Name of Site: Forum Hour Site Genre: Webmaster/Promotion Site URL:http://forumhour.com Type of Review ( Full/Quick ): Quick Opening Date: 8/11/12 Additional Notes: Thanks a lot guys. 🙂
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Good Services
I checked back to your last review by us, and I noticed this was one of the not-so-good points covered back then. I'm happy to say that you guys have improved since the last review, by trying to offer something different and explore what you already have more! While what you offer may not exactly new to the world of advertising/promotion forums, I see you have tried to use what you have, for example the sidebars. I would just point out some inconsistency ("Index Advertising" vs "Sidebar Ads", the fact that your "Service Portal" no longer offers reviews but still state so in the description) but other than that it's pretty good. Maybe you can add more charm to it by giving new names to the services, not something so blatantly open like what you already have to make it more inviting. That also makes the name "Service Portal" not very appropriate, as it only covers packages now. But all in all, you seem to be doing good with your services. Keep up the good work!
Simple and Easy-to-Use Appearance
I personally am fond of the simplistic theme and organization. Although the color is mainly white, there is still addition of other colors in a varied amount which gives a colorful touch but not in a blinding way. I believe one or two things can still be added to make it look spectacular without bothering the eyes too much. For example, maybe adding a half-transparent icon of a clock or an hourglass as the background can help liven things up a bit as you emphasize your forum name and your special service. Enhance the header/banner with larger icon and font, add your tagline/motto if there is any, or put a banner or a list of links to random sites as your new service suggests. You can also explore members' interest by adding more forums/sub-forums, but as long as the general organization is kept I bet members will still find it simple and easy to use, which is quite a positive point.
Weaknesses:
Important Features do not Stand out Enough
The thing with advertising/promotion/webmaster forum is that, people who come to such forum want to make projects known to the world to invite interest and enlarge the community. It is necessary to make your services -- the life of your forum, the most important features of your forum -- to stand out. This is what I'm yet to feel. (1) The first thing I decided to highlight is the redirection link for SoTM Winner. I recognized it only after browsing back and forth to the index page a few times. And when I saw it, I still didn't know what it was and why it was there. After checking the news/announcement section, I found out that it's the winner of previous SoTM. The link is very easy to miss; most probably because it has nothing that makes it stands out compared to your categories and forums list. Give a category, give a different color, modify the font type/size if possible (not sure if it is possible to do so with codes, so I'm just throwing the idea here), or change the position, and so on. Make it stands out; it's the winner! (2) The new "Sidebar Advertising" is located at the very bottom of the sidebar, which require two scrolls to pop out. Even below status updates. In my opinion, it should've been more at the top because it's your service, and it's definitely more important than what your members write on their status as they browse the forum. (3) I can't seem to find the result of "Index Advertising" you offer. I've been looking for it as I write this review, refreshing the page and clicking here and there, but I find nothing. That's rather confusing. (4) I feel that the current location of 'Random Site' link is not very appropriate since it's a service put together with navigation menu of the forum, which is completely unrelated. Those are some I can share, I may just missed other things, so I hope you can find those too if there is any.
Lack of Members Variety
Related to your members activity, I think it's looking pretty good. New posts are made regularly, even though the space for discussion may be slightly limited since you offer a compressed version of off-topic discussion sections. However, I don't see variety in names that appear and actively posting. From your 'Recent Activity' menu, it is mostly staff members that are seen around. That's a positive sign from your staff members and must be maintained at all costs, but the same should've happened from the regular members base. I do notice few names who are visiting regularly and once in a while, we need to move the others to do the same too as much as possible. From 433 members, there has to be more with interest to the site, given the genre. While I'm fully aware that this is one of the biggest challenge for administrators and webmasters, it must be explored every time. Perhaps you have tried sending e-mail to the members, or talking personally in a friendly manner to invite them to the forum when you meet them somewhere else. I also want to highlight that some threads are left without response from staff members. This may make one or two members feel discouraged. Background work is as important as appearing in public and show support to members' posts. Add more opinions, try different point of view, and that hopefully should diversify the discussions and become more inviting for guests and new members.
Final Remarks:
The new Forum Hour is quite interesting, equally interesting if I compared it to the old one that I know. Your basic foundation is pretty good and strong, so it's only a matter of how you direct the forum and its members to improve your performance. Always base your choices and plans back to the community and hopefully you will be able to work your way out every circle of hardships and go stronger from there. Good luck!
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Thank you for the awesome review phio! We will take your feedback and suggestions into consideration!
As for the index advertising, it seems that the code was not carried over for some reason. I don't know how we missed it...thanks so much for pointing it out!
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