Advanced Review of (AgarioHQ.net)
Review by (Teg)
First Impressions: (2 out of 10)
When I first view your website, I am slightly lost. As I read through the main page, I find out that the site is about an action game. However, there are no screenshots of gameplay or anything else on the main page that indicates that the website is about a game. It is just text based, and that is extremely dull. There is nothing to show off the game or its potential anywhere on the main page. So, upon my first impressions, I am extremely disappointed.
Number of Blog Posts & Activity: (9 out of 10)
Your website seems as though it is relatively new. That said, I think you are doing an excellent job creating content and articles for the site. Typically, one to four articles are posted every two to four days. Honestly, I am impressed.
However, I recommend that you cut the amount of articles you post down to about two (maximum) per day. Doing so will ensure that you do not get overwhelmed with your site. It will also prevent you from getting bored and will ensure that you can create content for your site more regularly. This suggestion comes from both personal experience as well as suggestions made to me by popular bloggers over many years.
All of that said, it does not mean you cannot write as many articles as you want; when you want to. I mean only to publish a maximum of two articles each time you post and stick to a schedule. So, if you post articles every two or four days, only publish two articles each time. Schedule any other articles for another day. Doing so will help ensure that you have articles on the back-burner so if you hit a spout of writer's block, or you run out of guides and information, you'll still have articles to publish.
Activity wise, I think your site is doing okay. As I said, you are doing great with publishing articles and content for your visitors to read. I also believe you have a decent amount of views on your articles from visitors--given that your site is so new. I do not see a whole lot of comments from your visitors, in any case. That is something you could improve on. I think you should find ways to target your audience and let them know that you've got a website that benefit them. Then, get them to ask questions. Doing so will result in having more ideas for articles about the game, gameplay, strategy guides, and more.
Website Usability: (10 out of 10)
Any website, forum, or blog should be easy to use, especially on the main page. I find this to be true for AgarioHQ.net. At first, I had an issue because my browser window had about an inch of room to the left and it needed to stretch to a full-screen size. The main menu navigation had switched to mobile mode, and I did not realize there was an actual navigation bar. I wrote an entire bit about how important it was to include the main menu navigation for desktop and laptop versions of the website. That said, I'll discuss this bit more when I talk about design.
I find your website to be easily usable and easy to navigate. I have no suggestions for improvement here.
Site Structure: (14 out of 20)
The site structure of AgarioHQ.net is sound. Having most things centrally located on the main page is both a plus and an aggravation. I'll explain what I mean shortly. The site header and top navigation are in the appropriate places. That said, the navigation needs some major work.
We "know" that the site is about Agario.io, an action game. We do NOT need to see Agario.io in every navigation menu item or article heading. It is extremely redundant, and there is no need to repeat it over and over again. Anyone who is serious about the game; anyone who visits your site for tips, information, etc., knows that each menu item and article is related to Agario.io unless the article or link states otherwise. You made the purpose of the website clear and talked about what Agario.io is on the main page of the site. There's absolutely no need, whatsoever, to repeat it over and over again.
Another issue I have with redundancy is the Latest Articles/Recent Articles sections on the page. I think you need to choose to place it either in the sidebar or the footer but not in both. Like the Agario.io bits in the navigation and article titles, the Recent Articles section is redundant. Having it in the footer makes it site-wide. Granted, having it in the sidebar can make it site-wide too; depending on your settings. You need to decide where to keep it so that it is not repeating. Redundancy seems to be a major issue with your site.
Aside from those two specific things, I do not have any other issues with your site's structure.
Design Quality: (12 out of 20)
Design wise, I am extremely bored with your site. Nothing about it stands out to me. There are no screenshots of the game, or anything else for that matter, that show us what the game is. At least, I do not see anything like that on the main page. The main page is the first page your visitors see when they reach your website. It is disappointing to see a bunch of text with no images that "show off" the game. The only way for users to be certain they are in the right place is for them to navigate through your site to articles; where some of them include images related to the game. As a visitor myself, I'd never use this site because nothing is "attracting" me to it.
Adding on to that, the overall design of the site is decent. The colors are easy on the eyes and blend well together. The text and fonts are easy to read. That said, I think you need to work on something creative for the site logo/header as its dull and boring. It is plain text on top of plain text all over the site. That is boring and unattractive. Do something fun for the logo/header text, add some color, a cool font, or something that makes it less "plain."
I also notice, on my Macbook in Chrome, that there is a large about of whitespace between the end of the sidebar and the footer of the website. I am not sure if this is intentional or not, but it is not very professional. It slightly annoys me to have to keep scrolling, to the bottom, just to get to the footer. That issue, however, may just be my computer.
Another thing I noticed is that the site seems a bit too responsive. Again, on my computer I had Chrom open with about an inch of room on the left side of the browser. Meaning that my browser was not full width, but it was hardly a tablet or mobile width, and the navigation menu was the "three little bar" thing in the top, left-hand corner of the header. I did not realize it was my browser size that had affected that until I was more than half-way through the review. I think you need to set the sizes a bit larger and different, so it does not scale so much in desktop mode. There was no reason that the menu should have been like that with my browser window the size that it was. Your website is the only website I've ever encountered that has done this.
Originality: (15 out of 15)
Originality wise, I think you are doing great. I've never heard of Agario.io and I think you're on the right track of creating a guide for a game like this. Honestly, I don't see very many users advertising or asking for opinions on game guide-like sites. You, my friend, may actually start a trend. I can actually see that happening. Kudos.
Spelling, Grammar & Professionalism: (3 out of 15)
On the main page alone, I caught many grammatical errors some of which are major. Any blog or website, even forums that include content related to games, guides, and the likes should be grammatically correct all of the time. Ensuring that articles are free of errors in both spelling and grammar will ensure that your visitors know that you are trying to be as professional as possible and will let your visitors know that you are passionate about the subject of your site.
For the sake of showing you what I mean, I am going to use the first section from your main page as an example:
Agar.io is an is a massively multiplayer action game created by Matheus Valadares. Agar.io was officially released on the 28th of April, 2015 for browsers and Miniclip developed the mobile applications on the 8th of July 2015. In Agar.io Players control a circular cell on a map with the main goal of consuming smaller cells whilst avoiding being consumed by bigger cells (other players) to gain mass, mass is the size of your cell and determines your progress in the game. To gain mass, players must either consume Pellets or other players whom are smaller than them. Using your mouse and keyboard, you may move your cell around the map as freely as you like, consuming these Pellets and also other players in the process, alliteratively if you’re playing Agar.io on your Agar.io Mobile App you can use the controls provided, or your fingers. You can Play Agar.io for free today from your browser or find out How to Play Agar.io now.
The first underlined portion, in red, is written in the "passive voice". In any written portion of a website that gives information into the website itself or the product that it represents, you should avoid using a passive voice. I suggest an "active voice" when writing articles or main contents for your website. With the active voice, the subject performs the action. This style of writing can provide more clarity, brevity, responsibility, or certainty than using a passive voice. Try rewording the sentence to read as:
Agar.io officially released on the 28th of April, 2015 for browsers and Miniclip developed the mobile applications on the 8th of July 2015.
With my edit, you are using the "active voice," and it sounds much better.
Moving on. The second underlined portion is the misuse of the word whilst. Whilst is considered an archaic word. Archaic words are typically in use when writing historical fiction or for humor to indicate a person out of touch with the modern world. For this particular bit of information, I doubt that you are trying to write a historical fiction or that you are attempting to be humorous. Use "while" in place of "whilst."
The next underlined portion, "being consumed" has two errors. For starters, it is written in the "passive voice," which we've already discussed. The second issue is that the word, consume, (or the variation of the word) is repeating in the same sentence. It is important to make sure you do not use the same words multiple times in the same sentence. You should not use identical words in any one paragraph unless there is no better word choice. Be creative with your word usage.
The underlined word(s), mass, are repetitive. There is no need to use the word mass three times back to back. Additionally, where the comma is between mass 1 and mass 2, there should be a period, and Mass 2 should start a new sentence.
Many people, including myself, get confused about the words "who" and "whom." The subject pronoun "who" is used as the subject of a sentence, the subject of a clause, or a subject complement. The object pronoun "whom" is used as a direct object, an indirect object, or the object of a preposition. In the instance in your passage, you should use "who."
The next underlined part of the passage, "alliteratively" I believe was suppose to read: "alternatively." Additionally, that section should start a sentence of its own to avoid run-on sentences.
You are. While "you're" is written correctly and used properly, it is suggested that any technical or professional writing include the actual words "you" and "are;" as opposed to "you're." While it is not an error, it is professional to use the real words for this type of writing and website.
There should not be a comma after "provided."
Now, something else I noticed is that you like to mix and match writing styles. Sometimes you write in past tense, sometimes in the present. Sometimes you write in the third person and sometimes you right in the first person. It is confusing and very unprofessional. You should be consistent throughout. Here is a full suggested edit of the first passage on your main page:
Agar.io is an is a massively multiplayer action game created by Matheus Valadares. Agar.io officially released on the 28th of April, 2015 for browsers and Miniclip developed the mobile applications on the 8th of July 2015. In Agar.io, players control a circular cell on a map with the main goal of consuming smaller cells while avoiding absorption by bigger cells (other players) to gain mass. Mass is the size of your cell and determines your progress in the game. To increase in size, players must either consume Pellets or other players who are smaller than them. By utilizing a mouse and keyboard, gamers may move their cell around the map as freely as they would like, consuming Pellets and also other players in the process. Alternatively, if a user is playing on the Agar.io Mobile App, they can use the controls provided or their fingers. Agar.io is free to play from a browser or the mobile application. Click here to find out How to Play Agar.io, now.
Be sure to read through my full edit and take notice of key things that I changed. I promise you, it will help you out in the long run.
Thing you liked best about the website/blog: It has a nice, simple and sleek design that is easy on the eyes.
Thing you liked least about website/blog: It has a nice, simple and sleek design that is easy on the eyes. There is no indication on the main page, other than text; that shows us that the site is about a game.
Overall Mark: (65 out of 100)
Honestly, I feel like your website has potential. Truly, I am almost positive you will start a trend with doing game strategy guides and websites of the like. You should be proud of that. Take my advice to heart and apply some of my suggestions as you see fit. This review is not meant to be harsh or to bash you in any way. It is intended to help you, and that is all I am trying to do here.
