Older Site - needs to be tweaked a bit

[minga]

Hi - I'm no longer an online affiliate - transitioned my site over to promote live chairty poker tournaments in Michigan. I love the experience and genius that hang out at this site.

Please review my site. I want it to be a great site for players and for the people running tournaments. What needs to be changed and what are the gems I should keep?

Thanks in advance!

[bahh]

In my opinion you need to change the following things:

-Dont use those shades of yellow and blue that you are using. They dont look that good together in the logo or the header.

-Make the site look a bit more exciting. Now it looks pretty boring. Add some pictures etc etc. You really cant see the site is about poker at the first glance.

-Its hard to start up a forum from scratch. There are a few old threads about this here at PAW. Maybe you should reconsider having it up.

-To have your URL in the title-tag is useless. Get some SEO pointers from the free SEO book that you can download from http://www.pokeraffiliateworld.com/F...+EBook.cms.htm

[minga]

Originally Posted by bahh

In my opinion you need to change the following things:

-Dont use those shades of yellow and blue that you are using. They dont look that good together in the logo or the header.

-Make the site look a bit more exciting. Now it looks pretty boring. Add some pictures etc etc. You really cant see the site is about poker at the first glance.

-Its hard to start up a forum from scratch. There are a few old threads about this here at PAW. Maybe you should reconsider having it up.

-To have your URL in the title-tag is useless. Get some SEO pointers from the free SEO book that you can download from http://www.pokeraffiliateworld.com/F...+EBook.cms.htm

I think you really hit the main stuff! The site could really use some more graphics to add interest and zing. I've been working so hard getting the template, css and content together that I completely overlooked some eye-catching poker graphics!

You're breaking my maize and blue heart with the color comments! I'm a HUGE University of Michigan Football fan (and alumni!). I don't know if I can bring myself to change the logo colors. Your constructive criticism is noted and appreciated though!

The SEO book from PAW is great and highly recommended! I haven't had a chance to implement a lot of the tips from the book - though it's high on my to-do list. My SEO work starts on Monday after I mail out my newsletter. I'll check back when I get my html tags in order and some more link exchanges done. I'm working hard to go from a PR1 to PR2

...and the forums...right now they're really lame. Other than paying some posters to get things started, I'm not sure what to do to get them going and keep them going. Here are some ideas I've had - any comments on what works and what doesn't?
- some sort of giveaway for funniest post (UMP Logo t-shirt or baseball cap)
- hosting a weekly or every other week online tournament (5 posts per week to participate in the tourney)
- forum post trades with PAW members (I have another thread on this in the affiliate exchange)
- pay for postings
- trade backlinks for forum posts

Thanks for all the great feedback! I'll check back in a few days with changes to the site!

[SunPoker.com]

It looks like the main goal of your site is for users to find local charity poker tournaments. it's not exactly clear where or how to find them on your site. Have a nice big link or button somewhere that says "find now" or something similar. I had to read a bit on your site to find out exactly what you are trying to have the user do.

Make things easy for a first time visitor. Remember, you've been looking at the site for a long time. A first time visitor is going to take 3 seconds and decide if they want to stay. Let them know immediately what they'll find there.

Best of luck.

Mark

[fastpony]

GO BUCKS!

Otherwise what S.P. said

[minga]

Bahh - I took another look at my site - you're right about the logo & blues/yellow/whites in the graphic. The Navy blue and "blue" blue really clash, and the white is bleeding through around the cards - looks kinda - well - icky... (that's the technical term - right?)

I got my newsletter out last week - so now I've got some time to tweak and work on the overall look of the site - and get some seo going. I'll check back to see what you think of the changes.

SP- great advice about getting to the point right away. Over half of my visiters are repeats, but new eyes don't know what they're looking at right away. I've got to get that across better.

fastpony- nothing better than a great rivalry! Go BLUE!!!

[GCPguy]

Cool site minga! I am getting errors when trying to search for tournaments though.

Warning: odbc_connect(): SQL error: Driver]Cannot establish a network connection to the AR System server, SQL state S00 in SQLConnect in C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\htdocs\umichpoker\localpoker\get_tou rneys.php on line 76


I'm also trying to get started doing charity poker tournaments in our area.

Just wondering, did you have do anything with the gaming commission in Michigan?

Good luck!

[minga]

My database server was down yesterday. It's fixed now and should be up and running fine. Thanks for the heads-up.

I do work with the state gaming commission. I go to regular rules meetings and have met and/or worked with all of the gaming commission members. They're good people to have on your side