Review my unique travel blog

by 44 replies
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Hey Warriors,

Was hoping some of you could take some time today to give me feedback on a travel project I'll be diving into next month. I'm selling all my stuff and moving West in a camper van. I'm gonna work from the road and document everything I experience in the blog.

I'm calling it LearnSponge.

I've been working hard on the site to get it ready for the trip but I know it needs some more love. I've been working within the limits of the theme I chose but will likely break out of the shell in the upcoming week. Some things just aren't the way I want them!

Anyway, please check out the site. Let me know what you think of the following things:
  • Content
  • Page layout
  • Post Layout
  • Ad Placement
  • Social Integration

Those are my main concerns right now. Eventually I'll be looking for paid advertisement on the site but for now I'll be experimenting with AdSense.

Any advice? Suggestions? Drop a line in the comments here or on the blog. Everything you see on the site beside theme development is my work. I did quite a bit of custom design/coding for this site so anything you deem necessary will be fixed by me.

I really enjoy contributing to this forum. Hope you guys enjoy our story and have something constructive to say

Kyle Golembiewski
#website design #blog #design #review #travel #unique
  • Hi Kyle!
    So far the site is good. I hope you can redesign the layout of the site.
    One major thing maybe it will be better if you place the menu bar on the top where it is usually placed.
    • [2] replies
    • Agree with the first comment menu on top, its a little confusing. Secondly the site looks a little bland, maybe a little more color. Not to much, just a little.
    • agree with this
  • That's one of my only gripes with this theme! I'm looking into it...but I totally agree.
  • You should add colors in your site. The site looks very dull. A Travel site should be vibrant.
    • [1] reply
    • The only reason I would disagree with this is if Kyle is planning on posting a lot of pictures -- a "dull" or minimal theme would draw attention to images, as they would be the only splashes of color.

      That being said, I don't think the theme has a particularly bland color scheme.

      Kyle, I'm just here to chime in as well about the menu. Personally I don't mind sidebar menus, but having your page links at the top is "the norm" and where most people will look right away.

      Good luck on your project, sounds like a blast!
  • Thanks to everyone for the responses! I can see the navigational point for sure. Still working to figure out how to move that sucker into its own div above the content.

    As for color, I'm not gonna do much to change that. I like how clean it is. I'm gonna be taking some really solid photos on the trip and video that will certainly liven up the page when the time comes.
  • Layout looks clean and the colors are right if your going to put lots of pictures in it. But as the others have said, the menu should be on top. And maybe the search box on the very bottom of your sidebar should be on the very top or at least below your logo.
  • Remove social buttons from the homepage and let them stay on the inside pages
  • sorry but that is one of the poorest design layouts of a site I have seen in years

    pictures or no pictures you still need IMO to change a lot and add a lot
    • [1] reply
    • haha...thanks for the feedback. this is, however, incredibly hard to believe.

      consider the fact that I've come to the forums for feedback. the fact that you had time to come in here and bash my design without any constructive criticism says very little.
      • [1] reply
  • I think the layouts need some redesign work.
    • [1] reply
    • I don't want to sound like an old hag but I think this website needs a total redesign. The content is rather interesting, but presented in this manner as it is currently I don't get that feeling that I want to explore the website and see more. A grid system for showing more posts/images/details would be a nice start for a travel blog I think.
      • [1] reply
  • As a travel site you need to add or develop few more things. Your site is little dull. You should make it a bit more dynamic. And also try to give the information that you will provide during the travel.
  • How about a FOLLOW me link, with your GPS coordinates always updated daily on a big map, and then that map continues to plot your travels cities, then click on each city on a certain day that leads to photo archives, etc

    Explore some nice travel sites to get some ideas. This site is good enough for family members but as it looks now it would not capture my attention for 2 secs to stay on the site, pics or no pics
    • [1] reply
    • I actually had the same idea and it's already built into the site via the FourSquare API...it will go live when we hit the road.
      • [1] reply
  • Take a look at this site for example

    See any difference between your site and this one?

    January | 2012 | Hot air balloon facts, actual flight stories, and photos

    Just giving an example of what type of site people expect with travel sites

    The site I posted makes you curious to see more go look around inside
    the color the graphics, the horizontal navigation bar all get you interested
  • Banned
    Your website looks quite good. Like the colors and everything every tab is clean and fresh. Basically very nice layout. Actually this is really great site. Good work.
  • [DELETED]
  • ^^ Yes he is making some changes in his site. I also want to see it.
  • Alright folks...made some changes to the site. Added color, widgetized the homepage, cleaned up some .css, etc. -- I still need to work on the mobile version but let me know what you think.

    Link is in my signature.
  • Loved your design really!
    Content are good, however, when I see first at the homepage I see some blank space (I think) in the bottom of left/main content. Or maybe just your sidebar with instagram widget that looks high?

    The post layout are good as well. Thought the share button below the image is to share that image. find that you have two lines of "share button" in the page with the same function
  • Simple design.
    - Need home page content.
    - Attractive images.
    - Change background color.
    - Need to work more on footer section.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Banned
    Nice site design and concept. Here's a thought: People like to 'connect' and 'get more involved.' It's kind of like having a mini adventure rather than a full-time adventure (like you are). How might you invite your fans to connect with you on the road? Perhaps a map or list of destinations? Meetups at community parks or festivals? And of course, you'll want to balance this with reasonable security precautions too. That why I suggested public events. Just some thoughts. Good luck to you.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • Funny you say this. I plan to implement Pat Flynn's "Create a Clickable Map" to the homepage of my site as Megan and I flesh out our travel plans. That's in the works. Love that you said that, though!

      Thanks for taking the time to write your opinions.
  • Clean, easy to navigate and understand design -that is a big plus for me. I did read just the Story and texts on index and I have to say, your style of writing is pretty nice too. It is good to read! Just more photos, stories and it is going to be amazing!
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • Really appreciate the good feedback, Jon. The photos and stories are to come I can't wait to get on the road. I think it will inspire me for years to come. Hopefully it will inspire others too!
  • I just come back home from my Vacation, so yeah I know how do you feel Truly looking forward to read your stories!

    Take care!

    Jon
  • I just come back home from my Vacation, so yeah I know how do you feel Truly looking forward to read your stories!

    Take care!

    Jon

    //How did I do this? Sorry :/
    • [1] reply
    • Haha, not sure. Thanks again though!

      As I add more to the homepage, I wonder -- how would you guys recommend organizing all of these posts? At the moment, I know i'll change my categories to something more digestible/enticing to the reader when they see them. At some point, I'll break down posts to states, as I will be using that interactive map i was talking about above. I'll make the state link out to the posts I made about being there.

      Also, does anyone know of some good, converting travel products that I can promote of the site? Really struggling with this one...

      Thanks!

      Kyle
  • Looking good but so much simple .
    but the design is neat and clean and simple is not bad at all.
    I think you can make it more beautiful by making more colorful.
    • [1] reply
    • Content - More photos! More color. What you have isn't bad, but it doesn't "pop" either.

      Page layout - Is there any way to move the logo to the left side of the page? It seems really out of place where it is at now. Nice logo though.

      Post Layout - Covered in the other advice.

      Ad Placement - It is kind of annoying to me personally, but most people do recommend placing AdSense ads within a post. Honestly though, unless you're getting several hundred visitors a day, I'd skip the AdSense ads for right now. It takes $100 before you get paid and unless you're getting clicks on a daily basis, they are an eyesore. Might want to build up your blog's popularity first.

      Social Integration - I would recommend more sharing icons for sites like delicious, digg, etc. Howabout an option to email the post to a friend? That kind of stuff. Does your blog have an RSS feed? If not, it should.

      I hope this helps!
      • [1] reply
  • hmm the site is ok I just wander if you have enough to capture the users attention. As soon as I open site their is nothing to really tell me what the site is about before I start reading text. Just a thought. Thanks.
    • [1] reply
    • I appreciate your words. I'm working to address this, for sure. You and a few others I'm talked to have hinted at that...any suggestions, specifically? Trying to really pack in the calls to action on the homepage.

      How would you guys suggest I differentiate between widgets on the homepage?
  • Great Blog but it need a video to make google love you
    • [1] reply
    • Good idea. I'll be sure to add one before we leave

      I made some significant changes that I'd love for anybody coming back into the thread to comment on. The homepage and all other pages are much more "widgetized" as I just learned how to do that in Wordpress. Way easier than I would have ever expected!

      Obviously images are huge for travel sites...but what other information resonates with people? I want this to be a fun story for people to reference when they say "I wanna go on a road trip like those guys". Ideas?

      Thanks again to everyone.

      Kyle
  • Okay. First it's a great idea that you want to travel and to turn this into blog. It sounds very interesting. The website is well organized but I would love if you put a magnifier near the search field. If I were you, I would put the facebook block under the "Instagram". Also the images of the slider are not visible in the pages: "Our story", "The journey" and "FAQ". When you click "Blog" the slider is completely gone. If you can put the menu under the slider it might look better. Other than that... everything is very nice. As I said... very original and cool idea for a blog. I wish you happy journey!
  • I work with CityRoom Inc. They have a lot of travel related business. Actually hey buy domains and keep them for 3 or 4 years and add content and then sell them.... I was asked to use same layout for all 100 sites..... each site was sold for $3000 minimum

    I will tell you the logical section of that theme
    1. logo and leader bord affilate banner
    2. menu and search box
    3. content area and sidebar with affiliate banner
    4. footer widget area
    5 another leader Bord banner

    So I will tell you to make your blog something that can make you profitable in the long run..
    • [1] reply
    • can you explain this a little better? Would love the insight!
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    Review my unique travel blog

    Hey Warriors, Was hoping some of you could take some time today to give me feedback on a travel project I'll be diving into next month. I'm selling all my stuff and moving West in a camper van. I'm gonna work from the road and document everything I experience in the blog.