One of our SEO clients is an eating disorder treatment center. We also manage their Google Adwords account, which I’ll refer to as search engine marketing for the remainder of this post. With both SEO and SEM there are two components to a successful campaign; the first is getting traffic to the site, and the second is getting that traffic to do what you want it to once it gets on the website. With our client’s SEM campaign we’ve done what I would consider a pretty decent job in driving traffic. I’m not going to say what it is because I don’t want other SEO/SEM firms calling them up and saying “MWI said they’re getting you a X% click through rate but we can get Y%!” Suffice it to say, we’ve got a pretty good click through rate, good total numbers, and generally a pretty good conversion rate.
But what with the economy and all, everyone is trying to get as much bang for their buck as possible, and I’d like to improve that conversion rate for this client. One of the challenges is that I’ve been looking at their website for several years, and so I want to bring some fresh eyes–non SEO eyes–to look at the site and give some feedback.
So imagine you’re a parent with a teenage daughter who has an eating disorder. Maybe it’s anorexia, maybe it’s bulimia, maybe it’s binge-eating, or some other type of eating disorder. Imagine you’re search for a treatment center for your daughter, and you happen to come across the website at www.avalonhills.org. What are your first impressions? What information are you looking for that you can’t find? What frustrates you about the website? What makes you doubtful that this is the best place for your daughter?
What I’m looking for is critical feedback about the site. I’d like to read your comments and see if there’s anything we haven’t seen that can be changed about the site to increase the number of people either calling in or filling out the email form.
And as an incentive, I’ll choose at random one of the people who respond to this post and send them a 2GB iPod Shuffle.
Joshua,
Thanks, Stacie Crochet
I took a look at the website and wanted to give you feedback from a different perspective….you and Avalon are making a big mistake by not also marketing to therapists. I am a psychotherapist in private practice specializing in eating disorders. I am usually the person looking for a treatment center or at least making recommendations to patients about treatment centers. I was put off by Avalon’s website because nowhere did I see it mention the importance of collaboration with the patient’s therapist/doctor. Furthermore, I believe involving the family is an essential part of treatment. From the website, I got the impression that the family is not a very important component. On a small note, on the home page the list of tabs “programs, facilities etc” are in very small print…it reminded me of reading someone’s blog and not professional looking. Hope this helps! Wish me luck in winning the Ipod, I really need one.
512-921-5925
info@staciecrochet. com
13740 Research Blvd. Bldg. U-4
Austin, TX. 78750
This may be a lot more than you wanted to read all at once, but you asked for what my opinion would be if I were the mother. Here it is:
There is a lot to read! It is very text heavy and that scares me off. I know about eating disorders already! I’m looking to find a place where my daughter will be able to turn her life around. All the text sounds like I’m listening to someone’s sales pitch over the phone. Much of the site could be condensed. I want to SEE what makes you different than all my other options. I’m not saying the information isn’t pertinent by any means! I want to know 5 reasons to choose you. Be concise. You can tell me a lot more once I’m interested and call.
It doesn’t look professional. It looks like some country mom found a way to use her horses to rehabilitate people. I want to see something that is worth the money I’m going to pay. I want to see capital letters on the headings! This is a treatment center, not dude ranch.
The program needs to look appealing to the girls and the women that will be patients, as well as the mothers. Most of these girls have eating disorders because they are very interested in appearances. They are sick, but are still normal girls. The program looks great for older women suffering from disorders that are looking for a relaxing escape, but it doesn’t look appealing to anyone under age 30. I want to see pictures of girls having fun and a place to make friends that are overcoming the same challenges. The photo section is a good example of this! Get rid of the picture of the cat! Really, you’re not hitting your target demographic! It leads me to believe that the doctors and staff are “fuddy-duddies” that will not relate to my daughter. They need role models they can relate to.
Most of all I don’t see why this program is DIFFERENT than others! Invite people to visit the facilities. Mention pricing as well. I think that focusing on success stories, testimonials from girls and pictures, and making it more professional and younger will earn more interest. The tone of the site is very boring (text and colors) and repetitive. I really feel like someone tried to fill up page after page when two pages would have accomplished just as much.
Some questions that aren’t answered are: Price? How long can you stay? Success rate? How long is the program? Where is the ranch? How old is the staff? I want to SEE more!
Some things that bugged me:
The bottom of the page first! I see what look like links to more information, but they are actually for patient follow-up. Make it simple. Label them “family login” and “staff login” to keep the site visitors focused on what is above.
On the homepage:I’d like to see success stories on the left with the other links. Take the quote and “what others have to say” off the text half! You have enough text! I like the 3 cornerstones, but they are almost invisible because of all the useless text. I’d like to see some rollover icons or something that shows me one cornerstone at a time. I can read a lot, but try to not lump it all together.
The programs page: Again, too much text! All of your subcategories sound similar. Could “eating disorder program overview” and “treatment components” be combined? The philosophy could be put entirely on the homepage, but summarize!
The facilities page: Why is there only a little bit of information about facilities, but a lot about treatments? If I click on facilities it’s because I want to see pictures and learn about the facilities (where my daughter will be). I don’t have any clue what this place looks like yet. Isn’t this the point of a website?
Staff page: Perhaps some pictures would help. I want to see some faces to make sure no one freaky is in charge of this thing. Again I recommend getting some youth! I’d feel much more comfortable with someone I can talk to or be friends with.
The rest looks good.
Well best of luck to the treatment center and the SEM/SEO team!
-urbaneish
I’m going to give feedback on their blog – my favorite SEO strategy. I agree they need more information – articles, more program details – etc. The contact page should default to the form and . There needs to be testimonials on the front page and throughout the site. Wait, I see testimonials but they blend in so I didn’t notice them.
Their site is all text no links. The navigation on the right is easy to miss. I’d put links in the body of the page. The site also needs some onsite optimization – like internal linking using strong anchor text.
But back to the blog…barely any links. Internal or external. I took a blog that had been up for a few years. It has great quality and regular posts. It only got 62 hits a month. After some coaching they were getting over 200 hits after a month and their pagerank went from 0 to 4 three months later.
Also the anchor text should have keywords. This is the number one thing I see with new bloggers. They should be getting traffic from their blog and using it more strategically. If they need some blog coaching, have them call me!
Hope this is helpful.
-Janet
Stacie wins! Thanks for your feedback, everybody.