How can I improve my site

[RakeAway]

www.rakeaway.com
Content is pretty much all there, as well as a simple design and a simple tracking system for others to promote my site (affiliate page isn't live yet).
-Design: What needs improving, what doesn't, and where could I get it done properly the cheapest?
-Clarity: Is the text on my website clear? With use of the FAQ and the Bonus Guide, can you work out what everything means? Do you feel intimidated by all the unknown terms and large amounts of text as a new visitor?
-Content: What do you think of my content? Is it enough? Too much per page? I want to add more details about each Poker site, like location, simple info about rake structure, data-mining options and software info (resizable tables yes/no, etc.)
-SEO: I don't know much about SEO, is my onpage SEO OK? What needs improving? Offpage, I'm lacking, I know that. Will running an affiliate program help? Then of course, many sites (with higher PR) would be linking to me. Or do affiliate links not help towards PR?

Thanks!

[bahh]

Design: I would change the design. Maybe buy a template or hire a designer here from PAW (Alance or Kundan). Right now the site looks a bit "white". It's basically just text and a few tables now. Make it look more exciting. Add some colors and pictures.

Clarity: The text is too small in the tables IMO. I would use a different structure on the tables. Use headers for example. Use icons or pics for more clarity.

SEO: You onpage SEO isn't good. You wont get any traffic with the same title on every page. The title should reflect the content on the specific page. To have your site name in the title is worthless. Also, you have dynamic URLs with PHP. That isn't good seo-wise. Try to find another solution so that the URLs to your sub pages are in text and not "xxx.php?deal=........"

There is a free SEO book here: http://www.pokeraffiliateworld.com/F...+EBook.cms.htm

Read it and you will learn alot. It's pretty basic.


Good luck!

[RakeAway]

@bahh, would changing it to /deals/xxxx work better? I could probably make it work in exactly the same way.
Thanks for the tips!
EDIT: Some of the ?xxxx=yyyy pages do show up in google, should I still change it?

[mfosouto]

I agree with Bahh. You need a redesign and SEO.

This is the time to stop everything you are doing and read about SEO. It will make everything easier later, you'll see.

[bahh]

Yes it would work better for your rankings. Take a look at this link also; http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors

I got it form another thread here at the forum.

[RakeAway]

How much is a redesign going to set me back? I will do it, but I, of course, don't want to spend too much if I can get the job done well for a lower price. I believe the guys here (Alance and Kundan) are good and cheap?

I will get the titles and the link-structure fixed today if possible Thanks!

EDIT: I actually disagree with removing RakeAway from the site title. I use tabs a lot, and with IE7 also including tabs, I think more and more people will start using them. It's useful to see which tab belongs to which site easily . Of course, I'll change the titles per page, to reflect the page's content.

[bahh]

Well, using the company name in the title is for aesthatic purposes only. A company like IBM can have their company name in their title. They already have the traffic they want so they are not as dependet on the traffic from the SE as we affiliates are..

If you have a poker page where you earn money from visitors signing up through your link you will earn more from only having your keywords in the title. Would anyone search for "Rakeaway" in Google? Don't think so. But if you have the word "rakeback" in your title you probably will get hits from people typing in "rakeback" in the search engines.

Originally Posted by RakeAway

EDIT: I actually disagree with removing RakeAway from the site title. I use tabs a lot, and with IE7 also including tabs, I think more and more people will start using them. It's useful to see which tab belongs to which site easily . Of course, I'll change the titles per page, to reflect the page's content.

[Randy]

I disagree with the other posters that you need a redesign. "White" works fine and the images you have add plenty of color.

But the SEO is definitely a mess, I agree.

[RakeAway]

Quick question to those who know php:

<title><? if ($list=="Search") {
echo "RakeAway Search for $_POST['siteselect'] Bonuses and Rakeback deals";
} elseif ($list=="Easy-Money" || $list=="No-Deposit" || $list=="Risk-Free" || $list=="Free-Software") {
echo "RakeAway - $listnohyphen Bonus deals";
} else {
echo "RakeAway - $listnohyphen Bonuses and Rakeback deals";
} ?></title>

Why doesn't this work? A simple <? echo "RakeAway $list" ?> does work, so PHP in the title is not the problem.
Thanks

EDIT: Also, could someone confirm that the link /deals.php/No-Deposit is better than deals.php?list=nodeposit? Cause that can easily be arranged now.

[kaus]

Originally Posted by RakeAway

EDIT: Also, could someone confirm that the link /deals.php/No-Deposit is better than deals.php?list=nodeposit? Cause that can easily be arranged now.

/deals.php/No-Deposit <---- is a more search engine friendly URL

I would add some colour to your logo