Scoring:
First Impressions & Appearance – (16 out of 20)
I'll just start off in saying: you have a nice looking site on your hands. Your theme is very sleek and straight, avoiding too many curves that could throw off the stiffness. The colors flow very well, and minor hue changes mark different areas of the blog. All images seem custom to the blog; the whole theme seems custom, but then again, I don't see many blogs.
One thing I wanted to mention was just the white. I have mixed feelings about white as a major color in many schemes. Mostly due to the fact that it hurts my eyes to look at for too long. I'm getting that vibe a little from your blog, but not as much as I thought when I first saw it. The colors you have kind of balance out the white and 'dulls' some of the brightness that whites usually give off. This is good because if you have users that want to browse for a longer period of time, their eyes won't hurt as fast. I say all of this from a personal standpoint, so everyone may not have the same effect of white.
One very minute detail that I noticed was at the very bottom of the page: there seems to be a huge gap of nothing but two social media icons which you already provided at the top of the page. If you were to cut down on some articles per page, you could move the bottom of your page closer to the top and sell out some advertising space?
Much of your appearance I will get to in Site Layout, but in general, your appearance is slick and clean. The white major color doesn't pose as large of a problem as I thought it would, and you use multiple hues of gray to offset and distinguish many aspects of the blog. Your appearance is very professional with only a few minor flaws that do not impair the user's use. Therefore, I am awarding you a 16 for a professional appearance that tempts me to join and return to your site. Let's hope your content lives up to your professional appearance!
Site Layout – (14 out of 20)
So the layout of your site is very nice and organized in the general scope, but I have noticed a few flaws with certain aspects of your design... The first comes in with your "Trending Topics" bar. When I first was playing around with Geeks Hut, I was trying to click on the Trending Topics button. It acted exactly like the other buttons on the bar: it would highlight when I moused over and it is designed the exact same. (Image below) You can't really tell the difference so I thought the link was broken. This is a minor flaw that can confuse some users, and not just clueless ones. You can fix this a few ways: you could remove the highlight when scrolled over, or you could add a colon ":" to the end, just to signify a list. Both would be best!
In addition, there is a simple link broken on your page. The "Technology Tips & Tricks" link is broken on your top bar. It doesn't lead to anything, or is even clickable. Not sure if this is an upcoming feature or what not, but it just doesn't work.
Probably the one aspect of your layout that bothers me the most is your Recent Reviews section, as well as the Last Tech Deals section. Both of these areas showcase post that are super old. Like, recent? It's December 8th, and you have blog posts featured from August? This just makes your site seem like you are not active at all. Your Tech Deals have deals featured from November, which is a little more acceptable than the Recent Reviews. Speaking of which, the Recent Reviews section changes throughout the site, as I select different categories. On the home screen, I see "Dubble Review" at the top, but if I go to the "Apple" category, "Dubble Review" doesn't even show on the Recent Reviews... Odd...?
Overall, I touched on a lot of small details that need to be worked out on your layout. To quickly talk about the rest of everything: I like the top menu bar with all of your categories, but I feel like there are too many (I'll get into that). I also enjoy how your logo is small, out of the way, and fits right into the space between your top bar and content below. Both social network links work, awesome! I also think the "Latest Stories" bar you have going on is a nice addition. I have mixed feelings about spreading it blog wide. Something to think about!
I'll be awarding you a 14 for site layout because Geeks Hut is generally well organized and features some nifty features. However, your site still contains a few hiccups (broken link, awkward Recent Reviews) that need to be fixed before completely functional.
Statistics and Activity – (10 out of 20)
Well, I'm going to start this off by saying I am utterly confused. Today's date is December 8th, but your website seems to think it is much earlier. Either there is something wrong with the coding, or the date on your blog has been changed to make material seem newer. Either of which are bad and need your attention pronto!
As you can see, your blog is trying to convince me that this post was written four (4) days ago, on November 16th. That would be okay if today was November 20th, but it's December 8th. Something else odd about this bug: it's only in the category pages. On your home page, everything displays the correct date. I'm not sure what the problem with this is, but it really misleads your viewers. Honestly, I feel a little tricked and deceived, but I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt that it was a mistake.
Secondly, I would like to point out that many of your categories have little to no content in them. For example, Website Hosts, TV's, and"Routers have absolutely no posts in them whatsoever. A general rule of thumb for websites: if you don't have content, don't publish it. It always works out better if you don't even offer the category than a user see the category, want to read articles in it, and find it empty.
In addition to that, a few more of your categories have rather infrequent material that dates back pretty far. I would consider the removal of these categories, or new content soon. These include Google, Mobile & Tablet Games, and Accessories. I feel as if Mobile & Tablet games would merge well into the apps section, since mobile games come as apps...
In conclusion, your activity seems very sporadic across the blog, with some sections heavy with content, others very bare, and other with nothing at all. In addition, your dates are very misleading for viewers. Statistic wise, you have 303 pages with 10 articles each and one additional article, that makes 3,031 total articles spread out over the last few years. Not to bad! I would say that your site was very established, but activity has seemed to wane off. My biggest suggestion is to either write for categories with no content, or get rid of them and focus your efforts more widely.
I am awarding you a 10 for activity. Pros: you have a very established number of articles that stretch back a few years. Cons: you have dead areas across the blog; only a few comments, if any, per post; there are bugs that could render users from returning to your blog.
Content – (11 out of 20)
Your content section seems to run into your site layout review, so this is going to be rather short. First, I want you to question yourself about some categories that you have here. For one, the categories I listed above that don't have much content at all. Then, consider the categories like GTA V. I mean, a whole category for one game? Can that not just get shoved with the other games? I mean, you don't have too much activity in either section, so adding them together can't hurt much at all, right?
Which brings me to my second point: you have so much content space with little content. I see all of these categories with very little content. I guess that's kind of a summary of what I have been saying... Hah, well, I read a few of your posts, and they vary in size and quality. You have some very short posts with decent quality, and some very long posts that have very good quality.
The content you have varies in quality, but is rather infrequent. I would suggest finding a few more writers to help you write, because honestly, I keep telling you that you have spaces without content and there is just too much for you to write alone. If you want your content to become more frequent blog wide, new writers. If not, you may want to reconsider reconstructing your blog to a more "single-author" style.
I'll be awarding you an 11 for content because your content is available, but infrequent. The quality and length of all of your articles vary. You still have a lot of space to fill, so make sure to fill it with good quality articles once you get some writers.
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism – (14 out of 20)
Alright, this section is going to be super specific, so let's get into it! I noticed only a few grammar and professionalism errors, and they were in your staff descriptions. First, yours: you have written, "watching his favorite team Manchester United." In English, this phrase contains two thoughts that are not sentences by themselves, therefore should be divided by a comma. This is just a very minor fluid-cy problem.
The second error of this kind I noticed was when I was reading the staff description of Mr. Casey Grim...
Casey Grim said:
Casey is a 28 year old technology geek from West Virginia USA. He loves to learn about new technology[,] may it be a new computer operating system or a new Android[,] or [;] you can be sure he will want to know about it. He joined Geeks Gut because he has a great interest in technology and is interested in writing about the latest technology. When not online[,] Casey enjoys spending time with family and friends, watching TV or listening to music.
You continuously leave out commas to create thoughts that trail on and on and on without any comma to separate them so they just run together and no one can see where it's supposed to end so.. I tried to make that sound continuous.. I'm not sure if I was successful. Anyway..
Just by seeing these in your staff descriptions, I'm going to assume that they are throughout your posts as well. My suggestion: update yourself on the usage of commas, semicolons, and clauses. Being able to separate your thoughts effectively will really increase the professionalism of your posts.
In conclusion, the professionalism is displayed heavily though your theme. The whole theme whispers professional, but I am a little let down by the sentence structure displayed. I consider that a mild mistake when it comes to grammar because it
can hinder someone from reading your work. Otherwise, everything looks pretty sharp! Therefore, I will be rewarding you a 14, for minimal grammar mistakes and a strong professional appearance.
Total Score - (65 out of 100)
Final Remarks:
Geeks Hut is a very well established forum that lacks the largest in content. Your style is professional, and your appearance is very pleasing. There are minor flaws that could prevent users from using your site, and confuse others. There are also some mistakes in your grammar that take away from your professional appearance. My suggestion: get some writers and start booking out well-written content. This will greatly increase the score of your next review.
Strengths:
- - Your professional appearance
- Well established in past content
Weaknesses:
- - Very sporadic content in most sections of the blog (not consistent in amount posted)
- Mild grammar mistakes that can hinder reading
- Broken / Misleading links on universal menus
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