Page Ranking and actual enquiries

For web designers/developers and SEO

[le_gber]

Hi, just a thought.

I've put my site online a couple of months ago, changed it since the last crawl and am waiting nervously for the next update (like many of us) to see if my new design/optimisation is going as planned (ie better ranking)

I've got a question for people providing the same services as I do (i.e. website design, development, SEO, hosting, etc...). What is the ratio or figures for: visits/enquiries and enquiries/job alocated?

I was wondering 'cause I was hoping that a good rank could get some enquiries and at least one or two small jobs/months ... is that realistic or am I dreaming? I am still working my a** off to get customers through 'old fashioned' medium ie referencing, cold calling etc ... but will the site add some 'beurre dans mes epinards' - butter in my spinach :)

Thanks

Leo

ps. I am in the uk but any general comments/experience is more than welcome.

[WebGuerrilla]

Conversion rates will vary quite a bit from company to company. There are just too many variables involved to come up with any standard conversion rates for a particular industry.

[hmpphf]

We get all of our business through our website. Being in Google for your key search phrases, and having a website that impresses people seem to be key factors. Your current client list is probably something that most prospective clients will look at carefully.

[le_gber]

Conversion rates will vary quite a bit from company to company

I understand that, of course it'll vary greatly according to the target audience, portfolio, skills of the designer, developers etc.. but it's just to have a rough idea ...

having a website that impresses people seem to be key factors

What do you mean by website that impress people ... I think that clear navigation and simple & sleek design are more important that heavy 3D/flash animation. (I've got a bit of flash though, but nothing comparable to/as good as 2advanced.com for example)

Just rough idea of many visit you gets/number of enquiry will give me an idea - after that it's your call to convert enquirer into customers.

Leo

[Powdork]

Straight up front I'll say I'm not a big fan of flash. But any site with all of the content of their homepage consisting of what's required to view their site is NOT someone you should look up to. Should have just named it 2advancedforyoutoview.com.;)

[le_gber]

2advancedforyoutoview.com

ROFL - that's a very good one :), but still what they do kicks a** (if you've got ie 5 or over, broadband connection, flash player, ...........)

No I've only got a bit of flash ... basically no flash intro, I leave that to my customers if they want to :) homepage has animated header (100px height and for about 10 sec) and other pages have static image of the final frame of my animated header.

Leo

[Powdork]

I've got all that and once I clicked to enter, their stuff is visually impressive. It still makes me want to go away though.

[le_gber]

Powdork what your experience about the visit/enquiries you receive for your site?

leo

[rfgdxm1]

>I've got all that and once I clicked to enter, their stuff is visually impressive. It still makes me want to go away though.

This site definitely deserves a web pages that suck award. Are you on dial up? I, like most of the world, am. This is why web pages should be small in size.

[Powdork]

From the limited research I have done very favorable. But there are different reasons for creating different sites and the 2advanced site may be perfect for its target audience. I try to keep mine so that the maximum download time on any page is less than 10 seconds on a 56k modem. I use a liquid design so the site will keep its appearance and the text its readability across screen resolutions. For my main site the idea is to send traffic to members of the directory. I get them on the site with the relevant search and then off to a client with a heightened level of interest as quickly as possible. For other sites the idea is to get you on however possible and then keep you lost like you're in a Vegas casino. For my restaurant site the idea is to get them to the banquet menus and then bring on the slower loading image-script heavy pages.
I've found the most important thing is to respond to the critics by checking things out when reported. I learned css from complaints about my pages being all screwed up from a larger than average number of elderly folk. Thats when I learned they could set their text to large on their browser (I was really new then).

Ooops, I just realised your question was about the success of visits.
In short my main site sends more traffic to almost all of the clients than any other non se site. The success of the enqueries is then out of my hands and up to the clients. For all my sites in general it would be hard to gauge since my stats lack the ability to filter and I lack the understanding of hta access. The web presence's return on investment has been very favorable on all counts due to the very low costs involved.