Creating a separate homepage.

Shadab · #1 06-06-2008, 06:04 AM

Currently the homepage of my site geekpoint.net is just set to forumhome.
I now decided to create a separate portal-type homepage for it, rather.

And this is what I have come up with :
geekpoint.net/home.php (temporary URL, for development purpose)

A completely table-less layout. (color scheme taken from a website template)
Validates as xHTML1.0 Transitional and CSS 2+ too.

Help needed in these areas :

1. How are the adsense ad placements ?

2. Am I missing something (content-wise) ?

3. URL structuring : Which one is better ?

a. Homepage at / , and ForumHome at /forum.html

b. Home at / , and ForumHome at /forum/ (similar to what vbseo.com does)
[I won't move the whole forum; just rewrite the forumhome using CRR]

Joe Ward · #2 06-08-2008, 03:06 PM

I really like what you have done. I think with some more tweaking you could be a model of the right way to setup up a homepage in front of your forum.

1. For AdSense optimization, try here.

2. I like that you are using articles on the homepage, and have worked on a permanent site description at the top. I think it's fantastic that you have all those direct to forum keyword links at the bottom.

3. I think option (a) might best for you. Keep everything at root, and using forum.html for your forumhome display.

Some other observations:

Quote:

Welcome to GeekPoint : a webmaster oriented Forum.

Discuss on a variety of Business, Web Development and Technology related topics like Website Development & Management, Forum Administration, Search Engine Optimisation & Marketing (SEO/SEM), Programming, Domains, Web Servers, Graphic Designing, Online Business & Marketing, and many more...

For non-technical or off-topic discussions, we have a Chit-Chat (General) section too. Occasionally we organize contests to reward users who actively participate in the Forum.

Text in red, I think can be cut.

Text in purple, I think could benefit from some keyword differentiation, improvement:
Strategy for Optimizing Keywords in Your vBulletin Forum Title and Descriptions

Forum rules, posting guidelines, privacy policy, and blog (until it's actually there) don't really need to be in your upper left navigation block.
I would drop the User Information, and Forum Statistics blocks for guests.
Maybe you could replace the Advertise with Us text with a graphic, or just graphic version of the text.
Same with the RSS feeds text.
Some of the links in your resources page are definitely off-topic. There is also no real text on that page. I assume this is a paid link area, or link trade. No so great to have off-topic links on your forum.