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Sta.rtUp.biz - Entrepreneur Social Network

optiwizeroptiwizer subscriber Posts: 2
edited May 2008 in Website Critique
Please be as critical as possible so that I can make improvements.Sta.rtUp.Biz
Main areas that need review:
1) The home page along with the marketing promotion we started today
2) Videos
3) Forum
Thank you.
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Comments

  • WeblineWebline subscriber Posts: 13 Bronze Level Member

    A couple things that kind of bother me about it.
    1) Your tag line says "Entrepreneur Support Network", but on your main page it seems like it is mostly imported news headlines and website ranking/SEO information more than anything. The words "Entrepreneur Support Network" makes me think that there should be information right up front on start up business help for new business owners, not primarily website help.
    2) Your promotion follows the idea that it is more website-based than start up business based. Not everyone knows what PR is, and myself I would be leary of linking to site that sounds like a "Get Rich Quick" kind of thing. PLUS, linking should be done with sites relevant to your own, so it may not be appropriate for all site owners.
    3) Not watching the videos but looking at the list on the right, how are they relevant to your content?
    For myself, I get mixed messages between the title/tag line of the site, and what you actually put into it. Is it for business start ups, or for website owners?


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  • vwebworldvwebworld subscriber Posts: 40
    (1) Your home page seems to be more of a "news" source or portal. So, it may not communicate the message you want - but maybe that`s its` purpose.
     
    The pr6 back link promotion - I can see what I need to do to get a link, what I do not see is the PR6 page FROM which I will get a link. Adsensemonopoly(dot)com has a bunch of pages, with the first being a pr6 and the rest not...plus there are no links between the pages.  So each page is like a separate website.
     
    (2) Videos - another video site, what makes this a place I need to revisit? Maybe a list of video topics?
     
    (3) Forum - layout is more like a blog. Again, a list of topics would be helpful and more user friendly.
     
    ~Roland
     
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  • optiwizeroptiwizer subscriber Posts: 2
    I was worring that people would not understand PR.
     
    Good point on the information being around SEO. 
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  • RayaRaya subscriber Posts: 1
    I feel the need to critique this one.  I actually like the website and the content, but I DON`T like the name, Sta.rtUp.biz.   It`s not attractive in my opinion and I don`t understand it.  I feel that you have a pretty good website for the most part, but you should really consider changing the domain name.  I`m not saying this to be mean, but it`s my honest opinion, not that my opinion means anything. 
    I actually like www.startum.biz better and it`s still available if you`re interested.
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  • devxdevx subscriber Posts: 1
    There are too many arrows pointing at different directions. You should try removing some of the stuff on the frontpage to make it look less cluttered.
    I like the PR6 promo, thats a smart way to attract new members.devx5/24/2008 11:06 AM
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  • tedATintermztedATintermz subscriber Posts: 7
    You asked for critical, so here it is =)
    The thing that stands out to me most is that you promise interactive, Web 2.0 sites to your customers, but your own site does not sit well with other Web 2.0 sites and is not very interactive (not much to click on). This is despite having a deluge of text everywhere that is too closely spaced.
    Web 2.0 sites benefit from AJAX interactivity and highly streamlined designs. Your site uses too much italicized/bold font with dark outlines that does not represent the commonly clean "Web 2.0" trend (see something like www.mint.com); that kind of type setting has been outdated and implies loud yelling for attention. If anything, one or two bolded headers would be fine, but too many of them compete for attention.
    I`d start with making your menu you bar more apparent as a menu bar, adding space between your main body and your right column to clean it up, then revisit your use of bold/italicized text.
    Also, because you seem to be compiling lots of news stories, I would promote your RSS feed at the top. For me, your site is too "loud" to go to regularly, but I would (and did) sign up for your feed because your content is useful.
    My $0.02.
    Best of luck!
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  • optiwizeroptiwizer subscriber Posts: 2
    Redid the entire layout, logo, and color scheme.  Improvement?
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  • devxdevx subscriber Posts: 1
    Huge improvement! Looks much better and also less confusing.
    Some suggestions:
    1) The Become a Member link is not very noticeable, maybe you can try using a button instead?
    Also you can try changing it to Signup for a FREE account. (the word Free attracts attention)
    2) The forum link (at the Ask The Experts panel) doesn`t look like a link. Maybe u should add Forum text to it.
    Other then that, it looks really good.
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