Dear Moz experts, Can you make recommendations on improvement of ranking of ChristmasGifts.com?

[MickEdwards]

Both EGOL and Ron are offering excellent advice.

I would just like to add from a conversion perspective.  e-commerce is all about (should be about) trust, knowledge, first class service, good value, excellent customer service, transparent delivery process, personable communication and on....

So if I go to a site that sends me elsewhere to buy as a visitor I am savvy enough to know that it is a purely affiliate site and the only real value is earning a little from my potential purchase and that site would have to really go that extra mile for me to understand the value for me.  Without what Ron and EGOL suggests I feel none of the qualities I mentioned will be there.

At this stage the only role SEO can play is to get big numbers to the site so enough stick, but without that great content that's not going to happen (ignoring the other aspects of SEO).  So personally I would take Ron's last comment and look at CRO going back to basics and ask why would someone 'buy' from you.  What is your USP, are you a shop, are you a review site, how can you differ and offer special value.  You can then start working on strategies for CRO built around those core values.

[ChristmasGifts]

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[ChristmasGifts]

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[ChristmasGifts]

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[ChristmasGifts]

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[EGOL]

...what would you do...

Giving this type of advice requires a lot of time and study.  It requires looking at the analytics and how the visitors are currently behaving.  So, I am just shooting from the hip here.  This might be what I do it might not.

I used to earn more money from affiliate programs than all other sources of income combined.  Several years ago google started preaching about "thin affiliates".   Your site is one of those, IMO.  But you have gotten that message when you asked about this site in other forums.  Take that to heart.

If I owned this site, I would probably......

-- Stop all new content production on this domain.  I don't think that your current content style has very much value for the visitor.

-- I might replace the affiliate links with adsense.  Then you are not linking to the competitors.

--  Hire a penguin / unnatural links expert, probably Moz member, Marine Haynes, to see if you have problems there

-- Start a new project on a holiday neutral domain where people will feel good about clicking into it 24/7/365.  The domain might not be "gifty".  Instead it would be "experty" or "geeky" or "outdoorsy" or "erudite" or "handy"..... pick an adjective that describes the types of products that you have the expertise to speak of with enthusiasm, verve and panache.  Feature that type of stuff ONLY.

-- When you feature a product, purchase that product, test it, photograph it from many angles, tell how it is used, how to select it, advantages and disadvantages, this would be written by someone who knows all about that product niche and can speak this product with  enthusiasm using the language of the product category niche.  These descriptions should be "best-on-the-web" for the products that you feature, written by people who use them frequently and know a lot about them.  Don't write fluff and don't try to BS the visitor.  *** If you can't do this you need an entirely new business. IMO  ***

-- If the penguin report comes back clean, I might redirect the current domain to the new domain if the current domain is not producing a lot of income.  If the penguin report is unfavorable I would let this site drift without much tending.

-- If I am redirecting I would not do that until the new domain has a lot of substantive content and is a self-standing site with its own merits.

The content that I describe above takes a LOT more work and a LOT more time than what you have been producing.

Visitors must click into your pages and say AWESOME!  WOW!

If you have great authors with deep expertise, enthusiasm and a willingness to change their style from fluff to substance then they might be able to help you.  If they don't have this then you need a different project or a different staff.

Speaking for myself... I would focus this site on a very very narrow niche where I have the ability to dominate the content of all other existing players.   I would not have a big rambling anything goes product site.  If I can't do that.  I would be getting into a different business model.

That's about all I can say about your site and your situation,

Good luck.

[EGOL]

then how is is that a site like Gift.com (which is an affiliate company) ranks number one under numerous Christmas gifts keywords

They are succeeding using a business model that Google has been saying that they don't like for several years.  I sure would not enter that business model.  If I owned Gifts.com I would be scared shitless and transitioning to a new biz model .

[mbulox]

I agree with Michael Edwards, right after I clicked on the "Shop Now" button ...I didn't feel "safe" about continuing with the transaction (this comment is off your original topic) but I think is a huge piece of your puzzle that should be fixed.

Your site is like a mini-amazon.com, the difference is that amazon.com captures the product provider AND the user/buyer all in one environment...think about that.

Cheers

[ChristmasGifts]

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[mbulox]

Well, it's kind of hard for me to expand on this topic being that this is not my business nor vision. That is something that you guys should focus on to define a business strategy and increase conversion $$$$ and once you do this, traffic will flow by many other channels (not just Google) word of mouth, social media shares, etc.

There are many ways to make your business model successful but you just got to find your niche, find out where they hang out, what they like, what they want to read and capture them in a way that they will keep coming back and referring you to friends and family.

Have you ever used amazon.com? If you haven't, I suggest you shop at least a book (there are tons and really good books) but pay attention to all details from registration to completion of transaction.

I know this is not a solid answer to your questions but this is my opinion without knowing your business culture/vision, and again, brainstorm and define a business model then put all plans to action.

Cheers

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[Adlanera]

Giving this type of advice requires a number of time and look at.  It requires looking at the analytics and how the traffic is currently behaving.  So, I am simply taking pictures from the hip here.  This is probably what I do it won't. you can see some guide here on best fishing reel brands

[Njnbiure45r4]

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