Website Review and Suggestions

**boxingtribune** · 07-09-2007, 01:36 PM

Hey everyone,

I appreciate whatever input you provide. I am not very internet savvy and have alot of difficulty tying up loose ends with many different things. (If I only had a partner who knew this stuff!)

Well, I am the publisher of a boxing news publication. We provide updates, do video, publish photos, etc...

www.BoxingTribune.com

Be as harsh as you can. It will only help!

**johnncyber** · 07-09-2007, 06:33 PM

First off I really like the concept that you are going for.

But it does have a few things that you need to fix. You page overflows horizontally on 1024x768 and this is due to the banner ads on the side. That definitely needs to be fixed.

Why do you have so many ads? Having too many ads can actually hurt your revenue because it makes people want to leave. I would recommend that you at least move the banner ads and flow them into the content (text based ads would be even better). You might also consider looking at an in-text ad service like Kontera.

Next you have a lot of content below the fold (off the first screen) you might try breaking that up into different sections, because 2/3 of your viewers are not ever going to scroll down.

Also you need to add more color contrast to your site. I know that you are going for the newspaper feel but even (some) newspapers have the headline a different color then the text. Also the Email and Print buttons in the top right corner are white text on a light grey making it very hard to read.

Towards the bottom of the page, after the poll and where your table of contents is, your rule lines are not aligned probably. Finally there is A LOT of white space at the bottom of the page.

As far as content goes I would recommend that you follow newspaper conventions as far as headlines go. For example "Klitschko gets his revenge" should be "Klitschko gets Revenge" (notice the capitalization), "Bridgeport = Upset City!" isn't very newslike either, but I can't come up with a better one.)

After you fix those let me know and I will take another look.

5/10

**stupidrich** · 07-09-2007, 07:16 PM

Just the fact that you have Vic Darchinyan eating canvas as your first pic makes this site a big winner in my book!

**stupidrich** · 07-09-2007, 08:06 PM

I am both a web designer and A Boxing nut. I eat, Sleep, and breath Boxing! Looking for a partner?

Joey Phelps
Scentagram.net
info@scentagram.net

**KingGrimet** · 07-10-2007, 09:24 AM

Hey man, I just checked out the website, I like it, its a tight layout looking like a newspaper and what not. The only thing I didn't like was the advertisement you have up on the left side, something about it just throws off the flow of the site for me, but Im by no means a professional. Personally I'm a rookie I was just giving my opinion haha. But yea man the website is nice, I might bookmark it. Some good stuff right there.

**boxingtribune** · 07-10-2007, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnncyber

First off I really like the concept that you are going for.

But it does have a few things that you need to fix. You page overflows horizontally on 1024x768 and this is due to the banner ads on the side. That definitely needs to be fixed.

Why do you have so many ads? Having too many ads can actually hurt your revenue because it makes people want to leave. I would recommend that you at least move the banner ads and flow them into the content (text based ads would be even better). You might also consider looking at an in-text ad service like Kontera.

Next you have a lot of content below the fold (off the first screen) you might try breaking that up into different sections, because 2/3 of your viewers are not ever going to scroll down.

Also you need to add more color contrast to your site. I know that you are going for the newspaper feel but even (some) newspapers have the headline a different color then the text. Also the Email and Print buttons in the top right corner are white text on a light grey making it very hard to read.

Towards the bottom of the page, after the poll and where your table of contents is, your rule lines are not aligned probably. Finally there is A LOT of white space at the bottom of the page.

As far as content goes I would recommend that you follow newspaper conventions as far as headlines go. For example "Klitschko gets his revenge" should be "Klitschko gets Revenge" (notice the capitalization), "Bridgeport = Upset City!" isn't very newslike either, but I can't come up with a better one.)

After you fix those let me know and I will take another look.

5/10

I love it.

My problem is that I'm not very web savvy, but I could be. I'm just so darn busy with everything else. I could easily learn how to do much of this stuff if I actually had time to play around. I taught myself photography/editing, videography/editing, html, some php, etc... I'm a jack of all trades but a master of none.

Now, onto your excellent suggestions...

Page Overflow
It does overflow. I wasn't sure what to do with it for a while. My reasoning for having them where they are is that they don't disrupt the content. It doesn't push anything away or force me to reshuffle anything. I figured that the further away it is from the content, the better. If you look at this image, it shows where I can put all the ads...
http://www.boxingtribune.com/images/advertise001.jpg

The amazon ads don't get me any money, so they gotta go. I wanted to replace them with other affiliate ads. Sportsbook is turning out to be fairly well.

I think that I if I reshuffle the ads into positions 1, 3, 4, 7, or 8 of that .jpg I linked to, it might work out.

What other text ads are there besides google? Yahoo has a new one, but I got turned down once...currently trying again. Google is a horror story for me. I got google ads and it was turning out great. Little did I know, when I would leave for work, my family would constantly click the ads whenever they passed by my computer. I'm clearing about $40 a day and thinking I'm on top of the world...little did I know that sitting in my inbox was a termination from Google. I don't know if I can apply again. I tried and hit a snag. I wanted to kill somebody.

You don't think Kontera would annoy people?

Off the first screen
I don't want to break it up into sections. It's difficult to describe, but the set-up that I have is somewhat critical. For some reason, some of the most poorly put together websites are the most popular ones, and all the rest of us have to follow suit. Some nice websites had to restructure and get uglier just because it wasn't working.

I was thinking about making the text not go any further below the image. That way, we can squeeze content together, showcase the photos a bit more, which adds the needed color. Maybe that will work.

Table of Contents
I wanted them aligned that way. After I finish some things, I think it might work. I was following the old CNN.com layout that they had at the bottom of their page. Maybe if I actually have some ads down there, it will seperate one section from the other and will look a bit better.

White Space
I'll address that tonight. Picture the page as pure white with no newspaper edges. That's how it was before, and I managed to get the newspaper edges in myself. I was quite proud of myself after that. Well, I left it as is for a while and never touched it, knowing that it looks like hell down there. So tonight I'm free and I'll be able to address it.

Titles
I'm lazy with capitalization. And with "Bridgeport=Upset City!" You've obviously never read the New York Post.

I will address much of this tonight and we can see the results.

**boxingtribune** · 07-10-2007, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stupidrich

I am both a web designer and A Boxing nut. I eat, Sleep, and breath Boxing! Looking for a partner?

Joey Phelps
Scentagram.net
info@scentagram.net

Check your email.

**boxingtribune** · 07-10-2007, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KingGrimet

Hey man, I just checked out the website, I like it, its a tight layout looking like a newspaper and what not. The only thing I didn't like was the advertisement you have up on the left side, something about it just throws off the flow of the site for me, but Im by no means a professional. Personally I'm a rookie I was just giving my opinion haha. But yea man the website is nice, I might bookmark it. Some good stuff right there.

Thanks for the kind words.

Sportsbook has some pretty weak ad selection. I'm planning on giving it another look to see if it works anywhere else.

**KingGrimet** · 07-10-2007, 09:36 AM

Hey boxing tribune, come to think about it, On my webpage, the one in my signature.. I go around the internet collecting.. Stuff like interesting articles, crazy videos, interesting facts, you know just Small links that are interesting that apply to all types of viewers. I'd love to workout some kind of partnership deal where I post some of your good articles/videos or crazy facts and what not up on my site. It'd give you more hits anyways.

**boxingtribune** · 07-11-2007, 09:33 AM

Thanks King. I'll take a look at it this evening.

I made the changes that were recommended. I am pleased with the results, but now, here at work, I am seeing some problems with the edges of the newspaper. I'm on IE6. I didn't expect this. I think I know how to correct it, but is anybody else noticing?

**highanddry** · 10:44 AM

Nice layout but there are alignment issues in early IE5+. Also your page is fricken huge...overflow. I'm not using 800x600, but your site should be viewable at that resolution.

On a side note: I find it hard to follow boxing anymore with the 100's of leagues/divisions/federations or whatever the hell they are called in boxing

**moldway** · 07-11-2007, 11:04 AM

Hey man, I like the way You design it. I like that You have a lot of photos.
Try to move ads in some other place.

**annaavetisyan** · 07-11-2007, 12:49 PM

awesome

**urbangyrl** · 07-11-2007, 01:21 PM

This is a really good start. You selected the perfect type for the newspaper header. The main thing I would correct or change is trhe width of the page. It would work better if users didn't have to scroll to see the page.

**johnncyber** · 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boxingtribune

I think that I if I reshuffle the ads into positions 1, 3, 4, 7, or 8 of that .jpg I linked to, it might work out.

Here are my recommendations 4, 7 or 8, 9 or 10, 11. Here is why:

4 - There is content to the left and people are more receptive to ads in the top right
7 or 8 - In between content. You may also want to alternate them between stories so that there are two stories for every ad (in each column). Not both because you don't want to ads next to each other.
9 or 10 - Again between content. Once again not both.
11 - Not in the way of content and doesn't push content.

I would stay away from 1,5 and 6 because they push the content and 2 and 3 because they would precede content (your visitor is coming to your site for content not ads let them see the content first.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by boxingtribune

What other text ads are there besides google? Yahoo has a new one, but I got turned down once...currently trying again. Google is a horror story for me. I got google ads and it was turning out great. Little did I know, when I would leave for work, my family would constantly click the ads whenever they passed by my computer. I'm clearing about $40 a day and thinking I'm on top of the world...little did I know that sitting in my inbox was a termination from Google. I don't know if I can apply again. I tried and hit a snag. I wanted to kill somebody.

You don't think Kontera would annoy people?

Sorry to hear that man. I don't know about any other text-based services, I would email Google and explain it, they may give you a second chance. As far as Kontera, it works. People seem to be receptive to content-related in-text ads. (There is some article about it in some blog, I will have to dig to find it.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by boxingtribune

I'm lazy with capitalization. And with "Bridgeport=Upset City!" You've obviously never read the New York Post.

You would be right, I only read my local news.

I am glad to see that you liked my comments. You site is going to be awesome.

EDIT: Just took a look at your website and I have to say it is coming along. I had an idea though, you should change the body background (the background outside of the newspaper) to another color, play with some colors and see which works. If you want post some jpgs of some and I will help you pick

EDIT EDIT: TV Guide uses a beigish grey that looks nice. You may also consider a subtle gradient.

**boxingtribune** · 07-16-2007, 10:54 AM

Thanks for the comments guys. I'm very pleased with the results so far.

I will try and find time this week to make a few more changes. I don't know how to fix certain things, so it'll take time.

I agree with you, John, about the background. I'm going to look into it. I can't think of a good color, so I have to play around with it.

Rich, I didn't forget about you. Just busy times.

**spoondog** · 07-16-2007, 12:49 PM

it looks good, i like the idea

**Dale Hodge** · 07-16-2007, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boxingtribune

Hey everyone,

I appreciate whatever input you provide. I am not very internet savvy and have alot of difficulty tying up loose ends with many different things. (If I only had a partner who knew this stuff!)

Be as harsh as you can. It will only help!

First off let me say that I am a huge boxing fan.
I have already bookmarked this site.
From someone who is not "very internet savvy" this post is getting a great reaction. Keep up the good work and thank you. The internet needs more sites like these.

9/10

**pavel88** · 07-17-2007, 09:54 AM

Hi! design is easy to navigate! But i see big problem in validation of your page ! you have 261 errors in code!

**andy2005uk** · 07-17-2007, 03:26 PM

Very good m8, great idea, i like it