I decided to redesign my golf site...opinions?

[deronsizemore]

Well I guess like most designers, we're very rarely happy with our work, and I wasn't either with www.kentuckygolfing.com. I liked the design, but everything that I wanted to do with it, I couldn't. So I decided today to site down and design something else, more practical for my needs and not try to be so "web 2.0ish" (sorry I like those style sites) and just design something that will serve the purpose, yet hopefully is somewhat visually appealing.

Here is the design:

www.kentuckygolfing.com/kentuckygolfing.gif


Please let me know what you think as a comparison to my old design, as well as let me know what you think about the ad positions I've chosen. I tried to design this site with ad placement in mind, but since I'm still new to all of it, my placement might be terrible.

Thanks everyone.

[Chris]

roughly the same design... the 2nd one just has that green bubble at the bottom?

In anycase, the adsense placement to the right of your logo is poor. That isn't a screen hotspot despite being at the top. Right below your logo would perform exponentially better. You could always put a CPM leaderboard from an ad network above your logo, or a 468 to the right of it.

The Adsense placement below the recent photos is awesome, BUT, change the fonts on all the links below it (that whole column) to bold. This'll make it blend in even more. More people should do placements like this. Sure, its a small unit, and with bigger units you get more ads, but these things can hide really well.

You have room for 2 more adsense placements, I'd do this:

1. 468 right above recent forum discussions, try mixing it up and match the link color green (to match the recent posts above it) instead of blue.

2. Your adlink unit, in the central column between recent posts & recent comments

[Chris]

As for the design... its awfully white/bright.

http://www.wilderness-survival.net

See how on that design I got a dirt texture filling in what would be whitespace on the sides? I do it kinda too on my literature site (but just with a beige wash) it lowers the overall amount of light jutting out from the user's monitor and I think makes sites easier to read.

So, consider finding a short grass texture (http://images.google.com/images?svnum=100&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-44%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=grass+texture) to fill in the margins with. I think it could look cool.

[Chris]

oh... one other tip... if you do go with the grass texture see how it looks as is, but also see how it looks if you load it up in photoshop, add a hue adjustment layer, and colorize it to match the shade of green you use in your logo.

[deronsizemore]

Whoa! Thanks for the responses. Wasnt' expecting anything that quick. :)

Chris,

Yeah, no difference except for the green recent forum discussion section. I think I like the one without the green section better though, now that I look at it again.

1. I was thinking of changing the ad next to the logo under the logo but wasn't sure. I know google shows a better hotspot where under the logo would be. I'll change that one now that I know for sure.

2. Does google have CPM leaderboards/468 that would go next to the logo? If not, where would be the best to go for a CPM ad?

3. Thanks for the suggestion about the grass. That never crossed my mind, but agree that it could look good. I'll have to find some good grass images and start messing around with that.

[Chris]

Eventually you could go to Burst/TribalFusion for a CPM ad, but I would leave it off for now. Just keep it in mind as a future placement if your traffic really grows.

[deronsizemore]

Eventually you could go to Burst/TribalFusion for a CPM ad, but I would leave it off for now. Just keep it in mind as a future placement if your traffic really grows.


Yeah, until you have traffic, I guess CPM would be worthless. For the time being I'm thinking about just putting some sort of graphic by the logo trying to get more people to sign up for the forum.

Something else I was thinking about. Do you think a small ad like the one under the recent pictures would be good right under the search? Or would you just leave it where its at currently but add another between the posts and comments?

[deronsizemore]

EDIT: See link in first post for updated design.

[Chris]

Yeah, until you have traffic, I guess CPM would be worthless. For the time being I'm thinking about just putting some sort of graphic by the logo trying to get more people to sign up for the forum.

Something else I was thinking about. Do you think a small ad like the one under the recent pictures would be good right under the search? Or would you just leave it where its at currently but add another between the posts and comments?
Well you only get 3 ad units per page with Google, and I don't think it'll beat the two 468's in performance, so no, I wouldn't recommend another one.

You could expiriment with putting just the one either above or below the pictures. See which one has the better ctr.

[deronsizemore]

Oh yeah, I forgot you are only allowed three.

Thanks for your help!

[A.N.Onym]

Instead of focusing on the visual layout, you'd rather focus on the site functionality and ease of navigation.

Are all the right-hand menu points necessary? Can you put them in distinct groups?

I don't see a reason why you can't put put the recent stuff in the sidebar to have more blog posts at the front.

[deronsizemore]

Instead of focusing on the visual layout, you'd rather focus on the site functionality and ease of navigation.

Are all the right-hand menu points necessary? Can you put them in distinct groups?

I don't see a reason why you can't put put the recent stuff in the sidebar to have more blog posts at the front.


I'm not sure I understand what you're asking with the right hand menu points and them all being necessary? I think they are necessary, but I'm open to other suggestions always....

Good suggestion about the recent forum posts, I think they would better served in one of the right menu columns. This would allow more blog posts, or what I'm thinking, below the blog posts, I'll have three or four recent "instruction" articles for golf tips.

I definitely agree with you also, the site has to be functional with ease of navigation, but I don't think that should stop me from also focusing on the visual side of things. Both visual and functional are definitely attainable...doesn't have to be one without the other.

[yelena66]

I must disagree.


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