Hi, My website is: http://aquaristmagazine.com/ I would appreciate it if you could let me know your opinions of my site in terms of the layout, functionality, writing quality and overall impressions. Please be as critical as you like. Steven
Hi Steve, Here's my review of your site. 1. First impression - professional, great images - exactly what I would expect and want if I were to buy or read a magazine of this type of niche topic. 2. Site loads up slow.... do you compress your images? Test your site loading time. 3. The name of the site - 'Aquarist Magazine' is almost the same color as the header overall dark blue color - can't be seen. Change it into a standout font color - I'd prefer simple white. It would look good against the dark background. Add a sub heading text next to it - something about the site's purpose or benefit in a smaller font. Nice site logo that is also the favicon. 4. The adsense pop ad to the right that can't be closed... I'm sorry... but it is really annoying! Is that a part of the site - looks like a banner ad - rectangle size top to bottom, that stays where its at even when you scroll down and is on every page. Don't like it at all... it distracts my eyes from looking at your content. Your regular adsense ads on the site seem to be ok. 5. Since this is a magazine style site - add an About Us info + picture of yourself if possible. This will make you the 'expert' in the mind of your traffic. I'd prefer the footer location. 6. The buy Ad space is in a good spot - with good ad copy and stand out color. 7. Great content! Overall - great site - a potential expert authority site of its niche! And yes... if I was a buyer, I'd click your links and buy.
Thanks for your feedback, and thank you for being honest and critical. I'm glad the site appears professional and well laid out. I have installed a couple of plugins to help with the image loading issue and I think it now loads a lot faster. I have been redoing the header logo for a while and I think it's slowly getting there but I do agree with the idea of a subheadding or something catchy - I'll have to think of something that sounds good. With regards to the about me section, I am definitely going to write something. You're the second person that has said that to me this week and I agree that it would help give credibility to my website. I'm glad you think the buy ad square is well located and I think that part of the sidebar will be a great place for sponsor ads. If sponsors are interested I may get rid of adsense altogether but only if I find sponsors that can offer more than adsense. Thank you again for your feedback