Hey, could I possibly get some reviews of mine and Ltdnr's (im not quite sure of the spelling) new forum www.notanotherteenforum.com. We launched 2 days ago with an ipod nano contest and it seems to be going alright.

Any ideas of how to improve the forums when more money comes in are very welcome, or things we can do now without spending (too much) money. Thank you

The skin is a little too standard looking. Doesn't really stand out much to me. However I like the domain name. A little "cheesy".. well, ok, VERY CHEESY, but I'm sure that's what you are going for and I think it works well with the subject matter.

Maybe make your contest more obvious from the main page. Most people aren't going to read the welcome message. You might want to replace the 728x90 google ad with a FREE iPod Nano promo. Just make sure the banner makes it obvious that the free Nano is from your website. People have been seeing free iPods for years now and know how to skip over them because most are pyramids where few ever see the free gift.

Forum contests are different of course. I'd say that's the only change necessary at the moment. Maybe change the skin down the line but it's not a bad looking site at all. Hope that helps.

The skin is nice.. but I don't think it really fits a teen forum. The design seems a bit to techy but I'm not really sure what kind of design would suit the teenage crowd. Which is weird since I'm still a teen lol.

You seem to have started off well, not an overload of topics which makes the forum look full which is good. Your Call To Action message seems a bit to long and lack luster. You should try to get to the catch quicker and add some color and some boldness... spice it up so it catches the user's attention.

I agree with 007 about the contest banner I think that will really help promote the contest better since adsense is probably pretty low I think you can suffer without it for now. Also maybe don't put adsense on your site until you start getting an active community running so people think you are in this because you like the topic, not just to make a quick buck.

Hope that was helpful.

yeah it was, thanks both of yo, ill get started on a banner

Originally Posted by 007

The skin is a little too standard looking. Doesn't really stand out much to me. However I like the domain name. A little "cheesy".. well, ok, VERY CHEESY, but I'm sure that's what you are going for and I think it works well with the subject matter.

Maybe make your contest more obvious from the main page. Most people aren't going to read the welcome message. You might want to replace the 728x90 google ad with a FREE iPod Nano promo. Just make sure the banner makes it obvious that the free Nano is from your website. People have been seeing free iPods for years now and know how to skip over them because most are pyramids where few ever see the free gift.

Forum contests are different of course. I'd say that's the only change necessary at the moment. Maybe change the skin down the line but it's not a bad looking site at all. Hope that helps.

Lol, I was SO right Slevin lol. I told you YPN wouldn't work (unless you have monster traffic or awesome ads) and I told you too about replacing the current ad space with a banner for the contest lol.

Thanks for your detailed input 007, really helps out. The skin is free, we tried to jump into this project as low budget as it could possibly be. Currently, our only expense has been the $8.88 for the domain name (I had a leased vB license sitting around). I will have to spend $150 on that iPod though when the time comes.

We will be implementing that contest banner hopefully by tomorrow, and I hope Mike Slevin here knows exactly what to put on it lol

A teen site without a homework help forum? You HAVE to add that!

Lol, will do

Also replace the iPod nano image with the new one atleat..

Originally Posted by Sygon

Also replace the iPod nano image with the new one atleat..

Yeah, maybe the new one hasn't come out yet where he lives...

I thought he knew to use the new pic lol

Looks good, I think It's going to do well.
I don't really like the logo though. Maybe you could try something more unique? In saying that my teen forum logo isn't that great either, lol.

Goodluck with yours!

Heh, thanks!

Maybe I can look into a new logo in the near future :P