Personal Money Guide - new site

[r2d2]

Have my new site about finished now : http://www.personalmoneyguide.co.uk/

Got to sign up with some merchants to get some ads on there - but what do you think of the site? Anything I should add? Any other suggestions / opinions?

[paul]

At 8:45 AM Mountain Daylight Time Sat. I get a site not found message. I think I am GMT -7

[Emancipator]

i like it R2.. loads fine for me. Simple and to the point.

[r2d2]

At 8:45 AM Mountain Daylight Time Sat. I get a site not found message. I think I am GMT -7

Hmm, thats strange - the DNS and hosting account have been setup for a couple of weeks now, and it is hosted in the US.


i like it R2.. loads fine for me. Simple and to the point.

Cool, cheers.

[paul]

It comes up fine now.

Would "taxes" be more consistent than "tax"?

[r2d2]

Hmmm, I guess in the US it probably would be, but in the UK I think just 'Tax' would be more consistent.

[Cutter]

You might want to test out the Rich Dad affiliate program: http://www.richdad.com/pages/affiliateprogram.asp

I don't know anything about it other than whats on the site, so you would have to test it out and see how it goes. One benefit is that they have strong branding beyond the web which should make conversions a little easier.

It looks good, perhaps you may want to make a way to divide the UK from the US stuff?

With a topic like personal finance you really have infinate possibilities for expanding the site. You could add a blog (this would give you "fresh" updated pages, incoming links from other bloggers, etc.) An opt-in e-mail list would help establish the site & get visitors to return.

How is the site doing in regards to traffic, incoming links, etc? Sometimes getting the traffic can become a much bigger priority than the site itself ;)

[John]

The site looks really good r2, great layout, great content, good work my man...

[MarkB]

Aye, I like it too :)

[Pulse]

I like it, nice n simple. This site obviously has alot of potential.

I agree with Cutter, a blog or latest news/offers would be good for updated content.

[James]

Hmm the top navigation's text is a little hard to read on the lighter gradient--have you considered switching from having the page you're on being the darker grey, to being the lighter? It would make sense, as the pages you want them to go to are more important than them seeing that they're on a certain page based on the navigation.

I like your layout for the most part, though teal and orange are a bit of an odd couple, they work pretty well together. I've got some crits, though...
- Your slogan is tough to read over top that graph. I'd probably take away the graph's 'legend' (I think that's the right word) and put it down there.
- Add a 1px white square to each corner of the orange boxes with arrows in the side navigation, to make them look nice and rounded. It'll make them fit better, and look more personal. You may also want to add a grey border like the navigation has, and rounded corners to the piggy bank on your homepage.
- I'd say it'd be a good idea if you made the headers have a background similar to the navigation, just teal-erized.

[ozgression]

Looks good r2d2.

[r2d2]

You might want to test out the Rich Dad affiliate program: http://www.richdad.com/pages/affiliateprogram.asp

Ah, nice - big fan of Rich Dad, Poor Dad so I may have to join that! Thanks for the tip.


It looks good, perhaps you may want to make a way to divide the UK from the US stuff?

Well, its all aimed at UK really, but some of it is applicable to any country I guess. Maybe I should do a US one?


With a topic like personal finance you really have infinate possibilities for expanding the site. You could add a blog (this would give you "fresh" updated pages, incoming links from other bloggers, etc.) An opt-in e-mail list would help establish the site & get visitors to return.

Hadnt thought about that, thats a good idea, cheers. Not sure I'm the type of writer for a blog, but maybe I should learn.


How is the site doing in regards to traffic, incoming links, etc?

Only put online last night :)


Hmm the top navigation's text is a little hard to read on the lighter gradient--have you considered switching from having the page you're on being the darker grey, to being the lighter? It would make sense, as the pages you want them to go to are more important than them seeing that they're on a certain page based on the navigation.

Hmm, yes I might have a go at changing that round.


I like your layout for the most part, though teal and orange are a bit of an odd couple, they work pretty well together.

This is the first template I bought, so I cant claim credit for the general design :)

- Your slogan is tough to read over top that graph. I'd probably take away the graph's 'legend' (I think that's the right word) and put it down there.

Ok, yeah, I may redo that a bit to make it clearer.


- Add a 1px white square to each corner of the orange boxes with arrows in the side navigation, to make them look nice and rounded. It'll make them fit better, and look more personal.

Ok, I shall have a try with that.


You may also want to add a grey border like the navigation has, and rounded corners to the piggy bank on your homepage.
- I'd say it'd be a good idea if you made the headers have a background similar to the navigation, just teal-erized.

And those as well :)

[chromate]

Looks cool. Good work.

I started a UK financial site a while back with the intention of promoting it via PPC.

http://www.ukmoneyalert.co.uk

Only completed the credit card page though, which was the main one I wanted to promote. Not surprisingly, some of the merchants turned down my application to join their affiliate program on the basis that the site wasn't finished. Which is completely understandable :)

So I haven't done anything with the site yet. If you're interested in exchanging links, now or in the future, let me know.

[Chris]

I like it, nice layout, very professional.

[Generalissimo]

Only thing I don't like is it isn't a .com...

[chromate]

Why would you want it to be a .com? Presumably, it's targeted at UK search results.

[Generalissimo]

I'm an internationalist, and .com is less characters than .co.uk....

[r2d2]

I guess people differ in preference, some prefer a .com, some .co.uk. If I was searching for a money site (or anything else that might be relevant to UK only), I would click a .co.uk over a .com though.

Chromate, exchange sounds good, have added your site: http://www.personalmoneyguide.co.uk/resources.php

Thanks for the compliments guys.

Chris

[chromate]

I guess people differ in preference, some prefer a .com, some .co.uk. If I was searching for a money site (or anything else that might be relevant to UK only), I would click a .co.uk over a .com though.

Me too.

I've returned your link here: http://www.ukmoneyalert.co.uk/related_resources.php

[r2d2]

Have now added the rounded corners on the orange bits in the menu, and they look much better, cheers. (Have also made them a pixel bigger)

Got rid of the grpah in the logo altogether, and it looks much clearer.

Have also made the top nav bar a touch darker.

Edit: Ok, thanks Chromate - good luck with the site!

[James]

R2, it'd be a cool idea if you did get the .com domain, you could then use that for an American-targetted version of the site.

[r2d2]

Yes, good suggestion James - I have that sorted now :)

[Mike]

Love the design R2, good luck with it :)

[r2d2]

Cheers Mike :)

[r2d2]

Typical! This thread is higher than my site! Google search for "personal money guide" (http://www.google.com/search?q=%22personal+money+guide) :rolleyes:

[MarkB]

LOL. It won't last - build those backlinks! ;)

[James]

Not as bad as for my cheats site (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=cheatfire&btnG=Search).