Your Forum Review
First Impressions & Appearance - (Out of 20)
I usually hate the appearance of vBulletin forums, however, yours was fine. The colors blended well, and all your text was easy to read. One bone I always have to pick, though, is the fact your skin is fixed-width. I use a large monitor, so I’m seeing a lot of background, and not a lot of forum. Naturally, that’s not very exciting considering the bland gray background. I really like the blue gradients you use in your images. It’s not very intense, and they give a very relaxing feel. Overall, it’s quite nice, but the fixed width combined with a bland background isn’t doing it for me.
(Scored 17/20)
Site Layout - (Out of 20)
It seems a bit odd to me you smash announcements, feedback, and support all in one forum, and at the bottom of your index of all places. Considering your forum is a business forum, I do believe having them at the bottom is fine. However, I strongly believe announcements should have their own board, so that users can see and read them easily. Another thing I didn’t like was topic view while in a forum. You’ve got this massive, red, underlined, “Register Now - Click Here - $20,000 in Prizes!
Business Advice Forum - Free business advice & support for your small business, home based business or website.” message. However, the important description under it is completely overshadowed by that. I think that Register Now box should only go on the index. One last thing that bugged me was this text: “What's Going On @ Business Advice Forum?” Using the @ sign, when there’s more than enough room for the word “at”, seems silly to me. It’s not correct usage, and just looks strange.
Not all is bad, of course. I did like the way your forums were organized. Everything fit into your well thought out categories, and the forums were described and titled vividly. The placement of this particular image impressed me,
because it was in a place everybody would see, but took up unused whitespace, not create more. Also, the “Top 12 Stats” box was really neat. Also, having a Haiti help link really shows your forum cares, and the spirit of it.
(Scored 15/20)
Statistics and Activity - (Out of 20)
Obviously, a business forum is not something everyone can relate to or post about. However, your forum nearly has 40,000 posts, which is awesome. You’ve done very well in your 2 or so years of being in business, and considering your average for posts breaks the 1,000/month threshold, I cannot complain at all. I’m not sure what vB constitutes an “active member” as, but if you really do have 500+ active members, that is excellent. There’s nothing to complain or suggest here, keep up the good work.
(Scored 20/20)
Staff Moderation - (Out of 20)
Your staff page (
http://www.businessadviceforum.com/showgroups.php) had me confused a bit. First, it has two groups listed as just “Moderators.” A then realized one was for single-board mods. I think it would be good if you labeled that “Non-Global Moderators” to make it clearer. Second, the difference between the second Moderator group and a Super Moderator was not clear. That’s one thing I didn’t like – it doesn’t look like any of your groups are explained at all on the page. Regarding your staff themselves, they’re doing fine. Every staff member seemed to be respectful and helpful. Your entire community did, in fact. One sign that you have good posts and staff is that when reviewing, I found myself get so interested in a thread, I would stop typing this, and read the posts. No lie, your information is great.
(Scored 18/20)
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism - (Out of 20)
One thing that bugged me was the massive amount of ampersands you used. That typically shouldn’t be done in normal writing like that. For example, “Planning, starting & managing your business. Ask business questions on property, finance, accounting, HR, legal issues, business planning & new business ideas.” would look better as, “Planning, starting, and managing your business. Ask business questions on property, finance, accounting, HR, legal issues, business planning, and new business ideas.”
The text “search engine optimisation.” should read, “search engine optimization.”
“Post your questions, feedback & suggestions for Business Advice Forum. Admin Announcements.” doesn’t have correct usage. It should read something like, “Post your questions, feedback, and suggestions for Business Advice Forum. Admin announcements are posted here.”
Those were the only descriptions I noticed that needed fixing. In your forums themselves, your grammar and spelling and professionalism was typically fine.
(Scored 17/20)
Total Score - 87 (Out of 100)
Final Remarks: You run a very professional forum, with only a few minor errors.
What was most liked about the website/forums: Activity.
What was disliked most about the website/forums: Some layout elements.
How could I get you (The Reviewer) to join my website? Nothing would stop me.
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