to the food columnists, (such as the well known and respective Oxford native John T. Edge) to handle all that.

We critique websites, and just so happens on this day Downtown Grill gets to be it. I'll give them a overall rating of 6 (scale of 1 to 10). The big hit they take is that there whole site is in flash and these days that is not cool for the BIG GUYS (Google, Yahoo, and Bing). Yep! I'm talking about the major search engines. If you don't know much about the importance of these big guns then I suggest you read this blog: Traffic, why it it so important

Upon arriving to their home page http://downtowngrill.net my first search is for a email opt in list. This day in time visitors to your business website is like having then step foot into your actual restaurant. Email marketing needs to be implemented into your marketing strategy. Come on people this is 2010!

1. Each page within their site is not indexed in Google (see video below for details).
2. Needs a name and email opt in list (this is called Email Marketing).
3. All flash - Not good these days, maybe 4 years ago.
4. No actual content
5. Although the flash looks good, still not good for search engines.
6. It is user friendly -- easy to navigate

People search these days, right? Well if you don't know by now Google is the #1 most visited website on the web. There are over 31 billions searches each month on Google alone and Google only makes up 60% of all searches on the whole Internet!

Facts about Downtown Grill Google searches each month:

1. downtown grill oxford ms - 170 searches a month
2. downtown grill oxford - 260 searches a month

Here's some screen shots:

 -------The overall point with this is they are getting searches for the term Downtown Grill which results into visitors to your page, why not put up an email opt in list on the home page.  Capture there name and email and they are customers for life basically.  Send them updates about the restaurant, throw out some coupons etc.  During these times of a bad economy the name of the game is getting new customers to set foot into your restaurant and this is an important factor.

I'm done here, more critiquing is in the video below... 

Jason is considered a top Internet marketing specialist for the local Internet Marketing company P.O.G. in Oxford Mississippi. To learn more visit: http://ProfitOptimizationGroup.com

Jason is considered a top Internet marketing specialist for the local Internet Marketing company P.O.G. in Oxford Mississippi. To learn more visit: http://ProfitOptimizationGroup.com