Look for Website Critique - Main Street Insider

aciafre

Hi all,
 
I`m looking for opinions on my newly created site.  This site is being started as a sort of hobby of mine right now with plans in the future to have it become a full scale business.
 
The purpose of the site is to help individuals’ research stocks and provide personal finance/small business tips.  I do this by providing business news articles from small and medium sized newspapers from around the country.  I wanted to create a site that would allow the intended viewer to read a brief description of an article, then decide weather its worth their time to read it.

 

I hired a freelance web designer to help build the site.  I understand that the site could have more bells and whistles but at this time I’m trying to control cost.  I would also welcome suggestion that I could implement during the next phase of the site (when I actually get significant traffic and invest the ad revenue back into the site).

 

URL:  www.mainstreetinsider.com

 

Thank you for taking the time to look at the site.

Webline

I clicked the "Company" link, and the large ad on the left decided I needed to see some good looking women and "Meet someone naughty" .... definitely not what you want on this type of site.

aciafre

Hey guys thanks for the replies.
 
First I`ll tackle the easy one. 
 
Webline,
 
I am working with Adbrite to get rid of all ads pertaining to Singles,Weapons and Marijuna, they have just recently popped up.  I definately don`t want those shown on the site.
 
Craig,
 
I really aprreciate the feed back!
 
- I agree the banner ads need changed, I wanted just text ads but somehow I ended up with the banner ads.  I will change this!
 
- Layout:  Do you like the 2 column box layoff or do you mean change everything?  I would like the site to look as simple as possible.  I`m assuming the line height you are talking about is the sentences in the article descriptions.
 
- Mission Statement:  I agree,  I`m thinking about putting a mission statement under my Main Street banner
 
-  Person Views:  I plan to put my personal views about certain articles and the overall stock market/economy under the Main Street News section.
 
Let me know what you think, thanks again.
 
 

aciafre

Also, does anyone know of a good webhosting company and what I would need to do to make the change?  Thanks

Videography

Craig and Webline have covered pretty much everything.  The ad on the left column is a distraction.  Maybe you could move them to the bottom, or do you really need them at all?
I don`t know where you`re hosting now, but I have my sites at GoDaddy.com and I am very happy with them and their customer service.

aciafre

Maybe I`ll switch to a text only ad format that blends in with the site better.  I`ll check out godaddy.com as well.  Thanks Videography

vwebworld

Also, does anyone know of a good webhosting company and what I would need to do to make the change?  Thanks

 
I also provide reasonable and reliable hosting  vwebworld.com
 
~Roland

Bluto

Agreed on the huge left side ad space. If you fill that thing up, I would just close the page, with-out reading anything. Big turn off for me. Although ads may be a source of income, you need to be discreet and not overwhelming with them.
As for hosting, I don`t know what Wild West gives you but GoDaddy serves the purpose for most people with small sites.
You have a forum attached though. If that forum starts getting a lot of use, you`ll start creating a lot of queries, and if there are images, videos or other attachments added, you`ll out-grow GoDaddy.
You also have no control over your php.config either with them,... I believe. Someone correct me if I`m wrong.
Personally, I use Dreamhost: http://www.dreamhost.com/ Unlimited domains, databases, email addy`s, ftp users and an almost unusable amount of disk space and bandwidth. Right now they`re offering unlimited space and bandwidth for a limited time.( See terms) I`m currently hosting 6 forum based sites and I`m not touching the bandwidth meter.
There are others though. If you don`t like the idea of a shared server, then you have to look for dedicated.
I also got an email about this host recently: http://www.thinkhost.com/
That deal looks pretty good but I haven`t dug deep into the specifics.
Otherwise, I like the site, you seem very informed and know what to pass on to possible readers.A couple links where broken when I looked but I have a feeling you`re working on the site as I type this.

aciafre

Thanks for the feedback guys, its very helpful in trying to wrinkle out the bugs. 
 
Bluto, thanks for the hosting companies I`ll definately check into them and I`ll probably speak to vwebworld as well.
 
Thanks again all, keep the feedback coming!