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Please critique my first website

by captainbohica
21 replies
Hi Everyone...

Well im finally comfortable with my first site to the point where im ready to ask for a critique. I have my flame suit, cup and helmet on so im ready to take whatever you want to dish out lol.

www dot asthmareliefhq dot com

free theme, which i love... the three articles on there were written by one of our own - Evan - UndergroundX - which im very happy with..

so.. thoughts?

my initial thoughts while looking at it again...

-does the homepage need to be changed? is it bad to put a 'pre-sell' type of page on the front?

-right side widget: the "read more" widget is a text/html widget. should i change that to the pages widget instead?

-articles vs blog: i went the articles/pages route after reading the thread by gpower2 (i think.. off the top of my head)

any and all constructive criticism is appreciated.

Thanks everyone!
#critique #website
  • Profile picture of the author webapex
    I didn't notice specific reference to your mail list opt in, anywhere in your privacy statement.

    Contents a little thin at this point. Some say 10 pages min is needed for any ranking.

    You certainly want to get rid of the meta links.
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    • Profile picture of the author captainbohica
      Originally Posted by webapex View Post

      I didn't notice specific reference to your mail list opt in, anywhere in your privacy statement.

      Contents a little thin at this point. Some say 10 pages min is needed for any ranking.

      You certainly want to get rid of the meta links.
      thanks for the feedback. i have some work to do obviously.

      but in regards to your last point... where/what are the metalinks and why do i want to get rid of them?
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      • Profile picture of the author AJD101
        1- Meta tags you will find in your widgets in wp admin, just remove the box from the sidebar
        2-Content is fine but needs more. I would be tempted to add the articles as pages for now and move your about, privacy and content to the footer.
        3- Main image on front page is not hyperlinked to offer. that's what i tried to click first and so will lots of other people.
        4- File images are obviously too small as they are blurry when you insert them. could ask the CB vendor for original ones.
        5- No real call to action. I would put a CTA immediately before your Dramatic Asthma Relief Report headline as this is above the fold.
        6- your article pages also need to contain a all to action and download link above the fold.
        7- make the bonus section a bit more exciting

        In my experience you can get traffic but you have to get people to take action or it is not worth the bother.

        Overall though it is a clean, tidy and well laid out site.
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        • Profile picture of the author captainbohica
          Finally have a chance to get on here and read everyone's feedback thus far.. .and i really appreciate the time everyone took in looking and responding with their critiques.

          lets see if i could respond to everyone...


          Originally Posted by AJD101 View Post

          1- Meta tags you will find in your widgets in wp admin, just remove the box from the sidebar
          2-Content is fine but needs more. I would be tempted to add the articles as pages for now and move your about, privacy and content to the footer.
          3- Main image on front page is not hyperlinked to offer. that's what i tried to click first and so will lots of other people.
          4- File images are obviously too small as they are blurry when you insert them. could ask the CB vendor for original ones.
          5- No real call to action. I would put a CTA immediately before your Dramatic Asthma Relief Report headline as this is above the fold.
          6- your article pages also need to contain a all to action and download link above the fold.
          7- make the bonus section a bit more exciting

          In my experience you can get traffic but you have to get people to take action or it is not worth the bother.

          Overall though it is a clean, tidy and well laid out site.
          AJD - Thank you for your feed back. After reading your comment, i had a brain fart and forgot that i had the meta widget on there. when i first read webapex's comment i confused it with meta tags.

          i'm taking in your other suggestions and with play with the site more this weekend. I never thought about asking the vendor for better pics, but its a great point and ill follow through on it.
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    • Profile picture of the author rrram2
      are you kidding me? whoever says that 10 pages min is needed for any ranking is just plain wrong, did they check any webistes for this revelation?

      I've got #1 results across all sorts of SE's and URL's, that are ONE page.

      let me explain something for the masses in case it isn't obvious.

      Take ANY keywords you want, for this example I picked the 3 keywords:
      attorney bankruptcy virginia I went to google and did a search I found #1 to be:
      attorneybankruptcyvirginia.com/ as expected out of about 6.3 million matches, now while it helps to have a domain that has the keywords in it, that alone is NOT going to get you #1 on highly competitive keyword phrases long term.

      If you wanted to be #1 for a search for attorney bankruptcy virginia or any other keyword phrase you chose, really it is very simple at least in theory. You do a search for your chosen keywords and then you analyze the top 10 organic results. I mean really analyze the top 10 matches, Look at their use of the the keywords across all of the "html elements". Compete with those top 10 sites, they are there for a reason! if all 10 of them have an average of 10 pages, guess what you need 10 pages to get in there and compete with them, keyword density is VERY important, if their keyword density is 20% you need 20%, anyone getting the idea here? find the top 10 sites that you want to get listed among, gather their daTA, RUN IT THroUGH YOUR BOTS AND SOFTWARE, find out what the averages are. Take a look at the google cached copy and SEE the highlighted keywords you searched for.

      to beat any top ten competitors from a #1 SERP takes time and money, but it can be done, and no matter who is there that is #1, they can be beat, and if they cannot, they can be learned from and #2 isnt so bad. In order to beat #1 you have to be most like #1. Study your competitors, you beat them with their own content code. I am not saying you take their code, but you must look at it and learn from it, if you are going to get better at breaking into some google top #1-#10 SERP'S





      Originally Posted by webapex View Post

      I didn't notice specific reference to your mail list opt in, anywhere in your privacy statement.

      Contents a little thin at this point. Some say 10 pages min is needed for any ranking.

      You certainly want to get rid of the meta links.
      Signature
      http://elijahmarks.com
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      • Profile picture of the author captainbohica
        Originally Posted by rrram2 View Post

        If you wanted to be #1 for a search for attorney bankruptcy virginia or any other keyword phrase you chose, really it is very simple at least in theory. You do a search for your chosen keywords and then you analyze the top 10 organic results. I mean really analyze the top 10 matches, Look at their use of the the keywords across all of the "html elements". Compete with those top 10 sites, they are there for a reason! if all 10 of them have an average of 10 pages, guess what you need 10 pages to get in there and compete with them, keyword density is VERY important, if their keyword density is 20% you need 20%, anyone getting the idea here? find the top 10 sites that you want to get listed among, gather their daTA, RUN IT THroUGH YOUR BOTS AND SOFTWARE, find out what the averages are. Take a look at the google cached copy and SEE the highlighted keywords you searched for.

        to beat any top ten competitors from a #1 SERP takes time and money, but it can be done, and no matter who is there that is #1, they can be beat, and if they cannot, they can be learned from and #2 isnt so bad. In order to beat #1 you have to be most like #1. Study your competitors, you beat them with their own content code. I am not saying you take their code, but you must look at it and learn from it, if you are going to get better at breaking into some google top #1-#10 SERP'S
        great points here.. i never thought of doing a detailed analysis of competitor sites outside of the number of backlinks to their site and other superficial things. Thanks for giving me more to think about and another avenue for attack.

        also, in regards to Bots and Software - any suggestions?
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  • Profile picture of the author loristm
    I cant see the site.Still loading. Did you gave a right site?
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    • Profile picture of the author rrram2
      It loaded fine for me, its clean and fast: Asthma Relief HQ - Asthma Relief Solutions For A Better Quality Of Life
      but it needs to triple in size word wise, and keywords need to be bumped up closer to 88 VS 14 now. 88 is extreme but so is 14 (extremely low word count).


      Originally Posted by loristm View Post

      I cant see the site.Still loading. Did you gave a right site?
      Signature
      http://elijahmarks.com
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      • Profile picture of the author alwaysready
        well , i didn't focus so much with it , but all what i found out from the first sight is that your domain is really hard to remember , don't you think so ?
        Plus , i wonder why comments are closed , there is definitely a reason that i still don't know :p
        but i liked it generally , free themes are enough sometimes !
        G.LuCk
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        • Profile picture of the author captainbohica
          Originally Posted by alwaysready View Post

          well , i didn't focus so much with it , but all what i found out from the first sight is that your domain is really hard to remember , don't you think so ?
          Plus , i wonder why comments are closed , there is definitely a reason that i still don't know :p
          but i liked it generally , free themes are enough sometimes !
          G.LuCk

          I don't feel that the domain is hard to remember at all.. after reading and learning a few things, i decided to go with this strategy of using my keywords + HQ or another word to use as my domain... and hopefully i can get to a point where it'll be so well known that it'll be easy to remember! :p

          In regards to the closed comments, i closed them because i didn't want to treat the article pages as blog posts.

          is there another reason why i should open them up? definitely let me know because i dont see a reason why...
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  • Profile picture of the author afarrell1
    Overall this site looks simple but nice. With regard to content I found that 5 articles is a good start. I would be also take out the book cover images as they're blurred. Either create your own image, go to the website's affiliate program and see if there are images there or ask the owner for the original image.

    Is this page going to be your home page? If so, then I think you have some conflict here with selling a product and getting someone to subscribe to you newsletter. Maybe choose one or the other. Personally, if looking to build a subscriber list, I would let that page focus on getting subscribers and then lead them to a page (upon subscribing) that sells the asthma product itself.

    Regardless of what you do, in your first sentence on your main page you have your main keyword there. I would actually hyperlink that keyword.

    If you decide to leave both the sales article there, and your optin form, then at least tell people why they should subscribe to your newsletter. You need to give people a reason to do this.

    I would definitely move the "Privacy" down to the footer.

    Overall, there's more work required here. However, I would ask you to decide what your goal is here. What is your primary goal?

    Do you want to build a list so that you can market to that list on the backend?

    Or do you just want to sell a product right off the bat, with list building being secondary?

    Over the years I found lack of clarity to be the main contributor to failing. So clarify what you want to achieve. With multiple goals, prioritize those goals. Then determine the best way to fully set up your blog in accordance with your goals.

    That said... I have to congratulate you for taking action. Why? Because you have now committed to taking the action to put your website up, asked for help and now hopefully you will take the advice you get from this forum and actually use it. Look at this as the worst it can be and that you can only move up from here on out.

    Test what you have here. Change it a bit and test that. Keep doing these changes and look at the results and learn from them. Only then can you find what truly works for you and for your niche. It takes time. So be patitent.

    Oh... and one other thing... start getting traffic to your site. Don't worry if it all looks very slow or appears to be getting no traffic. This is okay and normal at first. Just stick with it. Let your site gain momentum and the traffic will start rolling in. Just be consistent. Lots of people manage to get as far as you just have, but doing the work to gettting the traffic overwhelms them and so they never go any further.

    Don't let that happen to you.

    Hope this helps.
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    • Profile picture of the author captainbohica
      great feedback. thank you. this is definitely going to be my homepage. Originally i didn't have the opt-in widget there, but the more i read other threads on here, the more convinced i became that my site wouldn't be complete without it.

      Can i still have a successful affiliate site without an opt-in list?

      unfortunately i'm not computer savvy enough to mess with the coding. i'll have to visit one of the other subforums on here and get some help on moving the privacy link down to the footer.

      as far as an end goal, since its my first site, i honestly would like to just sell the product as my first goal and build a list, second.

      and yes, i know i have to work on the backlinks... lol i think i've only done a few since i put what i thought were 'finishing touches' on the site., so i know there is more work to do.

      Originally Posted by afarrell1 View Post

      Overall this site looks simple but nice. With regard to content I found that 5 articles is a good start. I would be also take out the book cover images as they're blurred. Either create your own image, go to the website's affiliate program and see if there are images there or ask the owner for the original image.

      Is this page going to be your home page? If so, then I think you have some conflict here with selling a product and getting someone to subscribe to you newsletter. Maybe choose one or the other. Personally, if looking to build a subscriber list, I would let that page focus on getting subscribers and then lead them to a page (upon subscribing) that sells the asthma product itself.

      Regardless of what you do, in your first sentence on your main page you have your main keyword there. I would actually hyperlink that keyword.

      If you decide to leave both the sales article there, and your optin form, then at least tell people why they should subscribe to your newsletter. You need to give people a reason to do this.

      I would definitely move the "Privacy" down to the footer.

      Overall, there's more work required here. However, I would ask you to decide what your goal is here. What is your primary goal?

      Do you want to build a list so that you can market to that list on the backend?

      Or do you just want to sell a product right off the bat, with list building being secondary?

      Over the years I found lack of clarity to be the main contributor to failing. So clarify what you want to achieve. With multiple goals, prioritize those goals. Then determine the best way to fully set up your blog in accordance with your goals.

      That said... I have to congratulate you for taking action. Why? Because you have now committed to taking the action to put your website up, asked for help and now hopefully you will take the advice you get from this forum and actually use it. Look at this as the worst it can be and that you can only move up from here on out.

      Test what you have here. Change it a bit and test that. Keep doing these changes and look at the results and learn from them. Only then can you find what truly works for you and for your niche. It takes time. So be patitent.

      Oh... and one other thing... start getting traffic to your site. Don't worry if it all looks very slow or appears to be getting no traffic. This is okay and normal at first. Just stick with it. Let your site gain momentum and the traffic will start rolling in. Just be consistent. Lots of people manage to get as far as you just have, but doing the work to gettting the traffic overwhelms them and so they never go any further.

      Don't let that happen to you.

      Hope this helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author rrram2
    the site is actually very good if this is your first try at it. You have an amazing 57.6 score out of 100 for the keywords asthma relief. However competition is fierce. you have no real backlinks so your optimization needs to be closer to 100%.

    where the really needs help is here: for keywords: asthma relief

    your website has 534 words, you need closer to average of the #1 google SERP page, which is 1946, you need to triple your content on the splash page to compete.

    also your keyword desripction is awesome! dont change this! but your keywords are VERY lacking the average of the #1 google SERP is 88 keywords, you have 14, you need to add 74 keywords.

    also your keyword density and prominence is way too high for: asthma relief
    but this should correct itself some once you triple the content on the main page

    so add 1412 words to the main page, and add 74 keywords to your meta keywords, if you want to compete in the top ten on google for a search for asthma relief.

    asthma relief is a 5mil plus competition and you CAN get #1
    Signature
    http://elijahmarks.com
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    • Profile picture of the author captainbohica
      splash page = home page?

      ill definitely work on getting more content on the home page..

      as far as obtaining more keywords.. i could do this through tools like market samuari and google keyword tool right? pluck them straight from there?

      out of curiosity, did you use a tool to analyze my site? if you don't mind me asking, which one? (or you could PM me if you dont want to reveal here.)

      Thank you again for your time in looking at my site and providing feedback. it definitely helps a ton.

      Originally Posted by rrram2 View Post

      the site is actually very good if this is your first try at it. You have an amazing 57.6 score out of 100 for the keywords asthma relief. However competition is fierce. you have no real backlinks so your optimization needs to be closer to 100%.

      where the really needs help is here: for keywords: asthma relief

      your website has 534 words, you need closer to average of the #1 google SERP page, which is 1946, you need to triple your content on the splash page to compete.

      also your keyword desripction is awesome! dont change this! but your keywords are VERY lacking the average of the #1 google SERP is 88 keywords, you have 14, you need to add 74 keywords.

      also your keyword density and prominence is way too high for: asthma relief
      but this should correct itself some once you triple the content on the main page

      so add 1412 words to the main page, and add 74 keywords to your meta keywords, if you want to compete in the top ten on google for a search for asthma relief.

      asthma relief is a 5mil plus competition and you CAN get #1
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    • Profile picture of the author Young Samurai
      rrram2,

      Extremely impressed by your analysis of site and top 10 competition.

      Just a few questions:

      Originally Posted by rrram2 View Post

      You have an amazing 57.6 score out of 100 for the keywords asthma relief.
      Where did you get this fiqure?

      also your keyword description is awesome!
      Is this the Description in the All In One SEO plugin?

      but your keywords are VERY lacking the average of the #1 google SERP is 88 keywords, you have 14, you need to add 74 keywords.
      Do you mean he only has 14 keywords in the All In One Plugin?

      also your keyword density and prominence is way too high for: asthma relief
      What do you recommend kw density should be?

      Please excuse newbie questions & thank you all for a very helpful thread.
      Signature
      Kyle
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  • Profile picture of the author masterofinternate
    Like your approach of being criticized.Visited your website.Simple and attractive looking.I think you should collect more keywords and use some more backlinks to gather traffic.Wish u all the best.
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    • Profile picture of the author captainbohica
      Originally Posted by masterofinternate View Post

      Like your approach of being criticized.Visited your website.Simple and attractive looking.I think you should collect more keywords and use some more backlinks to gather traffic.Wish u all the best.
      best way for me to learn is to be thrown into the fire and get 'fed to the dogs'... since im so new to the whole thing, i wouldn't know heads from tails if it weren't for your guys' input.

      thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author Capitalist_Pig
    Best "first site" I've ever seen posted here. I'd love feedback on mine, but I'm not about to link it to my username here. Perhaps I'll register a second account.
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    • Profile picture of the author captainbohica
      Originally Posted by Capitalist_Pig View Post

      Best "first site" I've ever seen posted here. I'd love feedback on mine, but I'm not about to link it to my username here. Perhaps I'll register a second account.
      Thanks for the compliment... but why wouldn't you link it to your username?

      i figured that everyone here started out as a 'newbie' at one point or another... so i figured - why not just post it? haha.
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  • Profile picture of the author seobro
    Well, your site looks pro. However, the picture of the book is a bit blurry to me. I would reshoot the picture of the book and try to get a sharper image.

    I like your newsletter form with the - add me. That said I would put it on the left side instead of the right side, or as I call it the wrong one.

    At the very bottom of the page is a "Comments are closed." message. Please get rid of that one. It is very neg. Try to keep your tone max pos.
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    http://www.seobro.com
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  • Profile picture of the author captainbohica
    quick update:

    - got rid of the code so as to not display "comments are closed"

    -figured out how to move the 'contact' and 'privacy policy' link to the footer, but do not know how to exclude the pages from the top nav menu. (i did not originally use the 'menus' function in the wp admin). i would like to, as suggested, move the 'about' link to the footer as well and hide all three from the top. can someone point me in the right direction?

    -    got rid of the meta widget as well.

    -added more keywords in my all in one seo plugin.
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