Business in the autumn

[peterjhale]

Hi all,

Now summer is over and the kids are back at school has you business improved now that Autumn is upon us?

I've noticed a slight pick up in visitors and customers - anyone else ?

[inbakumar]

Same with my company too. As a matter of fact, the phones are much busier this week.

Regards,

[peterjhale]

good on you Joel - I hope it continues until Christmas..

[melaniejoy]

Yes, I've seen an increase in traffic to my website.
And, inquires have picked up.

[peterjhale]

Well done - has the new site design/ layout helped at all ?

Have you moved up the search engines ?

[melaniejoy]

Well, I was just hoping the new design wouldn't hurt my rankings.
Turns out using a Javascript drop down menu wasn't the best idea.
Seems like Google isn't following those links at all.
So, I've had to sneak a few links into the text on the pages that are spidered (regular links).

My rankings for genealogist have gone up from 10 to 4 on Google and from about 16 to 2 on Yahoo. But, it's difficult to say if the site design helped my rankings because I added a lot of new backlinks from same theme sites.

I have gotten several compliments on the new site design from friends and forum members. But, I've gotten a few message from visitors to my site that said they couldn't find my prices. Scary. But, I've convinced myself that it's obvious enough if they just take the time to look at the site. I had this problem before and added the Price Chart and more recently the big huge red graphic of the minimum price. Not much else I can do.

I hope your Business Forum is doing well. It's a great resource, just wish there were more participants.

[peterjhale]

It takes a lot to get a forum going and there aren't many business forums like seo to refer onto.

I had another look at your site last night and admit I couldn't find your prices either...

[melaniejoy]

I hope your kidding.

There are three ways to get to the prices from the home page.

1. Click on the button that reads "Services" (right above the Welcome).

2. Use the drop down Site Map to visit "Genealogy Research Services"

3. In the body of the text on the homepage I linked the phrase, "discover your family tree today". The link is Purple so I had hoped it would stand out.

Any suggestions?

[peterjhale]

I see everything on the front page now

I would take away your chart of scaling charges - the main offer is best to leave on - you just need a button or something below that - that says "order now" or something.

Believe me you have to "ask for the order" and not let people struggle to find it (even if it is obvious to the site owner)

[james]

Nice site Mel - I can see prices clearly