Critique Needed Please

Hey guys,

After some critique please, all comments welcomed (especially bad!) the site has only been up about a month, but through some direct word of mouth marketing I've managed to attract 140 members. As a freelance designer I've put a lot of time and effort into the design, hoping you all like it, feedback so far has been good.

My site is www.DesignForums.co.uk

Interested in hearing feedback on SEO side in particular, as we are yet to start ranking for any search terms, being quite new and all, the main phrase I'm targeting is 'design forum' followed closely by 'web design forum/s' and 'graphic design forum/s'.

I'm hoping my investment in the domain name will help as the site SEO develops.

Look forward to your feedback, and thanks in advance for any replies! Cheers, Greg

Wow the design is awesome! I like it!

Thanks profanitytalker, appreciate your comment
(It took me long enough to get the design how I wanted it!)
Greg

There are some common suggestions in these resources that are still applicable to you:
Your Site Review - Stuff to Do First

http://www.vbseo.com/f2/briansols-ul...e-vbseo-26058/

I like the clean, user friendly style you have created.

Thanks Joe,

I've looked through those threads previously and picked out the one's I thought would make the biggest difference, obviously missed a few by the sounds of things!

I just completed the removal of the forum title in the thread/post titles, so that will hopefully help with some long tail search traffic

Are there any other specific changes you would recommend?
Thanks for your comment on the design, glad you like it!

Thanks,
Greg

The forum title on showthread pages, etc, was one item.

I also recommend the "Replace showpost with Permalink option".

You'll want to get those blog updates on the homepage fixed too.

However, you do seem to have done a nice job.

For marketing purposes, you might want to work on getting a nice hook/high interest promo items featured on your site somewhere. I think your biggest eye catcher right now is your "folio updates".

Thanks for your quick reply Joe.

Originally Posted by Joe Ward

I also recommend the "Replace showpost with Permalink option"

Cool thanks just done that one I think.

Originally Posted by Joe Ward

You'll want to get those blog updates on the homepage fixed too.

Yep, thats a definite on my to-do list, just waiting to get the Wordpress theme coded that will be forming the blog part of the website on a sub-domain at blog.designforums.co.uk.

Originally Posted by Joe Ward

For marketing purposes, you might want to work on getting a nice hook/high interest promo items featured on your site somewhere. I think your biggest eye catcher right now is your "folio updates".

Do you mean some sort of contest? Or some graphic linking to something that's currently happening on the site?

Thanks again,
Greg

You could do a contest. Maybe even just 5 of your coolest threads. I was not looking for anything particular, even though I am interested in Web design, so I did not look at anything on your forum.

However, if you had 5 of your selected top threads at the top with cool titles, it's possible I might have clicked through to check them out.

So what I am suggesting is something that might help increase the stickiness of your site/decrease the bounce rate by ensuring all new visitors can instantly see something that might reel them in, like a bug light.

Cool thanks for your suggestion Joe, I see what you mean now, is it possible to use the Advanced statistics plugin to get that information to use as a feed for the sidebar do you know? Might try and go with 5 most popular threads and then the 5 blog updates beneath that...

Thanks,
Greg

We modified our welcome headers to do it here. It would also be great if someone would update the vBA stats plugin or hack it extensively.

OK cool thanks Joe, and yes it would be good if there was a decent sidebar plugin like Ultimate Side Columns but with widgets like Wordpress that you could drop in, such as popular threads, active members, etc.

Thanks for your help, are there are any other obvious SEO things I should pick up on?
Thanks, Greg

No I would just keep an eye on your long tail, and start bumping out lots of great content, and linkbait.

Hi Gfin what particularly is great about your site is the sidebar. It looks great! I really want one like that for my forum. How much do you charge for you to make my forum have your kind of sidebar?

Originally Posted by Joe Ward

No I would just keep an eye on your long tail, and start bumping out lots of great content, and linkbait.

Cool thanks Joe, I'm on the case

Originally Posted by profanitytalker

Hi Gfin what particularly is great about your site is the sidebar. It looks great! I really want one like that for my forum. How much do you charge for you to make my forum have your kind of sidebar?

Thanks profanitytalker, glad you like it, unfortunately I'm too snowed under with my current work and forums to take on any vB projects, sorry! You could try a plugin called Ultimate Side Columns to make your own sidebar, I hear that's pretty good.

Got the 'Hot Threads' added to my forum sidebar, thanks for the suggestion Joe