Basic Review
Site Name:Geeks Hut
Site Type:Blog
Age:4½ Months
Appearance
The first thing I notice is the amount of information being thrown at me, there is just far too much going on and too much information for me to take in all at once. I am not saying that it is not good that you are providing your readers with a lot to read, it is, there is just a bit too much. Don’t worry though; we are going to look into how we can improve this.
The theme itself is pretty bland and uninteresting, the logo is just black text and the subtext isn’t even properly aligned under the main text. I have noticed that you are really trying to market the site and make it into a popular resource; the first way to do this is through marketing your site. The logo plays a key part in this as it becomes your brand and it is something you ought to invest in, if you really want your site to be the biggest and most popular then getting a graphic designer to create you a proper logo, even though it may cost you at least $60 then it is well worth it and a great investment.
Moving on to the actual design of the forum, as I already mentioned it is very bland. The only real colour area you have is the top navigation which just takes up too much attention. The main teal menu is actually very well designed with some nice jquery effects but having more colours under it when there is a lack of colour on the rest of the theme just gets too much. I suggest moving the social icons somewhere else. The font used on the whole site is very choppy and un-even, it doesn’t look very good and isn’t pleasant to read. In the first main box of content you have text and links which are outside of the content area which really doesn’t look very professional.
Overall I feel you need to either make big changes to this theme or invest in a custom theme from a designer who has experience in designing themes for similar sites as yours. The problem with ordering a custom theme from the cheapest designer you can find is that you usually lose out in quality and fine detail such as font choppiness and flow. Choose your designer carefully and you will get an amazing theme which should help attract readers as it will be more pleasant to read your blog. You also need a theme that lays the information out better, focus on images for this. A big slider with short catching headers will get you more readers than the current listing system you have now. Personally I hate reading blogs which are full of text and very few images and I know that I am not alone in this. When you have a blog with so much potential you really need to avoid wasting it by something small such as using a bad theme.
Layout
As I have already mentioned the layout on your blog needs a lot of work. I believe you should start off with a slider with large images and small captions under which are showing the most important articles you have right now. Under this I would have a few separate boxes which look like the top News box, an image, title and some text underneath. 2 or 3 of these would be sufficient. Under this you could have some links to more articles but make sure to have images or some kind of colour to make them more interesting and easy to spot. To get a good layout you need to at least halve what you have on your index right now.
The sidebar is actually quite functional but again there is too much information on it, make images bigger and spread things out more to make it look less cluttered and easier to read. The footer is a real mess though. It needs some proper structure, you could add a navigation menu here too and just make it more linked than a copyright link and a few buttons. Many people forget how important footers actually are.
Working on the layout of your blog will in turn help your SEO as it will be easier for search engines to read. This makes search engines rank the site better as it is more user friendly.
Statistics and Activity
You have 2-4 posts being made daily which is a great amount and shows a very good, active blog. Here you have done a great job and you are really heading in the right direction if you want to make your blog one of the best in the industry. I do notice a lack in comments though which I find a real shame, this is something you really need to work on. Generating discussion on your blog interests readers but also helps you to learn what your readers are interested in so you can supply them with more of the content they really want.
Getting more comments is a really difficult task but there are a few methods you can use. One which I picked up from personal bloggers is ending your article with a debate question. For example, you have the article Meebo Messenger closing down, you could end this article with something like: It is a shame that Meebo have chosen to head in this direction but only time will tell us if it was the correct choice. This is something that will get your readers thinking and they will be more inclined to voice their opinion. Another thing which I actually picked up in school is leaving an open ending. This may sound odd but it again leaves your readers wondering and building their own thoughts and ideas. This will also get them to make comments more often. The last thing you can try, especially if you have several writers is to get the writers to comment each other’s posts. Not with the classic, good post, but posts that will actually create a debate or discussion. They could even slightly go against the article author, expressing an opinion of their own on the matter which will show your readers that it is ok to have a different opinion and show it.
Content
Even though you have a lot of articles they are all very short, I believe this is something I mentioned in a review once before. The expression quality over quantity comes to mind in this situation. I would rather read 2 well researched, long and in-depth articles than 4 articles in the current form of the articles on your site. You really need to work on your article length and the resources behind each article. You should research each article and include information from several different sources instead of just one or two like I am seeing in most of your articles.
Your spelling is great but there are a lot of other things that need work. A paragraph is never ever just 2 sentences, which a lot of yours are. Using the Meebo Messenger article again as reference, you have 9 paragraphs in an article that I would expect to see written in 2 paragraphs. You also need to work on your grammar as you often place commas in the wrong place and end sentences far too often. Lengthen your sentences and if you are quoting another article or something someone has said then you need to use the correct punctuation.
Organisation and SEO
You have a sitemap, your site has PR 1 and an Alexa Traffic Rank: 1,132,216 Traffic Rank in NZ: 3,276. The alexa isn’t too bad but I would expect a higher PR from a site that is being updated as often as yours is. You also only have 31 sites linking in which shows me you really need to start working on your SEO more. You need to advertise your site more, purchase adverts on other big blogs from the same niche and also use directories.
“The time spent in a typical visit to the site is about six minutes, with 46 seconds spent on each pageview, and about 46% of visits to the site are bounces (one pageview only). This site is relatively popular among users in the city of Christchurch (where it is ranked #345). Approximately 56% of visitors to Geekshut.com come from New Zealand, where it has attained a traffic rank of 3,276”
This above shows me that you really need to work on your SEO. Having 46% of your site visits as bounces shows me that you are not attracting new visitors to actually come and read, something I believe is due to the theme. I can see that you have been promoting a lot in your local area which is good, posts and such are a great way of getting readers. It also doesn’t seem you have claimed your domain on Alexa which is a must. When googling technology blog I wasn’t even to able to locate Geeks hut.
Words from the Reviewer
A blog that has so much potential but really isn’t being used to its potential in so many ways. You have done really well to get this far but I get the nagging feeling that you are either bored of the site or have just given up hope in it growing. Don’t because this really is a site that can thrive if run correctly. Get yourself a custom theme from a good designer and brand yourself with a real logo. Put up posters in your area and spend at least 2 hours a day on SEO. IF you persevere then you have a great site which will bring you a lot of good.
Star Rating
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