Following on from my original request to review some sites, today I'm taking a look at the following site:
This website has one huge fundamental problem. It's built using frames which is a BIG no-no when it comes to website design.
If you're not familiar with the concept of frames, it is just a way of putting one webpage within another so that they display in the browser at the same time. There are instances where frames can have a purpose but as the overall design of a website they are a very bad way of doing it.
To explain this better let me give you an example of how frames are badly hurting this website:
First lets take a look on Google to see how many pages of this website it's indexed. We do this by using the "site" command. There, in the Google search box we put in "site:www.lagoliving.com"
The result shows us that Google has indexed 47 pages from this website. But straight away the problem is obvious.
The first result Google returns is obviously the home page. BUT, every result after that is just a listing page. Google has not read ANY of the other main content on the site. Why?
Well, to see the problem in it's full effect, if you click any of the listings in the search results you'll get something like this:
Note that when clicking the result the listing comes up but the rest of the website is missing. There is no header, no menu and no footer!
This is what happens with frame structured sites. The content of the pages is totally separate to the frame of the website. In the search engine's eyes, there is no link between the menu and the content.
Why has Google not indexed any of the other pages on the site?
Well, when Google visits each of the main pages (including your home page) this is what it sees:
Ahh...no content! That's because all the content is on another webpage in a frame which the search engine can't see. So in Google's eyes all the pages are exactly the same...content less! So it sees no point in indexing them.
OK, I think you get the gist now.
I think there is good content on the site so if the site contstruction is sorted this will help to get all that good content indexed.
Also, when the site is changed over, it's probably a good idea to make sure the urls are sorted too. Dynamic pages (ie, ones that contain querystrings, shown by "?xxx=") need to be re-written to look like static urls. This is very easy to do but makes a huge difference for SEO.
I like the general feel of the site. I think the video doesn't really work. If it was Scott in the video then that would be quite powerful but it looks like an off-the-shelf video so I'm not sure it's really necessary. Also, it needs to be set to play only once (can do using cookies) or else gets annoying everytime someone returns to the site and it plays again.
Also, the scrolling marquee text is a bit 90s really. No one sits to read through scrolling text so I would take that down. It adds no value.
Also, on the home page it states that reputation is based on client satisfaction but I can't find any testimonials on the site to back up this claim. Testimonials are hugely powerful tools which so few people ever use. Scatter them around the website to constantly remind your visitors that you are a trusted real estate agent.
The general feel and content of the site is good, the main problem is really the site structure. Correct that and this could be a good site. Pay good attention to basic SEO for ALL the pages, get some links and you'll be there Scott.
Hope that's useful.
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