I have another volunteer for my series of site reviews. These series have turned out to be quite a hit. The real gems are in the comments. So please leave your nuggets of information below.
Nancy VanReece, Social Media Strategist and Website Manager for the Nashville Symphony, has asked that “we” take a look at their site. The Nashville Symphony is a big presence in Nashville with a dedication to the musical arts and education. Please visit their site and check out a great performance, led by Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero.
However, as great as they are in music, can we say the same about their website?
As always, I will get the conversation started with a few items.
Title Tags
Titles are the single most important thing for search engine optimization. All optimization starts here. The site has the right idea with title tags, but some subtle changes can make a big difference. Because keywords in these title tags have a big impact on search, it’s best to make the most of them. In this case, I recommend moving the page title in front of “Nashville Symphony”.
For example, instead of a page title of “Nashville Symphony: Dining at the Schermerhorn”. It’s recommended to use “Dining at the Schermerhorn – Nashville Symphony”. Will it make a huge difference? Probably not. However, with SEO it’s all about the little things. The little things add up to major changes.
Nashville Symphony in Google results
Low Quality Links
The quality of backlinks is low. Influential external links adds more weight to the site’s overall value. Educational and government sites are considered high reputation sites, thus a link from those sites are valuable to the web presence of any site. It’s recommended to reach out to other sites for links. With an organization like this, there is ample opportunity to reach out to the community for links.
Internal Linking
Other than the navigation and menu, the site does very little linking between pages. Linking your content within the site helps Google find your pages quicker. Contextual linking especially is strong. Google not only looks at the links, but it associates the content around the link to determine relevant keywords. You want to use keyword phrases as anchor text within the paragraphs.
Social Search
Like it or not, Google+ is having a big affect on search results. Social signals in search are becoming more prominent. With Google’s new personalized results, the affect is seen in results below. Of course, as Nancy is a friend of mine on Google+, I see her profile more. Expanding into more Google Circles as much as possible makes a big difference.
Personalized Google Results
As always, we just touched the surface. It’s time to add more. Nancy and the Nashville Symphony were brave enough to open up to critics. It’s never easy to hear negative comments, but often honesty is the best policy.
Tags: Nashville, search, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, site review, symphony, website« « New AdWords Enhancements | Target Marketing: Brilliant or Creepy? » »
April 4th, 2012 at 10:53 am
Conceptually, I think there is a disconnection between the depth and detail of the website and the product you are selling. I can’t imagine a richer source of music, where the acoustics are perfect and every tingle down your spine is a direct result of the details, the little things.
Your website should reflect that. It’s what your patrons expect when they show up to your beautiful symphony hall and it’s what they should get when they show up to your digital hall. The current site is so flat and lacking depth and meaning. There is no emotional connection, no reason to stay and no reason to come back (nothing besides tickets that I can’t find on your Facebook page or Google Places).
It should be human, engaging and intersect with the lives of your users.
My 2 cents
April 4th, 2012 at 1:16 pm
Keep it coming! – We agree with you Matthew. Your insight is very helpful.