Cheap PC

[trooperbill]

im in the process of revamping my pc sales website where you can buy and customise a cheap pc does anyone have any ideas of whats missing as im really not getting the conversion i'd like and my website statistics point to lots of lookers, but not much buyers.

Mark

[SuperSmash]

Hmm, I don't have time to look that closely, but one thing I'd like to mention is on the navigation on the left, when you mouseover, I think the difference between the red-on-white to white-on-blue is a bit much (at least for my eyes). Might want to go for something a little subtler.

Only other thing, there is a lack of Apple computers ;-) *chuckle*

[ian]

You have used a couple of fonts on the front page.
I would stick to just one and change the font used for
PC Upgrades - Free Interest Credit - Business IT Support etc
Also on the client list page, saying the below sounds too generic and made up
"Numerous Record Labels
Various Solicitors
Accountants
Schools and Colleges
Government Departments
BMW & Porsche Dealerships
Doctors Surgeries"

[zkiller]

the site comes up very distorted in firefox!

[[tab]]

Looks like that in Opera too...

[trooperbill]

yeah i know we've compatibility issues - its being worked on. and im not too sure that the use of fonts is stopping people from buying? the colour issue is one ill look into more - as for the clients list ive been asked to be artfully vague because the boss doesnt want to show the competition who we work with.

[ian]

Maybe you should also tell your boss to try and buy the pcdepot.co.uk domain without the hyphen, I dont think an ecommerce site inspires a lot of confidence when it has a hyphen in the domain.
I know they are little things, but you would be amazed at how the buyers mind works.

[Wynnefield]

according to my research regarding SEO, hyphen's in the domain name are preferred by SE's for exact word hits. the domain name is the number one most critical aspect of a web site for SEO, and i have found the use of hyphens encouraged, rather than discouraged. not that *i* always follow that advice either ...

same reason for using a more descriptive domain, rather than unknown company names, i.e. rather than www.pcdepot.co.uk (unless pcdepot is a well known company in the UK), i might suggest www.cheap-pcs-computers-laptops.co.uk. this site could be redirected to the primary site, whatever name the comany prefers; however, without even submitting to SE's, this type of domain name would probably score a top 5-10 listing without even trying ... anyone enters "cheap pcs", "cheap computers", etc. would receive a direct hit on the domain name ...

jmho (sorry to get off topic)

[ian]

according to my research regarding SEO, hyphen's in the domain name are preferred by SE's for exact word hits. the domain name is the number one most critical aspect of a web site for SEO, and i have found the use of hyphens encouraged, rather than discouraged. not that *i* always follow that advice either ...

Ok I have seen this being said recently by some people with some very big and popular sites, but I really thing this statement is very old and outdated. A lot of the major search engines can parse the keywords contained in the domain and dont need a hyphen. You can do a test for yourself, go to google and type the word computer forum, see how google highlights both the word computer and forum in the domain name. Now if they were unable to parse the keywords in the domain, it would read the word as computerforum one word and there would be no match.
Besides the weighting in the domain keywords is not the major factor it once was, the benefit comes more from the anchor text of the incoming link from external sites and also words contained on the page and page title.

same reason for using a more descriptive domain, rather than unknown company names, i.e. rather than www.pcdepot.co.uk (unless pcdepot is a well known company in the UK), i might suggest www.cheap-pcs-computers-laptops.co.uk. this site could be redirected to the primary site, whatever name the comany prefers; however, without even submitting to SE's, this type of domain name would probably score a top 5-10 listing without even trying ... anyone enters "cheap pcs", "cheap computers", etc. would receive a direct hit on the domain name ...

Buying a keyword rich domain with hyphens and simply redirecting it to your main site is likely to have little benefit to you at all. And you would appear nowhere in search engine results unless you actually built a website for the second hyphenated domain and got inbound links to that second hyphenated domain which linked to the primary site as opposed to a straight URL redirect.

[Wynnefield]

very possible some of my info is outdated, and like i said "not that i always use that advice" ...

i have also witnessed your tests on google, which indeed parse the individual text in the domain names, proving very convincing. i may have to contact one of my research sources for more recent information/discussions in this area ...

thank you for the response ... wynne