Full Review by Ravenisawesome
Scoring:
First Impressions & Appearance – (08 out of 20)
Upon viewing IndieComiX for the first time, I was quite disappointed with the theme. I was expecting more comic book related icons around the site, since the niche of the website is based around comic books. While the theme may be lacking in the creativity department, I do enjoy the font you've used in each article's title and I also enjoy the site's banner as well. The worse part about the current theme is the background, the wood like pattern with the shade of green looks odd on a site based around comic books. I think adding a few images in the background may look better than the simple shade of green being used. I suggest maybe adding a few panels from your favorite indie comic books could work well in the background.
Let's take a further look at your current theme. Besides the background, I noticed another part of the theme that looks odd as well. Right bellow the navigational bar, there's another wood pattern. Take a look at the screenshot bellow, that section looks odd since it's not the same color as the wood pattern in the background, and generally this looks out of place. I suggest possibly removing this little part, the navigational bar would look better if it was right above the content of each page than being separated by a wood pattern.
Comparing this to the rest of the theme makes this part really stick out, but not in a good way. Looking pass the content, there's another part of the theme that also looks out of place. There is another pattern that looks out of place and doesn't match up well with the rest of the theme. Take a look at the next screenshot bellow.
Looking pass these few flaws in the theme, I do enjoy the buttons on the site. Again though they could be improved a tad bit more. Maybe adding a character from your favorite comic in the button could make each button look better? Again the font used on the buttons are just as cool as the font used in the title of each article, so they still look professional but could look better.
Site Layout – (13 out of 20)
Overall IndieComiX is somewhat easy to navigate. The navigational bar includes the most important links, and each article is split up into categories so it's easier for your site's guests and members to find what they are looking for. However I think the contact link could be included alongside the social media links to help visitors locate this sooner, just in case they have a few questions for you and your staff members.
Statistics and Activity – (09 out of 20)
There doesn't seem to be too much activity, regarding comments on articles. While I have noticed you have over 400 likes on Facebook, not too many fans seem to be commenting on articles that often. Looking over your statistics, the most active member on the site is you with another member coming in at second. Also looking at the list there have been only 20 people who have commented on articles, with most of them only commenting once. Is always best to engage in conversations with your viewers, this can start conversations and more comments will be posted.
Also maybe starting contests can help bring in more readers. Maybe hold a posting contest, and the prize can be a copy of any indie comic. I think this will bring in more readers and along with more readers more comments will be posted. Of course adding specific rules for the contest, such as no spamming would be a good idea since you may get a few members posting nonsense on articles.
Content – (11 out of 20)
Despite the lack of activity from readers, the site does contain plenty of content. If not every day, every other day there is a new article posted. It may be best to try to post a new article every day to keep readers engaged with your site. I noticed that in the past, on a few days you've posted a few articles back to back. Though there isn't a long waiting period between each article, readers may check your site a few times a day so it may be best to post one or two articles a day.
Reviews would be the quickest way to post at least one or two articles a day. With the huge amount of different indie comic book companies and books themselves, there is plenty of material to read and express your opinions on. This may help people who are interested in buying certain books get another person's opinion on it, and may help them decide if it's what they are looking for or not.
Finally I did enjoy the fact that IndieComiX has a few issues of various comics uploaded onto the site for visitors to enjoy and get a good look at some new comics to read. Always nice to showcase and get the word out on some material the site is based around, this is probably my personal favorite part of the site.
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism – (14 out of 20)
Overall IndieComiX doesn't have too many typos, spelling errors or grammar errors but a few are present. The key to having a professional site especially a blog is to double check your articles after they are posted, to make sure there are no errors. No one is perfect, and with a site that has many articles these errors can be overlooked. With that said, this next part of the review will go over each typo, spelling error or grammar error I've noticed while visiting the site.
One of the very few typos I stumbled upon when viewing the site was on the "About Us" page. This page is important for those wondering what your site is about, if they aren't too familiar with the niche and may be a page they visit first. The typo is present in the very first sentence on said page mentioned above. It currently reads as this: "At IndieComix, our
goal is goal is to provide the fans with information regarding all the fresh and best new independent comics on the market today." The error is highlighted in bold text. This typo can be easily overlooked while reading the full paragraph, but should be fixed accordingly.
Total Score - (55 out of 100)
Final Remarks:
Overall IndieComiX provides a decent amount of content reflecting the niche of the site, but could definitely use a bit more work on both the theme and engaging in conversations with the reader. With a few more articles written more often, I think this may help out the statistics portion of the site which is what the site is really lacking at the moment. With a few more changes I think IndieComiX can improve overtime and really stand out above other indie comic book websites.
Strengths:
- - Articles are posted frequently.
Weaknesses:
- - Theme needs improvement.
- Activity is very scarce.
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