My First Site

[James Magar]

Hi everyone!
Here is my first site. It has been up and running since november and gets about 1000 unique visiters a day.
No affiliate sale as yet.
not much generated in adsense either.

How about a critique?
Any pointers would be appreciated.

[Johnny Socko]

Being a complete noob that just about to put up my own first site, this may not mean much to you. I really like the look of your site. It seems to have some good stuff on it. Not one sale yet? How do you promote your site? Do you use PPC or some other method? I'm sure some of the more experienced members of this forum will be able to point you in the right direction.

[pops]

Hi James,
I visited your site and it looks real good. I too, though, am pretty much of a newbie and can't give a lot of constructive advice. Sorry. I am certainly curious, though. How are you getting 1000 unique hits a day?
Thanks.

[James Magar]

[pops]

Whew James..
Thanks for the correction. Fora minute there I thought I was really behind the curve.. ha ha.
Thanks again.

[zaba99]

Hi James,

First off, what a great site that has a lot of content. That is a huge bonus, finding sites that actually have content within them and not just a bunch of forward sales pages that really give you nothing in return.

I am by no mean a professional site reviewer but here are my thoughts....

While I scan through your pages, I really do not see your google ad sense ads very much. My main focus is toward your content (body) part of your page. This is the area where most people will be focussed. They are not coming to your site looking for google ad sense, they are looking for content. So I would suggest in trying to spread some of the google ads throughout your content (body) of your site for each page.

I find your naviagation bar to be far down your page on the left. You should push the content first and the money will come second. So I would have your Breeds Nav Bar up at the top above your google adsense and above the petsmart ad. This would then show your visitor right away that there is a ton of information on every breed of dog on this one site and they should stick around to take full advantage of it.

I guess what I am getting at is this:

If I am looking for information on the breed of a beagle, I have to scroll half way down the page just to see you do have information on a beagle. Once I click on the link on the left nav bar, I then see the information I am after in your body so I start reading. While I am reading the body I am really not seeing the google ads or even paying much attention to the amazon books you are offering.

So while on the Beagle page, I read down to the temperment section, under there I would place a horizontal ad with the amazon books for behavior training for dogs and if you can find any ones specific to the breed.

Then I read down to the past the exercise, grooming and health then another horizontal ad for more books on the health of your dog and how to better it (just making up some book suggestions).

Then I would sprinkle carefully some google ads as well through out the body, but make sure you do not overdue them and overtake the actual content.
Under the Dog food and Treats page, why not put the Greenies Treats ad under the Dog Treats content area. Tell the people that you highly recommend the use of Greenies Dog Treats and why then hit them with the ad.....

Look into Ebay and how there system works. See if you can not recomment to people to shop at Ebay for many great deals on dog products such as toys, grooming items and treats.

Another great item to add to your site is magazines, there are a lot of dog and animal magazines out there. I heard that magazines convert really well on sites as long as they are focussed to the content of the site. But again, I would place them in the content area of the body and not the navigation side.

I look at your site and see a lot of potential, it is fabulous right now with great content but I think you need to tinker with it a little bit and take some notes on what works and what is not. It is a big learning curve with each and every site, and all sites and themes react differently.

You have to think where the main focus of your visitors eyes are while they are on your site. To me my main focus is on the body where all the content is. This is why I would change things around to have most of your ads and suggestions for producst within the body. But you do not have to make ads big and bulky, often a really good word description such as " I found that Greenies dog treats to be the Best on the market, and my dog likes them to....." Then you would tell them about how they are made from natural ingredients and are the healthy choice for dog lovers. Then hit them with the ad or text link to where they can buy the treats from.

I do not like just having an ad on its own, I feel you have to pre-sell your visitors on the items you suggest. I will not click on a ad unless you pre-sell me on the product and really tell me WHY I need to click on this link.

I am starting to ramble on, like I said your site have so much potential to make a lot of money, you just need to tinker with different ideas. But really work on pre-selling your suggestions and products you are endorsing this will get people to click more for you. An ad is just another ad if there is no pre-sell to it. How often do you click on each plain ad on a site without really knowing anything about the product it offers..... I know I do not unless I know what product it is and the benefits of it. People do not have a lot of time now a days, so that is why pre selling is so important then the money will come.

So to finish, I REALLY like your site, I wish it was my site to be honest, just implement a few things slowly and track the results to see what works. Try different ideas on different pages, track the traffic to each page and how well it is converting.

Hope I make sense and some of my suggestions and can used.

Good Luck and keep up the good work......

Duane