I am looking for some reviews of Jaysmyne.com keep in mind it is a multifunctional personal website....
Thanks for the feedback I've added a freebies section to the site now and basically dismantled the store so hopefully that will drive traffic to my site!
Not bad but the text is extremely hard to read, and pink is a very hard color for people to look at Try something a little softer. Otherwise I like it .
hrrmmm its showing up on my computer as a light purple, then again I'm still a teenager so those colors are appealing to me... I'll revisit my colorscheme tonight or tomorrow and maybe make it even lighter shades of purple so the text is more visible!
Layout would be great with a proper header and logo. Right now it's very flat and boring. But as I said, create a proper logo that will fit well with the site (girly theme or something) and a graphical header. That would add so much to the design. Also pad your sidebar content properly, some of it is touching the sides so things appear cramped.
ooo thank you so much for your suggestions clink, I am gonna try them out and see what happens, + Rep added to ya mate
Ah cheers That's a first.. People usually disregard suggestions even if they are worthwhile lol. I'll check back to review your changes soon!
i suggest you to install wordpress and make it as your front blog. it is much easier to update your website. you will no need to edit your index.html file if you have new updates that you want to announce. so use wordpress and ask someone to design your theme. if you have found your favourite design and want me to code it, i can do it for you. -cypher.
its not clear what this site is about. is it a blog? fansite? band news? you need to spill it out somewhere in the page header...
The Mailing List is the first thing you notice and just make me want to leave your website instantly. Then it's a little announcement that you won't sell e-mail blah blah blah YES! WE HEARD IT ALL BEFORE. And then it's news? Who cares about the news, we don't even know who are are, what you do and what this website even is about. People want to know what kind of website they are visiting, and THEN we could have some news. But first make some kind of introduction of who you are or what the website is about. If it's a blog it would be different but since it says "Update and News" and since the content reflects this very well I'm gonna draw the conclusion that it's in fact NOT, a blog. Ok so then we're moving over to the actually content to see if there is something interesting here. We start with the You Tube Blog, a completely new page, design and everything. Looks good in fact, and the "It's all about me" has this kind of introduction you would like to have on your main page. Also is it really necessary to have your youtube blog looking so different from the main page? It really feels like I'm visiting a completely new website. Not necessary any good point in making them look the same, but just my opinion. Then the sale page. Yet again the very distracting and awful mailing list box which really should be on the very bottom of your page. The last thing people would want is to actually sign up there so it's completely uninteresting until they know more about your website. Anyway, except from that, and the disappointment that the store is completely empty you put the "news and updates" feel in the shop page which makes it look completely random (as first impression). Make some catalogs or list of items you have for sale. The news should be in the news section. Last moving on to the freebies page. Again the highly annoying box asking me to sign up for newsletter. Then some information about us not reselling items and please make donations, and please sign up for mail list. Let get this straight, people don't care about this. Asking for donations before people even get to see the content is in fact, a very bad and highly "unmotivating" way to make people donate. And subscriptions, and not to forget making people interested enough to actually sign up for your mail list. Then we got 3 links, no description, just three links. Alright I guess I could figure out something by looking at the name for each link. - 580 Web Templates Ahh, 580 web templates. Could that be business templates, personal websites templates, templates about food? Maybe animals? The only way to find out is to download it, I mean... please.. - Christmas Content Again no information. I guess we just have to take a big bet again and waste some precious bandwidth to download this. - Baby Announcement Website Templates At least this one explains more. Now we found some nice links, we want to see more, but... first we have to look at a new donate button, like if we didn't already see it already! But we are also forced to look at an HUGE, I really mean HUGE google ad which is there just to back up the unsaid statement that you really want money. Then we got 3 links again, and it's all the same story. And again the same. When you have finally manged to look through the entire page which mostly contained useless stuff such as - Mailing list - A security statement for those who sign up on the newsletter - A warning for those who might think about reselling the free templates. - Some wish please donate and subscribe. - Donate button FOUR times - Huge google ads not once, not twice, but three times! Each containing three different ads which makes it 9 ads, the same amount of useful links Is it strange if I question myself if you are desperate for money? So to sum it up, if you want money you must make CONTENT, and NOT donation buttons. People will pay you for effort, and I'm serious, finding those 9 links wouldn't take me even 5 minutes. A page filled with advertising IS NOT attractive. News about how your site looks is NOT interesting. So I suggest you to remove all donation buttons, remove 90% of the ads and grow your website to something better, more informative and interesting. When you got the content in place, and a steady user base, it's time to consider if you want to base your site on advertising revenue or donations. I wouldn't say choosing both would make your more money. It's not like people donate more just because they see the donate button more often. They will do it if they have a good reason. Hopefully some good feedback, Wish you all good luck with your site
Wow, WarzMX, that was probably the best honest critique I've read so far. Jaysmyne, I have to agree. The site is in need of a make over. I'd follow the advice above, as it's solid. I'd put an emphasis on the Introduction advice. I still really don't know what your site IS. If you're main goal is to make money, I'd perhaps higher a copy editor to write some nice content for you. As WarzMX stated, if you have good content, people will come and they will pay you for your efforts. In my experience, when I drafted a site for obtaining money, I first established my community (creating a blog, forum, etc.). As the community grew, I then would start to add discrete "Donate" links. Don't bombard people with ads and donate buttons, grow your community, increase your loyal visitor base (through nice content and SEO), and then implement your revenue techniques. I think your ideas are sound, so don't give up. You'll get there.
Its supposed to be a multi-functional personal website, but I see where the personal part can get annoying, I will look at removing that. Maybe I'll replace the personal touch with the important information as to what my website is all about The only reason the two designs are different is because I can't seem to create my own wordpress theme that matches up with the main site, I may ask Cypher to help me...infact after I write this I'll PM him or her and yeah I think I'll put the "It's All About Me" on the main page [ Alright what if I put the mailing list at the bottom of my webpage? or should I create a separate link where people can click to intentionally sign up for the mailing list? I think I am going to take some stuff out of the freebies section and put in the store? That might be better! ^^ See above for my comment about the mailing list. Better descriptions - Got It Will do for sure!
Maybe if I re-moved the mailing list, and donate buttons the google ads would blend in nicer? Especially if I added description to each item? Maybe a little picture next to the description, yeah! YEAH! Not strange to question it, I think I might be a little too excited to earn Got it All comments are well received and most will most likely be implemented Do you think I need to change that design or should I leave it... I'm kinda attached to the design, I should make the wordpress blog look like the site or visa versa. Well said! tell me more about copy editors and how expensive they are? Yeah I have a lot of ideas most of which I haven't even established on the site, I intend to do that for sure!