FEATURE
Site Critique Number Three Pomppoker.com
THE PEOPLE at pomppoker.com wrote in to ask for a site critique. Every site critique I do my best to analyse all the important things webmasters need to know about their site and how to improve them. For this critique the main focus for improving the site should be on the conversions of the landing page. Stats at a glance
Result
PageRank (PR)
2
Compete.com uniques (PR)
1516
Keyword Rankings
#15 for ‘players forum’
Indexed Pages
1700+
Number of Links
7
Alexa Rank
574,919
Online since
October 2007
Online since
October 2009
Site focus and value pomppoker.com is a poker player forum with nearly 700 members. The forum acts as a lounge for players to chat and to add some extra value for players such as bonuses, tournaments and contests.
SEO/page titles There is little page title work and I don’t know if this free forum software allows you to configure the page titles. If it does, I highly recommend that every page has its own unique page title. This will help rank for short and long-tail keywords. When inside the forum the page titles are configured properly to be the same as the thread title but the landing page and main navigation pages need some work. The page title of the index page is: pokerpeople – Portal Suggestion change: Players forum for poker players | online poker forum This page title: http://www.pomppoker. com/pokerpeople-casino-h2.htm has the URL as the page title. It should be changed to something relevant to the content on the page
30
iGB Affiliate JUNE/JULY 2010
Suggested change: Play online casino games for free | players forum | pomppoker. com All other page titles inside the forum are configured properly and almost no changes are needed. Do keep in mind if you start new poker threads to carefully choose the title knowing this will be the page title. One thread title ‘Casino Stuff’ could be changed to something that has a few more rich keywords and explains what is inside the forum. Since this folder has more bonus information you could change it to ‘Casinos Promotions, Tournaments and Games’.
review links or putting them into a table. Don’t show flashing banners, rather show a standard sized logo, have the site name listed and some words explaining what that poker room is good for (whether it’s a bonus or accepts US players). Text links have the highest click through rates. At the top of the site under the first navigation menu there is a 468�60 banner. I recommend making this area as your own graphic possibly something to say ‘Visit Forum’, or if you are running your own contest you can put this here. Having your own ads would increase click through rates.
Link building Forum layout and design I like the pokerpeople banner at the top but it’s also on top of another graphic which makes the whole site hard to look at upon first visit. I recommend making the background just a neutral colour so the forum and banner stand out properly. By making the background a colour rather than an image, you will improve the load speed of your website which Google has said it will make an important factor for search engine rankings. By making the site easier on the eyes it will help new users focus on the important features of the site and this will help reduce bounce rates, which, in turn, help search engine rankings.
Less banners, more links and icons Banner click through rates get worse every year, and for good reason. A quick scan of the main page shows at least 15 ads and I couldn’t tell which were for other affiliates and which were for programs. I personally don’t like banners for many reasons but the main one being that they just don’t convert as good as a link! Banners will slow down your site which will hurt you in the SEO department. Your click through rates will be bad and this will probably increase your bounce rate (high bounce rate means visitors leave the site within seconds of viewing it). Imagine watching four TV commercials at the same time, you can’t even follow one yet all of them are fighting for your eye attention. Site visitors will either tune out these banners or get confused and not know what they should focus on. The main focus of this site is where players can play and to meet up at the forums – so the forum must stand out at all times. I highly recommend replacing all banners with either casino and poker
The site has history but I recommend spending a few hours per month to build some links for the site. You can use the Yahoo! Site Explorer tool to find out what links your competing affiliates have and see if you can get the same links too. Another important thing to take into consideration for link building and SEO practises is that it’s probably more important to make sure your website converts FIRST before spending the time and energy with your SEO. If people are visiting your website and leaving within ten seconds, then your SEO efforts are going to be wasted. Focus on the value of your site first. Having two players that stick around on a good site is better than 1,000 visitors that will never return.
Conclusion This site has some history with a decent sized number of forum members. A few adjustments should improve search engine rankings and improve conversion and retention rates for your site visitors.
Leave a tip Two programs that I don’t see listed on the site that should be listed are: ● Cake Poker – It is really one of the top US facing poker rooms to promote, and it treats players and affiliates very well. ● C-Planet – All casino affiliates I talk to consistently say C Planet gives them great ROI. Also takes US players!
JOHN WRIGHT is a marketing consultant and works as an affiliate coach for GamingAffiliatesGuide.com.