SEO Feedback on website from affiliate noob

[crazydog]

Hi there


I have had my site for some time. Starting from absolute scratch. Started out buying a very very simple homepage builder. And it was a revelation for me when I discovered WordPress - I know it's simple. But at the moment that is what I am able to deal with.

Only just found PAL a week ago or so. And I am very impressed with your comments and discussions in here. Please go soft on me, as I am pretty noobish compared to a lot you guys (that's why I post in this forum).

My main subject is freerolls - and host around one of them myself every week - have a few undercategories as free poker money and free poker coaching (I am a midstakes poker pro - so that is quite easy for me to offer).

I was recently in top 10 on the keyword freeroll on google.com and quite high on some related keywords. But it went down big times. Don't know why, but my SEO expert says that google is fluctuating and my positions will recover in a short while. This btw not the subject that I am not that interested in.

My page is Poker-Freeroller.com and I would be very glad to recieve some feedback on how to improve my page from a SEO perspective. Especially from experienced people in the field of poker like you guys. Comments both on design, structure and content would be highly appreciated.

The affiliate noob
CrazyDog

[Newjabber]

I really like the design, nice site.

Im not an SEO expert but it seems to be really stuffed with keywords in the sidebars.

But im sure someone with more knowledge will tune in

[Strider1973]

Hi Crazydog

Well, most people will tell you it is difficult to make money from freerollers, but of course it's ok to give it a try.
I am looking at your site not only from a SEO perspective, but also from a usability perspective. Here is what I think:
- I don't like the design of your site too much, font size is too small, it's not wide enough, and the 4 poker links in the footer suck. I think there are better free themes (with only 1 or 2 links) out there.
- What is a "password notifier"? Freeroll passwords? I would explain that. Great idea to gain e-mail addresses btw
- Freeroll tags: I would remove that, too many freeroll links, and nobody clicks on them
- Text in left sidebar: I would dispose that sidebar completely to gain more space (if you want to stick to that theme). Having the same text all over your website is not ideal
- The freerolls list didn't work on Chrome and IE
- Make a sticky post on the homepage (in order to have it on top of the other posts) and tell what your site is about.
- I would chose to display more than 3 posts on the homepage
- Think about removing the 4 125 banners. As long as you don't have a lot of traffic, you don't lose money without them
- Learn how to redirect your affiliate links. The links on your banners look "ugly". Plus, if a tracker changes (e.g. from fulltiltpoker.com to .co.uk...), you will have to change it only in one file
- Holdem Manager link is not working (left sidebar)
- your meta keywords list is too long (max 10)

Besides this, I think you did a pretty good job, in particular regarding onsite SEO (titles, urls etc are ok)!

[crazydog]

@newjabber

Thx for your compliment :-)

@Strider1973

Thx for your very constuctive critique - very usefull indeed.

First of all I have noticed I don't make a lot of money at the freerollers, but that is allright. This is mostly a project where I am trying to improve and learn how to make a good website in as many aspects as possibel. And also how to act in the market of affiliates :-)

I have a bunch of follow up questions and comments.

A lot of your comments go on the design and template. And I am considering buying a template on Elance, specially constructed for my site, without links to other irrelevant sites. I will certainly use your very qualified considerations in this project ie two columns instead of three, drop the 4 times 125x125 banners, sticky introduction post etc.

The freeroll list is somewhat trickyer as it has its own life and works 60-70 % of the time - just updated it so it works again - have to do that quite often. It is a tool I got from the freerollmonitor and it is a essential piece of my page and as far as I know of it is the only one of its kind that is availabel at the moment - unfortunately - as it certainly has its limitations.

Freeroll tags is that what you refer to as meta keyword list? The reason I posted it was so it got more filled with keywords - is that a misunderstanding that it helps improving my rank on google because of higher keyword density?

You write that the links on my banners look ugly - what does that mean?

How do I redirect links? Anyone has an article on this or is it just very simple. One of the things that has annoyed me the most are those changes in links as I hae to change a million links manually :-(

Thx again for your comments.

The affiliate noob
CrazyDog

[CK]

The content is spammy and you have a lot of typos on the page. I'm not sure what your focus is on your homepage. It looks like a bit of strategy or advice, followed with a video and a freeroll monitor.

If you plan on giving poker advice read this first.

[crazydog]

Hi CK

Thx for your comment.

Spammy and focus - do you refer to the same aspects as Strider commented on?

The article and video was basicly just meant as a humoristic input... And btw as a poker pro who been living solely from poker the last 6-7 years I am pretty sure I actual might have some interesting stuff to tell ppl who primarely plays freerolls - even though this was not the primary intention of that article... It would be very sad if I didn't ;-)

Really interesting links in that article... Really usefull!

[CK]

read the sidebars - every sentence has the word freeroll mentioned at least once. Not all of them make sense either. Its like you tried to mention the word as many times as possible.

If your a "pro" why are you targeting the freeroll niche. Please don't say "I dont care about making money" - if you didn't care you wouldn't become an affiliate nor bother with seo - you'd build a hobby site and blog or something.

You will be lucky to make anything decent with the freeroll niche - so don't put all your eggs in one basket. Don't believe me run a search on pokeraffiliatelistings.com pokeraffiliateprograms.com . Both forums have loads of affiliates asking why I dont make money. Not trying to be a downer - just helping

Free Bankrolls

[Hazo]

If you want to make money - stop everyting you are doing right now and start a new website in a different niche.

If you are doing this for fun or a hobby - then keep going.

[Strider1973]

Regarding your follow-up questions:
- Its easy to switch themes in Wordpress. Presonally I wouldn't have bought a theme when I started with affiliating, I just get a free one from the WP themes directory. You can also play around with your theme, for example by increasing font-size in the css file. This will cost you time but it's worth getting to know coding/styling a little bit (and if it's only by reverse-engineering like I do it). And making a sticky post is just one click in WP (tick "make this post sticky" in the post view)
- I'm also using freerollsmonitor on one of my sites, it usually works
- the tag cloud on the right sidebar is not there anymore - so you have already removed it
- With ugly links, I mean things like the Everest Poker link (httx://sev4ifmxa.com/click/WEE6U2FsdGVk123-Easd6pLNST8F@ajPC8fThxpJlFC0BBeYsgEvhf-HkbwEtPFv5fn9beh8LFolDWo0=/) when moving over the link with your mouse

I think it's better to have something like poker-freeroller.com/go/everest

To do this, you can search for "affiliate link plugin wordpress" in Google. Or create a directory /go/everest and put a file index.php into it. In that file you write the following:

<?
header( "HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently" );
header( "Location: http://www.your-affiliate-link-here.com" );
?>

You can use this on freerollsmonitor as well, just put the link httx://poker-freeroller/go/everest in the script.

[crazydog]

@ CK /Hazo
I certainly want to make money :-) And I have a couple of plans for some way more valubel niche websites if successfull. These plans requires that I am able to put up something that looks professionel from the beginning and not make my first time visitors feel like CK wrote: "The content is spammy and you have a lot of typos on the page. I'm not sure what your focus is on your homepage."

Certainly I came into this project with an idea that I could make some very good money on the freerollers but I know that it is extremely difficult now. I actually have managed to break even on the poker-freeroller page by now, which is not a lot of money in and out, and I know this is never going to be a gold mine. But on the other hand I feel I can pickup some valuebel lessons on how to setup a page with poker-freeroller only costing me money regarding the hours I use on this project.
So to have a short answer to your question: I want to make money as an affiliate - but I don't need to make them straight away. Long term plans are way more important to me!

"Read the sidebars - every sentence has the word freeroll mentioned at least once. Not all of them make sense either. Its like you tried to mention the word as many times as possible."(CK)

Hmmm thought that was a good thing to do SEO wise! Thought it made it easier for Google to recognize keywords?


"If your a "pro" why are you targeting the freeroll niche." (CK)

The reason for this is simple. I started my poker career playing 10 cents freeroll sngs. Thought it was not that uncommon for pros beginning from scratch - takes a certain mindset becomming a pro - which I didn't expect to be a depositor mindset. Guess I was wrong in this deduction :-)

@Strider

Thanks for you follow ups I will certainly have a look on those suggestions asap. And yeah just removed the tag cloud. Wasn't really that nice to look at :-)