Hello...

I asked this question over on a Google chat board, but was unable to get an
answer. Since I use FrontPage religiously to create web pages, I figured that
someone here might know the answer.

My site, www.bellport.com, has been live since November 1, 2005, less than 3
months. After only about a month, we were already on page 2 of Google Search
results for the word "bellport" which we were really excited about.

In the past month or so we have added additional pages of content and
information, as well as updating some regular pages with new info, and yet we
have dropped off of the search results completely.

I am trying to figure out what might be causing this and what I can change
to my site to put things back the way that they were. We know that we get
more traffic than the #1 site for bellport from watching the #1's site's hit
counter.

I'm new to web design- I can do a lot of things in FrontPage, but by no
means am I an expert.

Can anyone offer some advice regarding possible changes that I can make?

Thank you for your time-

Erin

1. Use text navigation, instead of images where ever possible for hyperlinks.

2. Make the text under the photos a link as well.

3. Make sure you add meta tag for description for each page that matches the content of the page.

4. Use Alt and Title text for each photo that is on a page.

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe (Microsoft MVP - FrontPage)
==============================================
If you feel your current issue is a results of installing
a Service Pack or security update, please contact
Microsoft Product Support Services:
http://support.microsoft.com
If the problem can be shown to have been caused by a
security update, then there is usually no charge for the call.
==============================================

"ErinR" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:42D065B4-DC0F-4719-B458-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hello...
>
> I asked this question over on a Google chat board, but was unable to get an
> answer. Since I use FrontPage religiously to create web pages, I figured that
> someone here might know the answer.
>
> My site, www.bellport.com, has been live since November 1, 2005, less than 3
> months. After only about a month, we were already on page 2 of Google Search
> results for the word "bellport" which we were really excited about.
>
> In the past month or so we have added additional pages of content and
> information, as well as updating some regular pages with new info, and yet we
> have dropped off of the search results completely.
>
> I am trying to figure out what might be causing this and what I can change
> to my site to put things back the way that they were. We know that we get
> more traffic than the #1 site for bellport from watching the #1's site's hit
> counter.
>
> I'm new to web design- I can do a lot of things in FrontPage, but by no
> means am I an expert.
>
> Can anyone offer some advice regarding possible changes that I can make?
>
> Thank you for your time-
>
> Erin

I had the same problem and started to read a lot about search engines and
increased my knowledge about those procedures. I changed/fine tuned a lot of
'alt tag' content (except spacer.*'s) and spent more time 'fine-tuning' web
page titles, descriptions, keywords and page content - to be more -
cohesive - per page.

I also found 'Traffic Blazer' - located here -
www.northcoastcomputerservices.com - to be a huge help.

Hard work, dedication and perseverance seemed to partly make up for my lack
of talent :}

Hope that helps....

--
_________________________
Michael V Eayds MCSE
What could possibly go wrong?
_________________________
"ErinR" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:42D065B4-DC0F-4719-B458-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hello...
>
> I asked this question over on a Google chat board, but was unable to get
> an
> answer. Since I use FrontPage religiously to create web pages, I figured
> that
> someone here might know the answer.
>
> My site, www.bellport.com, has been live since November 1, 2005, less than
> 3
> months. After only about a month, we were already on page 2 of Google
> Search
> results for the word "bellport" which we were really excited about.
>
> In the past month or so we have added additional pages of content and
> information, as well as updating some regular pages with new info, and yet
> we
> have dropped off of the search results completely.
>
> I am trying to figure out what might be causing this and what I can change
> to my site to put things back the way that they were. We know that we get
> more traffic than the #1 site for bellport from watching the #1's site's
> hit
> counter.
>
> I'm new to web design- I can do a lot of things in FrontPage, but by no
> means am I an expert.
>
> Can anyone offer some advice regarding possible changes that I can make?
>
> Thank you for your time-
>
> Erin

"ErinR" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:42D065B4-DC0F-4719-B458-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hello...
>
> I asked this question over on a Google chat board, but was unable to
> get an
> answer. Since I use FrontPage religiously to create web pages, I
> figured that
> someone here might know the answer.
>
> My site, www.bellport.com, has been live since November 1, 2005,
> less than 3
> months. After only about a month, we were already on page 2 of
> Google Search
> results for the word "bellport" which we were really excited about.
>
> In the past month or so we have added additional pages of content
> and
> information, as well as updating some regular pages with new info,
> and yet we
> have dropped off of the search results completely.

From my computer using both IE and Mozilla, there is nothing to your
site but a jpg file. Nothing else - nada - no links, no text -
NOTHING.

Tom J

Thank you all for your advice. I'll certainly go in and add much of what
you've talked about in regards to links, alt text, etc.

One more question- do you think that my "entrance page" (the first page you
see when you go to www.bellport.com and it tells you to click on the gate to
enter) is affecting anything? Meaning- because it's there and it's
technically the home page, but there is no real info except for a clever
graphic (in my opinion) and it's not like I've hidden any search words- Is
that affecting my search ranking?

Thanks again for your help-
Erin

"Tom J" wrote:

>
> "ErinR" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:42D065B4-DC0F-4719-B458-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Hello...
> >
> > I asked this question over on a Google chat board, but was unable to
> > get an
> > answer. Since I use FrontPage religiously to create web pages, I
> > figured that
> > someone here might know the answer.
> >
> > My site, www.bellport.com, has been live since November 1, 2005,
> > less than 3
> > months. After only about a month, we were already on page 2 of
> > Google Search
> > results for the word "bellport" which we were really excited about.
> >
> > In the past month or so we have added additional pages of content
> > and
> > information, as well as updating some regular pages with new info,
> > and yet we
> > have dropped off of the search results completely.
>
> From my computer using both IE and Mozilla, there is nothing to your
> site but a jpg file. Nothing else - nada - no links, no text -
> NOTHING.
>
> Tom J
>
>
>

1. Your home page is an image and contains no text.
2. You have keywords and description meta tags, with words in them but there is no text on
the page that matches it.
Some search engines ignore those meta tags, and some will drop you for mismatched content.

There is only one link for a search engines web crawler to follow.
It's quite possible that the web crawlers see the home page and then quit.

imho, your home page needs to be: http://www.bellport.com/home2.htm


--
Steve Easton
Microsoft MVP FrontPage
95isalive
This site is best viewed..................
...............................with a computer



"ErinR" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:42D065B4-DC0F-4719-B458-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hello...
>
> I asked this question over on a Google chat board, but was unable to get an
> answer. Since I use FrontPage religiously to create web pages, I figured that
> someone here might know the answer.
>
> My site, www.bellport.com, has been live since November 1, 2005, less than 3
> months. After only about a month, we were already on page 2 of Google Search
> results for the word "bellport" which we were really excited about.
>
> In the past month or so we have added additional pages of content and
> information, as well as updating some regular pages with new info, and yet we
> have dropped off of the search results completely.
>
> I am trying to figure out what might be causing this and what I can change
> to my site to put things back the way that they were. We know that we get
> more traffic than the #1 site for bellport from watching the #1's site's hit
> counter.
>
> I'm new to web design- I can do a lot of things in FrontPage, but by no
> means am I an expert.
>
> Can anyone offer some advice regarding possible changes that I can make?
>
> Thank you for your time-
>
> Erin

> do you think that my "entrance page" (the first page you
> see when you go to www.bellport.com and it tells you to click on the gate
> to
> enter) is affecting anything?

Yes. It has no content if it's just an image....

--
Murray
--------------
MVP FrontPage


"ErinR" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:32210DD0-44B1-405A-BC9A-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Thank you all for your advice. I'll certainly go in and add much of what
> you've talked about in regards to links, alt text, etc.
>
> One more question- do you think that my "entrance page" (the first page
> you
> see when you go to www.bellport.com and it tells you to click on the gate
> to
> enter) is affecting anything? Meaning- because it's there and it's
> technically the home page, but there is no real info except for a clever
> graphic (in my opinion) and it's not like I've hidden any search words- Is
> that affecting my search ranking?
>
> Thanks again for your help-
> Erin
>
> "Tom J" wrote:
>
>>
>> "ErinR" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:42D065B4-DC0F-4719-B458-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> > Hello...
>> >
>> > I asked this question over on a Google chat board, but was unable to
>> > get an
>> > answer. Since I use FrontPage religiously to create web pages, I
>> > figured that
>> > someone here might know the answer.
>> >
>> > My site, www.bellport.com, has been live since November 1, 2005,
>> > less than 3
>> > months. After only about a month, we were already on page 2 of
>> > Google Search
>> > results for the word "bellport" which we were really excited about.
>> >
>> > In the past month or so we have added additional pages of content
>> > and
>> > information, as well as updating some regular pages with new info,
>> > and yet we
>> > have dropped off of the search results completely.
>>
>> From my computer using both IE and Mozilla, there is nothing to your
>> site but a jpg file. Nothing else - nada - no links, no text -
>> NOTHING.
>>
>> Tom J
>>
>>
>>

I think that Steve's is a great idea about your new home page. Good one
Steve!

--
_________________________
Michael V Eayds MCSE
What could possibly go wrong?
_________________________
"Steve Easton" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> 1. Your home page is an image and contains no text.
> 2. You have keywords and description meta tags, with words in them but
> there is no text on
> the page that matches it.
> Some search engines ignore those meta tags, and some will drop you for
> mismatched content.
>
> There is only one link for a search engines web crawler to follow.
> It's quite possible that the web crawlers see the home page and then quit.
>
> imho, your home page needs to be: http://www.bellport.com/home2.htm
>
>
> --
> Steve Easton
> Microsoft MVP FrontPage
> 95isalive
> This site is best viewed..................
> ..............................with a computer
>
>
>
> "ErinR" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:42D065B4-DC0F-4719-B458-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Hello...
>>
>> I asked this question over on a Google chat board, but was unable to get
>> an
>> answer. Since I use FrontPage religiously to create web pages, I figured
>> that
>> someone here might know the answer.
>>
>> My site, www.bellport.com, has been live since November 1, 2005, less
>> than 3
>> months. After only about a month, we were already on page 2 of Google
>> Search
>> results for the word "bellport" which we were really excited about.
>>
>> In the past month or so we have added additional pages of content and
>> information, as well as updating some regular pages with new info, and
>> yet we
>> have dropped off of the search results completely.
>>
>> I am trying to figure out what might be causing this and what I can
>> change
>> to my site to put things back the way that they were. We know that we get
>> more traffic than the #1 site for bellport from watching the #1's site's
>> hit
>> counter.
>>
>> I'm new to web design- I can do a lot of things in FrontPage, but by no
>> means am I an expert.
>>
>> Can anyone offer some advice regarding possible changes that I can make?
>>
>> Thank you for your time-
>>
>> Erin
>
>

Excellent suggestions! I'm off to do all of them. I truly appreciate all of
your help.

Keeping my fingers crossed...

erin

"Michael" wrote:

> I think that Steve's is a great idea about your new home page. Good one
> Steve!
>
> --
> _________________________
> Michael V Eayds MCSE
> What could possibly go wrong?
> _________________________
> "Steve Easton" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > 1. Your home page is an image and contains no text.
> > 2. You have keywords and description meta tags, with words in them but
> > there is no text on
> > the page that matches it.
> > Some search engines ignore those meta tags, and some will drop you for
> > mismatched content.
> >
> > There is only one link for a search engines web crawler to follow.
> > It's quite possible that the web crawlers see the home page and then quit.
> >
> > imho, your home page needs to be: http://www.bellport.com/home2.htm
> >
> >
> > --
> > Steve Easton
> > Microsoft MVP FrontPage
> > 95isalive
> > This site is best viewed..................
> > ..............................with a computer
> >
> >
> >
> > "ErinR" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > news:42D065B4-DC0F-4719-B458-(E-Mail Removed)...
> >> Hello...
> >>
> >> I asked this question over on a Google chat board, but was unable to get
> >> an
> >> answer. Since I use FrontPage religiously to create web pages, I figured
> >> that
> >> someone here might know the answer.
> >>
> >> My site, www.bellport.com, has been live since November 1, 2005, less
> >> than 3
> >> months. After only about a month, we were already on page 2 of Google
> >> Search
> >> results for the word "bellport" which we were really excited about.
> >>
> >> In the past month or so we have added additional pages of content and
> >> information, as well as updating some regular pages with new info, and
> >> yet we
> >> have dropped off of the search results completely.
> >>
> >> I am trying to figure out what might be causing this and what I can
> >> change
> >> to my site to put things back the way that they were. We know that we get
> >> more traffic than the #1 site for bellport from watching the #1's site's
> >> hit
> >> counter.
> >>
> >> I'm new to web design- I can do a lot of things in FrontPage, but by no
> >> means am I an expert.
> >>
> >> Can anyone offer some advice regarding possible changes that I can make?
> >>
> >> Thank you for your time-
> >>
> >> Erin
> >
> >
>
>
>

"ErinR" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:32210DD0-44B1-405A-BC9A-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Thank you all for your advice. I'll certainly go in and add much of
> what
> you've talked about in regards to links, alt text, etc.
>
> One more question- do you think that my "entrance page" (the first
> page you
> see when you go to www.bellport.com and it tells you to click on the
> gate to
> enter) is affecting anything?

You must have gotten the message - the gate is gone and you now have
content. Good luck with the site!!

Tom J