Name of Site: ForumConnect Site Genre: Advertising/Promotion Site URL:http://www.forumconnect.net/ Type of Review (Full/Quick/Questionnaire): Quick Opening Date: Mid-January 2014 Additional Notes: Thanks! 🙂
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Thank you for using the Forum Promotion Review Service, Review Team
I deeply apologize for the absence of your review. I will be taking this from Jimmy, and you will have it sometime tonight (within 18 hours). I thank you for your patience, and once again sincerely apologize.
Theme
One of the first things I noticed, aside from the resemblance to Forum Promotion, about Forum Connect was the style. Forum Connect boasts a simple, but smooth and elegant style that is easy on the eyes. There are a few parts of the style where the text is minorly distorted and a bit icky, but that is not a big deal.
While we are here, why don't we talk about the sidebar? The sidebar on Forum Connect serves little to no purpose. It shows some statistics, but there is no utility surrounding the idea of the sidebar. Perhaps it would make good ad space, or a "recent threads" section could spice it up. Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of sidebars at all, but it doesn't seem to impede on Forum Connect's index too severely.
Weaknesses:
Oddly Familiar
So here is the deal: most promotion forums seem to share some of the same characteristics across the board. Many boast the same services, some even use similar forums, but I have never seen a forum display themselves so similar to Forum Promotion as Forum Connect. I mean, I want to post a comparative picture, but I don't have to put them side-by-side to see the overwhelming similarity. I'm trying to be calm and polite here, but creating a forum so similar to Forum Promotion that the top links and front page look almost the exact same is pretty outrageous.
Why is this such a big deal? A website is an extension of its creators. It could be considered an art, if I were being deep and philosophical. To steal, which is pretty much what Forum Connect has done here, the art of one forum and mimic it on another not only shows that your website has nothing special about it, but is also rather offensive. My suggestion is rather simple: Forum Connect needs to establish their own identity separate from that of Forum Promotion.
Lack of Staff
As a promotion forum, Forum Connect offers services for other webmasters to improve their websites. These services are run by the volunteer staff employed by the site itself. One of the most difficult aspects of running a forum such as this is finding volunteer staff to fulfil these positions. Forum Connect has the problem that plagues every other forum of it's kind: they don't have enough staff to provide services at a decent capacity. They are missing staff such as a Package Team Member, and a whole Review Team. If a service is offered, it would be useful to also provide the staff necessary to carryout said service.
Final Remarks:
Unfortunately, Forum Connect falls into that "another promotion website" category. While it's not the end of the world, I would definitely suggest starting to make a name for yourself that is not similar to another site of the same kind. Show the world how you are different, and I guarantee, people will come!
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