Stuck on Page 2 - What Would You Do?!?

[Prime85]

My site is : http://goo.gl/JgK1e

My main keyword is : Plastic Bins

i have been going back and forth between page 1 and 2 for this keyword and i was wondering if any of you could provide any guidance as to why i can't get on the top of page 1, and stay there...

My site has been around for a while, we believe we have a great user experience, all unique, fresh content, and the lowest prices...

I must be missing out on something major if I cannot get a steady page 1 ranking... Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance...

[Prime85]

Joe,

You've certainly given us a lot to think about here.  We really appreciate you taking the time to analyze.

Thanks!

[Nebraska]

I worked on a site in your industry a couple of years ago. Brought them from nowhere to the 1st page of Google for things like plastic bottles. They are still on the 1st page for that phrase and many others. Don't worry about the big players - if your site has been around a while you can compete. After all - Google is a machine. You just have to feed it what it wants to see.

Here are things I would do if I were going to rank your site - based on what it appears you have already been doing:

Your non anchor text content is condensed in one area at the very bottom of the page. It's even below the Facebook and Twitter icons that I'm almost nobody visits. I would move that content UP. I would also build it out more. I counted 253 words in that section and 71 of those words are cities and states. I kind of think you're blurring the focus of each geography with all the cities and states jammed together in one spot, but I wouldn't remove it just yet. [after looking at this more I realized this text dump is not unique to the home page - you have almost NO unique content on your home page ----- I would change this immediately]

I would add more non-anchor text content higher up on your site. I know not all of your competition is doing that (some are) but this is not the time to emulate the competition - now is the time to be something else - To stand a little taller and mean a little more.

Seriously - I'm not a "content is king" type of player, but why do I need to buy a plastic bin? Who uses plastic bins?  It's easy to see you sell them - heck, according to Google you have "plastic bin" in the title of around 35% of all your pages. Be more confident in your message. Google can see (easily) that you sell plastic bins. Try the soft sell and just tell your story --- right now so much of your site just feels impersonal... industrial. I know your selling plastic widgets, but you can easily add content that makes a conversation.

Start telling the story about WHY someone would need YOUR plastic bins. Talk about the kind of people or industries that need your SOLUTIONS to their problems. It's just like the old adage - people don't buy shovels because they want a new tool - they buy shovels because they want a hole.

If I were you I would start selling holes. Some of your competitors are already doing that in a limited way, but you should just blow it out. Go big or go home. Who needs your holes? People into food storage, crafts, cleaning a garage, organizing basements, accountants, home based businesses to store parts or inventory, the medical industry, emergency preparedness, book storage.... the list can get very large if you just start expanding.

Non-content issues:

Remove the unused pages in your By Industry top navigation. It frustrated me and I am sure Google is not impressed by "There are no categories." Really? If there are no categories then remove the link. If you are using your top navigation as a memory assistant for your "to do" list.... Don't. Tighten your site down. Look everywhere for broken links - make it look like you really care.

Links

Yeah, you need more links. I think you can still climb to the 1st page and stay there without much more link building if you straighten the rest of your site out. It's critical that you start providing solutions to peoples needs rather than widgets. When you provide solutions - people will link to you naturally. Of course, you can and should prime the pump. There are many journalists that will write about a topic of your choosing and include links to your website - if you ask, are willing to pay (my experience has been a minimum of $100 and up to $500) and you have something worth linking to. This is why having that engaging content is important - you can get links from unusual sources and still look relevant.

I would also reduce the number of links on your home page and try to reduce the number of repetitive information break outs across the site. There are likely many more things I would do... but if you pull off the above things you will be fine.

[last thing - I just can't leave it alone -- get those links out of the sitewide footer. Find a better way.]

This advise is free to take it for what it's worth.

Best of luck.

Joe

(I am using a clients SEOMOZ account - my non-pro wouldn't allow me to post)

[Prime85]

Thanks for your help, you're great!

[EGOL]

When I am up against the heavy hitters I go to wordtracker or adwords keyword research tool and type in my primary keyword "plastic bins".

That would return terms such as.... large pb..... stackable pb.... clear pb..... colored pb.....  p trash b..... p toy b.....corrugated pb

There is a treasure trove of traffic out there of people who are one step closer to a buy decision than the people who are simply searching for "pb".   When I would wake up in the morning the fight bell would ding and I would be hammering to get massive amounts of good quality demonstration content, video, etc up on the site for all of those terms.  There is enough keyword depth there to keep me busy for months and months.

I am not talking about yada yada yada yada pb yada yada yada pb yada yada content. I am talking about substantive idea-generating content that would inspire people to buy a plastic toy bin even if they didn't plan to buy one when they arrived.  I would be trying to sell 'em a bin for their cat and pet raccoon.

When I looked at the keywords for plastic bins I was surprised to see that they are very very deep and very very rich.  I would be after top rankings for all of those terms.

[Prime85]

EGOL, once again, thanks for your help...

I guess i can't conceal the fact that i'm a beginner at this with my next question:

Can you please provide an example of "secondary and longtail keywords" for my keyword (plastic bins)?

Also, what is the best way to build links without spamming?

Thanks again

[EGOL]

I understand how it is to see this type of site at the top  

I don't worry about them.  I am old enough that it doesn't get my temper pumping and have been watching the web long enough to see lots of these sites disappear completely overnight.

If I was in this SERP I would be hammering at the secondary keywords and the longtail to the point of keyword cannibalization.  I think I would be making good money at it.

I'd be getting my YouTube stuff out to the front and center.  If you have that kind of asset you want to show it off instead of putting it in the footer.

[Prime85]

Thanks for your reply.

I agree, those are heavy hitters... however, the company at the top of the SERP is a 1 man operation that is about 1 year old.  He spams all over the internet to get backlinks (check his backlinks, you'll see)....  How has he managed to outrank all of the heavy hitters, as well as companies like mine that provide great experience and have been around for a long time and do not spam the internet?

Thanks

[EGOL]

There are some heavy hitters in those SERPs.

walmart, usplastic, uline, target, grainger, officemax, rubbermaid, homedepot

These big brands are hard to beat.  Those kinds of domains just have so much authority that you need a huge load of links to beat them.  You're site is all about bins....  Keep hammering for links.

If this was my site I would be saturating the secondary keywords and the long tail.

Good luck!

(I see a small display problem using firefox on a PC.    I see a "we're live should you need assistance" and a "x" box.  It might be a box that is supposed to be displayed above your design that is breaking".)