Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

My friend and I recently created this website http://helpwithyouressay.com/ 

1] What can we do to improve it?

2] The bottom line question - what are the different ways we can generate money from our site?

Any advice?

 

Your source code ..... needs some work. Too much extra stuff in it.

Your main page ..... the blue links are practically unreadable with the dark background.

Some of the images are links, some aren`t. But theres no way for anyone to know they`re links unless they mouseover them, so maybe a line like "Click an author for their essay information", or something like that, above the images would be helpful. When you do go into their pages, there is no menu displayed to get back to the main page, unless you realize that you have to scroll back up to find the menu again. Easy to get lost here. And the blue text with the dark red background is not easy to read.

Some of your google links really seem out of place, like they are just plopped in anywhere to fill space.

I would suggest building a template that is easy to read and with a consistent navigation menu and your adsense stuff in a spot that doesn`t interfere with the content, then create all your pages from that template. This keeps your pages more consistent and easier for visitors to get around your site. If they get frustrated or simply can`t read it, they won`t stick around.


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M Hall
Website Critique Community
International Society of Curmudgeons

Hi Moving Up!

I would just suggest that the link colors be changed. It is a little difficult to read the blue links, and then when they are visited they turn purple which is even more difficult to read. I agree with webline, that you should have "click to read more" on those images. Also the adsense, maybe put it on right side or at the bottom.:)

Erin

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Our Goal Is Your Success!
Founder Girls with Goals

Main issue is the blue on red. It`s been pretty well established that certain colors are impossible, blue on red being one of those combinations (blue on green being another).

I didn`t pursue the site much because I couldn`t read what seemed important. But from what I did see, I`d like to maybe move the name and tagline up to the top of the main page, rather than at the bottom, where it gets a bit lost.

I don`t see the point of having college links on the site at all, other than the chevrons or logos look kind of cool. But they serve no useful purpose that I can see.

It`s an interesting idea having the portraits along the side. Maybe they could be a bit smaller, since they seem to over-crowd the actual text itself? And that text could probably be smaller. On my 19" panel it looks great! But I believe on more typical, smaller monitors, it would be overwhelming. On a 17" CRT it probably would be just too much.

I think you`ve done a great job of explaining what it is you`re trying to offer. And I think it`s a huge need out there, waiting to be filled. However, how do you intend to provide actual help with writing essays, rather than (or competing with) dealing with student expectations that they can just copy something already done? That could be addressed, I think.

Finally, what`s the process you`re offering? It`s one thing to say, "here are some topics, here are some authors." Okay...but the heart of your site is the Writing Center. As it stands, it almost gets lost. Instead, it should be the main focus of the site.

to subsidize your site you could look at a cpm advertising model through someone like https://direct.rightmedia.com/, you wouldn`t need users to click on the google ads for you to receive $$`s

As for the critique, it seems very scattered and not cohesive. Most people make a decision on the credibility of the site by the design and within the first 5 seconds. Perhaps look at sites like http://csszengarden.com/ -  for inspiration,  http://mashable.com/2007/07/28/web-development/  - for tools,  or http://designfloat.com/ - a community driven design site.


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Josh Christy

http://www.81designs.com
Email: josh@81designs.com
Phone: 701-203-4336

81designs.com
Your Vision, Our Designs

Thanks for the great advice! We will start making the changes asap.

Currently we are working on our `product line`  - Still trying to figure this one out...

I would try and tighten it up seems very spacey. Could utilize some frames integration.

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china business card / Wall Street Journal Reader