Promotion Box
Review by PoH
First Impressions
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Upon my first visit to Promotion Box, I'm quite impressed with what I see. The theme of the forum looks good and clear with no bugs or glitches that I could find. However, your logo looks quite confusing. It reads almost "Promotion Boh" which makes absolutely no sense. I recommend that you replace your current logo with some a little bit better, something that says "Promotion Box" a little bit better. It's very important to have a logo that clearly represents your forum community because, the forum logo is the first thing a guest will see upon entering your site. Whenever there is any sort of confusion with your first impressions in your logo, it can create confusion to which site a visitor is on.
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Poor
Design Quality
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As I said above, your logo needs to be changed up a little to be more clear. However, your theme is very well put together and looks good for a forum in your genre. While your theme looks good, it isn't a "draw me in" type theme. You need to help give your visitors a better impression of your forum. The best way to do this is to make a theme that people love to look at. Obviously, if people want to look at your theme, they'll want to look at your forum, and if people want to look at your forum, your chances are far better of turning lurkers into returning members.
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Average
Site Statistics
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I will fully comply with your request not to ramble about your Statistics in this category right now, because your forum is undergoing a revamp. Your posts per day isn't very bad especially considering you're revamping the forum. The biggest issue you have here is threads. Most of your threads are from years ago. Very few of your discussion threads are even from this year. You need to start small. Try having you and your staff members make one thread per day. If you make one thread per day, even with just two staff members, that will still mean you have over seven hundred threads per year. Seven hundred threads per year is a whole lot of discussion that can take place.
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Poor
Originality
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Originality is probably the hardest thing to accomplish in the promotion genre. People do not want something that they can get somewhere else, they want a promotion service that is unique. Promotion Box unfortunately fits the mold of a regular promotion forum. It has some basic uniqueness to it with "Bubble Ads" and "Table Ads." While both of these services are offered at very many promotion forums, it's still a good start towards having good originality. Unfortunately though, Promotion Box will need more than just a start. Promotion Box needs a service that no one else will provide to their users. If Promotion Box can find such a service, they'll have something true to stand out from the rest of the forums in the promotion genre. I have absolutely no idea what this service should be, but try as many things as you can. It never hurts if the worst thing that happens is a idea doesn't take off.
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Poor
Site Structure
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When I scroll to the bottom of Promotion Box, I see a service called "Bubble Ads." Right now, all the service spades are not full. You've done a good job substituting the "Your Ad Here" banner. However, when I click on the button, it takes me to a dead page. You should set it up so that the "Your Ad Here" can take me to a guidelines page or the service forum. Doing this will help your service get more requests, because the service will be linked in more places around your forum.
You have a few unneeded boards right now. The "Promotion Box Loves" category looks like it's out of place right now, and there isn't a better place to put it right now. A better prize right now would be some free services. There really doesn't look like much promotional gain with just the forum sitting there. A rotating ad in the header would do a lot better to help someone promote, and it would help decrease the current clutter and unneeded boards on your index.
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Average
Spelling & Professionalism
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The entire description for "Passport Control" sounds a bit odd. It reads "Promotion Box loves new people...like really
love new people. Tell us a bit about yourself and I'm sure you will fit straight in." the entire last sentence sounds really awkward. You need to change it to sound more exciting and welcoming. Something more like "Promotion Box loves new people, really, we do love new people! Tell us a bit about yourself and I'm sure you will fit right in with the community." saying something more like that would sound a lot better.
Sometimes while listing things in the guidelines, you use a slash mark instead of a comma. For example "edit/lock/delete" should be "edit, lock or delete." In grammatically correct English. This is not a huge thing that's unreadable, it's a pretty minor thing. The grammar in most everything is very good. This shows that you've taken your time to write proper guidelines to Promotion Box.
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Average
Final Remarks
I've greatly enjoyed writing this review for Promotion Box. Promotion Box needs a more clear logo, some more uniqueness, and some more fresh activity to help with the revival. As long as you can fix these things, and you stick with Promotion Box, you'll find the success you're looking for. Good luck!
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