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davester
Joined:
06 Jan 2004
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1
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2004 6:36 pm
Post subject: request for feedback
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Hello,
I hope everyone is doing well today. I have had my site for a while and I really have no expertise in many aspects of html, affiliate marketing, what to do, etc. I have just been stumbling along on a very part time basis. But I would be open to having your comments and critiques on my site. Not every page has an affiliate link and that is by choice. But I think there is some expertise on this board and I would love to hear your suggestions and ideas. Don't be afraid to be negative and above all don't be afraid to give your honest assesment. I have no fear nor will my feelings get hurt. But, if I can improve, I would love to do THAT. So with that, here is my site: http://tobeinformed.com
Thanks in advance for all or your help,
Sincerely,
david |
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edburdo
Joined:
14 Jul 2003
Posts:
1760
Location:
Bangor, Maine
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2004 6:45 pm
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Ok... a few things right of.
Main Page:
Your columns are two narrow... they look squished and busy.
On 1280x1024, there are gaps in between your columns, and large gap down the right hand side.
Set your background color to white. It is currently the default... and I changed my background color, so it looks funny.
Adjust your Google AdSense colors to fit with the rest of your site...
Other pages:
Your other pages are not consistent in the layout. Your menus and layout change from page to page... giving a disjointed feel.
Many of your pages do not have enough content... they cause the Charity ads in AdSense
And... what is Falun Gong? You talk about it in several places... but I don't see anything that explains what it is, and why I should try it...
_________________
Eric D. Burdo
They Made $6,513 a day With Clickbank Doing This... |
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2004 7:13 pm
Post subject: Thank you Eric.
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Hi Eric,
Thanks for taking a look and offering good advice!
I need to work on my ability to make sense of colors, I've always had trouble matching colors. I do see that the columns are squishy and I do need to improve that too. I wasn't sure what was meant by the background color. I think it is set for white. But maybe I missed something there? I wasn't quite sure what you meant? What about the gap sizes? What would be more appropriate? Thank you very much Eric, I am grateful for the critique and valuable ideas on improvement.
Almost every page has a link entitled "Ultimate Health" which offers more information about Falun Gong including testimonials:
http://www.tobeinformed.com/ultimate_health.htm
I honestly and truly believe in Falun Gong and it's incredible health benefits as I've practiced it for four years. My testimonial is out there as well. The best part about it, is that you can find volunteers all over the world to teach it for free. That's one thing that initially caught my attention. The other thing is that the Chinese regime brutally persecutes this peaceful qigong or meditation practice. Of course we all know they brutally persecute a lot of groups but that doesn't make it right.
That is my passion - so I tend to go on about it.
Thanks again Eric. This is valuable insight for me.
David |
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Debs
Joined:
16 Aug 2003
Posts:
4296
Location:
NY
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2004 7:23 pm
Post subject:
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I agree with Ed on these aspects he mentioned:
needs more content
4 columns is squishy and overwhelming
design consistency
I would add to that the quality of the design, it doesn't give a feeling of professionalism, which hurts your credibility.
I don't necessarily agree on the Adsense colors ... but I would recommend testing colors, sizes and locations to see what works best for your site. The easiest way to do this is to have the entire site use the same color/size/location for one week, then change to another combination. Then check the results after you have tried several that you like.
Your site breaks in Netscape 7.1, so it is likely to also break in Mozilla and other gecko browsers. While not a large audience, it is growing, and it is an audience you are losing.
Since you admit not knowing much about design, etc. I would recommend you pick up a nicely designed free template and use it for your site. This solves cross browser compatibility, as well as consistency in design. Just make sure the design works well in as many browsers as possible before you actually put your content into the design. You can check it at anybrowser.com, or download various versions of various browsers at: http://browsers.evolt.org/
I recommend Netscape 4.79, as well as the current versions of IE, Opera and Mozilla. You can't have more than one version of IE on your computer at a time, unless you partition your harddrive, so you are best to design for the current version, and ask for reviews on other versions, and make adjustments as needed.
I would also recommend smaller images, giving over 1/2 of the width and 3/4 of the height of the viewable portion of a page to an image isn't good for your viewer, or your conversions.
Speaking of conversions ... in the little content you do have, I have no idea why I should believe your opinion on why one product or merchant is better than another. You provide no basis upon which to build a foundation of trust and credibility. More content, written well and providing quality facts and information will go a long way to improve that.
On your main page, you have links sending people off to articles on other sites ... if they ever hit a 2nd page in your site I would be very surprised. Keep those kinds of article links to subpages and get your own content online as mentioned above.
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!" |
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blakekr
Joined:
17 Dec 2003
Posts:
265
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2004 7:26 pm
Post subject:
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I'm not an affiliate expert but I do do web design. My two biggest suggestions are:
1 - Lose that white space on the left side the pushes your entire page over to the right. I think you're probably centering for a larger display, but you want to do that with CENTER tags so the smaller screens will see your whole page.
2- I don't see a "value proposition" on your site. A paragraph or two telling me why the site is there, right at the top so it's the first thing I see, could help a ton. At the moment it looks like a somewhat disjointed collection of links. I can't easily pick out the theme or know why you built it. I know YOU know how it all works, but for a bleary-eyed casual surfer like myself, I want the structure and intent spoon-fed to me.
I think if you work out the concepts behing the page structure a little more, it will look more clean and organized and be more accessible to the casual visitor. Just my two cents.
_________________
- blake
Day Job Killer -- an ebook I actually bought, actually read and actually liked. |
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edburdo
Joined:
14 Jul 2003
Posts:
1760
Location:
Bangor, Maine
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2004 7:43 pm
Post subject:
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For another guide to web development, try this:
http://www.programmerscorner.com/tutorials.php - Then click the Web Developement guide...
And they have forums there if you want to get into the web design stuff more...
Background Color:
If you are using HTML, then you need a bgcolor="white" in your BODY tag. It isn't there.... and if you haven't changed the window background color (not the desktop image or desktop color) then it defaults to white. Which causes your site to look OK for the majority of folks who have a white background on their PC. For those of us who don't, it looks funny...
Colors:
Like Deb said... play with colors... I recommended matching the blues, since you have two similar shades of blue. You could contrast the blues more (a dark blue and a light blue) or go with other complementing/contrasting colors...
_________________
Eric D. Burdo
They Made $6,513 a day With Clickbank Doing This... |
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2004 9:38 pm
Post subject: Thank you Eric, Blake and Debs
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Hi Eric, Blake and Debs
Wow, thank you for the great feedback. That is exactly what I needed. I have many things to think about now and I can't see anything but good coming out of it.
I need to look at that background problem, the squishiness problem, color, add more content, and take into consideration that not everyone is using IE, I need to remove that white space on the left which has always perplexed me but it looks like if I use the center tag properly it would be better. I also need to look at some inordinately large spaces and go at least two pages deep before sending people off to another site. I also need to look at possibly using a template to facilitate the design and compatability. I just realised the value of not having direct links off my home page thanks to Deb's advice and going to a sub page for more info. That would leave more opportunities for affiliate links. The "value proposition" Blake mentioned sounds important too. Eric pointed out that matching the blues would probably be a good first step. Lacking tidiness is hurting my credibility too.
This is all expert advice and I am very thankful for it. I'm excited to explore these ideas and see what I can do. It might take a little while since it is a side venture for me. But wouldn't it be great if I actually could earn a decent income someday?
Eric, I was curious if the drop ship guide includes drop shippers of new and popular books? I sell books on the internet via some of the big commercial sites and I have a blast doing that. I think If I could dropship some of the newer and more popular books and still be competitive that it would be great.
Eric, Blake and Debs, I seriously appreciate your taking a look. I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do armed with this new information. I just had some ideas come in as I was writing this.
Sincerlely,
david |
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Debs
Joined:
16 Aug 2003
Posts:
4296
Location:
NY
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2004 9:42 pm
Post subject:
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I wish you the best of luck, David. Your open mind and willingness to explore new things will go a long way in helping you succeed.
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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