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SEO Audit & Redesign Proposal

Your website is costing you customers.

beerclubbrewing.com has the bones of a good brewery site, but a handful of fixable problems are making it nearly invisible to Google and pushing visitors away the moment they arrive.

Below is a plain-English audit, a side-by-side comparison with the rebuild on this site, and a four-week migration plan.

3

Critical issues

Costing visits today

12

Total issues found

Across SEO, performance, content

3 wks

To fully migrate

With zero downtime

What we found

Ordered by severity. Each item is something we directly verified by inspecting your site.

SSL certificate is expired

critical
Problem
Visitors who land on https://www.beerclubbrewing.com see a giant red "Not Secure / Your connection is not private" warning. Most click away.
Business impact
Google deprioritizes insecure sites in search rankings. Browsers actively scare users away. You lose customers who searched for you and never made it to the page.
The fix
Move to a host that auto-renews SSL (Vercel, Cloudflare). Cost: $0.

Browser tab + Google result show "open Thurs 12-10, Fri 12-10" instead of "BeerClub Brewing"

critical
Problem
The <title> tag — the single most important SEO signal — is the opening hours. So is the H1 heading. Google has no idea your business is called BeerClub Brewing.
Business impact
When someone searches "Mora MN brewery," Google may not show your site at all, and if it does, the result reads as gibberish hours. Click-through rate craters.
The fix
Title becomes: "BeerClub Brewing — Microbrewery & Taproom in Mora, MN". H1 becomes the brand name + tagline.

No meta description

critical
Problem
Google shows whatever snippet of body text it grabs first. Right now that's the opening hours again.
Business impact
You have no control over what shows up under your name in search results — a wasted sales pitch on every search.
The fix
A handwritten 1-sentence description: "Small-batch European lagers & ales brewed in Mora, MN. Pet-friendly taproom open Thursday–Sunday."

No LocalBusiness / Brewery schema markup

high
Problem
Search engines look for structured data to display the rich Google Business card with hours, address, phone, ratings. Your site has none.
Business impact
You're not eligible for Google's enhanced "local business" search results — the box that shows your hours and a map. Competing breweries with schema markup get those spots.
The fix
Add JSON-LD schema with Brewery type, address, hours, geo coordinates. One-time setup, lasts forever.

Running on PHP 7.1 — end-of-life since December 2019

high
Problem
The server is running a PHP version that hasn't received security patches in over six years.
Business impact
Vulnerable to known exploits. WordPress sites on outdated PHP get hacked regularly — often for SEO spam injection, which then tanks your rankings even further.
The fix
Move to a static, hosted-for-free platform (Vercel/Netlify) — no server, no PHP, no WordPress to maintain.

Image alt text is filenames

high
Problem
Photos are labeled "IMG_4400", "IMG_4402", "Beerglass", "Minimal Paper Coming Soon Instagram Post".
Business impact
Google image search can't index your photos. Blind visitors get nonsense from screen readers. Image SEO is missed.
The fix
Describe each image in plain English: "BeerClub Brewing taproom interior with glass garage door", etc.

Inconsistent hours on the same page

high
Problem
Site says "Thurs 12-10" in one place and "Thurs 4-10" in another. Both are visible to a visitor.
Business impact
Customers show up at the wrong time and leave annoyed. Worse, Google reads conflicting data and may show stale or wrong hours.
The fix
Single source of truth for hours, used in the header, the visit section, the schema markup, and the footer.

Hero call-to-action says "Get Started"

medium
Problem
"Get Started" is a SaaS-software phrase. A brewery hero CTA should be "Plan Your Visit", "See What's on Tap", or "Get Directions".
Business impact
Mismatched CTA reduces clicks. People come to a brewery site to figure out: where you are, when you're open, what you serve.
The fix
Two primary CTAs at the top: "Plan Your Visit" + "See What's on Tap".

Massive unoptimized images

medium
Problem
Beerglass.jpg is 1418×1894 (623 KB). Hero image is 2400×1299. These are served at full resolution to every phone.
Business impact
Slower mobile load = higher bounce rate. Google's Core Web Vitals penalize slow sites.
The fix
Auto-resize and serve modern formats (AVIF/WebP). Built into the new stack — zero work after migration.

Events listed as raw text with whitespace formatting

medium
Problem
The May lineup is hand-formatted with leading spaces to try to center it. On mobile it breaks.
Business impact
Looks unprofessional. Doesn't show up in Google Events. Hard to update — you have to remember the spacing trick.
The fix
Structured event cards (date / food truck / live music). Easy to edit, looks good everywhere.

No Open Graph / Twitter share image

medium
Problem
When someone shares the site in Facebook, iMessage, Instagram DMs — it shows a blank preview or a random thumbnail.
Business impact
Free word-of-mouth marketing wasted. Shares look unappealing.
The fix
Set an OG image (a good photo of the taproom + logo). Every share becomes an ad.

Footer says "Copyright © 2018" and "theme by GoDaddy"

low
Problem
Year is frozen at 2018. Free GoDaddy theme advertisement in the footer.
Business impact
Site looks abandoned. Visitors wonder if you're still open.
The fix
Auto-updating year. No third-party attribution in your footer.

Today vs. the rebuild

The demo site at this domain shows every single one of these fixed.

MetricCurrent siteProposed
Page title in Google"open Thurs 12-10, Fri 12-10…""BeerClub Brewing — Microbrewery & Taproom in Mora, MN"
Meta descriptionMissing — Google guessesHandwritten, keyword-rich
HTTPSExpired cert · "Not Secure" warningValid, auto-renewing
Structured data (schema)NoneFull Brewery + LocalBusiness + Hours
Image alt text"IMG_4400", "Beerglass"Descriptive, accessible
Mobile performanceSlow — full-size images, WordPress overheadStatic, optimized, modern formats
Sitemap & robots.txtMissingAuto-generated
Social share previewBlank / brokenBranded image + tagline
EventsManually whitespace-formatted textStructured cards, mobile-friendly
Underlying platformWordPress 6.4 on PHP 7.1 (EOL 2019)Static site on Vercel — no maintenance
Hosting costDomain + WordPress host feesVercel free tier (domain only)
Update workflowWP admin login, hope nothing breaksI make the change, you approve, it's live in 5 min

Migration plan

Three weeks of work, then ongoing care. Zero downtime — the new site goes live only after we've done a full side-by-side review.

  1. Sign-off & content

    Week 1
    • →You approve the design (this demo).
    • →We pin down the current tap list, hours, and contact info.
    • →I take or collect 4–6 great photos of the taproom, the team, and beer pours.
    • →Domain access: you give me read-only DNS access at your registrar so I can prepare the switch.

  2. Build & content polish

    Week 2
    • →Final copy editing (story, beer descriptions, etc).
    • →Google Business Profile sync (hours, photos, category).
    • →Add Instagram & Facebook feed links.
    • →Set up a contact form that emails you directly — no plugins to maintain.

  3. Launch

    Week 3
    • →Switch DNS to point beerclubbrewing.com at the new site.
    • →Issue & install a fresh SSL certificate (automatic, free).
    • →Submit sitemap to Google Search Console.
    • →Set up Google Analytics 4 so you can see actual visitor numbers.
    • →We do a side-by-side QA on mobile, tablet, and desktop.

  4. Aftercare

    Week 4+
    • →Monthly: I update events, tap list, and any seasonal content.
    • →Quarterly: SEO check-in — review search rankings and adjust.
    • →On-demand: small edits (new beer added, hours changed for a holiday) within 24 hours.

Investment

One-time build, then a small monthly retainer that covers all ongoing edits and SEO upkeep.

One-time build

$1,500

  • → Full rebuild on a modern, secure platform
  • → All on-page SEO done right from day one
  • → Schema markup, sitemap, Google Search Console setup
  • → Google Analytics installed
  • → DNS migration with zero downtime
  • → 14-day post-launch warranty

Monthly care

$75/mo

  • → All content updates (tap list, events, hours)
  • → Hosting & SSL — fully managed
  • → Monthly SEO check-in
  • → Edits turned around in 24 hours
  • → Cancel anytime

For context: your current WordPress hosting + plugin licenses likely already costs you $20–40/month, and that's before you spend any of your own time on edits.

Want to talk it over?

Send me a note — tell me what you'd change, what you'd keep, or just say “not interested” and I'll leave you alone. No pressure either way.

thomasc.wre@gmail.com

(click to open your email app, or just copy the address)

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