Yakezie.com - Topic: What would you change?

Hunter @financiallyc on What would you change?

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:45:26 +0000

Hey Eric, the site looks great. Crisp color and not too much of it. The articles are easy to look at and the sidebar boxes really pop. I think you have a great platform on which to blog.

MoneyIsTheRoot on What would you change?

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:38:01 +0000

I really like the look of the site... a lot more going on than my site, but it makes me think I almost keep mine too simple. Good job, wish I had the tech skills to tweak mine like you can.

thejennypincher on What would you change?

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:15:33 +0000

Hi there

I like the look of the site, its clean and I don't feel overwhelmed when I look at it. The only thing I might suggest is you make the text above the optin bigger or use a colored box around it. Since it is white also, it sort of blends in and could be easily missed.

Great work!

Eric J. Nisall on What would you change?

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 19:20:49 +0000

Thanks for following through on those links Penny. People can really learn a lot from those guys, and I read their stuff all of the time. What I like most is that it's not just personal preference with them, the advice comes from testing a bunch of different things to come to their conclusions. And, I mentioned it somewhere before--Derek Halpern advised Chris Brogan on some of his sites, so if the advice is good enough for Brogan, who the heck am I to ignore it!

SB: I already decided to get rid of those crappy links since I get relatively no traffic from being associated with those sites. Based on the responses, even though I like the cleaner look, I think I may have to move the social links back to the top of the sidebar. As far as the nav bars go, those I'm going to leave alone for a while since it's specifically outlined in one of Derek Halpern's posts and he even hilights Ramit's site as a perfect example of making it easy for people to find what they are looking for; and the teasers are going to be staying for a while too since I've read quite a bit about how people would rather click through once to read on and have the ability to scan more posts more quickly, especially if it's been a few days since their last visit. I really appreciate the insights, though!

OneCentAtatime on What would you change?

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:39:00 +0000

Eric this are the observation

1. I like to see social buttons on the screen when I open your site, without having to scroll

2. Two menu bar is redundant, top menu bar can be included beside the logo itself.

3. I don't like sites with only few words of posts on home page, personal opinion though.

4. The bottom affiliate badges does nothing useful other than increasing page load time.

I am impressed by everything else.

The Saved Quarter on What would you change?

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 15:54:22 +0000

I like the links you posted on why you chose the layout you did! I'll be making a few tweaks based on them. :)

One thing I'd add is having your subscribe/Twitter/Facebook and such buttons up top. You have e-mail subscribe up there - put the others with it, so I don't think e-mail is the only way to subscribe while I'm at the top of your page, reading a post I like.

Eric J. Nisall on What would you change?

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 06:26:53 +0000

Yeah, that's the ViperChill logo on the bar LaTisha. I'm actually going to be removing it, as I really haven't noticed any serious benefit from it. Plus, with all of the other ways to sign up for the email list, I figure it's not really needed (sorry Tony!)

Tony Chou @ Investorz' Blog on What would you change?

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 13:48:11 +0000

I like it! Especially the ViperChill bar at the top.

LaTisha @YoungFinances on What would you change?

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 13:31:31 +0000

That was my first impression as well. Also, is that the ViperChill logo?

Aaron Hung said:

Too many things going on up top, a lot of tabs…but that's just me, I like to keep it simple…it's looking good though :D

Khaleef @ KNS Financial on What would you change?

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 12:01:40 +0000

I really like the new look. The only thing I noticed was the unbalanced footer - but I'm a very symmetrical person.

Great job!

Funancials on What would you change?

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 09:51:18 +0000

Eric- looks great. Very clean, very organized. I personally like the header area. The site looks very credible. Certainly a site I could surf through. The only change I would make is the "advertise here." Either eliminate them completely or reduce it to just one. I view vacant advertising slots as an area that isn't very valuable and start to ask why no one would want to be there.

Eric J. Nisall on What would you change?

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 05:55:40 +0000

@Paul: I've gone through and consolidated many of the header links. It was a tad cluttered, but the goal was to have all of the important stuff centrally located. I was using Verdana with a size of 12-14 and testing the different results.

@PKamp3: I'm not to concerned with using the blog as a driver to social media, and would like to have something of value in the footer. Besides, with about section and the author box, I have the links in plenty of places. I'm working on getting the footer more balanced, but still have a little work to do.

For anyone curious as to why I'm redoing the layout in the way I am, I'll let the experts explain. Here are a few of the articles that really got me thinking on trying to optimize the layout rather than cram a bunch of stuff into it:

http://twohourblogger.com/bath/

http://www.problogger.net/arch.....og-design/

http://www.problogger.net/arch.....your-blog/

http://socialtriggers.com/best.....t-website/

http://socialtriggers.com/how-.....wse-blogs/

PK @ DQYDJ on What would you change?

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 22:07:08 +0000

Personally, I'd move the 'Connect With Me' section where you've got the second newsletter signup (above the fold on the right side). I would play with the Yakezie logo as well - perhaps centered over the two skyscrapers? The site looks balanced to me and I'm typing this on a Netbook.

Yeah, the footer is unbalanced but I bet you fill the ad spaces quickly, so I wouldn't worry too much yet.

The Frugal Toad on What would you change?

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:46:58 +0000

I agree Aaron that you have too much going on in the header, it immediately takes your eye away from the content.

Font is a tad big. What font are you using by the way?

Eric J. Nisall on What would you change?

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:07:02 +0000

@Eric: Thanks! My goal was to vlean out as much of the junk that clutters tha pages as possible while still allowing easy access and encouraging exploration of the site.

@Shannyn: Thanks! I tried to incorporate the colors from the logo while of setting it a bit with the deeper tones. The advertising placeholders will hopefully start to disappear now that I have outsourced that process. The larger fonts are supposed to enhance readability, but I'm going to try and drop it one size to see how it works.

@Aaron: Appreciate the honesty. Reading the expert blogs like Derek Halpern's Social Triggers (he actually advised Chris Brogan on several of his sites) and Martyn Chamberlain's Two Hour Blogger, they advise making the split navigation an priority as a means to guide the readers through the site as well as decluttering the sidebar which can be a big distraction while reading. I'll definitely look into making the nav bars simpler though.

@Jeremy: Tell me about ti bro. That part annoys the heck out of me. I'm trying to format some ad space down there to fill it out, but don't want it to be too busy with stuff. I was actually thinking of putting a twitter feed in there.

Thanks for all of the great insights so far. Keep them coming!