Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization

It turns out a having a Web site be mobile friendly is not quite as critical as I thought.

At some point Google made certain changes to their page rank algorithm.  These changes really impacted my business.  The changes really hurt the ranking of web pages which Google felt had too many similar links or too many similar rich text inbound links.

At one point it was good to have keywords (text) linking to your Web site.  I made lots of them.  Now it seems I made to many, possibly too many from the same domain.

I've been updating some of my old Web pages to modify and in some cases remove links which may be hurting my Web site traffic.

Meanwhile I continue to receive promotional material from google trying to get me to join their AdWords advertising program.  I won't do it.  They control search results and they also benefit when the results are shaken up because more businesses need to advertise as a result of their shake ups.

Mobile Friendly or Die Slide Scanning

Mobile Friendly Web pages.

I recently dumped a previously successful Web page to make it a new, mobile friendly Web site.


For over a decade my slide scanning pages were really rocking it.  They'd come up in the top ten for my targeted search terms, bringing in work to my little home office based business,  from all over the United States.

About 2 years ago search engines started favoring mobile friendly sites, especially when the searching was done on mobile. My slide scanning service pages suddenly took a big hit, going from their consistant spot on page one, back to page 3!  Ouch !

The result was a huge drop in orders from across the country.  Instead I'd only get the occasional order from local people...those who likely put in a local modifier in their search string.  A word like Massachusetts or Boston, added to the typical search string, would bring up my page on top.

I had good luck with a newer mobile friendly site for my drone photography business at www.aerialphoto123.com

So I finally broke down and made the jump to a mobile friendly web site using GoDaddy's Web site builder.  It costs a bit more than their standard FTP hosting but I'm hoping the new mobile friendly site shows up for people who search for slide scanning services no matter where they are.

I also had two pages at different domains to promote the business.  Search engines don't like duplicate content, so i shut down one of the pages.

Kodachrome to Digital Conversion - Demand Increase

Digitize Your Old Slides

Big orders from local and distant customers

The second half of 2015 has brought a big increase in work to my slide scanning business. Not just more orders, more BIG orders!

• John from Vermont dropped off ~1750 35MM slides, his family's legacy. When those were completed, he dropped off another ~1000.
• Hilary in Washington shipped over 3000 slides.  Her order is nearing completion. Her slide collection spans several decades.
• Frank in Florida shipped about 1200 slides which arrived last week.
• John in Wisconsin shipped ~650 and and this was his second batch
• Leo from Boston called this evening.  He will deliver another hundred later this week.   I scanned ~100 slides for him last Spring.

This trend is a change from early 2015 when orders were slow. Search engines can have a big effect on small businesses when search result change.

I'm working toward making my scanning service web pages more mobile friendly. This will certainly impact search engine generated traffic.

35MM Kodachrome Slides to JPG services

It seems the market for converting 35MM slides to digital photos is taking a bit of a down-turn.  Part of the reason for this could be that the majority of the slides out there have already been converted.

The years between 2005 and 2008 were very busy but lately there been a slow down in orders.  This could be due, in part, to my Web sites slipping a bit in the search engine rankings.

My site brings in customers as well as the Web site I made at www.slidescanning123.com

I'll soon be branching out in the services offered to include photo restoration, print scanning and negative scanning.