Hey guys,

I would really appreciate some criticism on my new website. Would really appreciate if you pointed out some things I can fix and/or do better.
th3swtorgu1d3DOTnet
you just have to substitute the 3's with "e" and 1's with "i"
Thanks a bunch, and I am really looking forward to becoming a member at the community here.

First off the domain name doesn't make any sense. That is if I read it correctly.

Originally Posted by Nookie Monster

First off the domain name doesn't make any sense. That is if I read it correctly.

If you substitute the correct numbers for the correct letters, it's theswtorguide, which is Star Wars: The Old Republic, a new game for PC which has a large number of users.

I think the niche is fantastic since there will be an increase of people who play this game and they will be looking for help. I haven't looked over your site thoroughly but it looks decent and I think you'll do well with it.

Originally Posted by Nookie Monster

First off the domain name doesn't make any sense. That is if I read it correctly.

theswtorguide, SWTOR being - Star Wars The Old Republic

As for OP- Looks great but i know you copied it haha

Originally Posted by Nookie Monster

First off the domain name doesn't make any sense. That is if I read it correctly.

-it means to those who play Star Wars The Old Republic MMORPG...

- now regarding the site... hmmm. I would check woorank .com and try to implement the suggestions there to have some decent onpage seo. in terms of design this really isn't in my personall taste OP. I would go with something less confusing. best to check out similar sites

Checked back in hoping for one, maybe two but got 4 answers. AWESOME! Tnx! I'll search some topics later to see if there is something that I can help with too.


I'll definitely check out woorank. I don't get what OP means exactly, but I suppose it has something to do with design. Less confusing really is a good way to go. I will search around and try to simplify it.



Tnx Would appreciate an opinion after you've taken a better look.


Also, guys, I have a couple of other questions. What do you think about the Home Page length? It's absolutely humongous right now. Do you think I should shorten it? If yes, then should I use [show more] tags, or just post only one-two posts?

There are some competitor sites (for the key word "swtor guide")which were made in 2010 and haven't been updated since, and they have 100,000+ backlinks and I have only ~5,000. However I post daily new content on generally hot topics. Do you think there is a chance of outranking them, or should I just target another keyword? I am already 1st for some weird long-phrase variations, but they get few searches.

+1 again for all your awesome help and feedback, and I would really appreciate further criticism!

PS: That's the standard Twenty Eleven WP Theme. Nothing Copy-ish about it.

PSS: Sorry for the mess in this reply, but since I am new, it would give me an error every time I try to post when quoting somebody.

Originally Posted by raven123

Checked back in hoping for one, maybe two but got 4 answers. AWESOME! Tnx! I'll search some topics later to see if there is something that I can help with too.


I'll definitely check out woorank. I don't get what OP means exactly, but I suppose it has something to do with design. Less confusing really is a good way to go. I will search around and try to simplify it.



Tnx Would appreciate an opinion after you've taken a better look.


Also, guys, I have a couple of other questions. What do you think about the Home Page length? It's absolutely humongous right now. Do you think I should shorten it? If yes, then should I use [show more] tags, or just post only one-two posts?

There are some competitor sites (for the key word "swtor guide")which were made in 2010 and haven't been updated since, and they have 100,000+ backlinks and I have only ~5,000. However I post daily new content on generally hot topics. Do you think there is a chance of outranking them, or should I just target another keyword? I am already 1st for some weird long-phrase variations, but they get few searches.

+1 again for all your awesome help and feedback, and I would really appreciate further criticism!

PS: That's the standard Twenty Eleven WP Theme. Nothing Copy-ish about it.

PSS: Sorry for the mess in this reply, but since I am new, it would give me an error every time I try to post when quoting somebody.

I definitely think you should shorten the page a bit, it looks a little bit of a mess and I was confused at where to start. Also OP means 'original post/poster' of the thread, which in this case is you! ^_^

Wow, this site looks very good. I must say that even I was interested in reading the content of the blog and learning more about SWTOR - I don't even play the game!

I think that SWTOR players would find this site very useful. Good job.

Dothra, Rep a lot for that feedback. If you feel confused than 89%+ of my visitors probably feel confused, if not more. I will definitely shorten it. I am now going through the woorank optimization process. I will post again when I am done optimizing to get a second constructive feedback!

X9RILLION, thanks. Though it can get better. Do you think I should shorten the page too? Did you feel confused/lost when first opening it or not? Feed back is very much appreciated!

I will give you full feedback. Hope this helps.

Recommendations:
1. Shorten each post on the homepage to around 350 words and add a 'Read More' link.

2. Use category links at the top such as 'Crafting', 'Classes','Planets','PVP' to help find info easier

3. The right side bar is very clustered with information. I would add a lot of this information into it's own page and shorten the information on the sidebar a lot.


There are tons of free themes out there that can do all of the things that I mentioned above, and with a little customization you can easily keep the look that you have here.

Things just need to be a little bit more organized on the main page, but as far as information - you have tons of great info.

-edit-

After looking at the site again, I found the links at the top. However, it was hard to find them because of all the information. I recommend that you shorten the front page among all things and then the category links at the top will be easier to see.

OP, i didn't mean the site in itself, i meant the background/header/layout is a widely used on in your niche

X9RILLION, Tnx for your feedback. I agree on all of it, and I am getting to work right now.
It is clustered, but I am looking for some way to communicate with my visitors "Live", as though things are happening today, or even right now. That's the whole point of the right-side field. Do you have some idea who can possibly substitute this?
Tnx again for the feedback, I really appreciate it!

dannym954, You are completely right. I am trying to find new original stuff, but since the game is new, that's all the official art + some good fan art that I could find. I hope to eventually add some new, fresh images when the game's fanbase develops even more.

the menu is not clear, it is stuffed with keywords...

i would try to make that smooth... that being said, the site looks cool... informative, a bit too much info

I would try to reorganise your articles a bit, it is a bit messy...


to sum it up: "everything that X9RILLION said"

this game looks pretty awesome, good luck with your site

Lebron2727 , yeah you are right. Tnx for the feedback, I am fixing it as we speak

X9RILLION Will definitely do. Tnx a bunch!

Update: I have now fixed home page length, Site Title and Description. Tell me what you think. I am now proceeding with fixing sidebar, menus and overall visibility. Will post when done.

Get rid of the floating social sharing icon - you have it covered under the posts.

Now, some IP issues - if you are in Bulgaria, you need to know Bluehost will yank sites at the slightest hint of infringement. Consider your hosting choices . . .

You need to, at the very least, throw up all those disclaimers about being in no way related to LucasArts or BioWare (examples abound), etc.

orlandolongwood, OK, I put it on before the social buttons earlier today. It's useless now so I am purging it.

About the IP issues: Basicly if my site gets associated with spam or etc. It gets yanked? And I can help reduce the chance of getting yanked by putting a disclaimer that I am in no way related to LucasArts etc, and by not doing any shady things (which I am not)
Also, does it matter if I am in Bulgaria or not?

Anyhow, I am putting those disclaimers and taking down the share button. Thanks for the feedback and potentially site-saving info. I hope it doesn't come to that though.

Share button down, disclaimers up.
Uploaded several new headers.
Fixed(simplified) menus under the header.
Cleared right-side column as much as possible.
Tweaked ReadMore Plugin to show more fancy images.
-------------
Left to do:
Make categories; additional on-page SEO;

Let me know what you guys think about all the changes. Any feedback and critics are more than welcome.

Tnx to everyone who gave feedback and to anyone who is about to give too!

OK, categories are made, and I have to say that it all looks much much tidier and easy to look at! Not to mention faster to load, but it also looks more interesting and curious to read the full posts!
So now I am done optimizing the website as you guys suggested, any further feedback is very much appreciated!

And I really want to tnk you all for such great, incredibly fast feedback and awesome help.

Originally Posted by raven123

orlandolongwood, OK, I put it on before the social buttons earlier today. It's useless now so I am purging it.

About the IP issues: Basicly if my site gets associated with spam or etc. It gets yanked? And I can help reduce the chance of getting yanked by putting a disclaimer that I am in no way related to LucasArts etc, and by not doing any shady things (which I am not)
Also, does it matter if I am in Bulgaria or not?

Anyhow, I am putting those disclaimers and taking down the share button. Thanks for the feedback and potentially site-saving info. I hope it doesn't come to that though.

Sorry, by IP I meant Intellectual Property. LucasFilms is notorious for going after folks if they transition from "fan" to "profit-making business" using their materials. The issue about being in Bulgaria is that you can do better than Bluehost lol.

orlandolongwood,
Hmm, I thought the whole world was using blue and gat0r. Do you have any other in mind? I can always move. Not that big of a deal.
I see. I will try not to get too obvious. After all, I am giving more free content than aff-content and even there I am giving them under helpful reviews.
Rep for the feedback, and I am very interested in hearing about more improvements.
What do you think about the new layout?

ill check this out

Have to say the site is starting to look a lot better! Great work on the updates. I will continue to check on your site to see how things are going for you. I wish you all the best.

With that being said, you should look into the theme editor because the Sidebar is not starting until the content ends. I am thinking this is a simple <div> error. If you need help with the theme coding let me know.

So far the results from the feedback I hot here are phenomenal. I really think it looks much better and attractive!

Gallard0, tnx! All feedback/criticism is totally welcome.

X9RILLION, Tnx for all your feedback and help! I PM'd you on the coding issues.

I am now looking for feedback on the new version of the site!
Tnks to everyone who takes some time and sees what he thinks about it!

I fixed pushy exclamations in the righ-side column.
Also starting to include news regarding the game in hopes to increase popularity.

Note: I am posting my steps here not to spam, but so that others can follow them if they want in efforts for fixing their site.

You know where the big banner is that changes on every page...

try to turn that into a call to action place...

What do you want your readers/visitors to do once on your site? Is it to buy something, sign up to a mailing list?...

put what you want them to do in that banner place.

Otherwise looks pretty decent.

IamNRE, thanks for the feedback!
You mean like put some advertising for my site on all the banners? Like: Only here you will find X, Y and the best deals on Z? Because I can't just say "Buy this, buy that."
But that is a very good suggestion and I will now do some research now on how to best implement it.

Just took a quick look at it, and it's looking a lot better than the earlier descriptions I read. Few things:

On the Contact page, fix this typo:

"Are you ready to stop loosing and start DOMINATING?"

that should be "losing" not "loosing".

I don't see a privacy policy page, which I've heard goog likes to see on sites.

On the About Me page, fix this typo:

"Lest Go" should be "Let's Go".

I would beef up the disclaimer if I were you to make it more emphatic and stress that yours is a "fan site" and in no way officially affiliated with or related to various other companies.

I think you still have too much above the fold. If you can get the text below the header to go across the screen width, that would help. And maybe try consolidating that menu under the logo more too. Try sizing your browser to 1024x768 or 1280x960 to really see what I'm talking about (yeah, I know a lot of gamers run at much higher screen resolutions, but not everyone does that, and also many people including gamers don't run all their apps like browser maximized).

Thanks for having a Stop SOPA banner on the site.

peace - gregs.

gergs, Tnks for the feedback.

I fixed the typos. Really appreciate that you read that deep.

Also uploaded a Privacy Policy Page. I originally had one, but was hesitant of leaving it because people might associate it with me trying to sell them something or collect info. So I got rid of it, but that was a stupid move.

Right. Some very useful tips there. I will see if I can modify the theme files to have it run across the screen width.

I can't seem to find the menu under the logo. Which one are you referring to?

Tnks again for the awesome feedback. And it's my pleasure to have that SOPA Ribbon on. I have signed petitions against this with all my emails, since I can't be there live. Wish I could do more.

Update:
Included sidebar on all pages and single posts in order to convey updated "live" info to new visitors who enter from there.

Changed Menu Background/Highlight Color; Description color; All in hopes to increase visibility. Do you think it has an effect?

Originally Posted by raven123

I fixed the typos. Really appreciate that you read that deep.

Also uploaded a Privacy Policy Page. I originally had one, but was hesitant of leaving it because people might associate it with me trying to sell them something or collect info. So I got rid of it, but that was a stupid move.

I can't seem to find the menu under the logo. Which one are you referring to?

Tnks again for the awesome feedback. And it's my pleasure to have that SOPA Ribbon on. I have signed petitions against this with all my emails, since I can't be there live. Wish I could do more.

NP - typo's just jump out me, and they diminish the credibility of any site a bit. As for the privacy page, I think it's definitely worth having one. One of those best practices Big G and others like to see in place.

What I mean about "the menu under the logo" is this: you have some text with a search box, then under that an image (which I notice now changes), then under that image is a series of options - "Home", "About Me", etc. At 1024x768, the third row of those options are below the fold, and personally I think if you could get the layout so that it you had at least all your header stuff above the fold @ say 1024 or 1280, you'd be in better shape.

Try rolling over one of the options like "Class Guides" @ 1024x768 - the drop-down list that appears is mostly off-screen.

And thanks for taking this as constructive criticism, that's what it is, overall I think you're well on your way to have a really nicely-done site.

As for SOPA/PIPA, I think anyone who knows my belief set knows how I feel in general, so I'll just say thanks again for what you have done; the cumulative efforts of citizens of the internet yesterday got 13 US Senators to back away from it (for now)...so don't feel like you haven't helped, and don't let anyone tell you that we can't make a difference. We can if we don't fall for the apathy mindfuck the system is trying to play on us.

Sites really nice. Only thing I can suggest is making the pictures you post in articles smaller.

gregs,
Yes, I put a Privacy policy, pretty decent one I might add. Take a look if you want, but more importantly:
Removed blank space above site title and below site description. That makes for complete visibility of two rows of the pages menu without any scrolling down.
How does that look? I viewed the site on a smaller resolution (so that three rows of the pages menu are visible) and everything you say makes sense.

I don't get what you mean by "rolling over" I can divide it in two drop-down menus to shorten it. It's true that it goes off the page. Still have to think a way to fix that in a stylish way.

And tnks for all the awesome constructive criticism! It is really helping me learn a lot and is making my site look much better to both humans and SEs.

Thanks for your inspirational words on SOPA/PIPA, I think anyone who reads this will agree that you are telling the absolute truth. If there is anything more I can do within my power, be sure that I will.

Raymond, Thanks. I took note of that and decreased the pictures of the first two posts' sizes by 30%. Did you see them too big, or did they take the whole screen?

I just want to ask some questions which are absolutely related with my site optimization:

Can using indexkings too much harm my backlinks and site reputation? Because if I wanted to, I can have it running 10,000 submissions every several hours, but that can't be healthy, or is it ok?

The same question goes for PingFarm.

Still looking for feedback and constructive criticism! Thnx a lot to everybody who answered and to everybody who will!

Buffed up disclaimer at footer area a bit. I am really not sure how to do this properly. Can someone please take a look and give suggestions? Thnx a lot in advance!

In process of adding galleries. Under "Media" menu.
Merged some Pages to make space.

Good job buddy, keep it up!

fuzzface: Thnx, but it's all thnx to all the awesome people who gave constructive criticism and feedback!

theswtorguide*net
u got this page dude? leemmmmme go for it
let's cee what source do your page have.. good luck

Hey guys, I just wanted to post a post that tells you about everything that has happened as a result of this whole wonderful feedback and creative criticism, which I hope will still continue, so that new users can know how the BH Forums can affect bloggers.

1. My site has become overall better and more enjoyable to read and be at.
2. Lighter, with much faster page load speed - Google says around 90-94/100.
3. Conversions are generally going up, even though they had hit rock bottom when I came here.
4. Bounce rate has gone down and average pg.views up, alongside with the time people spend on my site.

Things that are yet to happen/What I hope to achieve next

1. Traffic has stayed the same, but I have managed to put a halt to a declining trend in traffic that was going from 400/day to around 70/day. It has now stabilized at around 280-320/day. I am looking for ways to augment that on the forums.
   
2. Building a list. I posted a thread about this, but it seems I had something wrong, and it's deserted. My fault. That doesn't change the fact that i am still looking on how to effectively build a list.
   
3. Conversion rates. I have been reading some e-books on customer psychology, copy writing and preselling, but I srongly believe that they will go up as traffic goes up.

That's about it guys, if you've already seen my site, feel free to leave some feedback, if you've already left, then tnk you. If you haven't, I'd appreciate it if you would take a look and share what you like/don't like.

Happy IMing!

Originally Posted by Nookie Monster

First off the domain name doesn't make any sense. That is if I read it correctly.

Agreed. Never underestimate the power of a domain name

weak domain.

what can i do for you?