Advice, please

Hi, all:

This php site of ours is still a goose egg PR. What can we do to push that
up?

http://www.hand-rolled-cigars.net/catalog/

TIA

Mike

mike wrote:

Hi, all:

This php site of ours is still a goose egg PR. What can we do to push
that up?

Clean up the HTML and use logical mark up instead of table mess.

http://www.hand-rolled-cigars.net/ca...x.php?cPath=21

Content = zero.

http://www.hand-rolled-cigars.net/ca...o.php?cPath=21
&products_id=33

try to turn that URL into:

http://www.hand-rolled-cigars.net/cuban/habinito-toro (maybe include
p3000)

You can do that using mod_rewrite, and a look up table to convert the
nice URL into the ugly one.

"35% Pre Embargo Cuban Tobacco. 65% Ecuadorian with a true Connecticut
Shade Wrapper. For those who want the taste of aged Cuban tobacco
without the strength. The true Connecticut Shade wrapper imparts a
smothness to the smoke yet still allows the Cuban flavor to come
through. Qty 25"

use "cigar" in it for example.
spellcheck (smothness)

If you know famous people who smoke one, name them. Describe what's nice
with the cigar. An excellent smoke after a whiskey. Something like that.

Replace your:

<a href="javascriptopupWindow('http://www.hand-rolled-
cigars.net/catalog/popup_image.php?pID=31')"> ... yada ... Click to
enlarge</a>

with more friendly urls:

<a href="http://www.hand-rolled-cigars.net/catalog/popup_image.php?pID=
31" OnClick="javascriptopupWindow('http://www.hand-rolled-
cigars.net/catalog/popup_image.php?pID=31')"> ... yada ... Click to
enlarge</a>

The URL would be better

/large-image/p2000-toro for example

Also:

http://www.hand-rolled-cigars.net/ca...age.php?pID=31

Drop the resizing, size the Window in the popupWindow part. And give
that page some content, what am I seeing? Give it a title, etc.

I see plenty of room for improvement but that requires some fee ;-)

--
John -> http://johnbokma.com/ MexIT: http://johnbokma.com/mexit/
Perl & Google/WWW: http://johnbokma.com/perl/
Experienced programmer and SEO available: PR7 http://castleamber.com/
Happy Customers: http://castleamber.com/testimonials.html

"John Bokma" <postmaster (AT) castleamber (DOT) com> wrote

mike wrote:

Hi, all:

This php site of ours is still a goose egg PR. What can we do to push
that up?

Clean up the HTML and use logical mark up instead of table mess.

http://www.hand-rolled-cigars.net/ca...x.php?cPath=21

Content = zero.

http://www.hand-rolled-cigars.net/ca...o.php?cPath=21
&products_id=33

try to turn that URL into:

http://www.hand-rolled-cigars.net/cuban/habinito-toro (maybe include
p3000)

You can do that using mod_rewrite, and a look up table to convert the
nice URL into the ugly one.

"35% Pre Embargo Cuban Tobacco. 65% Ecuadorian with a true Connecticut
Shade Wrapper. For those who want the taste of aged Cuban tobacco
without the strength. The true Connecticut Shade wrapper imparts a
smothness to the smoke yet still allows the Cuban flavor to come
through. Qty 25"

use "cigar" in it for example.
spellcheck (smothness)

If you know famous people who smoke one, name them. Describe what's nice
with the cigar. An excellent smoke after a whiskey. Something like that.

Replace your:

a href="javascriptopupWindow('http://www.hand-rolled-
cigars.net/catalog/popup_image.php?pID=31')"> ... yada ... Click to
enlarge</a

with more friendly urls:

a href="http://www.hand-rolled-cigars.net/catalog/popup_image.php?pID=
31" OnClick="javascriptopupWindow('http://www.hand-rolled-
cigars.net/catalog/popup_image.php?pID=31')"> ... yada ... Click to
enlarge</a

The URL would be better

/large-image/p2000-toro for example

Also:

http://www.hand-rolled-cigars.net/ca...age.php?pID=31

Drop the resizing, size the Window in the popupWindow part. And give
that page some content, what am I seeing? Give it a title, etc.

I see plenty of room for improvement but that requires some fee ;-)

--
John -> http://johnbokma.com/ MexIT: http://johnbokma.com/mexit/
Perl & Google/WWW: http://johnbokma.com/perl/
Experienced programmer and SEO available: PR7 http://castleamber.com/
Happy Customers: http://castleamber.com/testimonials.html

Hi, John:

I agree. But, that's why I mentioned "php site". The site is hosted where
they use a gui to upload content. The missing keywords in descrips we can
handle. But, almost everything else is " cookie cutter". We didn't
anticipate so much difficulty on account of that. The urls are indeed out of
hand. Drives me crazy. NOBODY would ever type a lot of those , even if they
knew the darn thing. They're crazy long, some of them.

I prefer old fashioned, plain html over this php, ( probably because I have
no clue how to manipulate it to do what I want ).

We'll clean up what we can, and probably be in touch soon. With the pop-up
'big' pics... We don't see a place to add text in those areas. If this were
a straight html thing I built, I'd have no problem adding text. I'll root
around some more. Too many crazy scripts in here.

You didn't mention links in, - recips. I was under the impression that
recip links were important for link pop. I understand maybe you were simply
pointing out the obvious, and this might be something for up the road when
it's 'cleaned up'.

Thanks,

Mike

mike wrote:

I agree. But, that's why I mentioned "php site". The site is hosted
where they use a gui to upload content. The missing keywords in
descrips we can handle. But, almost everything else is " cookie
cutter". We didn't anticipate so much difficulty on account of that.
The urls are indeed out of hand. Drives me crazy. NOBODY would ever
type a lot of those , even if they knew the darn thing. They're crazy
long, some of them.

I prefer old fashioned, plain html over this php, ( probably because I
have no clue how to manipulate it to do what I want ).

We'll clean up what we can, and probably be in touch soon. With the
pop-up 'big' pics... We don't see a place to add text in those areas.
If this were a straight html thing I built, I'd have no problem adding
text. I'll root around some more. Too many crazy scripts in here.

PHP scripts can be reprogrammed. If the contents comes from a database,
it would probably be possible to modify the script(s) in such a way that
for each "ugly" URL the user also can enter a nice URL. With mod_rewrite
and a *internal* redirection to nicer URLs. Or probably rewrite the
script a bit more, in order to have it make better URLs in the first
place.

You didn't mention links in, - recips. I was under the impression
that recip links were important for link pop.

If you have a PR6 link to any of your pages your get a better PR
yourself, and my experience is that googlebot visits more often. With
better URLs, a good title element, a good h1 element, your pages should
get better placement.

--
John -> http://johnbokma.com/ MexIT: http://johnbokma.com/mexit/
Perl & Google/WWW: http://johnbokma.com/perl/
Experienced programmer and SEO available: PR7 http://castleamber.com/
Happy Customers: http://castleamber.com/testimonials.html

Mike, is that sbcglobal.net email addy you're using a valid address?

If it is, you should check it. I emailed some comments to that addy.

Colt_45

On Thu, 16 Dec 2004 00:47:18 GMT, "mike" <cigarmike (AT) sbcglobal (DOT) net>
wrote:

"John Bokma" <postmaster (AT) castleamber (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:Xns95C0B405FA97Acastleamber (AT) 130 (DOT) 133.1.4...
mike wrote:

Hi, all:

This php site of ours is still a goose egg PR. What can we do to push
that up?

Clean up the HTML and use logical mark up instead of table mess.

http://www.hand-rolled-cigars.net/ca...x.php?cPath=21

Content = zero.

http://www.hand-rolled-cigars.net/ca...o.php?cPath=21
&products_id=33

try to turn that URL into:

http://www.hand-rolled-cigars.net/cuban/habinito-toro (maybe include
p3000)

You can do that using mod_rewrite, and a look up table to convert the
nice URL into the ugly one.

"35% Pre Embargo Cuban Tobacco. 65% Ecuadorian with a true Connecticut
Shade Wrapper. For those who want the taste of aged Cuban tobacco
without the strength. The true Connecticut Shade wrapper imparts a
smothness to the smoke yet still allows the Cuban flavor to come
through. Qty 25"

use "cigar" in it for example.
spellcheck (smothness)

If you know famous people who smoke one, name them. Describe what's nice
with the cigar. An excellent smoke after a whiskey. Something like that.

Replace your:

a href="javascriptopupWindow('http://www.hand-rolled-
cigars.net/catalog/popup_image.php?pID=31')"> ... yada ... Click to
enlarge</a

with more friendly urls:

a href="http://www.hand-rolled-cigars.net/catalog/popup_image.php?pID=
31" OnClick="javascriptopupWindow('http://www.hand-rolled-
cigars.net/catalog/popup_image.php?pID=31')"> ... yada ... Click to
enlarge</a

The URL would be better

/large-image/p2000-toro for example

Also:

http://www.hand-rolled-cigars.net/ca...age.php?pID=31

Drop the resizing, size the Window in the popupWindow part. And give
that page some content, what am I seeing? Give it a title, etc.

I see plenty of room for improvement but that requires some fee ;-)

--
John -> http://johnbokma.com/ MexIT: http://johnbokma.com/mexit/
Perl & Google/WWW: http://johnbokma.com/perl/
Experienced programmer and SEO available: PR7 http://castleamber.com/
Happy Customers: http://castleamber.com/testimonials.html

Hi, John:

I agree. But, that's why I mentioned "php site". The site is hosted where
they use a gui to upload content. The missing keywords in descrips we can
handle. But, almost everything else is " cookie cutter". We didn't
anticipate so much difficulty on account of that. The urls are indeed out of
hand. Drives me crazy. NOBODY would ever type a lot of those , even if they
knew the darn thing. They're crazy long, some of them.

I prefer old fashioned, plain html over this php, ( probably because I have
no clue how to manipulate it to do what I want ).

We'll clean up what we can, and probably be in touch soon. With the pop-up
'big' pics... We don't see a place to add text in those areas. If this were
a straight html thing I built, I'd have no problem adding text. I'll root
around some more. Too many crazy scripts in here.

You didn't mention links in, - recips. I was under the impression that
recip links were important for link pop. I understand maybe you were simply
pointing out the obvious, and this might be something for up the road when
it's 'cleaned up'.

Thanks,

Mike

John Bokma wrote:

mike wrote:

I agree. But, that's why I mentioned "php site". The site is hosted
where they use a gui to upload content. The missing keywords in
descrips we can handle. But, almost everything else is " cookie
cutter". We didn't anticipate so much difficulty on account of that.
The urls are indeed out of hand. Drives me crazy. NOBODY would ever
type a lot of those , even if they knew the darn thing. They're crazy
long, some of them.

I prefer old fashioned, plain html over this php, ( probably because
I have no clue how to manipulate it to do what I want ).

We'll clean up what we can, and probably be in touch soon. With the
pop-up 'big' pics... We don't see a place to add text in those areas.
If this were a straight html thing I built, I'd have no problem
adding text. I'll root around some more. Too many crazy scripts in
here.

PHP scripts can be reprogrammed. If the contents comes from a
database, it would probably be possible to modify the script(s) in
such a way that for each "ugly" URL the user also can enter a nice
URL. With mod_rewrite and a *internal* redirection to nicer URLs. Or
probably rewrite the script a bit more, in order to have it make
better URLs in the first place.

It's using osCommerce (I can tell just from the posted urls) and osc is
a pain in the ass to try to clean up. I made some mods to a site myself
which uses osc and the urls are much nicer now eg

http://www.outdooraction.co.nz/index.php/kayaking/
http://www.outdooraction.co.nz/index...lpine-jackets/
http://www.outdooraction.co.nz/produ...rophet-jacket/

instead of all that cpath and other crap. I can't remember if I cleaned
the HTML up all that much, although we used our own templates instead
of the default osc ones as you will see if you take a look at it.

The main problem with this site (ie the one I posted) is they don't have
a lot of content in the pages. They had a guy working for them who was
going to be dedicating a good chunk of his time updating the existing
products and adding most of the stuff in their store to the website but
they had some staff reshuffles and now he's the store manager and
doesn't have the time to update the site...

--
Chris Hope - The Electric Toolbox - http://www.electrictoolbox.com/