IndianaPC.org (Indiana PA Community Website)

[Mike-N-Tosh +]

Well, I'm finally done (with Phase 1) of my site and we are now open to the public.

I would welcome any comments, suggestions, notes, etc. regarding the site. Please bear in mind that this is a community site also with classifieds, but the entire site is being run by 68C and me.

Thanks in advance for your input.

Cheers,
-Mike

[gregbatch +]

Overall I like the site very much. Informative and not too much clutter. A good community portal.

The first thing I see on the home page is that the referring asterisks are on the wrong end of the words. The referring verbage should have the asterisk at the end, rather than the beginning.

In the classifieds, the HOME link is not very visible and only half of it is hot. Do something to make it more visible.

The other issue - totally a matter of personal taste - is I hate the double category menus on the opening page of the classifieds. Consider replacing the center menu with the featured ad box followed by a few of the newest ads, or rotate some informative text in that space like tips on writing a good ad, etc.

That's it. Otherwise, very nice!

[Mike-N-Tosh +]

Originally Posted by gregbatch

In the classifieds, the HOME link is not very visible and only half of it is hot. Do something to make it more visible.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by only half of it is hot. The entire word, "Home" is a link.

Originally Posted by gregbatch

I hate the double category menus on the opening page of the classifieds. Consider replacing the center menu with the featured ad box followed by a few of the newest ads, or rotate some informative text in that space like tips on writing a good ad, etc.

I too hate the double category menus. I did have it defaulting during my development to the featured ads. I had to change it for the grand opening, because as we didn't have ANY ads yet, it gave the error message, "Sorry but there were no posts that match your search." which really looked bad, so temporarily I switched it to the categories page.

Thanks for taking the time to review the site and post your feedback. It is much appreciated.

Cheers,
Mike

[gregbatch +]

I'm not quite sure what you mean by only half of it is hot. The entire word, "Home" is a link.

You are correct, Mike. The entire word IS hot. The problem I'm seeing is an issue only in IE7. I re-checked in Firefox and it is fine there. The background color change on hover is only showing up behind "Ho". Strange, but it is MSIE afterall. What can one expect?

I figured the menu was probably related to lack of content, but figured I'd bring it up anyway, and one reason I suggested the rotating text. We've all been there for sure. Getting those first few ads is the most difficult hump.

The text worked very well for me. I used "teasers" that engouraged people to place an ad. I still run teaser text today.

I even bribed the first 10 advertisers with $10 certificates to our local restaurant. The owner sold them to me for $5 each for promotional consideration and let me put a small counter dispaly in his place. I was surprised when all of the first 10 advertisers had more than one ad. So for $50 I netted 29 ads in a few days. I also barter for banner ads. Put a display in your business for 1 month, get two months of banner ads. For a community-based website, bartering can be a very powerful tool.

Best of luck. I think you will do good.