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My first real website...but I feel something is missing.

by willN
26 replies
Hey warriors!

I am about to launch my first REAL website. I am hoping I can get it to become a large community based site. However, I feel something is missing from the site. I have hired and fired so many people. The only original people that are still working on the site are the ones I hired here from the WF.

I am trying to create a community based health and fitness site. The idea is to make it all inclusive. It has been a lot of work, and there is still a lot that needs to be done before we start promoting it.

I was wondering if anyone is willing, if you guys would take a look at the site and tell me what you would change. The people I have hired to do this failed miserabely, and Warriors have always been a tremeandous asset. The site is www.salveovita.com .

This is not intended to be a plug or promotion, I just want your guys/gals honest opinions!

Will
#feel #missing #real #website #websitebut
  • Profile picture of the author ElGuapo
    You'll get better responses in the Website Design subforum here.
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  • Profile picture of the author MartinPlatt
    Originally Posted by willN View Post

    Hey warriors!

    I am about to launch my first REAL website. I am hoping I can get it to become a large community based site. However, I feel something is missing from the site. I have hired and fired so many people. The only original people that are still working on the site are the ones I hired here from the WF.

    I am trying to create a community based health and fitness site. The idea is to make it all inclusive. It has been a lot of work, and there is still a lot that needs to be done before we start promoting it.

    I was wondering if anyone is willing, if you guys would take a look at the site and tell me what you would change. The people I have hired to do this failed miserabely, and Warriors have always been a tremeandous asset. The site is www.salveovita.com .

    This is not intended to be a plug or promotion, I just want your guys/gals honest opinions!

    Will
    I think that who you are targeting this to is a little unclear.

    I don't think it looks too bad, other than that is looks split in two. It's like you're trying to cater for two different groups on one page.

    I'd remove the bottom part personally. There's too much going on, seems a bit overwhelming.

    I don't think that you can really blame development guys if you yourself don't know what you want. They were never going to succeed at that were they?

    Perhaps you want to get your key demographic to launch and promote the site to, and talk to those people to start with? Currently you're everything to everyone, and not of interest to anybody.

    I'd get where you're pitching to right first, that will help you to set up what you want the site to look like, then if you're still stuck you can ask web guys for help, but I suspect you will be more successful once you know who you are appealing to primarily.
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  • Profile picture of the author typoo999
    You should integrate social media plugins.
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  • Profile picture of the author MarkBrook
    Originally Posted by willN View Post

    Hey warriors!

    I am about to launch my first REAL website. I am hoping I can get it to become a large community based site. However, I feel something is missing from the site. I have hired and fired so many people. The only original people that are still working on the site are the ones I hired here from the WF.

    I am trying to create a community based health and fitness site. The idea is to make it all inclusive. It has been a lot of work, and there is still a lot that needs to be done before we start promoting it.

    I was wondering if anyone is willing, if you guys would take a look at the site and tell me what you would change. The people I have hired to do this failed miserabely, and Warriors have always been a tremeandous asset. The site is www.salveovita.com .

    This is not intended to be a plug or promotion, I just want your guys/gals honest opinions!

    Will
    You need to make some focus on title and keywords with description also than there is an advice from a bud here with social media plugins.
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    • Profile picture of the author Tony Marriott
      The page offers no indication that it could be a "community" at all.

      The first thing I see at the top of the page is an AdSense ad banner. So anyone seeing that is being taken away from the site. That is the exact opposite of what you want.

      The only indication of "community" is the text link I can see right down at the bottom saying "forum"

      Focus on one thing to start with. Building a community website.

      Forget AdSense ads and other stuff until you get that bit right.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    Nice looking theme and site. Didn't read the articles, but I did notice the Amazon Store for your shop. I haven't had much luck getting Amazon Stores to convert at all. Text links and even carousel widgets have done better for me with Amazon. I would consider finding a wholesaler or two and dropshipping health related products.
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    • Profile picture of the author DeeElle
      Well to start off on what's good - I like the theme and layout a lot. It's really clean and easy to read and find what you're looking for, so nice job there! The logo's also really good.

      Okay, now I'm gonna nitpick. A lot. Don't hate me. :p

      Design:

      I hate that top ad banner. I mean, I really do. Right now I'm looking at a World of Warcraft ad on your health and wellness site (I'm a gamer sooo...). There are orcs and humans battling it out right next to your logo. Just saying. It's jarring. Suggestion - maybe consider some other placement locations for that.

      Clicking over to the forums now - me no like. I think the blue on the forum page is a little too cold for the other colors you're rocking in your theme. If you can tweak it to be more in line (maybe make it a nice dark teal) that page would be a lot more pleasing to the eye.

      Photos - some of the photos on your Blog page (the larger ones on the left) seem a little elongated. I'd recommend shortening them slightly by reducing their height by a few pixels.

      Really nitpicking now - the "Receive Updates" input bar and "Join" button are huge. I'd narrow those down a little bit.

      The Store - No. It doesn't work. It's just too cluttered.There's a ton of information in a narrow column and it disturbs the otherwise clean feel of the site. The long scroll bar is killing my life right now, too. Maybe consider tossing just a few products on there and a link to your Amazon Store so visitors can find the rest.

      And finally - links - You've got link colors that are blue, bright blue (thanks to the Google Ads), and black. I'd pick a link color scheme that works, again, with the other colors you've got on the site. Some kind of muted green, or teal, maybe. Just to make it all more cohesive.

      Okay, now I'm gonna leave you alone on design and move onto content.

      Content:

      Community - I'd never know this was a community-based site if you hadn't told us. Also, your Sign In and Register links don't really explain what people should even be registering or signing in for. Is it for the forums only, or is this to be a membership site with added benefits for members?

      Articles - I've not read them, but I did notice your news articles literally do go off onto other news sites. Not only that, but they open up in the same window! By doing that, you're sending all your lovely traffic off to other websites - massive news websites that are fully loaded with shiny new content that could very well distract your visitors from hitting the back button. I don't know if you feel like playing journalist, but I'd suggest writing your own news, or alternatively, just write your own original commentary about existing news you find. If you want to include source articles and whatnot, add a link at the very bottom to the original story that opens in a separate tab.

      About Us - Hokay, this one is tricky. You've got a community contribution site where users can contribute info relating to health, wellness, fitness, etc. Two big problems - 1) I can't see a way for people to submit anything, unless you mean via forums. And 2) Who exactly are these people and what are their credentials? I mean, if you're talking about "The 3 best ways to reduce stress" mkay, risky, but okay. But health? Fitness? Getting a bit riskier. You do have a disclaimer at the bottom, which is good, but wow it's tiny. Blow that sucker up. Seriously. Make it a 300pt bold, italic, and underlined bright red font and scream it out to the world that precautions should be taken before any health advice is followed. That, or screen the hell out of anyone who submits info and keep a good attorney on retainer.

      Oh one last thing with the About Us - you mention the EULA and TOS, but I don't see one. You should have links to that displayed at the bottom of the page where your Contact Us, Sitemap, etc. links are.

      Okay one last super nitpick - you're missing the copyright symbol from your copyright notice at the bottom. Not a huge deal but it's cute and I like it.

      Okay I'm going to leave you alone now. Your site is off to a really good start and has potential. It just needs a bit of tweaking to make it more cohesive. And really focus on how you intend to build up your community, because as of right now, it doesn't seem like a community-based site.
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  • Profile picture of the author Stuart Walker
    I don't like it at all. I've no idea what the sites about, something to do with health but what? Not sure who it's aimed at...if it's just a general 'health' website then it's far too unspecific. You need to niche down and be super targeted.
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  • Profile picture of the author mdoolan
    I don't see a signup form with an interesting giveaway - this in my opinion is crucial for every site as list building should be one of your top priorities.
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  • Profile picture of the author willN
    Wow, that is alot of good input! It is ok, I take constructive criticism very well, no need to be "gentle". My Devs and my admin team are reading these too, so thank you to everyone who has posted.

    First, this is not a niche or microniche site. This is my attempt to make a full blown site. Like WF is marketing, Amazon is shopping etc. I do not want to pick a direction for the site to go, I want the community to do that.

    I will definately take alot of the suggestions about the community. That is what the site is supposed to be, and I agree the front page does not engage a community mindset. We will change that, along with the add on the front page, and links opening in the same window. We are removing the news from the bottom and making it a side bar. Where the news is, will be where recent and hot forum post highlights will go. We are also working on a site based User CP so people can controll their accounts through the entire site.

    The store can be ignored for now. We are developing in the backend a whole new store platform from scratch. People will be able to link and review products on the site, and will be able to view complete product information. Again we will have a highlight bar for hot and most rated products. Right now we just have astore in an iframe as a place holder.

    EULA and TOS are currently being written specifically for the site. We will make it so you get the TOS and EULA when you sign up, like online games do, to ensure we are covered.

    The fact that you saw ads instead of the place holder is being addressed now. We don't want to have google ads showing up until the site is ready.

    Thank you guys so much for your input. It is probably the most valuable asset I have is this community. If you have any more suggestions, please let me know, and again no need to be gentle!

    Will
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  • Profile picture of the author ATTEK
    Great page, It looks very professional, very good job!

    The only thing that I think about is that the menu bar would be little more centered, or bigger, I think It's easier to navigate if you can see the menu bar a bit clearer, hope this helped you and hope you understand me.

    Tommy
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  • Profile picture of the author Razvan Rovinaru
    The page doesn't look bad at all, but you should definitely heed to the advice already given to you in this thread and do something about the top ad banner to make your community website a bit more user friendly.

    Here's my biggest advice to you however! You seem to have given this website a lot of time with the design part of the process, however one shouldn't really spend this much time on just the design alone. The truth is, your website is fine (minus the already mentioned ads), what you really need is to get started on traffic generation.

    You can improve on design and ad placement in the future at any time, but the biggest mistake you can do in my opinion is waste months building a website and obsessing on making it look just perfect, and then realize the hard part hasn't even started, actually building your community. As every other website, first and foremost it needs targeted traffic to start being successful.

    Once you have traffic coming in, and people regularly posting in your forum, you can always directly ask them questions about how to improve the look and viewer experience. Let them help you as they will be the most qualified to do so, especially when it's a community website.

    You should focus more on providing engaging and interesting content that will help your readers/members and start generating targeted traffic to really get the website going.

    I would also recommend completely removing any Adsense (or any type of ads) at the beginning. You're not going to make any money off these ads with no traffic, so why have them in the first place? Wait until you actually have a small community going before placing ads, and when you do reach that point, make sure the ads don't interfere too much with the user experience.

    I'm telling you all of this because it's an issue I had in the past too. I would obsess with how my websites looked way too much and it stopped me from actually getting to the generating traffic and income part of the process, which is what creating your website is all about to begin with.

    Hope this helps, and good luck!
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    • Profile picture of the author willN
      Originally Posted by Razvan Rovinaru View Post

      The page doesn't look bad at all, but you should definitely heed to the advice already given to you in this thread and do something about the top ad banner to make your community website a bit more user friendly.

      Here's my biggest advice to you however! You seem to have given this website a lot of time with the design part of the process, however one shouldn't really spend this much time on just the design alone. The truth is, your website is fine (minus the already mentioned ads), what you really need is to get started on traffic generation.

      You can improve on design and ad placement in the future at any time, but the biggest mistake you can do in my opinion is waste months building a website and obsessing on making it look just perfect, and then realize the hard part hasn't even started, actually building your community. As every other website, first and foremost it needs targeted traffic to start being successful.

      Once you have traffic coming in, and people regularly posting in your forum, you can always directly ask them questions about how to improve the look and viewer experience. Let them help you as they will be the most qualified to do so, especially when it's a community website.

      You should focus more on providing engaging and interesting content that will help your readers/members and start generating targeted traffic to really get the website going.

      I would also recommend completely removing any Adsense (or any type of ads) at the beginning. You're not going to make any money off these ads with no traffic, so why have them in the first place? Wait until you actually have a small community going before placing ads, and when you do reach that point, make sure the ads don't interfere too much with the user experience.

      I'm telling you all of this because it's an issue I had in the past too. I would obsess with how my websites looked way too much and it stopped me from actually getting to the generating traffic and income part of the process, which is what creating your website is all about to begin with.

      Hope this helps, and good luck!
      That is pretty much what we have been doing! We recently just got to,the point where driving traffic is a more feasible option. We are definitely utilizing most of the information in this thread to make a better site that people will enjoy. You guys are awesome!
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      • Profile picture of the author fin
        "Salveo Vita is a complete health and fitness site. Our mission is to have absolutely everything health and fitness related in one site."

        This part is scary.
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        • Profile picture of the author willN
          Originally Posted by fin View Post

          "Salveo Vita is a complete health and fitness site. Our mission is to have absolutely everything health and fitness related in one site."

          This part is scary.
          How so fin?
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          • Profile picture of the author fin
            Originally Posted by willN View Post

            How so fin?
            What can you sell that everyone will want to buy?

            How can you keep people coming back when they are only interested in a certain topic?

            How will you know where to get your traffic if you're targeting the entire world?
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            • Profile picture of the author willN
              Originally Posted by John Romaine View Post

              It seems you have no idea what you're focus is, or who your target audience is.

              Watch this.

              Two of the Most Crucial Fundamentals of Selling Online - YouTube
              Originally Posted by fin View Post

              What can you sell that everyone will want to buy?

              How can you keep people coming back when they are only interested in a certain topic?

              How will you know where to get your traffic if you're targeting the entire world?
              The whole idea of the site is to be broad and unselective. Will it work? I have no idea. The devs and I know this an experiment for both of us, and I intend to see it through. We took the standard of "targeting an audience" and "finding a niche" and tossed it out the window. Everyone is doing that and I wanted to try something different, something bigger. I know it is a huge risk, and I may fall flat on my face and have to hear "I told you so" a thousand times. But if I don't give this a shot I will be wondering "what if?" for the rest of my life.

              We think this can be done, and be done on a broad scale, and we are hoping it pays off. If not, well this is money well spent on a hard education.

              Don't take this as a negative, as your posts do help. I now realize that if we don't get what we are looking for we can narrow our focus, and build up slowly. And it may come to that, but our ultimate goal is what I described above and I am going to try to push it as hard as I can.

              Thank you for the great responses!
              Will
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              • Profile picture of the author willN
                I must say John, that is a great video. I think every newbie should see that! To answer your questions our offering is the community, and our target is everyone.

                To put it another way, by targeting everyone we can get one out of every thousand or two thousand people to signup and we will still feel we are doing good. Where in a niche, you want one in ten or one in a hundred. We have a bigger market that includes loads of niches. By this standard, all traffic is relevant traffic minus bots and spammers. I hope this makes sense.
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                • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
                  Originally Posted by willN View Post

                  I must say John, that is a great video. I think every newbie should see that! To answer your questions our offering is the community, and our target is everyone.
                  Thanks for the kind words, but seriously, if your target customer is "everyone", then you've missed the point entirely.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
    It seems you have no idea what you're focus is, or who your target audience is.

    Watch this.

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  • Profile picture of the author DubDubDubDot
    - I'm not a fan of all these boxes with the wide shadow effect. It's too overcoming for this design.

    - I would reconsider the name. Salveo Vita sounds more like the name of a product such as shampoo or a beauty clinic. I think it's too much of a mouthful for a news/forum site.

    - Every time the content box changes, the site automatically scrolls up. This is in Chrome. I don't know if that's happening to anyone else.
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  • Profile picture of the author zemiblast
    Wow...a number of issues with this.

    (I would) Start with the header area......
    Move the Logo to be on the same line as your name links.
    - this means you reduce the logo size or maybe change it to be more of a left to right
    - Push nav links to the right a little

    Once you've done that, add a title or a main intro as to what it is.
    - This would be above the area where it says, "Latest Blog Articles"
    - change "Latest Blog Articles" to be a call out on the focus on the site

    I would do these few changes and work your way down the page. Not that my sites are perfect but see how my page is laid out: SupportDynamo.com...any question what I'm selling?

    Or this site: wpua.org

    Hope this helps!
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  • Profile picture of the author DoubleOhDave
    okay, put aside marketing outlook - I took a look adopting the mindset of someone who wasn't a marketer, just a visitor.
    I like the site a lot - clear, crisp, clean.. nice images.. not too busy a page.. I think I can tell you exactly what is missing though.
    As much as I may be interested in what the site has o tell me, it makes me feel like I have shown up unexpected at the doorstep and I am waiting for an invite in.
    The links I can see aren't exactly ones I would be interested, but then they do hint that there's probably other info there I would be interested in, if only I knew where to start.
    See the white space under the 'popular posts' bit? Personally, as a visitor, I would have liked to see some kind of definitive call to action there that gave me a good reason to explore more.
    To help with this I can recommend three plugins which may be helpful to you

    "What Would Seth Godin Do" and "Display Widgets" for personalising a visitor's experience, and Tablepress for adding columns where you can add images which link to various sections of the site and hence clarify in a visitor's mind why they would want to go check them out.

    Hope that helped.
    Great looking site though, well done!

    All the best,
    Dave
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  • Profile picture of the author Stuart Walker
    First, this is not a niche or microniche site. This is my attempt to make a full blown site. Like WF is marketing, Amazon is shopping etc. I do not want to pick a direction for the site to go, I want the community to do that
    This won't work. Niche down.
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