Honda Civic forum (Civinfo) crit please

[Pottsy]

OK, I'll put on my bravest face for the incoming!

Civinfo - Honda Civic Forum
Civinfo - Honda Civic Forum
Main Page - Civinfo Wiki

I started the forum about 15 months ago, purely for the UK and Euro new (2006+) Honda Civic. So that's pretty niche, and wasn't expecting much. After only a few months, the official Honda sponsored discussion site (it was a blog, so pretty poor) was closed down.

The site has gone from phpBB to vb, and now to vB+vBSEO. Growth is steady (typically 20 users a day). The style now is just a rough copy of the phpBB style we had when we changed from phpBB.

I recently (after reading an article here) went a bit wild with the ads for guests (and stripped loads of stuff like sigs). Ads for registered users go up to top-right and footer. Ads for paid subscribers vanish altogether.

I know the site is very close to standard vB, but any pointers from the pros would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

[ivcceo]

Nice forum. A couple of quick things.

One the main page, you have two areas of login. You could either use a half ad banner or put a banner for your own site with a big "Join Us" sort of graphic.

The nav area and login could go above the google ads. Most people are used to logins in the upper left and this will also help ctr.

You can also play with the default style and change the colors. No custom skin needed for that. Try shades of gray, blue, black.