Richard Kraneis Blog

Clements Fishing Barge: Catching more Fisherman

Today, let’s take a look at the website http://www.clementsfishing.com/ . Great fishing in Genoa, WI on the Mississippi River. I look forward to my fishing visit in the fall of 2008.

But let’s take a look at its website for a few minutes. What’s good about it? Can it be improved? What simple things would improve it?

I learned of Clements Fishing Barge in Wisconsin reading one of my various fishing magazines. But I always had trouble remembering their name. I knew they had a fishing barge on the Mississippi in Wisconsin.

Here’s a good thing, when searching for fishing barge Wisconsin, their name shows up right away.

So if you search on Google for fishing barge Wisconsin, fishing barge, or Clements fishing, www.Clementsfishing.com shows up at the top on Google. That’s certainly a good thing.

Another good thing is that Clements Fishing does try to build an email list with their Add me to your mailing list option. An email opt-in would be more attractive. Gathering emails with a manual email opt-in is time consuming and doesn’t ensure the double-optin method.

Their website shows a problem that even larger websites have: a failure to use HTML code for title, keywords, and description. If they used those features with planning and intention, they could increase traffic to their website. The title for many of their website pages is blank.

Google has indexed 40 pages of their website and Yahoo has 165 inbound links to their website (very impressive). They might consider looking at each inbound link on Yahoo to see if advertising at that site would be helpful (or a thank you).

So this little website for a Mississippi fishing barge does have some good things going for it.

What would I suggest at a minimum?

1. Consider using an email opt-in for gathering emails. More efficient. Send fishing reports to people. Send emails giving discounts or special services for group fishing.
2. Consciously use better HTML with title, keywords, and descriptions. Their website traffic should improve.
3. They might consider writing more website pages with targeted keywords.

At $15 per adult customer and $5 per child, will improving the website increase the number of fishermen (and fisherwomen) to Clements Fishing Barge? Only they know for sure.

I hope to see them soon for some fishing (only 270 miles from Chicago to their fishing barge).

If you’d like an outside opinion on your website, please send an email to me. Time permitting, I’ll give your website a good look.

Really Mediocre Websites

I’ve started observing, keeping track, and analyzing some mediocre websites. It’s a delicate thing, telling someone that their website needs work.

Who am I to say that someone else’s website is mediocre? Am I an expert? Well after 5 years SEM (search engine marketing) part-time, I think I qualify as a knowledgeable source on SEM. In the Middle Ages you had apprentices, journeymen, and master craftsmen.

In the world of SEM, I believe I fit in, for now, as a journeyman. So, as a SEM journeyman, I think I’ve learned enough to comment on the SEM of other websites.

But humility is always a useful concept. I’m old enough to know that just because I think something is true or accurate, that doesn’t mean that I’m right. So my unsolicited opinions on other people’s websites is just that: opinion.

But in a positive spirit of helpfulness I’m going to start commenting on websites that I see on the Internet. To compliment what is good, to advise what could be done differently. To entertain, to educate, and to hopefully acquire some new business along the way.

If you want me to comment on your website, for free, send me an email and I’ll do so, time permitting.