Internet Babel

Review of aromatherapypoint.com

Domain Name – I don’t particular like the domain name. It’s relevant and keyword friendly but you could of been more original. People like simplicity with site names generally, as they’re easier to remember. Some people would probably spell ‘aromatherapy’ wrong before they spell it right, long words or words even hinting on the complex side of spelling are usually a bad idea.

Design – Design is ok, a bit bland and colourless though. Completely featureless at the bottom of the page, try and use every bit of practical space for something decent, at least spaces people expect things to be. As the page fades down it goes into nothingness which really doesn’t help the site out visually in terms of giving it any sort of defining design to help it stick in people’s mind. Chances are people will see your site and go straight back off, or stay for a few seconds then leave and forget it completely due to the fact it’s too plain and simple.

Ads – Pretty good ad placement. No need for the border on the top unit though. It’s good that in a way your not trying to trick users into clicking by blending perfectly but you sort of are to a degree. If you’re gonna do it… do it, don’t meet half way, a placement like that is bold and intended to trick so lose the border.

Conclusion – Basically you’ve got a very bland looking site with no defining features to help anybody remember it. Which is a shame because it looks to me to be absolutely packed with unique text content, which is good. But you ain’t doing your content any favours by having such an unoriginal boring design. Work on the design, lose the ad border at the top, or lose the ad and brighten everything up abit, give it some originality. Also, I would pick a shorter more viral domain name and use that, then redirect the current domain to that.

Review of iwedi.com

Domain Name – I like the domain – short and memorable. Has a certain semi-ipod viral quality with the ipod and all Apple products being so huge, any ‘i’ based type product or site will naturally have an unconscious viral quality even if it is slightly copycat. Good domain.

Design – Nice simple, sleek design, easy on the eye. Organised, professional, can’t fault the design much at all. Good navigation, makes for quick usability, no fussing about or unneeded visuals. Would maybe suggest having the nav links in the top bar also, would give it an actual purpose as opposed to just having ‘iwedi’ written there. A side and top navigation is pretty much always good when possible.

Ads – Good ad placement, uncluttered, defined. For a directory though, I would maybe go with an affiliate banner or payed advertisement spot. A visual ad would draw the eye and actually add charisma to the site, there’s already enough links to crowd the eye without an Adsense block to. But good placement, this is why a top nav would do well, ads being right beneath them, perfect.

Conclusion – Overall, can’t fault much. Simple, professional design, good ad placement and easy usability. I would just add a few more things to make it more user friendly such as top nav and maybe an actual logo to make it feel authentically viral with the domain.

Review of oweb2.com

Domain Name – Good.. ish domain name. Short and easy to remember I suppose but sort of makes no sense really. I wouldn’t just go with a domain because it’s short, make sure it fully defines your site / blog also.

Design – I think the design and layout is your biggest issue. Nice defining graphic header, simple and visual. But everything else is too wild. You need to define everything more, it’s all open and white! use more graphic design and borders. Let your users know what’s what. Your site, sidebar and posts have no definitive line between them, it’s all one big open blur to a non experienced web user. Also it makes the site look unprofessional and unfinished, even if it’s intended that way, sort of makes your blog look like one giant Google ad.

Ads – By the looks of it, your blog isn’t well established yet and I don’t think it ever will be with that placement. Directly under the post date you’ve sneaked in a Adsense 468 by 60 banner… you’re trying to get clicks before you’ve got users. Blogs depend on user consistency and subscriber base, if the few your getting are confusingly clicking on ads and leaving for good… how do ever plan to build up a strong user base. I would recommend losing ads all together for the time being and focusing foremost on building user trust and consistency.

Conclusion – Overall I think you have a blog with potential but you’re wasting what potential it has by trying to scrape pennies from Adsense. Also your posts mainly seem to be very short, usually one or two lines and then alot of pictures. It’s almost like you’re holding back on quality to try and get clicks, either that or just can’t be bothered to make detailed posts so fill them up with images. I would recommend losing the ads, making the best posts possible and only when you have trusted users think about ad placement. Also define everything more, borders, color, charisma and character! and most of all quality content! it’s the only thing which will keep your blog alive.

Review of promoinnovations.com

Domain Name – Personally I think the domain name is a little long and you could of thought of something a little more viral. It seems abit formal given the primary outset of your blog. Considering your posts seem to be casual, I think the domain could of also been a little more so.

Design – Well, given your design is a free design from the WordPress archives I can’t really comment on it as it’s not unique to your site. But it’s a solid design and I think works well. I think however you could customize everything abit more to really shout the viral aspect of the viral aspect of your viral blog! but it’s a decent user friendly design.

Ads – I think the ad placement is great, right under the header. Blended so much as to not confuse the users perspective but to let them know it’s there without wrecking the content space. Perfect.

Conclusion – Overall I think you have a decent blog with good potential. Decent design, good ad placement, unclogged, honest, casual. I like the fact you’ve tried to add some originality with the ‘About You’ page and the chat etc also. I think users appreciate originality whenever they find it. It sets you apart. Good blog.

Review of trafficbunnies.com

Domain Name – I think the domain is good. It’s a nice shortish, two word, brandable domain. Which has a memorable quality to it. Now you just have to fully establish the viral aspect of that domain.

Design – I think the layout in itself is fine. Simple 3 collumn layout, content in the middle, sidebar either side. Popular and easy layout which is easy to customize. The overall visuals of the site… well, the actual graphics are well done. However I don’t think there’s a need to have all this highlighted and bold text. In this day and age, simplicity is professionalism, people view highlighted text and bold writing and immediately associate that with spam, landing page, spam, landing page, spam! well, I do anyway. I would recommend keeping everything standard Arial text and making everything seem as professional as possible. Without losing the character of the site itself. Emphasising words like FREE and capitalizing them etc will only degrade those aspects, too many people do it. People will make their own minds up, don’t try and do it for them.

Ads – There’s a fine line between defining and hiding, I think it’s good that you’ve let your users know, in a way what is what. But, you’ve basically wasted an ad, you’ve shoved a small vertical banner ad right at the bottom of the right sidebar. Your simply putting the ad on as an after thought. If you’re worried about ads ‘degrading’ your site, simply don’t use them. The object of them, is to make money from them. Don’t force them on your users, but equally, don’t hide them either. Let them know they are there!

Conclusion – Overall I’d say you have a site with alot of viral aspect if used correctly, traffic exchange has been done to death but i’m sure you can still make a successful traffic exchange website. Yours has what alot of others don’t – character – don’t waste it! try, simplifying the text more. Using less obvious emphasised text and what not, it only compiles your site into a long list of stereoptypical ‘others’ in a visitors mind. They’ve seen all that before, it’s obvious brain-dead marketing. Equally, if you are going to use ads, don’t shove them at the bottom, you misewell not have them. Keep going though, your site has viral aspect and a memorable charisma which alot of sites in your field don’t.

Review of emailhoaxesurbanlegends.com

Domain Name - Ok, from the outset I’d say your first problem is the domain name. Never buy an overly long domain name just for the purposes of the search engines, it’s people that will be visiting your site and people that you want remembering your domain. Always try and go with the shortest, most snappy domain name possible so that it’s as easy to remember as possible for people who see your site. Here people will easily forget it, some people will view such a long domain and simply discount it as a spam domain or simply, unconsciously block it out because it’s so long. Most likely they’ll glance it and click back or whatever, then never return. Can you imagine somebody going to a friend “Have you been on… emailhoxesurbans? no! emailsandhoaxinglegend? no! hangon, email-hoaxing…” see the problem? you’ve got 4 words in that domain and they easily blend to the eye. Try thinking up a more memorable domain which is short and easy to remember, buy that and use that domain instead of this one!

Design – Nice deisgn, simple and easy on the eye. I would recommend defining the navigation more though by having the heading ‘menu’ or ‘nav / navigation’ above the navigation links. Always do whatever you can to make your site as user friendly as possible. Also try bordering the site and maybe defining the footer more by having an upper border on it or a panel around it.

Ads – The ad placement is fine but a little too ‘classic’ in my opinion, you’ve blended well but I think blending is dying out. More n more people are realising what Adsense looks like and therefore more n more people will realise you trying to trick them into clicking. I think clearly defining your ads is the way forward. Blending to such a degree where people are meant to believe that an ad block is content, makes a site look cluttered and tacky.

Conclusion – Overall I’d say you have a semi-decent design with tacky ad placement. This ad placement is proven to work, yes and is proven to bring more clicks. But the people who realise they are ads will only get annoyed by them and the ones who don’t realise they are will click and be gone for good. On the outset you’ll probably get more clicks but in the long-run I think it can only damage the perspective and traffic flow of your site. I think these days, with the web growing as it is and people becoming increasingly more aware, it’s much better to define your ads clearly. Physchologically the user should appreciate it more as they know you are letting them know what is what. Also it allows for them to read your content fully, and basically that should be your aim. If your whole entire aim is to get clicks from a site… you wont get far, focus on the content first. Ask yourself if your site as helped anybody… if it’s given them anything useful. If the answer it no, do something about it!