Criticize my site - Give me some advice [not sure if right section]

by Mogly
33 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
  • |
Hey warriors!,

Could you take a minute and review my site.

I'm looking for:

1) Criticism - What do you hate?
2) Advice - Experienced in this field, I'll take any tips you can give me.
3) Desires - Have any ideas/things you want me to implement or write more about?

Mainly I'm just looking to get an idea of what people like about my site and what people don't like about it.

I'm after a great user experience here (and it just so happens my site is about internet marketing) so who could be better than WF for this job.

Oh yeah, things I am currently working on:

1) New Logo - I'm bad at photoshop, going to pay a designer to come up with something nice
2) More data and case-studies - concrete content for viewers
3) Better site design/flow

Thanks!
#advice #criticize #give #round #section #site
  • Profile picture of the author sreeharshasp
    Banned
    Looks good, quite a few valuable content available.

    What is that you want to accomplish with the site?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7611635].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author David V
    Looks nice and clean.
    The only thing I'd say is if you resize the viewport it reaches a point when the logo centers.
    When it does that, a graphic logo appears, (which is fine) but the text logo is still there overlapping the graphic.
    Fix that and your good.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7611655].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Mogly
      Originally Posted by David V View Post

      Looks nice and clean.
      The only thing I'd say is if you resize the viewport it reaches a point when the logo centers.
      When it does that, a graphic logo appears, (which is fine) but the text logo is still there overlapping the graphic.
      Fix that and your good.
      Thanks, I forgot to mention that in the OP.

      My logo is a huge problem for me currently, mainly because this theme has an oddly shaped space for logos, and it takes a different logo for the mobile version.

      I think you were referring to the mobile or smaller version, which picks up my old logo for some reason.

      I'm going to pick up a professional logo soon.

      Thanks for taking some time to help me out, I really appreciate it!
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7612870].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author David V
        Originally Posted by Mogly View Post

        Thanks, I forgot to mention that in the OP.

        My logo is a huge problem for me currently, mainly because this theme has an oddly shaped space for logos, and it takes a different logo for the mobile version.
        Media queries is where you make adjustments for the specific viewport sizes and css changes.
        Code:
        e9c2ac19.d5f88c.css:1@media only screen and (max-width: 800px)
        #title {
        min-height: 62px;
        margin: 18px 0px 0px;
        }
        So when the viewport hits 800px you can hide the text logo and or the graphic logo.

        Also, I'm sending you a private PM, you've got a couple asset/security issues.

        David
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7612969].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author florinhangu
    Well the header look very cool, the body just to simple, you barelly know that is a wordpress and not a html template..no borders anywere, you try but you cant see were the post end and were it starts... Anyway, i wish you good luck, and in time you will find something that fits to your niche.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7615292].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Mogly
      Originally Posted by florinhangu View Post

      Well the header look very cool, the body just to simple, you barelly know that is a wordpress and not a html template..no borders anywere, you try but you cant see were the post end and were it starts... Anyway, i wish you good luck, and in time you will find something that fits to your niche.
      Completely redesigned my blog.

      Take a look.

      Hopefully this looks better for you guys!
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7618210].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author TroublesomeTots
    New to WF but I took a quick look and there are lots of good things going on - I like the clean lines, open space, large readable font, prominent about section. My only real critiques are that 1) it's a bit generic. There's nothing from a design or content perspective that really distinguishes you from the large pool of like-minded blogs. And 2) I think you need to establish a bit of credibility. I like the tongue in cheek about section but at the same point I see that you're young and not getting a ton of comments so my first thought might be why should I take your advice? Have any bigger blogger buds who can give you a testimonial? Have you done something that would establish why I should listen to you?

    Hope that helps!
    Alexis
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7615337].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Mogly
      Originally Posted by TroublesomeTots View Post

      New to WF but I took a quick look and there are lots of good things going on - I like the clean lines, open space, large readable font, prominent about section. My only real critiques are that 1) it's a bit generic. There's nothing from a design or content perspective that really distinguishes you from the large pool of like-minded blogs. And 2) I think you need to establish a bit of credibility. I like the tongue in cheek about section but at the same point I see that you're young and not getting a ton of comments so my first thought might be why should I take your advice? Have any bigger blogger buds who can give you a testimonial? Have you done something that would establish why I should listen to you?

      Hope that helps!
      Alexis
      Hmm, thanks for the advice.

      It's a fair criticism, and I think the way I'm going to demonstrate my worth is by detailing how I make money online. (Having nothing to do with the internet marketing niche or 'make money online' niche)
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7615513].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author florinhangu
    Much better.
    Well done!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7619186].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author articlecouture
    Hi! just saw your website and I actually like it. very easy to look at (love the colors chosenrange and black-gray). Just a question, is the "go" button intentionally below the "enter your email" box? I think it will be better if the button was on the side (of the box) or below the box but at the middle (It's currently sitting on the left corner below the box).
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7619534].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Mogly
      Originally Posted by articlecouture View Post

      Hi! just saw your website and I actually like it. very easy to look at (love the colors chosenrange and black-gray). Just a question, is the "go" button intentionally below the "enter your email" box? I think it will be better if the button was on the side (of the box) or below the box but at the middle (It's currently sitting on the left corner below the box).
      It depends.

      I typically format the sidebar widgets and the general look of it to fit my display.

      I'm working on a 13 inch macbook pro... which means my resolution is like 1280x800.

      It's a responsive designed theme, which means it gets smaller or larger as the viewport changes, and therefore the sidebar will essentially collapse on itself as the viewing space gets smaller.

      So for me, its on the right side, like you said, and the go button is in the right place, but it will change depending on your resolution, unfortunately.

      I'm not 100% sure how to fix that issue, because I want to keep the responsive design.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7620101].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author luisgab1
    Cool!

    Do you know how much time I have spent just to look at your site and end up with this comment? Dude your site looks great. Seriously!

    I believe you have already updated your blog and redesigned it since the moment you've created this thread. My apologies I couldn't add any more criticism. I could actually just leave this thread but I just felt that I have to commend you for the job well done.

    Btw, the color combination you used seemed awkward to me at first but i learned to appreciate it while going through almost all the pages. Plus, I gained another idea just by visiting your page. Thanks

    Lol didn't want to sound awkward here too. so i'll just cut this short now. xD
    looking forward to gaining more traffic through guest posting on your site one of these days.

    Good job.
    Signature

    Senior Account Manager & Trader | CWMFX

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7620299].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Mogly
    Yeah, feel free to hit me up with a guest post. (Just make sure its some great content)



    Anyway, I'm not 100% sure I like that shade of orange.. and I almost changed it... but I think it could work.

    I'm trying to get an original feel to my theme, I want to stick out as PageRankWorld... not just any old blog, so I guess I'll keep it for now.

    Thanks!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7620687].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Make Money Ninja
    Theme looks good, is it a studiopress one? Havent seen that before. Good job.

    Couple tid bits, prob change your opt-in box a bit and develop an action colour for CTA's/opt in boxes. Basically i do it to make them stand out. As it stands your sidebar optin will probably get a low %. I am not saying mine is perfect but mine is getting about 17% opt in. Not sure if thats good or bad, but seems alright.

    Anyway, all the best.
    Signature

    The Ultimate Guide To Link Building

    Get More Links - Generate More Traffic - Make More Money!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7628485].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author rosarionet
    Hi there,

    It seems I have missed the previous version of the blog, because I did not see any issues with the logo or other parts of it. As a part of my checks I have used a few tools to test the functionality and the speed of the blog and ...I am impressed. The total size is 344 KB but it works like a charm. It seems using CloudFlare gives great advantages. This is good for you. There is only one thing that concerns me - the titles. They are pretty big. I understand why you are using such size, but I am not sure it is correct. However this is just a thought.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7628510].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Mogly
      Originally Posted by rosarionet View Post

      Hi there,

      It seems I have missed the previous version of the blog, because I did not see any issues with the logo or other parts of it. As a part of my checks I have used a few tools to test the functionality and the speed of the blog and ...I am impressed. The total size is 344 KB but it works like a charm. It seems using CloudFlare gives great advantages. This is good for you. There is only one thing that concerns me - the titles. They are pretty big. I understand why you are using such size, but I am not sure it is correct. However this is just a thought.
      Yeah a few different people mentioned the titles.

      I'm looking into changing them.

      Also yeah, its a genesis theme, that I've slightly customized. Going to customize it a lot more in the future to make it a personal theme for myself, but it actually came for free after I got genesis, I found it on github but its a pretty barebones theme.

      Yeah I think cloudflare, along with studiopress, and my hosting makes it a really quick load.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7629163].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author luiz
    I hate it when the titles are way too big and the site color seems to be boring to start with. Your picture is even in black and white...
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7630271].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Mogly
      Originally Posted by luiz View Post

      I hate it when the titles are way too big and the site color seems to be boring to start with. Your picture is even in black and white...
      Sorry mate, I guess we have different design preferences.

      I'm not sure what to do, I really like the site currently....

      In other news, made a clickbank sale and two other affiliate leads, and adsense revenue.

      So yay for me!
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7630692].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Mogly
    Minor bump, wondering if anyone else has ideas.

    I tried to fix all of the issues you guys talked about so far.

    I'm still working on making the titles/headlines smaller.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7638478].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Mogly
    Hey guys,

    You all helped me out a ton when I made my last thread: Criticize My Site Part 1

    And I took all of your info down, and implemented the majority of it.

    I changed the design:

    1) More color
    2) Smaller headlines

    Took out the ads

    And a lot more.

    Could you take one more look and give me your renewed advice about my site?

    Thanks!!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7652788].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author abraham26
      It looks ok, font size it seems a little bigger, too much space between first article and bellow article on homepage.

      If you put one generic image to each post (there are istock photo sites) would be more interesting. Theme should generate a thumbnail for each post's image and you will have, on homepage, articles with thumbnail and will look better.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7652871].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author WebMeUp
      I love it, though it is recommended to put images into your posts. But I think minimalism is OK here.
      It would be better to highlight the keywords in search results.
      Signature
      WebMeUp Backlink Tool - the largest growing backlink index on the Web: http://webmeup.com/tools/backlinks.html
      [HOT] WebMeUp solution for NOT PROVIDED: http://webmeup.com/not-provided.html
      [NEW] WebMeUp Blog - the blog about the latest industry news and hottest trends: http://webmeup.com/blog/
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7652985].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Mogly
        Originally Posted by WebMeUp View Post

        I love it, though it is recommended to put images into your posts. But I think minimalism is OK here.
        It would be better to highlight the keywords in search results.
        Yeah, I know adding images would probably help out my rankings with alt-tags, but mainly I just didn't want to add in non-needed images.

        Like I don't really like when people post pictures of a sunset on an SEO case study.

        Or something like that, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but still I like to only use photos when they are needed.

        To the other guy, the headlines were actually shrunk since last time.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7653392].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author iLiaison
    [DELETED]
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7653659].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Mogly
      [DELETED]
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7655241].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author primeaque86
    Your blog is superb... I like it... I guess the color, the design is perfect.... I love your optin form too below post with a twitter follow button... I realized I should also put a twitter follow button too with my aweber form below post so that my reader can easily follow me. I consider to try the magic submitter! Anyway, my apology for my comment at your latest post because I said I came from WP, it should be WF...
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7669260].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Mogly
      Originally Posted by primeaque86 View Post

      Your blog is superb... I like it... I guess the color, the design is perfect.... I love your optin form too below post with a twitter follow button... I realized I should also put a twitter follow button too with my aweber form below post so that my reader can easily follow me. I consider to try the magic submitter! Anyway, my apology for my comment at your latest post because I said I came from WP, it should be WF...
      Yeah, no problem at all.

      I'm testing out the twitter follow button near my opt-in form, just because I think it might not lower my subscription rates...

      And its always great to connect with your readers on as many levels as possible.

      Thanks for your input!
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7669603].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Mogly
    Ok, so I just made a new logo.

    I want to get the main theme of the site across to first time visitors as soon as possible so they can decide if they want to read more (hopefully the answer is yes).

    Also made the post title size smaller, might need to get even smaller than it is now.

    What do you guys think?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7709694].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author blackli0n
    - rename "Brandon's Gear" to "Brandon's Tools" or "Marketing Tools" or "Brandon's Marketing Tools" or something more useful and clear.

    - "blogging for money" could benefit from a ? sign.

    - brighten up your image so your face doesn't look like a bad guy in the movies hiding in the shadows

    - the intro article layout is a little weird. I think the green block should be behind "Continue Reading" instead of the "Leave a comment". I imagine you care more about them reading the article than leaving a comment. Also having that green block up there distracts from the title and pulls the eye to the ride side when it's easier if the eyes just scanned straight down the left edge of the page.

    - consider putting the search bar into the black navigation bar where it sticks out more and makes sense because it's right next to the navigation area. And then the top right position where the search bar is currently, you can use that to put a promotional graphic...like maybe to sell an ebook or point people to your "Make money with your blog" page.

    - You might consider putting up your topic categories on the main navigation. (Also get rid of Home button from main navigation.)



    Everything else looks ok. You did a good job.
    Signature
    wpjohnny.com - Make Money with Wordpress
    Passive income since 2007. Trying to consistently crack 5-figures/month. find what you love - dream big - work hard
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7710036].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Edk
      On the basis that you're better off I reckon changing one thing at a time, I'll stop at the first thing that struck me fairly strongly. 'PAGERANKWORLD', that could do with being in much larger letters. There's something about the green and black I like...
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7710227].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Mogly
        Originally Posted by blackli0n View Post

        - rename "Brandon's Gear" to "Brandon's Tools" or "Marketing Tools" or "Brandon's Marketing Tools" or something more useful and clear.

        - "blogging for money" could benefit from a ? sign.

        - brighten up your image so your face doesn't look like a bad guy in the movies hiding in the shadows

        - the intro article layout is a little weird. I think the green block should be behind "Continue Reading" instead of the "Leave a comment". I imagine you care more about them reading the article than leaving a comment. Also having that green block up there distracts from the title and pulls the eye to the ride side when it's easier if the eyes just scanned straight down the left edge of the page.

        - You might consider putting up your topic categories on the main navigation. (Also get rid of Home button from main navigation.)
        Yeah, I was basically split-testing different words to see what would get the best CTR/response. But I agree, calling it resources or marketing tools might be better just because its more specific.

        Hahah, yeah I need to take a new picture for the sidebar. I tried to make it classy with black and white because I thought that looked more... I don't know, professional? But yeah I guess I should go for a more open/happy look haha.

        Yeah, I really do need to switch around the comments/read more. That should be pretty easy to do.

        Maybe I should just get rid of the green block altogether? (Not sure why displaying the # of comments on wordpress sites is so popular, maybe for social proof?)

        Going to probably make a topics/archives page later in the week with a better break-down of the content so its easier for people to navigate through.

        Hmm I will probably have to leave moving the search bar for a future update. Not entirely sure how I would move it into the nav bar, but its definitely doable.

        Thanks Johnny!

        Originally Posted by Edk View Post

        On the basis that you're better off I reckon changing one thing at a time, I'll stop at the first thing that struck me fairly strongly. 'PAGERANKWORLD', that could do with being in much larger letters. There's something about the green and black I like...
        Hmm, you mean I should make the logo a lot bigger? I hadn't really thought about this, but maybe I need to make it more prominent.

        Thanks for the info guys!
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7710699].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author blackli0n
    You can move the search bar easily using the "inspect" function on Google Chrome. And mess with the CSS sizing to change it's position. Once you know the right positions, make the changes to the actual CSS. Back things up in case you screw up.
    Signature
    wpjohnny.com - Make Money with Wordpress
    Passive income since 2007. Trying to consistently crack 5-figures/month. find what you love - dream big - work hard
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7711436].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Mogly
    Everyone -

    Thanks for the advice.

    I'm putting a lot of into into the site as we speak.

    Had to learn a bunch more HTML/CSS yesterday, so let's see how it goes.

    I never really learned how to code... so its all done by trial and error haha.

    I think the site definitely benefited from these (relatively) small changes, and I like the direction its going, I do think I need to add some color into it though.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7715702].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author BethHewitt
    Looks good to me, very clean Have you got similar colours, branding on your other satalite sites? Facebook page, google +, etc etc
    Signature

    Need help figuring out your niche? >>The Simple Blogging Network can Help

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7715708].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Mogly
      Originally Posted by BethHewitt View Post

      Looks good to me, very clean Have you got similar colours, branding on your other satalite sites? Facebook page, google +, etc etc
      Oh man.. you guys always are one step ahead of me.

      Yeah, getting professionally designed facebook/twitter backgrounds and pages is on the top of my list.

      But I'd prefer not to skimp out and just get them from fiverr... so I might have to wait a bit until I can get a serious designer.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7716549].message }}

Trending Topics