Web site reviewed: http://www.haywardharp.com/

General Comments
Margot Hayward’s Web site -- http://www.haywardharp.com/ -- is a simple and nicely designed site, rich on informative, keyword-optimized content. However, because the site’s home page lacks page copy (it simply consists of links to the other pages on the site) and the internal linking between the site’s pages is poor, this Web site needs some work before Margot Hayward can expect to see search engine generated traffic on her site. For Hayward, the main objective is to ensure that her Web site is more spider-friendly. Also, because Margot Hayward’s services are specific to a particular geographic region, geo-targeting the site is highly recommended.

Specific Positives 

• Simple design – The Margot Hayward Web site is a pleasure to look at. It consists of six pages, including the home page. The layout is simple and pleasing. Gradients, stylistic fonts and drop shadows complement the color tones in the images and blend well with the overall layout.
• Informative, keyword-optimized text – Each page on this Web site – with the exception of the home page – contains a segment of well-written and informative text, which clearly targets a well-defined audience.
• Clearly defined market niche – Margot Hayward has a clearly-defined target audience for her site. Anyone interested in booking harp lessons, performances, etc. can find abundant information about Hayward, her career, education and services on the site. And because Hayward specifically targets audiences in and around Northeastern Ohio (where she works and resides), the Web site can easily be geo-targeted, thus carving out an even more clearly defined market niche.
• The home page is indexed by three of the four top search engines. – Search engines Google, Yahoo! and Windows Live Search all include the home page of Margot Hayward’s Web site in their indices. None of the other pages (on which all of the textual content resides), however, are currently indexed. Ask.com currently does not index any pages from the site.
• Inbound links in place – Several, topically relevant sites currently link to pages on Margot Hayward’s Web site. Although more backlinks (i.e., links that point to the site) would be opportune, Margot Hayward doesn’t need to be overly concerned with link building at this point in time.

Specific Problems & Solutions

Problem: Home page lacks copy
Because the home page of Margot Hayward’s site contains no actual page copy, but instead consists of hyperlinks to the other pages on the site, search engines have very little content to work with. Consequently, the search engines will consider the page of poor quality and relevance – indeed, the Google PageRank of the home page is 0, the lowest possible number for an indexed page.  This means that except for a few, very specific keywords, such as “Margot Hayward” or the page’s URL, the home page will not show up in the search results of Google, Yahoo, etc. Conversely, the phrase “harp lessons cleveland” does not return this page within the top 100 results for any of the top search engines. In other words: the search engine users that actually find Margot Hayward’s Web site in its current state, most likely will know about Margot and/or her site already. 

Solution: This can be easily remedied by adding a comprised version of the key elements of the other pages to the home page.  One or two paragraphs which include biographical information, location, and services will help -- as the content is well-written and rich on keywords.

Problem: Title tags not optimized
All of the pages on Margot Hayward’s Web site include unique Title tags. However, all of the Title tags would benefit from being longer and more descriptive. Extending the Title tag content would also allow the inclusion of more keywords in the tags.

Solution: The home page currently has the following title:

Margot Hayward – Harpist

An updated title tag for this page could look like this:

Margot Hayward – Professional harpist in Cleveland, Ohio. Harp lessons, bookings, events

Problem: Description Meta tag not optimized
As is the case with the Title tags, the Description Meta tags on Margot Hayward’s Web site would gain from being longer and more descriptive.

Yahoo Search Result for “Margot Hayward”

Google Search Result for “Margot Hayward”


Both Google and Yahoo (as well as Windows Live Search and Ask.com ) occasionally use a Web page’s Description Meta tag to add a text segment to the search result. (If the keyword the user searched for is found in the page’s body text, the search engines often will use a snippet of the body text instead of the Description Meta tag content). In this case, the home page of Margot Hayward’s Web site lacks  both page copy and an optimized Description Meta tag. Consequently, the text used on the search engines’ search results pages fails to provide the user with an accurate description on the Web page’s topic.

Solution: Add content to Description Meta tags on main pages of Web site. The Description Meta tag on the site’s home page is currently identical to the Title tag:

Margot Hayward – Harpist

To improve the tag content, consider adding some of the key elements of the page copy from the main pages on the site. For example:

Margot Hayward – Professional Harpist in Cleveland, Ohio. Harp lessons, performances and events. If you are looking for an experienced professional harpist for a wedding, private party or other special occasion, you have come to the right place. Harp lessons available for all ages and backgrounds.

Problem: Poor site navigation
Only the home page contains a complete list of navigational links to the Web site’s pages. All other pages include a link to the home page, but not to the other pages. This means that all navigation on the site must go through the home page.

Solution: Add complete site navigation – header and/or footer links, for example – to every page on the site. This will make site navigation more intuitive for visitors and facilitate search engine spiders’ access to all site elements.

Problem: Geo-targeting is incomplete
Because Margot Hayward’s harp lessons, performances, etc. are centered around Cleveland and Northeastern Ohio, geo-targeting this Web site is an obvious way of carving out a market niche and reach the exact audiences to whom the site’s content apply.

Solution: Add location information to all pages of the site. This may include body text, Title tags and Description Meta tags. Although search engines use searchers’ IP addresses to serve up region-specific content where applicable, spelling out a specific location will drastically improve the chances of reaching audiences in a specific region.

In addition to geo-targeting the actual site content, Margot Hayward may want to consider submitting the site to various local search services, many of which are free of charge.

Google Maps, for example, offers free local business listings, that allow description, Web site, contact information and directions to show up next to the regular search results in the Google search engine.  (See the Local Search Engines section in Traffic Blazer for more information)

By following the recommendations above, Margot Hayward should soon be able to attract more search engine-generated and localized traffic to her Web site, http://www.haywardharp.com/

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