First Impressions:
My overall impression of your forum was a pretty decent one. There were a lot of things I liked about your forum but there are a few things I thought that could be improved. I like the clean, neat look of your forum, however, I will go more into detail about this as you continue to read through this review so I won't dwell too much on it here.
Average
Design Quality:
I know you've mentioned that you will be changing the computer icons for each section of the forum. I like the idea of having an icon for each section but I am glad that you are changing the icons from what you have now. I, personally, would like to see a different icon for each section. Something that will be unique to each section of the forum. So I'm glad that you are already taking the initiative and replacing those icons.
The "theme" in general that you are using seems very clean and neat. Everything seems to be easy to find, which is one of my biggest pet peeved. Nothing will drive me from a site faster than not being able to find what I am looking for when I'm browsing a site. But I'm not having that problem with your forum. The only thing I can mention is possible adding a darker theme in addition to your lighter theme that you are currently using. There is a big debate on which theme is better....a lighter theme versus a darker theme. You might want to consider adding a darker theme to please some other people who might not be too fond of a lighter theme.
Good
Site Structure:
I see that you have your forum broken up into 5 different sections with at least 4 to 7 different categories in each section. While you have descriptions for each individual area on your forum, some of them seem to be a little bit generic. I would change up the descriptions a little bit to stand out more but at the same time, still be informative to people who are viewing your forum. You can also use the descriptions to help draw people in and make them want to participate on your forum, especially if you have guests viewing your forum for the first time. I would say that you have about 90 seconds or less to impress people enough to join and you want to give people as must as possible to entice them.
Average
Originality:
This is usually the hardest part for most people, especially in the niche` you're currently in. When you have a forum in the "promotion" or "webmaster" area, it's hard to stand out from the crowd with so many forums in that niche`. Standing out from the crowd is something that is important when you have a forum, even if you have a forum that isn't that common. The reason being is that it will only be a matter of time before you'll find other communities with a similar niche` after you've started yours. You have to do something that will help you stick out. I know you have different ways of advertising on your forum like "footer advertising" and "sidebar advertising" but I think you'll have to do more. There are plenty of communities that something similar. You might have something where you can let people advertise their site at the top of your forum (you might could move the title over just a little bit and allow someone to post an image there at the top) but you could turn it into something fun. Have a monthly contest and the winner can advertise their site there at the top for the next month. But this will take some brainstorming on your part and your staff to think of some ways to help Forum Support stand out from other communities with a similar niche`.
Poor
Activity Level:
While the activity level isn't bad, it could still use a little help. There are some sections that have some recent discussions that are only a few minutes old and those areas are fine. There are some areas that don't have any discussions in them. It is important that you don't let those areas sit there empty, especially for a long time. Having areas that are empty or where someone hasn't posted in in a long time, this can be a turn off to some people and cause people to not want to join in. Also, I noticed that you have a widget on the right side of your forum that shows the activity level on your forum. This can be helpful in showing others how much activity on your forum, however, if you don't have enough posts on your forum then this won't help you much. You don't have to be a machine and post hundreds of posts a day on your forum but it would look better if you along with any staff members would help make some posts on the forum. This will give your forum a more welcoming feeling if you provide more content for the community to discuss. To help you out, you can request a package from the
Package Team here at Forum Promotion. If you are limited on FP $, you can just visit the post exchange section here on Forum Promotion and do post exchanges with other members here.
Average
The thing I liked the best: I like the neat, clean look on your forum.
The thing I liked the least: I would like to see your community stand out from the crowd.
Overall Mark:
I really do like your forum. You have a lot of areas of discussion on your forum and there can be many benefits to your members. I think your forum will go far as long as you are willing to put for the work to make that come true. I wish you and your forum all the best in the future.
