First Ever Website - Apple Vodka

[roweash3]

My first ever development...

www.applevodka.co.uk

I registered the domain on Thursday, and have been developing it over the weekend - Its taken around 6-8 hours in total.

It's not 100% finished yet, as I still have to fill in the content for the recipe pages, which I'll do during my spare time this week. Most of the pages are there though.

I really wanted to sign up to Fresh Store Builder, but for $100+ I was unsure whether or not (with it being my first site) it'd be worth it. So I've just added individual links to Amazon products
- Has anyone had any success doing it this way? Or should I use an alternative?

I'd appreciate any suggestions on ways I can improve the website, or ideas on content I can add

Thanks,

 

[Aegean]

The site itself is ok code-wise, but you're going to have a duplicate content issue.

I'd also fill in your description tags if you want to keep google happy.

 

[roweash3]

Thanks for your reply.

The meta tags are already on the to-do list, i was just looking for some general ideas really...

Duplicate content - Although the content is similar, Ive reworded all of the 27 cocktail pages, and i will be rewording the one recipe you've spotted too haha. Does 'similar' content still have issues?

 

[mcharalambous]

Nice looking site, very impressive for a first website - mine was shocking! Anyway, you'll want to fix up those title tags and make sure each is unique to it's page, and descriptive!

 

[roweash3]

Nice looking site, very impressive for a first website - mine was shocking! Anyway, you'll want to fix up those title tags and make sure each is unique to it's page, and descriptive!

Thanks mcharalambous. Do you mean the title tags as in "Appletini - Drink Recipe" at the top of the pages, or the <title>s?

 

[WealdDomains]

The sitemap and privacy policy result in 404s. The LED lightbulbs advert at top right (and others on later pages) seems irrelevant. The home page has typos for 'numerous', 'cinnamon', 'omlette' and 'distilled'. There is no favicon. 'liquor store' is not normal British usage. The 'omlete' link goes to the 'bruschetta' recipe. The nutrition information seems, er, unnecessary, and has an American spelling of 'fibre'. The broccoli and cheddar soup link goes to the 'bruschetta' recipe. The 'Other ingredients' page has inconsistency between Hpnotic and Hpnotiq. There is no contact information for applevodka.co.uk. Your Nominet registrant type is 'UK Individual' but you appear to be trading. The meaning of (F) for Apple Passion is unclear but may relate to Flaming : the glass type is allegedly a shot glass but the illustration is an Old Fashioned glass.

Cheers !,
David

 

[WealdDomains]

Oops - forgot to say it looks terrific for a first attempt at a website

David

 

[roweash3]

Thanks David. I appreciate all the advise. I'll get onto all the spelling and grammar (english/american) errors today. Most of the information was just reworded from other cocktail websites, which were probably american, and it didn't occur to me to begin with, so thanks for that.

I have a quick question...

The LED lightbulbs advert at top right (and others on later pages) seems irrelevant.

Are they not based on your browser history? If not, can someone inform me on how to change the ads?

Thanks,

 

[Edwin]

I would remove all the obvious adverts i.e. every single banner ad. Then simply link the "apple vodka" on the ingredient list on each recipe page to the "Buy apple vodka" page. Much more subtle, but likely to be just as effective/ineffective as having the banners: either people want to buy apple vodka or they don't.

Also, it might be worth investing in a couple of bottles yourself, plus a few other ingredients, and mixing some of the cocktails and trying to take some "decent enough" photos so that you can illustrate the recipes.

 

[roweash3]

I would remove all the obvious adverts i.e. every single banner ad. Then simply link the "apple vodka" on the ingredient list on each recipe page to the "Buy apple vodka" page. Much more subtle, but likely to be just as effective/ineffective as having the banners: either people want to buy apple vodka or they don't.

Also, it might be worth investing in a couple of bottles yourself, plus a few other ingredients, and mixing some of the cocktails and trying to take some "decent enough" photos so that you can illustrate the recipes.

Thanks Edwin. I'll definitely take your advise on the "apple vodka" link.

I was considering investing in a bottle or two myself for some photographs, or having a few friends do it for me. If I do it myself, I'll just make sure to put them onto the website the day after haha.

 

[Admin]

Nice enough looking site but content looks familiar, where did you get your recipes from?

Admin

 

[roweash3]

Nice enough looking site but content looks familiar, where did you get your recipes from?

Admin

I only have one food recipe up at the moment (which I think is the one you've noticed). I copied the content from 'The Vodka Cookbook', which there's an amazon affiliate link to on the side. I do plan to reword it this week, and add all the other (reworded) recipes.

The cocktails are all reworded from various other cocktail websites.

 

[chippyb]

My first ever development...

www.applevodka.co.uk

Hang on a second here you are saying its your first ever development but on another thread you said you work for a company as a web developer and also that you do it freelance as well?

 

[roweash3]

Hang on a second here you are saying its your first ever development but on another thread you said you work for a company as a web developer and also that you do it freelance as well?

I meant the first time I've developed a "domain". I have created websites for companies in the past, but they've always been websites like Joe Bloggs Plumbing, or Company XYZ, etc...

This is the first time I've researched a name, purchased it, and developed it myself, adding seo/affiliates.
Other than my own website, and a few hotel websites from a template, this is the first website that i "own" myself.

 

[WealdDomains]

Are they not based on your browser history? If not, can someone inform me on how to change the ads?

Ah, I was on a roll and didn't stop to think while typing that comment about the ad - must have been too much apple vodka

So, instead, let me change my comment on the ad to suggest that you have a very close look at http://support.google.com/adsense/bin/answer.py?hl=en-GB&answer=105948

You may also wish to consider looking into how to provide a link to someone like drinkaware.co.uk .

Regards,
David

 

[Aaron Clifford]

I was instantly drawn to the "drinkaware" logo as it's a different colour to the site, I'd make that open in a new window, as it's the first think I clicked and left the site!

 

[WealdDomains]

Ouch - the road to hell is paved with good intentions ...

Ashley, I think removing the Adsense was good because of the conditions link that I posted, and linking to drinkaware is socially responsible for a website about alcohol, but combining the two may have backfired slightly and it may be better to move the drinkaware link down to the footer in case Aaron is a typical late-night visitor to the site

David

 

[Aaron Clifford]

Ouch - the road to hell is paved with good intentions ...

Ashley, I think removing the Adsense was good because of the conditions link that I posted, and linking to drinkaware is socially responsible for a website about alcohol, but combining the two may have backfired slightly and it may be better to move the drinkaware link down to the footer in case Aaron is a typical late-night visitor to the site

David

I don't even drink and was still drawn to it!

 

[roweash3]

Cheers guys, I'll make those changes today.

One thing I have noticed... I went onto an alcohol/cocktail forum to ask for some advise about what they'd want to see in a website, and I got absolutely slated haha

Has anyone ever had that experience before? - It seems that people who have a real interest in a topic are not too happy about people just buying domains and knocking genuine websites off the top-spots.

 

[Restepp]

Little pictograms like cocktail glass near "apple vodka cocktails" and other titles would spice it up IMO