La Rousse Salon Can Use a New Style

Plain and Simple is NOT the Best Thing

(www.laroussesalon.com)

La Rousse Salon in Oxford, MS could use a new look.  Their business location is in a prime spot, being on The Square but with a prime spot of a professional business also needs to come with a professional website.  Your image is extremely important in business both offline marketing and online marketing.  Considering where technology is today and where it continues to be focused on in the future, the Internet can not and should not be overlooked by any profession.  With that being said... Here goes the critique of La Rousse Salon...

...Where should I start is a hard question to answer

The overall design is a key component in providing a professional image for your business website.  This is something that La Rousse lacks a lot of.  As soon as you land on the home page the thought of "great another one" meaning another business that has a lot of potential but lacks the image in profession when it comes to their web design.  As technology changes each year so does marketing and design.  You have to be on top of your game to stay alive during these rough times that our economy is going through.  An updated website is a *must* for La Rousse.  Head over to Bethany's Spa and Salon.. now this is an up to date Salon website.  Time for a change La Rousse Salon!

More content! More content!  Add some more content to the site and this will help out a lot.  Your visitors to your website will stay on your website longer resulting in educating your new potential customers about who you are and your staff.  Give us your story!  Your story is part of branding.  How did you come about?  What motivated you to start your business?  Believe it or not people (your customers) want to know this.

Location?  This is were Google Maps comes into play.  Have you seen their new feature? Street view?  You can actually see your business building on Google Maps now.  Add that to your site along with a location page.  This is a start for more content.  Here is the street view of La Rousse Salon Click Here

Your competitors are out doing you  What I mean by this statement is, your competitors like Bethany's Spa and Salon have higher search engine rankings for the search term "salons in oxford ms". Why is this?  Because their site is new and updated and they also have a lot more content on their website... Now do you see the importance of content for any business website?  I hope you do..  To show you proof here is a screenshot of the organic rankings for the search term "salons in oxford ms"

For More Search Volume Results Visit Salon Search Volume

La Rousse does out rank Bethany's for other search terms but not for long.. More content on a website will out do your site any day!  Bethany's will soon have a PR of 1 or 2 and that will put them over the top.  Sorry La Rousse if you don't act now and fast you will start to see your rankings drop on the search engines resulting to less customers.  I don't care about your location, locations is not the key factor now, it's SEARCH!  The convenience of search engines is now in the palm of your potential new customers hand. Every local business owner needs to be very aware of this new technology and how to take action and act now before it's to late.

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

Addy Photography... What's Going On?

 (addyphotography.net)

I see this a good bit.  A small business owner finally decides that he/she does in fact need a website in order to convey professionalism.  So, he takes step number one and heads on over to Godaddy.com to purchase the website domain name.  Great.  Next step.  "Wow, Godaddy provides a free site builder with the purchase of a domain name and a hosting agreement??  Wow! I can build my own website now... thanks Godaddy," the business owner thinks to himself.  Probably not a good idea because the business owner is now going to end up with something similar to addyphotography.net.  Take a look for yourself.  Does this convey professionalism?  You tell me...

I'll take it easy on this one because it is obvious enough that this site is in great need of some major design work.  It is obvious that this website is not an asset to Addy Photography... I doubt it brings in any sort of leads.  If anything, this website is a hindrance to Addy Photography.  Not good.

Here is why Addy Photography needs a major website upgrade...

1. People are asking Google for "photographers in oxford ms"
2. Addyphotography.net has good rankings on Google's Local Map

There is significant search volume related to "photographers in oxford ms"
The number one reason why any business needs to invest in a website is because people are likely using search engines to find what that business has to offer.  That is the beauty of search engine marketing... customers find the business; NOT the business find customers.  In the case of Addy Photography, there are ten keyword phrases that potential customers are typing into Google that are related to their business.  On average, there are about 376 searches on Google each month that are related to "photography in oxford ms"... people are basically asking to do business with Addy Photography.  But will they?  Will they do business with Addy Photography if the first image of Addy that the potential customer has is addyphotography.net?  Likely not.  The customer is likely to move on until he/she finds a more appealing website.  We are all drawn to beauty and appeal.  Addyphotography.net has neither beauty nor appeal. 

*See more local search volumes for your business category here

Google's Local Map Rankings
The Google Local Map is obviously in a prominent location within search results... it's right there above the fold for everyone to see.  For this reason, the Local Map can be a massive traffic generator for small businesses.  The good news for Addy Photography is that they have good Local Map rankings... type in "photography oxford ms" and you are likely to see Addy Photography listed beside the Local Map.  The bad news is that since their website is not appealing, they are not going to be able to retain the traffic that the Google Local Map sends their way... people are going to immediatly rush for their browser's back button.  Not good.

Sure, there are plenty of free website templates and many point-and-click website builders out there.  But, honestly, they are a joke and definitely do not deserve to be the face of your online presence.  I'm pretty sure that we can all use a hammer, but that doesn't mean we build our own homes. If, God-forbid, I ever need major legal council, I won't be representing myself... although that is perfectly legal.  You see, some things are better left to professionals and when it comes to your businesses website, the same is true.  I am completely aware that many small businesses have limited budgets when it comes to such things as websites and other marketing expenses, but this day and time it is too important to overlook.  You wouldn't cut corners when it comes to your business's physical appearance, so why cut corners with your online appearance?

People are using Google to find your products and services; if and when they do find your website, the look and feel of your website will determine if that person actually stays on your site (and eventually becomes a customer).  The last thing you want as a website owner is for someone to immediately look for the back button when they land on your website... "Get me out of here!!"  REMEMBER:  the whole point of having a website in the first place is so that it is an asset for your business.  Let it work for you... not against you.

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

Animal Care Center in Oxford Mississippi

Trust Me, Black and White is Not in Style

(www.Animal-Care-Center.com)

This style website will not grab your visitors attention.  Black and white websites are just not, how can I put this in a nice way, effective.  Effective meaning, upon the arrival of a visitor to your site the likely hood of them becoming your customer is pretty slim.


Your site needs to look professional.  You are a professional business man or women so that means your website is also reflected as your personal image as well.  If your site doesn't look professional than who would think that you are too.


This critique is going to be short and to the point!  There is a lot of serious problems that need to be addressed here and I don't want this post to turn into a short story.  Below is some issues that the Animal Care Center in Oxford, MS needs to change.

• Get rid of the black and white
• Needs email marketing
• Google analytics has to be installed
• Adjust the alignment, Center would be the idea here
• Integrate Google Maps(street view is a cool feature to have)
• Needs a picture of the staff and location on home page
• Meta tags on all pages

So I'm only going to touch on a few of these... The whole design would be the first issue to resolve.  Seriously, black and white?  At least center your website.. A professional website can reflect a professional image of your business.  They are like peas and carrots.  They just go hand in hand.

Meta tags and Google analytics would be step two.  Correct meta tags will help your search engine rankings and Google analytics will help you monetize your traffic for more customers and profits.

All together, this site needs to be scratched and remodeled!

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

Elite Furnishings Website... Not So Elite

(elitefurnishingsofoxford.com)

Elite Furnishings is a new furniture store in Oxford located in a prime location on the square.  I've personally never shopped at Elite Furnishings but I have passed by many times and from the looks it appears to be high end merchandise... it's definitely no Cheapo Depot.  Also as their name implies, they obviously cater to the "elite" customer.  So, if this is the image that Elite Furnishings is trying to convey, they certainly are not extending that image to their website.  I'll just be honest about this one -- there is nothing elite about Elite Furnishings website.

Here is what I notice when I look at the website:

1. It just looks cheap -- there is absolutely nothing custom about this website
2. The free Flash player extends beyond the margin
3. Terrible search engine rankings for main keywords
4. No Sitemap
5. Hitcounter Should Be Axed

Elite Furnishings Website Looks Cheap.
From the "Create a free slideshow with Picnik!" to the "Free CSS Templates", everything on this website screams, "Cheap!".  However, I bet their furniture isn't cheap, so their website definitely shouldn't convey cheap... but it does.  I can't say it enough, "A businesses online presence is just as important as their offline presence".  A business website should work for you, not work against you.

The Flash Player Extends Beyond the Margin.
Take a look and you will notice that the flash player just doesn't fit in the template.  For any half experienced web developer this could be fixed in less than 5 minutes.  Besides not fitting in the template, the flash element needs to be custom, rather than just a free plugin by Picnic.  This flash slideshow looks like it belongs on somebody's Myspace profile, not on a business website... especially a business that calls themselves elite.

Terrible Search Engine Rankings For What Should Be Their Main Keywords.
According to Google search volume related to furniture in Oxford, MS there are about 485 searches each month on Google alone.  As the image below shows, Elite Furnishings is missing out on some very powerful keywords.  People that are searching for "furniture oxford ms" are obviously potential customers for Elite Furnishings.  However, those people that search for furniture in Oxford will not find the Elite Furnishings website because the website is not in the first 1000 results for any of these keywords on any major search engine!  That's terrible.  Elite Furnishings is missing out on some customers.  What's the point in owning a website if nobody is going to be able to find it on search engines?  Search engine traffic is the most valuable source of traffic and Elite Furnishings is getting none from these essential keywords.  Write it down, that's a fact.

No Sitemap.
Elite Furnishings has 130 indexed pages on Google and therefore they need an XML sitemap.  With that many pages, search engines want to see a sitemap so that they can easily find every page on the website.  This simple change would definitely help boost Elite Furnishings terrible search engine rankings (although there is much more involved to get good search engine rankings... but a sitemap helps).

Ax the Hitcounter.
Honestly, nobody cares how many visitors your website has received, plus hitcounters are not accurate anyways.  If you want detailed traffic analysis then have your webmaster install an analytics code on your site so that you can monitor your website visitors rather than showing that information to the public.


The moral of this story is that business owners can't cut corners when it comes to their businesses online presence.  A website is an extension of the business and the last thing people should think about is how cheap the site looks.  Cheap is definitely not the message that you want your online presence to convey.  I understand that businesses need to watch their expenses, but a professional website is surprisingly inexpensive these days (at least with P.O.G.).

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 Oxford Center Has Major Website Problems

Is it theoxfordcenter.com, theoxfordcenter.net, drwooten.net, or is it oxforddentalcare.com?

(www.theoxfordcenter.com)

How many domain names do you need for your business website? Answer is very simple, 1!

Having more than one is extremely bad for you website.  Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines down grade you when you have more than one domain.  This is called duplicate content.  Each domain name has the exact same content.

If you do not understand what I am trying to say, open up two different browsers on your computer, on one type in the domain name drwooten.net and the other theoxfordcenter.com.  Each site will be exactly the same, each page will have the exact same content.  Even the url structure is the same.

I honestly have a list of over 15 things wrong with this website(websites) but I will only touch on the top 10 major, major issues here.

1. Duplicate content (very bad for search engines)
2. No email marketing
3. Is paying for traffic rather than free(organic) traffic
4. Has no tracking analytics
5. More than one domain name
6. URL structure of the site is way off track
7. Has no sitemap(Google doesn't know the exist basically)
8. Home page scares me!
9. Need to integrate Google Maps not Yahoo maps
10. Is on page 3 when you type in "dentist in oxford ms"..competitors are killing you there

Duplicate content:

I touched on this briefly in the beginning of this post.  Have the same exact content on more than one domain name is bad for a domain names reputation.  Scratch and delete all by one domain name and stick with that ONE and Google and other major search engines will start showing you some love.

No email marketing:

This is a simple concept here.  Stick a email opt in list on your home page, and every page within your website.  Once a visitor opts in then they are your customer for life.  For the most part, if someone gives you their name and email address this means they like you, they are interested in your services.  For more information about email marketing visit this link: Importance of Email Marketing

Paying for traffic rather than free traffic

When you type in the keyword "dentist in oxford ms" into Google theoxfordcenter.net shows up in the paid search column on the right hand side rather than the organic column underneath the google map.  There you will find all of the oxford center's competition (ex. oxforddental.com and faresedental.com) this is where you want to be.  Instead of paying for your clicks to your website you are getting your clicks for free.  Who doesn't want free traffic?

Has no tracking analytics

I say this knowing that they don't have Google's traffic tracking analytics.  In this day in time you have to have this installed(embedded) into each web page within your website.  What does this do?  It will track where your traffic comes from and how much traffic you receive. More on traffic click here: Traffic, Why It Is Important

More than one domain name

This can be explained very well, have only ONE DOMAIN NAME.  That clear enough for ya?  Redirects and cloaking domain names is a whole new ballgame.  Just stick with the basics, you are a local business that does not need to get fancy.

URL Structure is out of track

Kind of hard to touch on this subject without confusing you... here is what the "Meet The Staff" URL looks like right now, theoxfordcenter.com/view/22 .... a proper URL structure should look like this, theoxfordcenter.com/meet-the-staff .. you see the difference?  Being granular with the page titles within your website is very important.  If you don't take care of this then search engines will slap you.

Has no sitemap

This too does not help your relationship with all the search engines.  Here's the best way to explain why a sitemap is important.  When you build a house you have a foundation, your plumbing, electricity, your walls, and a roof, you have to structure your house properly for it to stay standing up.  This is the same with a website.  Each webpage on your website has to all be connected somehow.  With a sitemap it connects the dots for you.  I hope I didn't lose you on that one.  Basically you have to have a sitemap in order for your website to stay alive.

Home page scares me

Upon arriving to the home page you are greeted with a mouth.  Who wants to see a mouth and teeth when arriving to a website.  I know you are saying well this is a dental website but wouldn't you want to see a full body picture of the whole staff smiling or even a picture of the location(the building).  Toss the mouth and teeth and be normal and put up a picture of the entire staff or the building location.

Get rid of Yahoo Maps

Who uses Yahoo Maps?  Answer is, no one!  If you can put a Google link on your website than DO IT!  Besides Google Maps has the street view, have you not seen that yet?  It blows Yahoo out of the water!  Scratch Yahoo and use everything related to Google.  If you do, they will start giving you high fives.

Ranking for the keyword "dentist in oxford ms"

theoxfordcenter.com is on page number 3 for this search term.  You think anyone actually goes past page one to find a local dentist in Oxford, MS?  ummm NO!  Get rid of all but one domain name, get your URL structure right and you will be on page one.  It is that simple. Below is search volume for related keywords of dentist in oxford ms

***Hold Up! Like seeing these numbers, there's more... you can see ALL searches related to Oxford MS businesses just visit Local Search Volume page at P.O.G.

Thanks for sticking to the end here!  I really don't have anything good to say about this website.  Maybe next time!

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

University Sporting Goods... Not So Good

(www.rebelfever.com)


Here we go again.  Another example of inadequate web design in Oxford, MS... University Sporting Goods.  The University Sporting Goods website is, to be blunt, awful.  I don't even believe that it would pass as mediocre web design in 1994... sorry (I'm not being rude - it's just how I see it... along with everyone else).  Let me tell you, this e commerce website really makes me want to pull out my credit card and go to town... No, seriously, I doubt University Sporting Goods has ever received an online order.  However, a few design changes and a more modern look could change that.

Here are some things that I notice right off the top of my head:

1. Graphics and Styles are Awful
2. The whole layout is in frames
3. E commerce layout is not user-friendly

Awful Graphics and Styles.
Honestly I would expect University Sporting Goods to have great graphics on their website considering that they employ some of the best graphic designers in all of Oxford.  That just goes to show that graphic designers are not necissarily web developers (and vice versa).  Take a look at the header and menu and tell me if you think it looks like something to show off.

The text styling on this website is a headache.  I am all for school spirit, but honestly, red and blue text EVERYWHERE??  Furthermore, the text is center aligned everywhere... not good.

Framed Layout
Every page in the University Sporting Goods website is a frame.  This means that pages are built into another page basically.  If you take a look at the website and click on any link then the URL does not change.  For instance, if you were to choose the menu item "Tailgating" the page that you are taken to is a subset of the homepage... notice that the URL remains constant at http://www.rebelfever.com/ rather than a more search-engine friendly URL of http://www.rebelfever.com/tailgating.  I know that most people are going to say, "Why does that even matter?  I still get to access the page that I want to see."  That may be true, but from a design and development aspect it is inferior.  Not to mention that from a search engines viewpoint it appears that all pages are the same... same title, same meta descriptions... not good at all.  Each page should have a unique keyword-rich title and meta description... SEO 101.

The E commerce Layout is not User-friendly
As I mentioned before, I doubt that University Sporting Goods has ever received an online order... well that is because the ecommerce aspect of the site looks out-of-date and untrustworthy.  I would be skeptical to put my credit card digits in this site for fear that my identity would be immediately stolen.  Overlooking the fact that the ecommerce portion of the site is outdated, the layout is anti user-friendly.  There should be a category menu on every single page of the ecommerce store so that users can easily browse from one category to the other.  Also, it would be nice to be able to browse items by price, size, gender, etc...


If I was Pat Patterson, I would cut the cord on this website... especially since people actually see it (embarrassing).  Check out the volume of searches on Google that are related to University Sporting Goods:

Look at that! That is an average of 533 monthly searches for terms related to University Sporting Goods on Google alone (not including the other major search engines such as Yahoo or Bing).  Volume like this makes the current website scream, "Stop! Don't let them see me!"

University Sporting Goods has a great reputation; their customer service is second to none in Oxford.  However, their website is last to all at the moment.  I can't say it enough, "This day and time, a company's online presence is just as important as their offline presence."  This is true because people are searching searching searching... the numbers don't lie.  A fresh new website design would do wonders for the image of University Sporting Goods, and who knows, maybe even some online sales.

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

Oxford Floral Website Critique

(www.oxfordfloral.com)

*Warning* This post could get long... I could critique the Oxford Floral website all day long.

Wow.  What is there not to say about Oxford Floral's website?  This is the quintessential definition of poor quality web design.  In fact, Oxford Floral's website is so bad I would venture to say that it could be the worst in town (which is ashamed considering the great reputation of this company).  If you take a look at Oxford Floral's slogan it says, "Serving Oxford, Mississippi and the South since 1924"... It might as well say, "If the Internet was around in 1924, we would be the only destination".

It really is that bad.  Let's point out some things that I see off the top of my head:

1. Awful color variations on different pages... it is almost blinding (this screams BACK BUTTON!)
2. No Opt-In List for Email Marketing
3. Very little HTML content on Homepage
4. No top menu structure 
5. Poor Meta description
6. No use of Heading tags
7. Online Store is way out of date 

Color Variation
When a visitor arrives at Oxford Floral's website the first thing he/she is going to notice is the bright background color.  But, we do not know what background color the visitor is going to get because the website has some weird thing going on that brings up a random (annoying) color every time the user refreshes the page... this feature would have been cool in 1996.  Not anymore.

These bright colors scream for the visitor to bailout of the website by clicking their browser's back button which will result in this site have a very high bounce rate and a low average time on site.

The Many Colors of Oxford Floral

No Opt-In
For a company such as Oxford Floral that has many loyal customers their website could really use an opt-in form in order to collect customer email addresses for an email marketing campaign.  Personally I believe email marketing would work great for a local florist and gift shop.  No doubt that Oxford Floral has a huge database of customers... why not take advantage of that and keep the customers informed about updated inventory?  The bottom line: Email marketing definitely couldn't hurt. If anything, it is going to bring people back into the store more often.


Lack of HTML Content on the Homepage
This one is obvious. There is such little text on the homepage that it makes it difficult for search engines to actually know what the site is about.  I would definitely recommend adding a brief keyword-rich blurb about the company in order for search engines to better index the site. 

No Top Menu Structure
This website should certainly have an "About Us" page, "Our Location" page, and a "Contact Us" page in a menu at the top of the site above the fold so that visitors can actually find these pages.  Right now if you wanted to find out where Oxford Floral's location is, you would have to navigate to the bottom of the page in order to find the "Find Us" link... most people are not going to see this.  If you did actually find the "Find Us" page (http://www.oxfordfloral.com/?page=find), the first thing you would see is an outdated image of an Oxford map... I think it's time for an embedded Google map so that people can actually find the store.

Poor Title and Meta Description
For those of you that know how to view a website's source, one of the first thing you will notice is the poor title tag and meta description that this website uses.  The title tag and description simply reads, "Oxford Floral Company"; The title and description should be much more enticing and keyword-rich.  Also, I have noticed that every single page on the site uses the same title and meta description... this is not good at all from a search engine standpoint.  Each page should have a unique title and description... SEO 101.

No Use of HTML Heading Tags
Another thing one will notice when they view the source of the website is that it does not take advantage of Heading tags.  Again, this is SEO 101... adding a few keywords in H1 and H2 tags could possibly increase the organic rankings of the site.  Small changes like this can do wonders for a local business website.

Online Store Out of Date
It is obvious that Oxford Floral's online store is way out of date.  Not only is it old, but I bet it hasn't been updated in years (they probably do not even carry some of the stuff that is on the site anymore... which wouldn't matter, because I bet no one has purchased anything off of the site... ever).  That's all I will say about the online store; it's just old.


As I mentioned, I can go on and on about the poor quality of Oxford Floral's website... It's bad, really bad.  The sad thing is that this website actually gets some decent traffic... it's sad because if I owned this website, I actually wouldn't want any traffic -- I wouldn't want anyone to see it.  Take a look at these search stats from Google:

Wow. The company branded term "Oxford Floral" gets an average of 29 searches a day!  That's about 870 searches each month!  So, at least that many people are interested in visiting Oxford Floral's website... I would definitely say it is time for a major upgrade in the web design department.

It sometimes amazes me how some companies forget that their online presence this day and time is almost as important as their offline presence.  A well-designed and up-to-date website never hurts a companies image, but it definitely can help. 

Here's the bottom line:  Oxford Floral is a reputable local Oxford business... it's time that their website convey that same quality reputation (especially since so many people are searching for them on major search engines.

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