I am working on Beer Goggle Hell and could really use some constructive input. Seems to be getting a decent amount of traffic, however the traffic doesn't seem to convert into comments, postings, or story submissions.

Does anyone see anything immediatly wrong with it?

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You should get a Twitter account and promote the site there...you could get tweets reporting checkpoints and DUI sightings, etc so that you can post really new information to your site...this would give it the power of fresh up-to-the-minute helpful information.

It's a bit of a disappointment to go to a site and have the 1st thing seen be a post that you know there is little content and "hope" to have that rectified soon...but you posted that 12/11 and it is now 1/5...

Every post I looked at was completely empty of comments...this doesn't encourage comments. Seed your posts with some comments to get the ball rolling.

"Beer for Stories Giveaway!” doesn't mean much to me. How about
"FREE Beer for Your Stories!"
No one cares about your database problems. So how about
"This site is new! It is about beer, beer and more beer! And everything to do with drinking.
Submit your stories and comments to get the ball rolling and WIN BEER."

What are people searching for to find your site? Have you optimized it for that? This looks like it will be fun by the way!

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Website Design, Graphics and Illustration

I like the design of your website. In order to promote it you should use DIGG or ehow (write an article) and submit a free press release. Will give you a lot of traffic.

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That is some very insightful information.

Sharon,

I took your advice and made it "Free Beer for your Stories!" I also removed any mention of the database and put your wording in. I loved it!

I hope it will be fun for everyone.

SisterSledge,

I really like the twitter idea. I will have to put some thought into that for sure. I made that post a sticky so people would know about the contest. Do you think I should remove the sticky?

Krigerrand,

Digg is great and I use it now. I will certainly check out ehow. What I need is to have my contest on Fark LOL.

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Looking Good! Your site is new, I gather. It does not have page rank at the moment. What I do with new sites is to register the page with google, yahoo, msn (the free submit) and some directories. I write a couple of articles about whatever the site is about and either put it on squidoo.com or article submit places...they allow you to link to your site. In your case, I would be looking for advertising from local beer companies and ask them to link to you. I would be socially bookmarking it and asking my friends to do the same. I would put a bookmark button on the front page so that people can do it without thinking or trying very hard. AddThis - Get Your Button

You can also put a poll on the front page. People love to answer questions. www.pollcode.com does free polls and you can remove the pollcode link from the box. Just make sure the link is target="blank" so that they don't leave your page behind!

And when you are getting more visitors, consider adding a cluster map to the bottom, they are fun
http://www.clustrmaps.com/

I also register my site with McAfee Site Advisor which will show users of that service tht your site is safe with a green bar and a green button beside your name in google. Good luck!

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Website Design, Graphics and Illustration

The site isn't really new. I had it in Coldfusion and decided to reprogram in php, then went a completly different direction and used wordpress as a backend.



I believe the pagerank issue is because while i was revamping I had the site turned off completely. I was only getting a little traffic and I just thought that would work out better in the long run if I launched with everything functioning properly.

So I guess for all intents and purposes it is new. LOL

Those tips are excellent and I truly do appreciate it.

I was thinkng my navigation might need improving.

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407-843-7277

Three comments...what is wrong with your navigation? It looks fine to me, mind you at my age i am not your demographic.

Also, I entered a comment after your Bettie Page article. Since your input text is white, and in Firefox the background colour in input boxes is a horrible yellow...I don't know why they do that...I could not see what I had written or that I had actually written anything in the first 2 boxes (name and email) until I highlighted it after. At first, I thought it was not accepting my input at all.

I know there is a yellow box hell overrride for firefox, but to be frank, it has never worked for me, but maybe it will for you.

And thirdly, your page has to look like someone is having a party someplace and I am not there! OMG!! But on your first page you have terrible photos of broken down old men with DUI charges. One is ok....two is depressing!!

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Website Design, Graphics and Illustration

Again very good points. Hmmm Maybe I should have a party lol.

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I like your tag cloud but its in Flash which means not search engine friendly. Overall, not a bad design

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The tag cloud utilizes SWFobject to make it SE friendly. Normally a great point. If you don't know about SWFobject you should check it out.

Sharon,

after making those changes I have had about 4 submission. Thank you so much!


SisterSledge,

How would you go about seeding comments?

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By the way, Stephen, I have since found out that according to McAfee, 800 million (!!!) people use their services. That may be an exaggeration, however there are enough that it is worth it to submit your site to them so that you get the green check mark!!

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Website Design, Graphics and Illustration

Stephen, Stephen, Stephen! This is not acceptable...makes you look dumb:

Only 8 days left before we start the vote on who will when the free beer for the best beer story. It is not to late to submit your story or stories.

Should read:

Only 8 days left before we start the vote on who will win the free beer for the best beer story. It is not too late to submit your story or stories.

Keep your contest close to the top..maybe in the right column...if you go down too far, people may not see it and it is still your featured event.

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Website Design, Graphics and Illustration

OMG That is bad!

I love your honesty! I'll see if I can't move some things around to keep it up at the top.

Thanks!

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407-843-7277

I really like the site and logo I think its need you did a good job on the design and layout. valerie

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You should mark the pressed menu tub. It's difficult understand where is user situated on the site.

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Sorry to be so slow in coming back to answer your questions ...but to be honest, I rarely return for a second look on these reviews. If you have questions to me, might help to contact directly and I'll be happy to answer direct or drop back by to put them here if you prefer.

"I really like the twitter idea. I will have to put some thought into that for sure. I made that post a sticky so people would know about the contest. Do you think I should remove the sticky?":

Looks like you've removed the sticky now that you've gotten stories and moved forward...looking really good - I like the stories you've posted and lotsa fun content. I think you've got a good niche going and will go far with the right promotions.

"How would you go about seeding comments?":

You can seed comments by writing them anonymously as if you were a visitor or you can ask your friends/family/acquaintances to post comments.

Have you set up on Twitter yet? There are so many beer drinkers and brewers on there that you'll have a rush of traffic if you do things right...

Here are a few Twitter searches on your niche:
homebrew beer - Twitter Search
hangover - Twitter Search
embarassing drunk - Twitter Search

You could send a tweet to each of those peeps in the results requesting stories and linking to your site.

~edited for typo~

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