Website Review and Suggestions

**conceptskate** · 04-24-2009, 04:26 PM

I have worked hard on every area of my website, you may notice the links at the top wont work at the moment because im going to be installing OSCommerce online store software in the next week. The software was there before but i run in to issues installing a new theme. Also im going to be working on a blog to provide skateboarding news. My head banner isn't quite right yet but its much better than it was before.

Any suggestions and advice will be much appretiated, it doesnt matter how big or little your suggestion is. Please be honest if something is terible i would love to know.

Thanks a lot everyone.

**conceptskate** · 04-24-2009, 06:28 PM

Any suggestions at all? Do i fail at web design? I want to eventualy make a living online im only 18 at the moment.

**konetch** · 04-25-2009, 01:26 PM

It's pretty good. I like it. It's simple and strait to the point. You got some useful stuff on there too. Keep it the way it is. It looks fine.

**searchia** · 04-25-2009, 06:33 PM

Really good liked it very much, it's simple and good. it's also clean nice site

**conceptskate** · 04-25-2009, 06:45 PM

Thanks so much both of you !!!! I also got the same results from the other forum i go on.

Im just going to work on adding content then marketing now.

**conceptskate** · 04-27-2009, 11:30 AM

Any more reviews?? I would love to here what you guys think.

**pekishmoss** · 04-27-2009, 12:09 PM

The site looks good. I agree that it's clean and informative.
The only thing I noticed is your "featured article" hasn't been written by you. If you are going to add content to your blog, make sure that it is unique.

Good luck!

**conceptskate** · 04-27-2009, 04:07 PM

Yeah your totaly right! Thanks a lot for your review, my blog will be my own content and writing.

Jack

**PBScott** · 04:38 PM

Its a great site, well laid out, very interesting, and on a great topic.

I would suggest a change of fonts only to give it a smoother appearence, it looks like your using default font styles, and mabey centering the main frame. You could mabey use a bit more graphic design on the logo, though its not bad.

Also the txt next to the video on the Homepage with Video Information is too close to the you tube frame, you would be better to move something to space it better.

Hard to critique a website I wish was mine, nice work keep it up.

**conceptskate** · 04-27-2009, 05:43 PM

Thanks so much for your review! I will certainly be looking in to the points you suggested. I have been thinking many times wether i should centre the site.

Also your right about the logo, its currently temporary untill i have the time to sort it out.

Thanks for your kind words

Jack

**pankirk** · 04-28-2009, 05:48 PM

This is great! I love skateboarding! Is this database driven?

**conceptskate** · 04-28-2009, 05:50 PM

Thanks me too! What do you mean by database driven?

**conceptskate** · 05-06-2009, 03:31 PM

Anymore reviews will be greatly appretiated! Thanks everyone.

**RoyDixon** · 05-06-2009, 06:22 PM

Your site looks pretty good, overall. It's clean and simple, and the topic is good. It seems to have a lot of content... kind of a "one stop shop" for skateboard enthusiasts. Good job there. You also have a Google ranking of 2 which is nice for a young site like this. I'd say you're on the right track.

If you wanted to tweak it, you might want to look at the colors and the graphics. It seems a little "Safe" for a skater's site. Don't worry too much about it, though, because it seems to be working.

Think about a dedicated feature section for equipment reviews, especially boards. You should be able to generate some income with links on those pages. You state that you have product reviews, but I didn't see any.

If you're up to it, do some research on famous skaters and write a story or two. Make sure you have your facts straight though... or your visitors will think you don't know what you're talking about.

Watch your spelling. You have a lot of spelling errors and mistakes in grammar. Nothing turns off an educated visitor faster than misspelled words. I'll point out a few for you.

Starting with the first paragraph "...product reviews, photo's and online store..." should be photos(no apostrophe) - You did the same thing in the next sentence "...submit your own skateboarding photo's and register..." In fact, I think you'll find that every time you should use the word photos you write photo's instead.

"Complication of some of the best tricks..."-should read "Compilation of some of the best tricks..." - same paragraph "... Lux Aeterna - requim for a dream." - should read "...Lux Aeterna - requiem for a dream."

Next paragraph "... we had words with the creater of the book..." - should read "...we had words with the creator of the book..." or "...we had words with the author of the book..."

Check for this kind of mistake throughout your site and correct them. You'll be glad you did. If you're not sure, open a dictionary. It's worth the time.

Keep up the good work!

**EmpireKitchen** · 05-07-2009, 11:13 PM

Great layout...

I get lost in the menu left_

Skateboarding Spots
Skateboarding Trick Tips
Skateboarding News
Skateboarding Archives
Skateboarding Videos
Skateboarding Photos
Skateboarding Community
Skateboarding Downloads
Skateboarding Online Stor

I know its a skateboarding site but thats overwhelming to me to see it som many times in a row.

Also I like to click buttons vs all text hyperlinks...

Could help break it up a little

Good Luck !

Bob

**ritetek** · 05-08-2009, 03:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EmpireKitchen

Great layout...

I get lost in the menu left_

Skateboarding Spots
Skateboarding Trick Tips
Skateboarding News
Skateboarding Archives
Skateboarding Videos
Skateboarding Photos
Skateboarding Community
Skateboarding Downloads
Skateboarding Online Stor

I know its a skateboarding site but thats overwhelming to me to see it som many times in a row.

Also I like to click buttons vs all text hyperlinks...

Could help break it up a little

Good Luck !

Bob

I would assume that is an attempt at SEO; it would help a bit but I'm not sure its worth the lack of usability. You could try the following code instead:

Code:

<a title="Skateboarding Trick Tips" href="skateboarding-trick-tips.php">Trick Tips</a>

.

**conceptskate** · 05-13-2009, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RoyDixon

Your site looks pretty good, overall. It's clean and simple, and the topic is good. It seems to have a lot of content... kind of a "one stop shop" for skateboard enthusiasts. Good job there. You also have a Google ranking of 2 which is nice for a young site like this. I'd say you're on the right track.

If you wanted to tweak it, you might want to look at the colors and the graphics. It seems a little "Safe" for a skater's site. Don't worry too much about it, though, because it seems to be working.

Think about a dedicated feature section for equipment reviews, especially boards. You should be able to generate some income with links on those pages. You state that you have product reviews, but I didn't see any.

If you're up to it, do some research on famous skaters and write a story or two. Make sure you have your facts straight though... or your visitors will think you don't know what you're talking about.

Watch your spelling. You have a lot of spelling errors and mistakes in grammar. Nothing turns off an educated visitor faster than misspelled words. I'll point out a few for you.

Starting with the first paragraph "...product reviews, photo's and online store..." should be photos(no apostrophe) - You did the same thing in the next sentence "...submit your own skateboarding photo's and register..." In fact, I think you'll find that every time you should use the word photos you write photo's instead.

"Complication of some of the best tricks..."-should read "Compilation of some of the best tricks..." - same paragraph "... Lux Aeterna - requim for a dream." - should read "...Lux Aeterna - requiem for a dream."

Next paragraph "... we had words with the creater of the book..." - should read "...we had words with the creator of the book..." or "...we had words with the author of the book..."

Check for this kind of mistake throughout your site and correct them. You'll be glad you did. If you're not sure, open a dictionary. It's worth the time.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks so much for your detailed review i really appreciate it.

You say i have a ranking of 2 in Google what key term is this for?

I see what your saying and have been contemplating changing my header and i think im going to re design it.

Yeah i have so much to do, product reviews is going to be a big part of my website, i only have 1 at the moment. I can't wait to do more but im concentrating really hard on adding EVERY skateboarding video, its taking ages but will be worth it.

Yeah i plan on doing skater biographies.

Tomorrow im going to spend all day going over my spelling throughout my site since it is pretty bad and un professional.

Once again thanks a lot for your time.

----
EmpireKitchen and ritetek

Thanks both of you for your kind words, there are 2 reasons for that. Your right it seems to be good SEO having skateboarding all the time. Also my left navigation looks strange unless i fill up the space as much as i can.

Jack

**RoyDixon** · 05-14-2009, 12:01 PM

Google page rank isn't for for any specific keyword or term. It's an overall number that Google gives your site to rate how "important" Google thinks your site is. Your site has a page rank of 2, which means 2 out of 10. (BTW Google has a Page Rank of 10)
Don't worry too much about page rank though. Just do the work on your site. Make it as good as you can. Keep your content fresh and do some marketing. Traffic is much more important than page rank (PR).

**conceptskate** · 12:13 PM

Thanks a lot man! your giving some great information. Im getting some good traffic at the moment and im under presure to get my site looking really good. Just out of interest is this good? i was at 10 visits a day before i started advertising, a few days ago i started advertising and this is my traffic from yesterday.

165 visits

747 pageviews

4.53 pages/visit

45.45% bounce rate

00:05:00 avg time on site

68.48% % new visits

**RoyDixon** · 05-14-2009, 12:54 PM

Any increase in visitors is great!
The stat that impresses me the most is 4.53 pages/visit
That means that people are exploring your site. That's good!

Keep up the advertising and marketing. Don't look at the stats every day or you will go nuts. Do the work, and check it every week or 2 to see if you are on the right track.
I would put a social bookmarking button on the page somewhere.
Go to http://www.addthis.com
It's simple to do and may help with marketing.