Share your site.. Why? Read more.. - part 2

Hey Professor.

Thank you as well.

Over the coming months, we will be reducing the vertical scroll as each section of the site gets filled with content. For now, we added extra boxes to make sure new members know what they can do, see and how to interact.

I will be moving those extra explanatory/information boxes to the index pages of each specific section.

Sorry I forget my screen res is weird compared to everyone else. It looks right now I changed up my res settings a bit. My laptop back light blew on me which sucks because I have to use a 16" HD TV for my display via HDMI cable :(

I've always thought to myself what a horrible template Boonex includes with their software with the clouds background. I was wrong. I'd had just never seen anyone with such a relevant use of it.  Site looks great.  You really did some good justice for that template. I can't keep saying enough that you've done really well.  My favorite was that you nailed keeping my interest by attracting me to the "Why join box" and once I clicked it the join page confirmed why I should join.  Well done!

I do like these threads but I was hoping to see more examples of Dolphin sites.

I have looked at all the links in the first part of this thread and have to admit the only one that is really appealing is launch3's Interline Networking.

Mine is Meta-Travel.com.

Michel

The tread is only a few days old. Perhaps more will share and build the list.  Thanks for sharing yours.

Thanks myhuntprofile. The clouds background is different than the standard boonex image, but yep, stuck with them. It works for the niche.

Travelnotes, one suggestion to try. Increase the font size of your top menu & body text. If it's 10px, try 12px. If 12px, try 14px. Will make it easier for visitors to read and stand out more.

Thanks, launch3.

The font size in the top menu has bugged me for a while, so I've finally changed that. There are more style tweaks I need to make as well as there's still too much grey text I don't like at all; although in unimportant areas it works fine.

Who started this grey is good design in website templates? It's often so hard to read.

I'm happy to share mine when it's live but I already know I have a lot to do to it. I am not one for sharing content though so mine would be limited anyway. As I've said elsewhere in this thread, I feel giving too much content away doesn't give a visitor a reason to join. That would be my only thoughts about your site TravelNotes. The site looks great & there is no doubt what the subject is & that's what you want but if you are going to display so much content then you need to prominently display on the home page or a link to a page from there explaining the benefits of joining. I think someone commented on the first thread about having to scroll down too much on one site. That would be my other thing. Aside from those two points I think it looks great & like the airline site earlier, there cannot be any doubt over their subjects. Good job!

It seems like everyone is infactuated these days with "how many members I have" but does that really matter? For those looking to solely make money, I can understand as members have to pay to use the site. But I have done quite a few sites where getting rich was not the desired affect, but more so for the love of the niche (whatever your site is about) and expanding it that mattered most. I was just happy creating a place for interested persons to come and have fun - it was not about the money so there were no membership purchases or registration.

I bring this up because there may be those out there who think that because they do not have a lot of members that they are not doing well, and may think that hiding content to non paid members is the best way to go. But again - if you are looking at trying to get rich, then you have no choice but to get the money any way you can. But if you just want a site that people will enjoy and you are not worried about how many "Members", but that your "Users/Visitors" get what they want out of the site - that's all that really matters. Do not let those with thousands of members think your site is any less valuable than theirs

Scrolling down does not bother me.  That is something normal you do when viewing content.  It's better than switching pages (pagination) so that I can see more. My personal opinion.  Some feedback I wanted to offer is between the menu transparency, font color, and size it seems like I am forcing my eyes more than they need but its not bad I can certainly read it. Maybe the text needs darkened for my personal view. 

I am taking everything from my landing impression without scrolling though scrolling has no effect on my opinion unless it just never ever ends and that is not the case for yours.  I like that there is no big questions as to what the site does because it tells me up top.  My biggest walk away point is the logo.  I would love to see some sort of brand awareness.  I won't get into all the mumbo jumbo of why that is important because I am sure you already know and you probably already have this on your to do list.  Here are some quick logo template ideas you may be able to incorporate if you like any of them.

Logo 1

Logo 2

Logo 3

Logo 4

Logo 5

Of course all colors are changeable. 

I really need to implement 2 key features I see you guys using in this thread.  Making sure I am telling them what the site is about up front and why they should join.  There should be a trail of descriptive candy leading to the join form.  Thanks for posting.

I am going to say I agree with you 100% on all that.  Then you look at my site and ask why the ads, why the store, etc.  Those features are only recently new.  I have went 2 1/2 years paying for VPS (so the site performs) and investing in development, features, etc.  My Hunt Profile has become a passion of mine whether it makes money or not.. Now if I can take my passion and make money while staying true to my members needs and wants I will.  I would just be happy if the site paid for its self monthly one day.  You would be surprised the number of people for years that mentioned to me that something seems different about than other sites they were used to other than the fact it looks different.  We came to the conclusion there was no advertising anywhere on the page until now.  Even what is there now is just me playing around with my space and seeing what fits.  It will not stay that way.  So after trying to say I agree with you while still yet trying to make some sort of revenue I hope it all makes sense. 

Some of the members on that site show me it means something to them.  Knowing I made something that they rely on being there is important to me.  My membership is really small and the amount who participate even smaller.  I would say I am 95% sure though not a single membership there accounts for a spam account sign up.  I regulate that strongly so everyone can enjoy a quality about the place. Otherwise I would have thousands of members by now.  I found a similar site to my own who has thousands and thousands of members but they use another social platform.  Its a big site and very active with legit members but there are a thousand bots and accounts peddling something else there too.  I never want a place you come to network and hang out just because that is where all your friends are at.  Meanwhile having to put up with the smut, spam, and scam while you do it.  There is already a place like that anyway, its called Facebook.

In case my earlier post was mistaken as a negative to those who do try to get some monetary compensation for their work, it was not meant as so. Mainly it was for those who may feel discouraged that they do not have as many members as what some have posted in these forums. And that just because they may not have as many members - their purpose may not dictate they need a lot of members to be valuable and successful.

Professor, why is your site still that incredibly bright green color?

that site is still in development. My client and I did discuss your Christmas comment and laughed at it. But, in reference to what you said and another comment about the green in the logo we are planning on changing it. We have just not gotten to that part yet.

 I understand what you are saying to a degree but surely the point of using Dolphin is to build a Community. If you aren't that bothered about members then you are better off learning & building a typical information only site in html. I don't get that at all regardless of whether it be for profit or otherwise! In my case, the kind of site I am building is totally useless without members. My concerns about displaying content is justified if you DO want to build a membership site. For instance, no disrespect to TravelNotes but I would be put off joining his site if I saw the last action on the site was 46 days ago. It's all about updating a site regularly & keeping people interested whether members or not.

To be honest - when I first started using Dolphin - I had no intention of building a comunity. It offered features that were already coded and meant less time spent putting those things together. My experience/knowledge at that time was about a 2 on a scale of 1 to 100. Our 2nd site is not one that is determined successful by the number of members it has. Although there are features that are only available to members, a major feature is not. Users can search for a Provider (with certain search criteria), and this feature does not need membership, but will get used a lot (hopefully).

 So if your major feature is not exclusive to members what do you as the site owners hope to get out of it? Just curious....as we have already commented on this thread, it's all about personal preference in all our designs.

The biggest purpose is finding a way for clients/patients to get better care from their providers. Yes, it would be nice for it to pay for itself, but due to economic times, we are not trying to burden the clients/patients with extra costs. I should say this. Our 2nd site is actually in a makeover transition. The domain has been around for years, and we have had what we feel a good bit of success with it (comments and emails from users have determined this), and that is with no memberships at all. We are adding features so that both sites work together which will only be accessible by setting up a membership, but those memberships on site 2 will not be paid memberships.

 I understand. From memory one of your earlier posts in this thread stated one of the sites wasn't promoted as it was a referral site from your other sites members. In your case it clearly offers a valuable service.

That's pretty much it (short version at least). Typically, a Member User would be one that was directed to the site by a provider - the features available all tie into the first site. But, for those who happen to find the site who are looking for a provider, then they do not need to create an account to do so. But that feature is still a valuable one.

 Yeah your sites are providing a valuable service like mine will....far from the same service though :) The main difference is that mine will be a 'closed' site to the general public. Good job!

Learning from some others here I made a couple small changes.  I've removed sub menu items to cut down on the size and options in the menu to make things a little more simple.. Its not much but I may remove more in time. 

2ndly I created a banner and added it to the top of the page viewable only by guest with some quick reasons to join.  The banner links to the join page.  It may not be for everyone design wise but it fits my needs for right now and I was able to save money making it myself.  For those who do not see the button to join perhaps this will help.

www.myhuntprofile.com

 RE:

 Those giant belt buckle looking images an the left of the design boxes have to go.  They draw your eye like a magnet and you can't see anything else.  If all you did was reduce the size of the images to 50% of what they are now, they wouldn't be so overwhelming, and you could get 2 more content thumbnails in the box.  Your eyes then focus more on the content.

You put a minute of time into that Houston thanks.  After that do I not just have an awkward space not being covered by the "belt buckle" just below the reduced image? I see what you've done attaching it to the top corner but it seems out of place maybe just because I am used to it the other way.  Maybe a different image attached to the top corner would look better.

Yeah, it's a bit out of whack, but do this test.  Scroll the bottom box with the large image is off the screen. close eyes a few seconds, then look at it.  What's the first thing you see?   Repeat with the smaller image off the screen.

what HL has looks damn good. It was the size of those "Belt Buckles" that kept catching my eyes as well, and made actually looking at the content challenging. It may look weird because only one was done as a sample, but if all of them were like that, I believe it would make your site look better and be more effective in getting your content noticed vs the "Belt Buckles". Heck, I would go so far as to reducing them a little bit more, and maybe centering (vertically) on the row. That's just me though. But again, HL's sample looks real good.

EDIT: After looking again - I will admit - I was looking for some cool ideas for another project. I did get a little lost in the Navigation links. I believe this is because I have been used to Nav Menu items all being in somewhat the same place and all the same style. I was looking for your Videos and Photos links and got a bit dizzy. Which leads me to another thought - have you thought about making those "Belt Buckles" links to specific sections. For example, the Photos Buckle would link to the Photos Home page.

Also, what if you switched the "Search" and "Connect with Facebook". The reason I bring that up is because you have options for joining and logging in on the right, but the Facebook Connect on the left. Maybe even go so far as moving the join NRA someplace else and making the existing Join NRA button your Facebook Connect. I was confused for a second because I typically think of Joining a site, and when I clicked the Join button (first time I did not pay attention that it said Join NRA) and I was redirected to another site I was like WTF.

@myhuntprofile - You're right about the non-logo. Thanks for taking the time to share those logo links. GraphicRiver does have a travel logo that interests me and $29 is a reasonable price to pay.

@coremedia - Travel content is (hopefully) what brings the visitors in, through search engines and other links.

We need visitors to then become members. But just having members is not enough, we also need members to add value to the site (with more content) that in turn attracts more visitors; who then want to become members, to add to the site themselves.

Ideally, we would like to have paying members who wish to support the endeavour and have access to premium features.

I guess we're fishing for paying members by using free content as bait but need to better communicate the 'benefits of joining'.

@houstonlively - Nice work on the 'belt-buckle image'.

@MyHuntProfile It's looking a lot better. One really minor point if you scroll down to your footer wouldn't you be better off moving your copyright to the right side away from your menu? I think it would look a lot better. Like I say, a minor thing but certainly an improvement on the design.

@TravelNotes I understand your comments. It's the double edged sword scenario, showing that your site is a community but showing the last activity if not that recent can discourage people from joining. My advice for what it's worth would be list the benefits of joining & maybe give your existing members incentives to post more. One incentive you could give that wouldn't cost you anything if you were providing a Premium Membership level would be to give the Top 5 contributors free Premium level access. That kind of thing would encourage people to contribute more provided your Premium level gives them value & a sense of something they 'must have'. Those would be my two areas I would work on. Just my thoughts & ideas ;)

Here's what could be done to get rid of the excessive empty space in the lower left after reducing the size or the image.  You reposition the image  bit, and nudge the content to the left a bit.  Then you take the bottom div full width...that puts some text bottom-left.  You can only do so much with Firebug.... However, if you snipped off that right ear of the image that says 'VIDEO' and put it on the bottom of the image instead,  That fills up some more empty space. (I rotated the image to show the effect)  Once you've done that, horizontal space to the right of the image is freed up, and you can move that first content thumbnail more to the left, and the empty space is gone.  A few padding adjustments and you're done.  The result is, you have the same basic look,  50% more content in the block, and no giant image distracting the viewer.

.

Here's what could be done to get rid of the excessive empty space in the lower left after reducing the size or the image.  You reposition the image  bit, and nudge the content to the left a bit.  Then you take the bottom div full width...that puts some text bottom-left.  You can only do so much with Firebug.... However, if you snipped off that right ear of the image that says 'VIDEO' and put it on the bottom of the image instead,  That fills up some more empty space. (I rotated the image to show the effect)  Once you've done that, horizontal space to the right of the image is freed up, and you can move that first content thumbnail more to the left, and the empty space is gone.  A few padding adjustments and you're done.  The result is, you have the same basic look,  50% more content in the block, and no giant image distracting the viewer.

Take another look houston.  I implemented your suggestion.  I could not nudge anymore to the left because of the overall template width before it slices the image out of view so I had to adjust fire some.  I did what made sense for me for space and utilization of awkward space.  Better?

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY Better

Great Thanks!

 RE:

 Much better, but the text below the image is too heavy.... I think it would look better if it wasn't bold.

@MyHuntProfile It's looking a lot better. One really minor point if you scroll down to your footer wouldn't you be better off moving your copyright to the right side away from your menu? I think it would look a lot better. Like I say, a minor thing but certainly an improvement on the design.

** Copyright moved.

 Thanks!

Maybe even go so far as moving the join NRA someplace else and making the existing Join NRA button your Facebook Connect. I was confused for a second because I typically think of Joining a site, and when I clicked the Join button (first time I did not pay attention that it said Join NRA) and I was redirected to another site I was like WTF.

I renamed the button to "NRA" instead of "JOIN NRA" to avoid confusion because you are right about that for sure.

Another thing that I don't think is quite right on your home page, is the box shadows in ibdw's activity feed.... but that's nitpicking a bit.  I'd make them a bit darker and use an rbga color with some transparency..... maybe give the boxes a 1px border.   If it were me, I'd get rid of the box shadows in the feed.... it'll make it more readable.  But like I said.... it's getting picky.

 That's better! It tidies that area up a lot. Could you not slow the Featured Members down & include a small info about them OR just have it scroll about 4 or 5 members at a time? It kinda looks a bit bare with one scrolling & so much of a blank space. I think either would improve it a lot.

@HL - what about now - https://mytherapysession.com

Do we share our sites here or where do we do this

Its an older thread where some of us were posting our Dolphin sits and getting feedback from others. It turned out useful for some. It is ment to be constructive rather than someone posting just to say "it's ugly" or anything like that.  You are welcome to share your site here.  It's and ilder thread but you may get some feedback.

my site is adult site i dont know if i can

 You don't have to. There are about 800,000 Dolphin based adult sites cluttering up the internet for us to peruse. 

ok so here we go my site is for sharing ex and current girlfriends and wifes pics and vids 100% free [Removed.]

[Moderator: Removed due to obvious reasons.]

I hope you get sued by one of those "ex-girlfriends".

 You can go to jail for that. 

everything is user submitted i dont have any of the stuff i own no material

Yeah... Neither of that stuff is allowed on here.