I have quite a few web sites which suck. I know why they suck -- it's because I have not put the time and effort into them to make them good. They just need a lot of TLC. The Internet Search Engines FAQ is an exception to that rule. It received a good deal of TLC and it still sucks. This site receives very little traffic, and the numbers seem to be shrinking instead of rising. I have not done too much with this site recently, because it never really "took off." So, I am posting this request for assistance. Please help me figure out why this site is performing poorly. I am going to have to put my ego in a box and bury it in the backyard for this.
My absolute first impression is that this site screams out "Made for Adsense". Since your target audience is webmasters, their next reaction will likely be to run away as quickly as possible. At least mine would be as I would not feel the site has credibility. Secondly, the layout has a completely cluttered feel to it. A site like wikipedia certainly is not fancy, but the layout is inviting and makes you want to stay and read. Again, please do not take any offense, but the layout on this site wants to make me search for the back button.
I'm *so* pleased you posted this. I was looking round your site the other day and thought there was loads of potential... Yep - get rid of the adsense... It'll only make a couple of bucks here and there anyway, I'd say your target audience is more important than that. Also, you need to make it look more pretty. Really. Believe me, I know the grey look well (website-design-101.co.uk - ooooold), but what with standards and accessibility and (I hate this phrase) web2.0 being the most fasionable things on the scene at the moment, you need to adapt. Add a blog (But don't just post regurgitated(sp?!?) news on it). Provide RSS feeds. And make sure you show your personality when you write. That's what will keep people coming back to it - If they like you The content is fantastic... That's the most important bit.
Very bad looking site. I recommend using a design firm or a freelancer to get your site done. But the content is good
I know - and I believe quite a few of us do - what this feels like, so thumbs up for doing it anyway. As for the site it self I remember having been there once or twice before always leaving again simply because it was too confusing to focus on what with all the adsense links up in front. Someone said "add a blog" - I concur! I forget things... What does this mean again The contents IS good (if memory serves).
I had to wait a long time before replying. The site doesn't gain any real benefit from credibility -- I don't sell any SEO services. The only benefit to me from the site is AdSense revenue. Therefore, the AdSense ads are very prominent. The site is ugly. I am color-blind and fashion-blind. Making the site (or anything else) pretty is far outside the realm of my talents and capabilities. I am very willing to entertain offers to redesign the site. I am very willing to pay for this redesign. (No frames, no tables for layout, and no getting rid of AdSense!) Blogs seem like hard work. I am much more of a FAQ writer. TLC means "Tender Loving Care".
The ads are a bit too prominent. The ads overpower the little bit of content you have on each page. I'll repeat the others recommendations to put a blog on the site. I'd put it right on the index page, get rid of the left skyscraper, put horizontal ads mixed in with the blog content, get rid of the battleship gray, and move the tops of your sidebars down to be even with the <HR> rule on the top of the central section. RFM
I switched the CSS design from one that looked crappy at low-res to one that looks crappy at his-res. Auto-resizing is a complete bitch when you have a lot of fixed-size elements. The site still has the same number of AdSense ads. Everyone I have quizzed has agreed that the new design is slightly less awful than the previous design. I am still open to proposals for a professional redesign. CTR is still 1/3 to 1/2 of that which I see on other sites which use the same CSS. That's what I get for building a site aimed at SEO's. And, of course, SEO-related keywords are a complete bitch to rank for.
I am glad that you dont agree with adding a blog. It will add new content, but blogs are being way, way over done. Unless it really interesting, dont just stick it in a blog to bulk up a site. Try this color #E0EEE0 instead of the grey as a start. Its a pale green. The 'make money with your site' is slightly off center. I'm not sure why. Good luck with it.
I'm trying #E3E3E5 and #336699 as a color scheme right now. Thanks for the note about centering, I had the tag in the wrong location.
I would try this #99CCFF instead of the #E3E3E5. Its a pale blue. You could use it in the google ads too so it matched.
Only 0.4% of this sites traffic this month is coming from search engines. What did I do differently with this site than with my other sites? Agressive reciprocal linking is the big one. It's enough to make me think.
Earnings and this web site don't have much of a relation. Webmasters and SEO's have extremely severe ad blindness. It's CTR is less than one-third that of other sites of mine which utilize the same template. That wouldn't matter of course, if this site received tens of thousands of visitors a day. Instead, it receives several thousand visitors a month. So, here are the lessons for creating a site on SEO: 1. Competition is fierce. 2. Revenue is dismal. It's lucky for me that I have other web sites.
Hello Will, as I said in another post in the Adsense section that you're always my example in the adsense business, it's really great to see one of your twenty sites now. Your site certainly has great content since you're surely expert in this area. However, the ad placement is driving the user away. Particularly, the link color of the second ad unit in the left column is really too sharp and I felt it annoying, making me wanna leave the page instantly. I believe having a design firm or freelancer to have it all redesigned is a good idea if you want to keep running the site. Content is King, the site only lacks a nice apperance.
I have a suggestion Will Maybe you could go with a more readable Site title and smaller adsense ads. Its kinda like the old saying , its not what you do its how you do it ... I dont agree to get rid of adsense just optimize it! I personally would contact a lady that does my work for my sites and she does great work for cheap. Being a person with hundreds of adsense sites I can tell you that bigger adsense blocks does not mean more clicks ... its the way you integrate them into your text so that its not obvious but as the person is reading they click it cause they are curious .. I would love to help you with this as a fellow DP member for FREE - NO charge to give back to the community that I am given so much from .. please pm me and I will be more than glad to help
Wow, I just changed that two days ago and I've already received three complaints. It must be really bad. I just change it to 000000. I am very open to new designs. I am a horrible designer myself. I am both color-blind and fashion-blind. However, I don't think that my bad taste in CSS has anything to do with the fact that all of my traffic is coming from bookmarks and almost none of it is coming from search engines. Search engines are not terribly picky about CSS. Plus, of course, I have some very successful sites using this template. 20k unique visitors a day don't dislike this template that much. Maybe webmasters are just more... style oriented?