First Impressions:
I will compliment you on how easy of a time I had browsing your site. That has always been one of my biggest pet peeves....I can't stand browsing through a site (doesn't matter if it's a forum, blog or a website) and not being able to easily find what I am looking for. I can't tell you how many times I've left a site because I couldn't find what I wanted or navigating the site was just way too difficult. Other than that, I won't go into a lot of detail here because a lot of my thoughts on my first impression of your site is included in other parts of this review and I don't want to sound like a broken record.
Average
Design Quality:
I like the clean, simple look of the site. Everything is easy to read and it's easy on the eyes. The blue looks good against the white background. Something that I'm not liking is that once you get past "Welcome" and the "About Me", the whole right side of the site looks empty. There needs to be something that should fill in that space. While browsing your site, I didn't notice any spelling or grammar mistakes. That is a good thing as it can have an impact on how people view your site. People are more likely to view your site as unprofessional if there are spelling/grammar mistakes all over the place.
Average
Site Structure:
I like having the navigation bar at the very top of the site. Most other places have it located elsewhere, usually under the main header/banner of the site. I like how you have an "About Me" added to your site and the fact that I didn't have to spend a lot of time wondering around your site trying to locate it. Most sites that I've viewed that have that, they normally have it at the very bottom if it's even on the index page at all. The only thing I would change about the "About Me" is the text. I would replace the text with something else that actually
describes your site in greater detail rather than just simply stating when your site opened and that you are the owner. Including details about the owner of the site and when a site opened isn't necessarily a bad thing but you want the "About Me" do tell guests what your site does and what it is capable of doing for them. You basically want to use that to show off your site to guests that are viewing it, especially for the first time.
Average
Originality:
Your site is the first time I've come anything of the like. I like the idea of there being a directory for different forums, blogs, websites, etc. It would probably be difficult to try to stand out from the crowd when your specific niche` isn't all that crowded to begin with. However, you want to go ahead and get a head start anyway. If there is some chance that there is something similar out there, or if similar sites starts popping up anyway, it might not hurt to offer something different to help your site "stand out" from the crowd. You can probably offer some type of incentive to guests who submit a site to your directory. I'm not sure what you would be able to offer but it could be something simple.
Excellent
Business Sensibility:
This is the toughest part of the review. I know that adding a site to the directory is free and browsing the directory is free. Maybe there can be ways to earn money at some point in the future. The empty space that I mentioned earlier, you could probably add some spots there where the individuals who have added their site to your directory can have a banner advertising their site on the main index page (instead of having to search through all the directory to find what they are looking for) and you could charge a small fee to do so. It's just a thought on what you can do to earn a profit on your site and also fill in those empty spaces that I had mentioned (it would be killing two birds with one stone as the old saying goes). Until you come up with a way for your site to earn money, I would work on the SEO aspect of your site. Get it out there and advertise the daylights out of it. The more that it makes the rounds on the internet, the more that people will view it and check out all the sites that have been added to the directory (or even add their own site to the directory).
Poor
The thing I liked the best: Easy to navigate the site and everything is easy to read.
The thing I liked the least: Empty space and a clearer "About Me".
Overall Mark:
Overall, I was impressed with your site. I can see it being a site that is beneficial to a lot of people and I see it having a bright future as long as you are willing to continue with the work that it requires. There are just a few minor changes that I think would improve the site as a whole. I wish you and your site the best of luck in the future!
