My webdesigner finished my site back in March. He has no SEO skills, therefore, created the site... as well as I, without regard to optimization techniques, of which I'm working on now.

He created a very impressive and beautiful entree page. It has one main outdoor scene/theme, overlaid with smaller graphics. It doesn't take long to load either. He said it makes it more inviting to viewers to check out the rest of the site. The entree page is the landing page where someone will go when they type in the URL of the site. It is the official first page of the site.

I'm worried about how having this entree page will affect my rankings and how SE's will react to this. It is only a large graphic with "Enter" on the bottom which is a link to the main.html part of my page... the site's real first page with some content.

I wanted to know what your opinions are about me having this entree page? Do you think it will have a bad affect on my for SEO and SE placement?

If you think or know why this will have a negative affect, please explain why. I'm really new to all this, but quickly discovered the entree page may go against me.

Thanks for your input here. I could use it!

Webseeker

Spiders hate splash pages, visitors often hate splash pages.

Make it useful. put some text and some site navigation below the fold if you want to keep it.

BTW the way it's a common fallacy that having a pretty home/splash page makes visitors want to see more, 9 times out of 10 it's the exact opposite.

Only designers and the people who paid for it like them

"Only designers and the people who paid for it like them"

LOL! I love mine, but through a little education, I'm quickly believing when it comes to SEO, what I like and what the viewer likes, could be 2 totally different things!... hence my post and concerns.

Any more thoughts out there?

Thanks,

Webseeker

What Chris says is accurate. You can optimize a splash page better because there are (at least most of the time) fewer variables. But the bottom line is you will lose a chuck of people who will not click through.

My viewpoint is from an e-commerce point of view based on what I've done and seen. But remember, the ultimate decision is up to you!

Good Luck!
dems

Yes, my view has quickly turned to e-commerce as well. It's one thing to get traffic, but another to transfer those clicks into buyers!

Thanks for the replies. I find this place very helpful in my fledgling pursuits.

By the way, it truly is a beautiful page... makes it all the more hurtful when I dump it!

Webseeker

Smart move. Splash pages are little more than mental masturbation gimmics for vested interests. The only circumstance where it's applicable is branding and in that circumstance our studio only incorporates one when the client is forking out the dollars for off-line marketing.

If the site depends on web marketing for traffic - forget it; does more harm than good.

I went through the same thing with a client 6 months ago. The particular industry was very arty and required a 'mood/image setter' entree. I did code in an area for the client to enter subtle messages at the bottom of the screen and also a '1-line footer' which contained key phrases. I also included clients name/address/phone on the entree.

The site is now page 1 for the selected phrase (& has been since it came out of the sandbox). It did achieve #1 when the client put 2 lines into the message area.

I have worked very hard to create links with link text containing key phrases and also have ensured title and description meta tags are appropriate.

So, the bottom line from my experience is that you don't need lots of text on the entree. You do need some, though (at least 3 lines ideally!) Also, it depends on your search phrase popularity. You also need to ensure that the other pages are text-rich and relevant.

From a usability point of view, I would ensure that the entree has at least phone number, email link and address so that returning clients do not have to trawl through pages to find this info. I would also ensure that, whatever you have on this page, the returning user does not have to wait for it all to load before clicking on to desired option. (eg; ensure all images have explicit height/width declaration in css or inline so that the page can still layout whilst images load)

Hope this helps

emalrola,

That's good to know. One thing I've learned in my newly found road to SEO skill building, constant testing is a good idea. For now, I did decide to drop the entree page, but maybe in the future after I feel a bit more confident, I might try to "optimize" it and try to use it again to see what happens.

So far it looks like everything else you've mentioned I've already done. Makes me think I'm on the right road.

Thanks,

Webseeker

Frankly i would ditch the doorway. Sorry.

I just think you will be stuffed for rankings, search engines dont like them. Certainly search engines like the new MSN tend to top skim and a doorway will hold you back. With a doorway you are asking to go two deep before a bot finds any content.

Also, ask yourself, does it truely give your visitors ANY value?. Dont get drawn into what you think looks good - what do your visitors want?. Also rememeber that you lose a good amount of traffic within the first 30 seconds, if you dont deliver what the customer is searching for, they have gone to a competitor !

The only sites imo that tend to use these are either in very small results areas so it doesnt matter, dont need search engine traffic or are webmasters using black hat SEO to stuff the door way with keywords to fool the search engines.

I cant put it strong enough - AVOID - imo. Your landing page that customers arrive to your site on should be clear to the point and a quick glace should show what your site services are.

Good luck

RichTC
Job Search at Redgoldfish Jobs

I would definitely not have a entree page, they dont seem to have any proper purpose and may result in lower rankings.

Look at the big websites out there, MSN, Yahoo, Google etc. all there front pages are full of content.

Your home page or "entry" page is in my opinion the most important page that should link to every page with in your site if possible. Check out our www.auxic.com/fa.htm on some articles of what serach spiders like to see in a site. Hope it helps!

Thanks for the added replies! Came back to check out the thread and saw them.

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auxic,

Looks like a difference in terminology. The entree page I'm talking about is for visual aesthetics only without any real practical purposes other than that.

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I've already indicated to my webdesigner to drop the page and I've redone things over at the site and am patiently waiting how the site will fair at the search engines in the future.

Thank you very much for the help.

Webseeker