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Constructive criticism on my first WordPress Website?

by latrice17
16 replies
This is my very first time creating a website and would greatly appreciate any constructive criticism you guys can give to me for my site. I am just trying to get a feel of what it should look like and how to remove all the items listed on the left column.

I'd like to be able to allow my visitors to leave feedback at the bottom and add some amazon widgets to the left and right columns promoting related items.

I am having a hard time finding a tutorial where it explains how to change the format for my theme to allow those things.

Well, if you guys would click here to check out my site and provide me with pointers and constructive criticism, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
#constructive #criticism #website #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author Mike Hlatky
    Couple Things:

    1. I would make an individual post for each product. This increases the number of pages in your blog and allows for even more keywords.

    2. Put each of these posts in a different category. This helps if someone is searching for that exact product.

    3. Get rid of the links section on the left sidebar.

    4. The text and image placement should be more eye popping. You should try focusing the user's attention on the products. The first thing that I see is the header, which isn't bad. But, you want to draw your attention to the products.

    Not bad for the first time.

    Hope this helps!
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    • Profile picture of the author gsport11
      Originally Posted by twigman1200 View Post

      Couple Things:

      1. I would make an individual post for each product. This increases the number of pages in your blog and allows for even more keywords.

      2. Put each of these posts in a different category. This helps if someone is searching for that exact product.

      3. Get rid of the links section on the left sidebar.

      4. The text and image placement should be more eye popping. You should try focusing the user's attention on the products. The first thing that I see is the header, which isn't bad. But, you want to draw your attention to the products.

      Not bad for the first time.

      Hope this helps!
      I agree with Twigman on every point. Regarding the fourth point, don't make the header the most visually appealing part of the site. I'd use something like clean theme or similar without any header, so that the eye goes first to the product image.

      I'll add this regarding use of a widget: People coming to your site are going to be entirely focused upon self-cleaning litter boxes. Don't distract them by offering related products (Amazon will make that offer once you deliver the visitors to them).

      For future reference, though, to add an Amazon widget, you do not need to modify the theme code. Place a Wordpress "text" widget where you want the Amazon widget to appear in the sidebar. Simply enter the code from Amazon into that Wordpress text box and save it.
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    • Profile picture of the author wilsonusman
      Originally Posted by twigman1200 View Post

      Couple Things:

      1. I would make an individual post for each product. This increases the number of pages in your blog and allows for even more keywords.

      2. Put each of these posts in a different category. This helps if someone is searching for that exact product.

      3. Get rid of the links section on the left sidebar.

      4. The text and image placement should be more eye popping. You should try focusing the user's attention on the products. The first thing that I see is the header, which isn't bad. But, you want to draw your attention to the products.

      Not bad for the first time.

      Hope this helps!
      These are excellent tips!

      I would also ad heading in the articles themselves so that it can be more scanable, remember you only have seconds to capture attention. If they don't find what they're looking for quick they're gone.
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  • Profile picture of the author Intrepreneur
    ha I guess you used Micro Niche Finder..

    Didn't you?

    As for the site it's pretty ugly and un-user friendly.
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    • Profile picture of the author latrice17
      Originally Posted by Intrepreneur View Post

      ha I guess you used Micro Niche Finder..

      Didn't you?

      As for the site it's pretty ugly and un-user friendly.
      Originally Posted by twigman1200 View Post

      Couple Things:

      1. I would make an individual post for each product. This increases the number of pages in your blog and allows for even more keywords.

      2. Put each of these posts in a different category. This helps if someone is searching for that exact product.

      3. Get rid of the links section on the left sidebar.

      4. The text and image placement should be more eye popping. You should try focusing the user's attention on the products. The first thing that I see is the header, which isn't bad. But, you want to draw your attention to the products.

      Not bad for the first time.

      Hope this helps!
      Thanks for the replies, guys.
      No, I didn't use Micro Niche finder, just a free theme for WordPress that I found. I was hard trying to find one relative to the items I am promoting.

      Did you have any suggestions on where I could get more appealing templates? Or, is more likely that I'd need to pay for a more appealing template.

      Thanks for your replies.
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      • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
        Banned
        Originally Posted by latrice17 View Post

        Thanks for the replies, guys.
        No, I didn't use Micro Niche finder, just a free theme for WordPress that I found. I was hard trying to find one relative to the items I am promoting.

        Did you have any suggestions on where I could get more appealing templates? Or, is more likely that I'd need to pay for a more appealing template.

        Thanks for your replies.
        It's more likely you would need to pay for more pleasing and more usable templates. Many of the free templates are free just because they have links embedded in them to promote the owner's sites ... not all, but many.

        I use only premium themes, mostly Woo themes to build my sites. They're easy to customize and look great.
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    • Profile picture of the author Gary Pettit
      Your site seem so dull. Your site cannot draw much attention if you keep it that way. Make it more catchy, try putting variety of colors ( it catches attention). Try also to categorized you posts.
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      • Profile picture of the author latrice17
        Originally Posted by sparkie2260 View Post

        Your site seem so dull. Your site cannot draw much attention if you keep it that way. Make it more catchy, try putting variety of colors ( it catches attention). Try also to categorized you posts.
        Originally Posted by Intrepreneur View Post

        Something more constructive..

        It will take time to get the hang of all the technical stuff involved with Wordpress so if you can get someone who knows what they are doing to help you.. it will be easier. If not it's a long uphill battle to learn it all.
        Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath View Post

        OK, since you asked critique for your WP site:
        1. don't have two links in the horizontal navbar going to the same place
        2. if you don't have anything important in the sidebar - use a theme without sidebar
        3. why don't you use categories? Posts and categories are helpful is building a system/hierarchy
        4. I think you made one single Page in your setup and made that page as frontpage/ Why?
        5. NEVER USE so-called "free" themes that you found on dubious sites around the net! - this one has some garbage encrypted code in your footer. They all have...
        6. I am old and have a cat. Being old means I have difficulties reading your small font. The tiny images are also useless for my eyes... even with glasses I could barely see what they are. (Note: a lot of old people have cats, LOL)

        That's all for now. HTH
        I really appreciate everyone's feedback! About my theme selection, should I just check sites that sell themes and purchase some from there? Also, yes, I initially only wanted one page for my site. I just wanted to provide information and give reviews on my products. It is possible for someone to provide a link to a site they have created so I can see an example of what I should be doing? I'd greatly appreciate it!

        Also, at first I had the images at 100% scale size, but made them smaller. I am thinking that if I were to split up each product into s separate page, I could make all the pictures larger as well as the text.

        Also, about the sidebar, I was having trouble removing it. I am thinking that I'd simply need to use a single column theme to achieve this, am I correct?

        Thanks again everyone for your feedback!
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  • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
    OK, since you asked critique for your WP site:
    1. don't have two links in the horizontal navbar going to the same place
    2. if you don't have anything important in the sidebar - use a theme without sidebar
    3. why don't you use categories? Posts and categories are helpful is building a system/hierarchy
    4. I think you made one single Page in your setup and made that page as frontpage/ Why?
    5. NEVER USE so-called "free" themes that you found on dubious sites around the net! - this one has some garbage encrypted code in your footer. They all have...
    6. I am old and have a cat. Being old means I have difficulties reading your small font. The tiny images are also useless for my eyes... even with glasses I could barely see what they are. (Note: a lot of old people have cats, LOL)

    That's all for now. HTH
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  • Profile picture of the author Intrepreneur
    Something more constructive..

    It will take time to get the hang of all the technical stuff involved with Wordpress so if you can get someone who knows what they are doing to help you.. it will be easier. If not it's a long uphill battle to learn it all.
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  • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
    I never said you should purchase anything - for themes. Get free themes from the WordPress site or from known trusted sources. (Even here in the forum warriors often mention trustworthy, good free themes...)

    As a general note: You don't have to go defensive and explain why you did what you did. If many people say it is not good... don't argue! I assume there were posters in this thread who do have review sites and if they say make a post for every product, nobody is really curious about your reasoning for not doing it. They know why they are saying it. (sorry for the rant...)

    You don't really need a model. Just use posts (instead of a Page), put your posts in categories (optional), use tags (!!!), build a site. Not a single page.
    To have one single page you absolutely don't need WordPress, just a simple html file.

    Now, for the sidebar. If you don't have anything to say/show - use a one-column theme. However, don't forget, you can use the sidebar for many clever things:
    have an optin form
    have a catchy image of a product, linked to amazon/affiliate
    list your reviews
    have a poll... just a few ideas

    Good luck!
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    • Profile picture of the author latrice17
      Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath View Post

      I never said you should purchase anything - for themes. Get free themes from the WordPress site or from known trusted sources. (Even here in the forum warriors often mention trustworthy, good free themes...)

      As a general note: You don't have to go defensive and explain why you did what you did. If many people say it is not good... don't argue! I assume there were posters in this thread who do have review sites and if they say make a post for every product, nobody is really curious about your reasoning for not doing it. They know why they are saying it. (sorry for the rant...)
      You don't really need a model. Just use posts (instead of a Page), put your posts in categories (optional), use tags (!!!), build a site. Not a single page.
      To have one single page you absolutely don't need WordPress, just a simple html file.

      Now, for the sidebar. If you don't have anything to say/show - use a one-column theme. However, don't forget, you can use the sidebar for many clever things:
      have an optin form
      have a catchy image of a product, linked to amazon/affiliate
      list your reviews
      have a poll... just a few ideas

      Good luck!
      Thanks again for the good info! I'm sorry my post came off as defensive, I really was not trying to sound that way.
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  • Profile picture of the author latrice17
    Okay, I went in and tweaked it a bit and took you guys' advice. It is still a work in progress, but I think I'll get it eventually.

    Thanks everyone!!
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    • Profile picture of the author Tang
      I didn't see what the original site looked like, but from the way the site looks now it's clear that you've been listening and implementing, Latrice.

      By the way, there's a small typo in the Welcome section (For/Through)... other than that, this looks pretty good!

      I'm sure others may have more improvements to add. With your great open attitude (and thick skin) you'll go far... keep it up!

      ...and use your 'Thanks' buttons ;-D
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  • Profile picture of the author gsport11
    I am very impressed with how you have incorporated the suggestions so quickly. You have used this forum in just the right way. Acting upon what you learn is paramount. Congratulations.

    Your new theme is clean and doesn't distract from your products. I probably would take it one step further by making the sidebar just one column, but that is a matter of personal preference (and I don't always follow that advice on my own sites). Doing so would allow your content to occupy a higher proportion of the screen.

    I would like to see a cat image above the fold (the part of the page that is visible to the visitor to the home page without any scrolling). Reversing products 1 and 2 would take care of that. While people may not literally want to see the product in action in this case, the image for product 2 gives a sense of the benefits for any cat household.

    Quick note: "Categories" appears twice in the sidebar.

    This is going beyond your request for suggestions regarding the site itself... Look into additional affiliate programs that may offer a higher percentage than Amazon. Don't get me wrong; I love Amazon. There are other pet product companies, though, who may provide you with up to double the commission rate (or more). Check out Commission Junction, Share-A-Sale, Link-Share and other affiliate companies who work with multiple retailers. It's not my niche, so I can't recommend a particular retailer, but look around when you have some time. Often, less well known companies provide a better rate, but I recommend working with them only if they have one of the networks (examples listed above) run their affiliate programs.

    I would love to hear your success stories in the future. I have a lot of confidence in someone like you who acts on the recommendations that you receive from these generous business people at this forum.
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    • Profile picture of the author latrice17
      Originally Posted by gsport11 View Post

      I am very impressed with how you have incorporated the suggestions so quickly. You have used this forum in just the right way. Acting upon what you learn is paramount. Congratulations.

      Your new theme is clean and doesn't distract from your products. I probably would take it one step further by making the sidebar just one column, but that is a matter of personal preference (and I don't always follow that advice on my own sites). Doing so would allow your content to occupy a higher proportion of the screen.

      I would like to see a cat image above the fold (the part of the page that is visible to the visitor to the home page without any scrolling). Reversing products 1 and 2 would take care of that. While people may not literally want to see the product in action in this case, the image for product 2 gives a sense of the benefits for any cat household.


      Quick note: "Categories" appears twice in the sidebar.

      This is going beyond your request for suggestions regarding the site itself... Look into additional affiliate programs that may offer a higher percentage than Amazon. Don't get me wrong; I love Amazon. There are other pet product companies, though, who may provide you with up to double the commission rate (or more). Check out Commission Junction, Share-A-Sale, Link-Share and other affiliate companies who work with multiple retailers. It's not my niche, so I can't recommend a particular retailer, but look around when you have some time. Often, less well known companies provide a better rate, but I recommend working with them only if they have one of the networks (examples listed above) run their affiliate programs.

      I would love to hear your success stories in the future. I have a lot of confidence in someone like you who acts on the recommendations that you receive from these generous business people at this forum.
      Thanks so much, gsport11! I will take your recommendations into account as well.

      I am truly grateful for all the information you guys have given me.

      I sure hope I have some success stories to post soon! I am not totally sure if I did this right, but I call myself checking to see if my site is indexed, so I logged out of my gmail account and typed in my full website's URL into Google, and there is my site in the third slot. Is this the right way to check my site's ranking in Google?

      Thanks again, guys!
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