Very nice design, clean and simple. I know nothing about stocks/trading etc., but felt your content layout was very good.
I would strongly recommend you remove your email address from the site pages and use a FormBuildIt form instead. Otherwise the spam bots will be going crazy in love with your site.
You have an external stylesheet defined in your <head> ... why do you also have style classes defined? If you add those to your stylesheet, you move your content higher on the page which SE's like.
Speaking of which, your table design has your navigation appearing higher than the content ... this is odd since your navigation is on the right. Normally, if the navigation is on the right, the content section would be higher than the navigation, which is ideal.
Debs _________________ Learn how to turn keyphrases into quality, well-targeted articles your visitors and SE's will love with Gary Antosh's new ebook "Web Content Made Easy!"
Joined: 08 Aug 2003 Posts: 205 Location: Assisi, Italy
Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2004 10:38 pm Post subject:
YC,
I took a look at your site, and there are a couple of things that I would consider as possible improvements.
First, you could improve your headline.
Make it more personal. Instead of just, Making the Right Choice in Stock Trading
...finish the thought, tell a story, again, make it personal to your visitor.
Making the Right Choices in Stock Marketing Can ... (what can it do?)
- make you wealthier than your wildest dreams?
- permit you to live a life of complete financial freedom?
etc, etc.
This kind of headline will already get your visitors' attention, and inspire them to read on.
Your facts and text after this isn't bad, but you need to then guide your visitor to a specific NEXT STEP, what do YOU suggest they should do first?
Someone like me is lost (I know almost nothing about trading), so I would look to you to walk me through the steps - make the process crystal clear. If I am left alone, I feel overwhelmed by all the choices (though they look interesting) and I end up leaving.
Even consider listing STEP 1) Do this... STEP 2) do this... STEP 3) Do this... After these 3 steps you are ready to start your first small trading...
Get my drift.
One last thing, considering the professional nature of your theme, make sure that your grammar is really tight, I saw several obvious errors. I am often myself an offender towards poor grammar, and will have someone who is a good proofreader look over some of my writing to make sure that I haven't made any typos or silly errors - you should do the same. Your presentation needs to be meticulous if you want to win people's faith here.
Joined: 02 Jul 2003 Posts: 5839 Location: by the beach, Australia
Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2004 6:12 am Post subject:
Hi YC,
Looks good. Nice and neat. As Tim says, the writing could do with a little tidying up.
For example, the heading on the main page, "making the right choice in Stock Trading", looks odd to me because it doesn't begin with a capital letter.
Little things like that are important because they affect how your visitor feels about the site - perhaps subconsciously.
A couple of ideas...
1. As I'm sure you've realized, one challenge every web site faces is earning the trust of your visitors. A think a site involving money matters faces a tougher challenge than most. Every small detail will have to be right.
I immediately looked for an "About Us" page to try to find some information on you. I was looking for an article on your experience in stock trading - some reason why I should take your site seriously. A photo of you would help, too.
This is important not just for your visitors, but also for your potential link partners. I reckon they'll also be looking for reasons why they should treat your site seriously.
2. I wondered why you're using a small graphic saying "Welcome to Stock-Trading-Advice.com" on the right side of your pages. Perhaps it's to help people remember the URL. It has the disadvantage of slowing down the page a fraction and also the bigger disadvantage of pushing your AdSense ads further down the page. I'd be inclined to dump it.
Yeah ... I think I would agree with Allan. Try telling people about yourself. And have a picture of yourself. Here are some ideas that you can include in your About Us
Who you are
My name is John Doe. I am a .... I have been trading stocks for X years ... etc
How you got started
I started trading stocks when ....
Why you build the website
I build this website to share with you ....
I can't add much, but here's a couple of things...
Your title (as in the <title> tag) - I'd go for something along the lines of...
"Stock-Trading-Advice.com - expert advice for the smarter trader..."
Go for a little flattery, but balance it against patronisation. Reassure people that they are intelligent enough to listen to you.
To be honest, Tim and Allan have covered what I would have said, and more besides...
I know what a problem it can be writing for Americans in a second language. With one of my sites, I actually got a native to proofread for me. I think it's vital you do the same.
As has been mentioned, in areas like finance you must sound polished (though I like the way you avoid trying to hide behind jargon to sound impressive).
I think you have to decide whether your priority is to lead people by the hand through a series of specific steps (as Tim mentioned), or shove them gently through the paid exit door Adsense provides (by limiting their options).
If done properly, both methods can work. Just decide which is the preferred approach for each page.
Hope this helps,
Charlie.
P.S. Is there any particular reason for having the navigation on the right instead of the conventional left?
I'd be interested to know whether it makes the Adsense ads work better or worse, or puts people off because it isn't what they expect a site to look like.
You have to balance standing out from the crowd against upsetting the status quo. _________________ "Before I speak, I have something important to say."
- Groucho Marx
Joined: 27 Dec 2003 Posts: 26 Location: Penang, Malaysia
Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2004 12:38 pm Post subject:
Thks for your advise and suggestion, Kidino and Charlie.
Charlie,
I don't have any particular reason to out navigation on the right. I just would like to try something different and see whether it work better. The disadvantage is Adsense ads has to put a bit lower than navigation.
At the moment, I don't know whether it will work better for Adsense as well as the ease of navigation by visitors.
Any comment on visitor point of view for right nagivation?
Joined: 08 Aug 2003 Posts: 205 Location: Assisi, Italy
Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2004 1:41 pm Post subject:
YC,
Keep in mind that it doesn't matter what the visitor thinks, it matters what they DO. Only testing will tell you what works better between right and left side navbar - I have honestly never bothered testing this, perhaps someone else has - my guess that the standard left side wins, but this is just my guess.
I figure that if the right bar were more profitable, we would already be seeing this amongst some of the more fanatical testers, and savvy marketers - which I have never seen.
Useability studies show left side navigation wins ... simply because that is where users are used to seeing it ... may also have something to do with the majority of people reading left to right so their vision starts on the left side of the page.
Right side navigation makes more sense for 2 reasons ... and less sense for one but that one is important.
Right side makes more sense for 2 reasons ... the majority of people are right handed and it's less work to use the nav bar on the right ... and usually when coding in tables, having the navigation on the right pushes the content higher on the page for the SE's.
However, the one reason that may keep the navigation on the left is that the number one spot to attract your visitor's eye is the upper right ... so this is the best spot to put your hottest ad, with lower right being next.
Hope this helps,
Debs _________________ Learn how to turn keyphrases into quality, well-targeted articles your visitors and SE's will love with Gary Antosh's new ebook "Web Content Made Easy!"
Joined: 27 Dec 2003 Posts: 26 Location: Penang, Malaysia
Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2004 6:29 am Post subject:
Thks, Debs.
I'm working to put the navigation to lest and restructure my writing style.
You have the very good site with lot of information. Beside Debsteps, do you have any other completed site? I'm sure you are working on others... am I?
I like to study good quality site and learn how they attract visitor and optimise for SE. This is a STEALTH WEALTH strategy, he he...
Yes, I have other sites under construction now. But I won't be posting them here ... I've had too many copycat sites come out since I posted DebtSteps on this forum.
Debs _________________ Learn how to turn keyphrases into quality, well-targeted articles your visitors and SE's will love with Gary Antosh's new ebook "Web Content Made Easy!"
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