Can I trick Google into looking more favourably upon me?

[pauland]

I went to your site on my laptop and the pages I visited loaded quickly.

I looked at your site with my iPhone and it's really a hard job using it - you have no mobile variant. Everything is tiny.

I suspect ( but don't know ) Google doesn't like that you have no mobile variants.

In general I applaud the work you put into this - it's clearly a labour of love.

As a site it is all over the place in terms of design with menus positioned all over the place depending on which page you are on.

Ironically for someone wanting a better google ranking you didn't even put a link in your post and no link in your post signature. Google likes sites that other sites reference.

In terms of search results I'm not sure what the best search terms you should target. Most of your pages are very light in terms of content for Google to latch on to. I didn't spot a Google site reference in your page source - you should be using Google webmaster tools and submitting the site to be trawled by Google. Also use your hosting tools to see what pages are actually visited.

I hope someone gives better advice than mine.

Good luck.

[ In your place I'd consider contacting local radio/papers and asking if they'd like a special interest story/interview connected to a local waterway. They are always looking for stories/guests and would reference your website on their website and extend your reach and hits hugely. Just an idea. ]