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1:12 pm
May 20, 2011
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LaTisha @YoungFinances
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I just read a post today over at Copyblogger about looking over your blog with fresh eyes. I wanted to enlist the help of you guys.
Is there anything that you specifically like or dislike about the landing page?
Are the colors too bright? (I wanted yellow so I tried to go with a more soothing yellow)
And this is something I'm thinking of changing.
Is the font too small?
Also if there is anything else that you can think of that you think might help me I would really appreciate it.
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2:00 pm
May 20, 2011
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The Saved Quarter
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There's a lot of stuff right away, and with a scrolling center section I'm a little distracted. I'm not sure where to focus to find the content. I have to scroll down to see the most recent post. If I have to try to figure out how to navigate a new site, I often don't, so there is a contingent of readers (maybe not the young adults you're focusing on!) who might find it difficult to read and not make the effort. It's a little too busy for me.
In your two top spots, in the banner and on the top of the lefthand column, you have your e-book (GREAT!) but I might put the "New Here?" on the lefthand column to give new readers the direction of how to get around. I couldn't find archives or categories/tags/labels to help me get around and find content.
I hope that's helpful!
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2:01 pm
May 20, 2011
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The Saved Quarter
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I'd love the same feedback! :)
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5:16 pm
May 20, 2011
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Melissa (Mom's Plans)
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Great work on your Alexa rank! I was actually going to say the same thing as the Saved Quarter. I want to see content right when I land on the page. The scrolling banner in the center is a bit distracting.
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5:29 pm
May 20, 2011
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Suba @ Wealth Informatics
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Post edited 6:00 pm – May 20, 2011 by Suba @ Wealth Informatics
Ditto Penny & Melissa. I will criticize it more (sorry! you asked, so hopefully you won't be offended). There are just 3 short paragraphs of content and a lot of sidebar activity (a lot ads). If you are not earning a lot from those ads I would remove some of them and show case the content as much as possible.
May/may not be trivial, but you have google ads as "Matches from google" I am not sure if that is violating their policy - Place misleading labels above Google ad units. For instance, ads may be labelled "Sponsored Links" or "Advertisements", but not "Favourite Sites" or "Today's Top Offers". I know "matches from google" doesn't really encourage clicks but why take chances.
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5:57 pm
May 20, 2011
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moneycone
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Don't draw visitors attention to Google ads! Nothing will get you banned faster!
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9:18 am
May 21, 2011
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LaTisha @YoungFinances
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Thanks everyone! I appreciate all of your suggestions
I stopped the slider from auto-sliding so it won't be so distracting. (I really love that slider :) )
I completely removed the google ads, I think they were being ignored anyway.
I added a categories widget for better navigation and added some text navigation to the "new, start here" widget
I also flipped the new, start here widget to the left and moved the book on the right. (I think that's pretty much standard for most sites so it will give readers some consistency.)
I allowed for 4 posts on the front page and split up the text vs picture widgets to make things seem less busy.
Thanks again!
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9:31 am
May 21, 2011
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LaTisha @YoungFinances
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The Saved Quarter said:
I'd love the same feedback! :)
Penny your site looks great. I personally like the colors. And the widgets are not distracting from your content. I really want to show my posts like you have yours where they are in boxes after the first couple of posts but I think that is theme specific.
I like the way that feature gives me choices on which post to read. The front page seems a little wordy, maybe a picture in the post to break things up a bit. But I'm pretty a.d.d. when it comes to websites, if I don't see a lot of attention grabbing items I usually get bored. (which I guess explains my site lol)
For example, I love the CNBC website layout, because there is so much to see and do. I could be on there for hours. Whereas the Forbes website is pretty boring in comparison, but I enjoy their content.
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10:20 am
May 21, 2011
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Melissa (Mom's Plans)
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I really like the changes you have made! It is much easier to find your content now. Just one more thing from me. On my computer, the "featured posts" section is being cut off. It looks as if the content part of the page is laying on top of the featured posts section. Could the featured posts go on the sidebar?
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12:45 pm
May 21, 2011
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LaTisha @YoungFinances
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I just made it smaller, and instead of 4 posts I just have it showing 3. That might be why it looks cut off.
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4:34 pm
May 21, 2011
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The Saved Quarter
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I like the changes you made! The text in the box is cut off for me, too. It's like the next box comes up and cuts the sentence right in half.
One more thing: Make it REALLY easy to find how to subscribe. I had to search to find it, small, in the Social Networking tab. I wouldn't think of subscribing as a social networking thing, so maybe I overlooked it. Maybe even add it to the "New? Start Here" tab, encouraging new readers to subscribe.
Thanks for your thoughts on mine. I don't use enough pictures, true enough, and I am wordy! I should add a few pictures to break up the text for the ADD in the crowd. The boxes for older posts may be theme specific, I'm not sure. I use Thesis for Wordpress. I like that feature!
There is definitely a personal style aspect to blogging. I wanted a clean, minimal look when I had my blog designed. That wouldn't work for your personality! I feel put off by the CNBC site. It feels cluttered and I get overwhelmed. I feel like if I click something, I'll never figure out how to get to the next article I want to read. There's an audience for everything, though, since that's just exactly what you're looking for!
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