Critique my re-designed site
Submitted by dannig on Mon, 05/19/2008 - 01:19.
Okay I just finished my new site granted it's a bit anemic right now but I do have some drafts saved and I plan on a new post every day to give my site a boost. It's http://www.urbanbeautyonline.com. Prior to this I was using Dreamweaver to host my newsletters I used to keep interest up while I was in re-design mode. I decided I needed something more content management oriented so I went with Wordpress.
I already was in the redesign process when I signed up for the Black Ink Project and thought about affiliate marketing so I'm hoping to incorporate this into my site in a way that works. I found two other websites to benchmark so I'm thinking about combining what I learn in the BIP with what they do.
I am no expert but
I am no expert but I like your design and I think it has a lot of potential.
Dan
Follow me on Twitter.
http://twitter.com/dschuyler
Great Site
Hi Dannig,
Love your site. Will buy. Will share link with my friends. Isn't that as good as it gets?
Best regards,
Judith
www.twitter.com/judithstephens
Great site
Danning,
Your site looks great. I will forward to all my friends in Hotlanta!
Danniq: I like your site. It
Danniq: I like your site. It looks very well done!
Some suggestions: In the upper right corner you have the "Place your ad here" box. I'd get rid of that as it says your site is about selling not information. You could replace it with a couple of smaller ads. Overall, your site looks like an informational site.
Some of your categories don't have much in them. You may want to narrow your focus so that users see enough listings/articles/information under each category. For example, under Arts & Culture there is only one listing. I'd fill it up or remove it until you have more information.
I think you've implemented Jeremy's strategy very well. Thanks for showing us your work. It helps me understand what I need to do.
One question: Was this developed with WordPress?
chopper
Nice site. Perhaps, instead
Nice site. Perhaps, instead of the empty ad slots, you could grab some content from a company you are affiliated with thus giving the impression of having paying ads and (hopefully) being paid when the ads are clicked on.
Couple of questions:
Do the featured articles automatically move themselves to another category after a specified period of time or do you move them manually?
Why did you decide to buy a theme instead of using one of the free magazine themes? Is the support good from the author?
Feedback to your re-designed site
Hi Danniq,
Beautiful overall look. I can see you are creating a destination site, with enticing articles, and a substantial feel, invoking a sense of "authority" mixed with beauty and fun.
Viewing it a potential visitor, it was hard for me to realize that I could buy the products you were featuring, like the Unbraider, for example (under hair products). I could see you had price listed at the bottom, etc., but until my mouse rolled over the text, I didn't even know there was a link for buying the product.
I'd love to see a big CTA button at the bottom or on the side to each product, clearly letting me know how to take action if I want the item. Then, once I click on the button, instead of going to the page you are directing customers to, could you provide a deeper link from your merchant? That way, the buyer goes directly to a page to start the buying process, like the deeper page I went to after clicking on the roll-over link you had on you page: http://www.theunbraider.com/html/np_products.html
On the featured articles, I went to the Spring Clothing Trends article, they had the same kind of very low key roll-over text affiliate link. When I clicked on it, it took me to the merchant's home page, not anything related to the pleasant blouse I was checking out. Can you link deeper into this merchant's site as well?
Also, you may want to "cloak" the link; the address bar at the top of the merchant's home page showed me your Linkshare Partner ID, which may psychologically turn off your potential buyer.
One other thing--the Sign Up Now email newsletter box on your homepage was hard for me to immediately recognize, without the standard visual cue of the blank slots to fill in. I had to click on the whole newsletter box to get to the fill-in area. You also might consider limiting the text in the newsletter box, so it's easy and immediate for a visitor to understand what you are offering. You might think about making the pt. size larger on the Sign Up Now text,, since that is a direct call to action you are looking to get a response from. (Of course, if you are getting a fabulous sign-up conversion, please disregard this whole paragraph!)
All the best,
Abigail