Website Report 03-Sep-2017
Contents
This report was prepared for the 2017 AGM. However, a shorter, verbal report was given on the day.
Front Page
The website's front page is in the process of being redesigned. You can see a preview on the test site.
The driving factors are:
- To make it more obvious what NAWG are all about.
- To bring attention to current events and make it more likely for us to gain delegates/customers.
- To make it easier to find information.
- To reduce textual/visual clutter and information overload.
Search Engine Optimisation ↑
We are ranking low when it comes to searches on Google (and probably other search engines). This may be reducing the amount of website traffic we're getting. We may therefore be missing out on potential new members and customers for events and competitions.
This issue is under investigation. At present, there is no quick nor well-defined remedy, so research is taking place. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is currently an active task and is likely to remain an on-going one.
Our site has been registered with Google, in such a way that we can make use of their analysis tools. Over time, this will help us to understand how we can improve our ranking in their search results.
In the mean time, article titles and excerpts are being made longer and more descriptive. This is because our SEO software uses those elements to automatically generate the meta-data that is picked up when search engines crawl and index our website. This may provide us with a rankings boost, but this remains to be seen. In any case, it will certainly help our human visitors.
Content ↑
There have been approximately:
- 10 new articles since the last committee meeting (100 since the last AGM).
- 5 new comments since the last committee meeting (20 since the last AGM). This low figure suggests we have a very low level of user interaction on our site.
In addition to article titles, the category names are also being made less terse, therefore more descriptive. This may help with SEO.
There's been some minor reorganisation in the "adverts" and "competitions" areas. Some articles were being classed as "adverts", when they were actually free competition promotions for our members. The reclassification is on-going and, in some cases, complex, as the business/supporter relationship history is difficult to glean.