Website performance and promotion
Inevitably in the first year finding a successful advertising strategy is at first a matter of trial and error, though as the year progresses it becomes obvious that some strategies outperform others.
Judging the success of a particular strategy is ultimately a matter of the number of sales made, though prior to that the number of unique visitors to the site, the numbers of pages opened per visitor (as in indication of interest ) and the number of enquiries generated by a particular strategy must all be taken into account.
The advertising cost per visitor and per sale must also be taken into account.
The above chart shows the steady progress in attracting visitors to the site from January onwards, largely achieved by working towards good search engine placement and the use of "Pay by Click " advertising. This was also supported by a certain amount of advertising in local Newspapers and Canal orientated magazines. Search engine results were improved largely by use of "Search engine optimisation software", after a rather disappointing experiment with using a consultant.
It may be noted here that the peak in March was due to an experiment with "redirected hits" - a strategy that produced a lot of hits at low cost, but to little effect as the visitors simply were not interested in the site.
Sales results for 2005 are as follows:
Narrowboat weeks
| Sold | For Sale | Unsold | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 8 | 14 | 36 |
Houseboat weeks - only started Aug 2005, advertised free until 31/12/05 to help establish new enterprise
| Sold | For Sale | Unsold | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Search Engine Rankings above position 50 as at 4/9/05
|
Search Engine |
Keyword |
Position |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
barge hols |
1 |
|
HotBot.com Ask Jeeves (English results) |
barge hols |
1 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
barge hols |
1 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
barton turns |
1 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
barton turns |
1 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
canal barge hire |
1 |
|
Yahoo.co.uk (UK only) |
canal barge hire |
1 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
canal barge rental |
1 |
|
HotBot.com Ask Jeeves (English results) |
canal hols |
1 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
canalbarge |
1 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
canalbarge |
1 |
|
Yahoo.co.uk (UK only) |
canalbarge |
1 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
houseboat hire |
1 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
barge hols |
2 |
|
HotBot.com Ask Jeeves (English results) |
barge hols |
2 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
barge hols |
2 |
|
HotBot.com Ask Jeeves (English results) |
barton turns |
2 |
|
HotBot.com Ask Jeeves (English results) |
barton turns |
2 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
barton turns |
2 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
barton turns |
2 |
|
Yahoo.co.uk (UK only) |
barton turns |
2 |
|
Yahoo.co.uk (UK only) |
barton turns |
2 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
boat vacations |
2 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
canal barge hire |
2 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
canal barge rental |
2 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
canal boat hire |
2 |
|
HotBot.com Ask Jeeves (English results) |
canal hols |
2 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
canal hols |
2 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
canalbarge |
2 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
canalbarge |
2 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
houseboat hire |
2 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
barton turns |
3 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
barton turns |
3 |
|
HotBot.com Ask Jeeves (English results) |
barton turns |
3 |
|
HotBot.com Ask Jeeves (English results) |
barton turns |
3 |
|
Yahoo.co.uk (UK only) |
barton turns |
3 |
|
Yahoo.co.uk (UK only) |
barton turns |
3 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
canal hols |
3 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
canal hols |
3 |
|
Yahoo.co.uk (UK only) |
houseboat holidays |
3 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
narrowboat rental |
3 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
barton turns |
4 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
barton turns |
4 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
canal barge hire |
4 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
canal hols |
4 |
|
HotBot.com Ask Jeeves (English results) |
canalbarge |
4 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
narrowboat rental |
4 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
shakespeare classic |
4 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
barge rental |
5 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
canal barge hire |
5 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
canal barge rental |
5 |
|
HotBot.com Ask Jeeves (English results) |
canalbarge |
5 |
|
Yahoo.co.uk (UK only) |
canalbarge |
5 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
shakespeare classic |
5 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
barge rental |
6 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
canal barge rental |
6 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
canal vacations |
6 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
houseboat holidays |
6 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
barge hire |
7 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
houseboat holidays |
7 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
barge |
8 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
barge vacations |
8 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
boat hire |
9 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
boat vacations |
9 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
narrowboat |
9 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
narrowboat holidays |
9 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
barge hire |
10 |
|
Yahoo.co.uk (UK only) |
canal barge hire |
10 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
narrowboat rental |
10 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
barge hire |
11 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
houseboat holidays |
11 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
barge rental |
12 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
boat holidays |
12 |
|
Yahoo.co.uk (UK only) |
canal barge rental |
12 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
barge rental |
13 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
barge vacations |
13 |
|
Yahoo.co.uk (UK only) |
canal barge rental |
13 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
barge vacations |
14 |
|
Yahoo.co.uk (UK only) |
canal boat hire |
14 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
narrowboat hire |
14 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
narrowboat hire |
15 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
narrowboat hire |
16 |
|
HotBot.com Ask Jeeves (English results) |
narrowboat rental |
16 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
narrowboat holidays |
17 |
|
HotBot.com Ask Jeeves (English results) |
narrowboat rental |
17 |
|
Yahoo.co.uk (UK only) |
shakespeare classic |
17 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
narrowboat holidays |
18 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
narrowboat rental |
18 |
|
Yahoo.co.uk (UK only) |
barge hire |
19 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
canal holidays |
19 |
|
Yahoo.co.uk (UK only) |
narrowboat holidays |
23 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
houseboat rental |
24 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
barge hire |
25 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
boat rental |
25 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
houseboat rental |
25 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
boat rental |
26 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
shakespeare classic |
26 |
|
Yahoo.co.uk (UK only) |
barge hire |
30 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
boat rental |
30 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
canal vacations |
31 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
narrowboat hire |
31 |
|
Yahoo.co.uk (UK only) |
narrowboat holidays |
31 |
|
Yahoo.co.uk (UK only) |
narrowboat rental |
31 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
canal vacations |
32 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
houseboat hire |
33 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
houseboat vacations |
35 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
narrowboat holidays |
36 |
|
HotBot.com Ask Jeeves (English results) |
canal barge rental |
38 |
|
HotBot.com Ask Jeeves (English results) |
canal barge rental |
39 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
shakespeare classic |
39 |
|
Google.co.uk (pages from the UK) |
canal boat hire |
40 |
|
Yahoo.co.uk (UK only) |
barge rental |
42 |
|
HotBot.com Ask Jeeves (English results) |
canal barge hire |
43 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
canal vacations |
47 |
|
Yahoo.co.uk (UK only) |
shakespeare classic |
48 |
|
Yahoo.co.uk (UK only) |
barge vacations |
49 |
|
Yahoo.co.uk (UK only) |
narrowboat rental |
49 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
barge vacations |
50 |
|
Yahoo.co.uk (UK only) |
boat vacations |
50 |
|
MSN.co.uk |
canal boat hire |
50 |
|
Yahoo.co.uk (UK only) |