Thread: shermanhillsliving.com

will take out lottery numbers/games and replaced with Advertisers or sponsors or main attractions or local events or Wine Events or things to do

Nice site...original and not like those boring regular templates I have seen.

Simplicity is the best

KISS

Hi Chris,

I'm going to offer some constructive criticism. Please don't take my points negatively; I'm offering them as a helpful reply to your request.

What is the purpose of this site?
Is the goal to get your name out in your community by offering a service that will be useful to Internet users?

You have designed a portal site. It is currently ineffective.
This is perhaps my largest concern. It looks like you've put a lot of thought into it but I suspect that your lack of web and user interface design training / experience is significantly hindering the site.

Content is king on the Internet. You need more.
You have formed a few interesting tidbits of information on the site, but mostly, it is a link-list. Folks will utilize small link-lists if they are very targeted but for the most part, link-lists are not effective on portal sites.

Partnerships are key to portal sites.
You need to form real (person-to-person) partnerships with local businesses and community groups for this to succeed. Not only will these partnerships go a long way to get your name out there, it will add significant value to the site for visitors. Simple things like free advertising for local partners, discount coupons for events, a calendaring system alerting people to group meetings, etc, etc.

There is no real reason for anyone to visit your site.
Why would someone visit your site over google, the yellow pages, or any of the other hundred websites that are competing for these exact same local visitors? This is a tough question, but you need to differentiate your page from others.

The design is stuck in the 90's.
You did this and I applaud you for it. But if you want people to take this seriously and convey a your professional brand, you need professional help. I'm not saying a complicated $5,000 design by a top firm, but hiring a professional web developer (maybe local) to create a single template page for you is the way to go. You can use this template page for ALL of the content on the site and if it's a good design firm, they'll even make it easy to add / change / remove content with a free CMS (content management system).


Again, please don't get discouraged by my points. There is a real value in what you're doing. I think that if you continue on the path that you're on and maybe think a little bigger than you'll have a truly useful product not only for the community but for your own market penetration.

AgentRFev...please show us examples of the good websites.


thanks

Originally Posted by AgentRevenue Rob

Hi Chris,

I'm going to offer some constructive criticism. Please don't take my points negatively; I'm offering them as a helpful reply to your request.

What is the purpose of this site?
Is the goal to get your name out in your community by offering a service that will be useful to Internet users?

You have designed a portal site. It is currently ineffective.
This is perhaps my largest concern. It looks like you've put a lot of thought into it but I suspect that your lack of web and user interface design training / experience is significantly hindering the site.

Content is king on the Internet. You need more.
You have formed a few interesting tidbits of information on the site, but mostly, it is a link-list. Folks will utilize small link-lists if they are very targeted but for the most part, link-lists are not effective on portal sites.

Partnerships are key to portal sites.
You need to form real (person-to-person) partnerships with local businesses and community groups for this to succeed. Not only will these partnerships go a long way to get your name out there, it will add significant value to the site for visitors. Simple things like free advertising for local partners, discount coupons for events, a calendaring system alerting people to group meetings, etc, etc.

There is no real reason for anyone to visit your site.
Why would someone visit your site over google, the yellow pages, or any of the other hundred websites that are competing for these exact same local visitors? This is a tough question, but you need to differentiate your page from others.

The design is stuck in the 90's.
You did this and I applaud you for it. But if you want people to take this seriously and convey a your professional brand, you need professional help. I'm not saying a complicated $5,000 design by a top firm, but hiring a professional web developer (maybe local) to create a single template page for you is the way to go. You can use this template page for ALL of the content on the site and if it's a good design firm, they'll even make it easy to add / change / remove content with a free CMS (content management system).


Again, please don't get discouraged by my points. There is a real value in what you're doing. I think that if you continue on the path that you're on and maybe think a little bigger than you'll have a truly useful product not only for the community but for your own market penetration.

Originally Posted by housetubetv

AgentRFev...please show us examples of the good websites.

Examples are difficult because you really have to know your audience.

You can find a ton of community portal sites online and even some companies that specialize in creating portal sites for different verticals. Here is an article on portal websites: (url removed because of 15 post limit - search wikipedia for "web portal")

A good portal site is tailored (almost exactly) to the people who you want as users.

It is easy for new portal creators to say that their portal should be tailored to "everyone" but creating a portal site that is attractive to everyone should be built in steps. Start by assembling content for one group of people (lets say artsy folks), then move on to the next group, and so on. No one, not even large companies can build a comprehensive portal without this process.

I prefer outside the box thinking....

No one website fits everybody.

Originally Posted by housetubetv

I prefer outside the box thinking....

Exactly. To do a community portal right you really need to think creativley and know who you're creating the site for.

Thanks for the feedback.

I am self trained on web design and I have progressed over the years.

I will be adding a calendar page, coupon page, sponsor page and a blog or newsletter that someone in the community will be writing for me. More useful content is the goal, but I need to get them to see me on the site and generate real estate business for me.

I know there are a few bugs and a goal was to keep it simple and functional.

Anyone with any ideas on good content to add, please let me know.

Again, thanks for taking you time to look over the site and let me know what you think.

(AgentRevenue Rob thanks for being direct and to the point.)

Originally Posted by soldbychris

I will be adding a calendar page, coupon page, sponsor page and a blog or newsletter that someone in the community will be writing for me. (AgentRevenue Rob thanks for being direct and to the point.)

My biggest piece of advice really is to have content written (or write content) for people. Don't take a "if you build it they will come" approach. Really get out there to find something that is useful and use your resources to produce that.

When I started my first portal page, I had a bunch of general stuff on there but the only feature that people used was the free calendaring system. I made it for the local church but then other groups quickly wanted in on the action. Same thing with sections / articles - each one should have a purpose and be written for a specific person in your community.

This form of advertising / lead generation works. But it only works if your content is truly useful for the community. Reviewing your content again, you're on a path of general wish-wash content that no one will use.

I will be tracking the page visits and I will know when I find something that works and when something does not. You have been very helpful in giving me ideas on the main path to follow.

Thanks for the feedback.