I would like to get my website reviewed!

16 replies
Hello everyone,
I made a new website on DRM-Free ebooks its url is free-ebook-websites.com
I would like to get some critical reviews on how to improve the look and the feel of my website as well as my writing style.
I'm planning on monetizing it through AdSense and/or some affiliate program, do you think that it is a good plan?
Thanks for your time and for your reviews

PS: English is not my mother tongue, that's why in the site you'll probably find some mistakes. Report them please
#reviewed #website
  • Hey Heretic,

    I'll be blunt and to the point:


    1.) Your theme is terrible - it's like a sickly beige. Get rid - swap it out for something more elegant and professional.

    2.) The 'click here' links are rubbish as well - there's too many! Not just that, they're all right next to eachother, line after line.
    Instead of saying "Click here for..." change the link to "Free books!", "Learn more about E-Readers", etc. Make the descriptions the links!

    3.) Personally, your links on the right hand side - I'd make them drop down menus. Why? Because there are so many links, it's crazy. Instead, I'd turn all the text that's in the white boxes into drop down menus, so it's not so distracting to the eye.

    4.) Your header looks cheap. Design or hire someone to design a new one. Preferably get a logo for your site. Little things make the big difference.


    That should be enough to get you started!



    Best of luck,



    Ben.
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    • Profile picture of the author Heretic
      Originally Posted by CharismaticMannequin View Post

      Hey Heretic,

      I'll be blunt and to the point:


      1.) Your theme is terrible - it's like a sickly beige. Get rid - swap it out for something more elegant and professional.

      2.) The 'click here' links are rubbish as well - there's too many! Not just that, they're all right next to eachother, line after line.
      Instead of saying "Click here for..." change the link to "Free books!", "Learn more about E-Readers", etc. Make the descriptions the links!

      3.) Personally, your links on the right hand side - I'd make them drop down menus. Why? Because there are so many links, it's crazy. Instead, I'd turn all the text that's in the white boxes into drop down menus, so it's not so distracting to the eye.

      4.) Your header looks cheap. Design or hire someone to design a new one. Preferably get a logo for your site. Little things make the big difference.


      That should be enough to get you started!



      Best of luck,



      Ben.
      Thanks for your review! So, basically, I should change the website design, right?
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  • Profile picture of the author stevet563
    I think it's a fantastic idea. I think you should get lots of traffic. Like the man above said the brown color probably isn't the best for this type of site. You have to take into consideration who is your target market. Are they more men than women? What colors would they prefer. You can also do a Google search about the psychological effect of the different colors.

    Here's a few articles on the subject you may find helpful:

    Color Psychology
    Meaning of Colors in Color Psychology

    Good luck in your business. I think you'll do fine since English is not your first language.
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    • Profile picture of the author Heretic
      Originally Posted by stevet563 View Post

      I think it's a fantastic idea. I think you should get lots of traffic. Like the man above said the brown color probably isn't the best for this type of site. You have to take into consideration who is your target market. Are they more men than women? What colors would they prefer. You can also do a Google search about the psychological effect of the different colors.

      Here's a few articles on the subject you may find helpful:


      Good luck in your business. I think you'll do fine since English is not your first language.
      Thank you very much for your suggestion and for the articles.
      I read them and they are very useful.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeremey
    Originally Posted by Heretic View Post

    Hello everyone,
    I made a new website on DRM-Free ebooks its url is free-ebook-websites.com
    I would like to get some critical reviews on how to improve the look and the feel of my website as well as my writing style.
    I'm planning on monetizing it through AdSense and/or some affiliate program, do you think that it is a good plan?
    Thanks for your time and for your reviews

    PS: English is not my mother tongue, that's why in the site you'll probably find some mistakes. Report them please
    Hey Eros, some critical observations of the site...

    As some have said, the theme color scheme is very bland. The texture of the background image is also affecting readability in some areas of the page as well. Is this a WordPress theme you designed or had someone design for you? Was it generated through a program like Artisteer?

    The header is very generic. I did an image search for "ebook" and the header image you are using pops up within the first several rows. There's no drama to the image. There's nothing about the header at all that draws people into your site. And the fading reflection effect on your header title is dated and amateur. You should try to come up with a header design that adds more interest and drama to the site.

    Your menu bar is poorly designed...White text on a beige background is not a good idea, and the scale of your font is too tiny versus the block of the menu bar itself.

    Using Impact as a font for your headlines is also a bad choice in my opinion. An Impact style headline font is going to clash with most acceptable body text fonts, and it's going to disrupt the reader as they scan your page.

    All of your sidebar menus present themselves as a "laundry list" that doesn't really lend any importance to the information they may be linking to. In my opinion, I'd restructure the entire menu system and implement a well organized drop down header menu approach.

    Your copy kind of reads like a "term paper" on eBooks. There are others here who could provide useful suggestions on that, but it would benefit from a rewrite that adds interest and builds suspense to your content.

    Good luck with the site, I believe it will be very helpful to people, but I think you are going to need to change the overall look and approach of the site to be of any use to your visitors.
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    • Profile picture of the author Heretic
      Originally Posted by Jeremey View Post

      cut
      Thanks a lot for your time.
      Basically I undestood what I need to do:
      1. Get a new and professional web design & logo design
      2. Polish and spice up the lateral menu
      3. Adding a dropdown Menu under the Header
      4. Improve my article writing

      Is it a good checklist to work on?
      Thanks a lot again guys, you're really helping me.
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      • Profile picture of the author The Copy Nazi
        Banned
        Originally Posted by Heretic View Post

        Thanks a lot for your time.
        Basically I undestood what I need to do:
        1. Get a new and professional web design & logo design
        2. Polish and spice up the lateral menu
        3. Adding a dropdown Menu under the Header
        4. Improve my article writing

        Is it a good checklist to work on?
        Thanks a lot again guys, you're really helping me.
        All of that is moot. Meaning - opinion. Personally I don't mind the handmade paper/parchment background. And the rest of the design doesn't bother me either. I've seen a lot worse design than this. The problem is the writing. It sucks. Starting with the cheesy "Welcome to Free Ebook Websites" - which you repeat.

        You'll make diddly-squat from Adsense. I'd be getting your reader to opt-in...for a "free ebook" or an ebook reader or something. And then following up with an email series...leading to an affiliate sale or two.
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        • Profile picture of the author Heretic
          Originally Posted by The Copy Nazi View Post

          All of that is moot. Meaning - opinion. Personally I don't mind the handmade paper/parchment background. And the rest of the design doesn't bother me either. I've seen a lot worse design than this. The problem is the writing. It sucks. Starting with the cheesy "Welcome to Free Ebook Websites" - which you repeat.

          You'll make diddly-squat from Adsense. I'd be getting your reader to opt-in...for a "free ebook" or an ebook reader or something. And then following up with an email series...leading to an affiliate sale or two.

          How can I improve my writing style? Have you got any suggestion?
          Thanks for your response.
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          • Profile picture of the author The Copy Nazi
            Banned
            Originally Posted by Heretic View Post

            How can I improve my writing style? Have you got any suggestion?
            Thanks for your response.
            Eros, looks like your native tongue is Italian so it's going to be hard for you to write in English. Therefore you're going to need someone to "proof" your writing. Your English is pretty good - just needs a "tweak" here and there ( I'll even "proof"(rewrite) some of it for you).

            You have a lot of very good information on that site but your "landing page" is very weak. Instead of the hokey "Welcome to Free Ebook Websites" you would be better off talking about "What exactly is an ebook?" and "what do we mean by "free" (Use "we" not "I" - more businesslike). Then talk briefly about where to find them.

            Get rid of the "Click here" (to where? Spam City?) and replace all of them with a brief description.

            Then go into the comparison between eReaders.

            Oh yeah - the "About Me". Give us a headshot. Standing in one of your beautiful Italian landscapes or cities. In fact tell us more about yourself. With pics.

            And...expand on the content. Turn this site into a real "authority site" and Google will reward you with high SERPS and Pagerank.

            Looks like you're not indexed on Google yet. So go here - Is My Site Indexed? Find Out In Two Easy Steps!

            After entering your site in the bar...scroll down on the second page where it says "Other sites which might provide additional useful information about your domain include" and hit all those links. This will get the Search Engine spiders crawling your site and it will be indexed by G pretty quick. You could also sign up with Google Webmaster.

            à bientôt,

            Mal
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        • Profile picture of the author Jeremey
          Originally Posted by The Copy Nazi View Post

          All of that is moot. Meaning - opinion. Personally I don't mind the handmade paper/parchment background. And the rest of the design doesn't bother me either. I've seen a lot worse design than this. The problem is the writing. It sucks. Starting with the cheesy "Welcome to Free Ebook Websites" - which you repeat.

          You'll make diddly-squat from Adsense. I'd be getting your reader to opt-in...for a "free ebook" or an ebook reader or something. And then following up with an email series...leading to an affiliate sale or two.
          I was tackling the "look and feel" part of the OP's request, leaving the writing advice to the pros, as I mentioned in my post. Personally, I feel that a professional presentation and image is an important element to lending credibility to a business (and getting them to read the copy on the page), but you're correct, there are poorly structured sites with bland design that do convert with an amazing product/service and well written pitch. You mention some great suggestions that can certainly turn things around for OP.
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  • Profile picture of the author tonyla
    I decided to add a review website to one of my forums.
    Here is my answer.
    Web Site Review « Online Money Bee Forum

    If your lookin for help, hit me up. Here are my evaluations
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  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    I actually like the design and layout. I like the concept too. I agree that the header is pretty generic. That's an easy fix.

    Get a good content or even copywriter to spruce up the text. You've got the makings of a really good thing here. Good luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author Heretic
    Wow, thank you all for the suggestions!
    It's really unbelievable that I got this many feedback.
    So I'm starting by redesigning and tweaking my landing page and the content of other pages.
    Tomorrow morning I'll work on this.
    Again, thanks a lot!
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  • Profile picture of the author isalmanbaig
    you have a good web, if you want paid review then simply pm me.
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  • Profile picture of the author chrisnos
    Originally Posted by Heretic View Post

    Hello everyone,
    I made a new website on DRM-Free ebooks its url is free-ebook-websites.com
    I would like to get some critical reviews on how to improve the look and the feel of my website as well as my writing style.
    I'm planning on monetizing it through AdSense and/or some affiliate program, do you think that it is a good plan?
    Thanks for your time and for your reviews

    PS: English is not my mother tongue, that's why in the site you'll probably find some mistakes. Report them please
    SIMPLIFY and FOCUS.

    What I do like:

    The headline is big, so my eyes know right where to go to tell me the website is EXACTLY what I'm looking for in one succinct, concise sentence.

    Also, the focus of the content is good; it maintains focus on what the reader is looking for, and their possible pain points and desires, then follows up with testimonials on how easy and simple the site is (which tells me the method is uncomplicated, followed by exactly what benefits to expect.

    What I don't like:

    When I land on this page, my brain is distracted by the color, I don't know what Jules Verne's picture represents (why is it there in the first place... it seems to just be something random that's there for the sake of being there that distracts people [unless it has a meaning the average reader in your niche can understand])

    On the yellow box, there's a lot there to sift through to find what I'm looking for, maybe create HTML drop-down menus with titles for sections like
    "About eBooks"
    "eBook readers"
    "eBook websites"
    "Selling eBooks"
    "Writing eBooks"
    "eBook readers & converters"

    That way the reader can quickly and easily find what they're looking for, and won't leave because they don't want to look through a huge list.

    Overall it's a solid site. Good job
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