GFY Front End Contest Judge Feedback
 

There's a lot of bitching and moaning in the results thread and I didn't want this on page three. I know at least two of us (Dave and I) put a lot of thought into this judging, and I'm sure the rest of the judges did also. I spent 2 hours digging thru the sites in which case... my 15 hour day was extended to 17.

I was actually one of the first designers hired by Lensman back in '99, he's the one that showed me how to make sites that sell. I didn't judge these sites according to who had the hot shit Photoshop skills, but rather who could build a site that sells.

I took the time to take these notes because I think they contain usefull feedback to help you guys in your careers.

Two general dislikes... why submit a tour that's not completed? 3/4 of the sites didn't even have fucking complete join pages (the most important page, IMHO). Before you start pointing the finger analyze what you could have done wrong. If you're designing a template type site (cookie cutter), design it for 800X600 resolution without having the tour button below the fold of the page... you're just screwing yourself and your client by having it below the fold.

Lensman's site won because it's built from the ground up to sell, Lensman and the Adult.com crew definetly have their shit together.

If some of you designers want to read the notes below I hope you find my feed back useful:

A - Zexy: Free tour button is below the fold of the page at 800X600 (very bad). Tight design with hot porn star chicks. Good color usage. Nice use of mouse over animation on videos page. No price on the join page. Verbiage needs work. Not enough join graphics through out. I'd prefer a little harder sell.

B - Hot XXX Blondes: Killer layout. Overused content. The hip hop font is hard to read (it's readable but who's going to take the time when it's easier to look at the pictures). The small text is hard to ready in the middle of each page (it's readable but who's going to take the time when it's easier to look at the pictures). Flashing Join Now button is good ( I like the hard sell). Left chick on tour3 is over sharpened. Not enough links to the join page. No price on the join page. "100 PERCENT SAFE" text should be high lighted on the join page.

C - Schoolgirl Angels: Color selection for index fonts doesn't highlight text enough. Needs enough nudity on the index page page to grab the surfers attention. Needs animation on the join page (At least the free tour link). The whole tour needs more nudity. Schoolgirls3.html is the best page, nice big fonts... still no animation. Incomplete join page... WTF. You would have placed much better if you took the time to create animations and finish the join page.

D - Black Butter: Really phat design... would have made the big text in the middle right a different color to set it off from the background. The chick on page two isn't black:). Damn Amp... the free tour button is below the fold of the page at 800X600 :(. Nice use of animation. Nice use of suggestive text. Pretty dope site IMHO, a few minor tweaks and it'll be even more of a winner.

E - X Toon: Another phat design. The tit animation kicks ass (and will get the surfers attention). Great artwork and animations. It says Join Toon X and 4 sites free" but then it doesn't say anywhere what the other sites are, associate a value with what they are getting free. Join page looks good.... would be better if you added info on the other free sites they get too.

Continued next post...

Continued...

F - Xtreme Dreams: Design looks good. Needs animated "TAKE TOUR" graphic to grab surfers attention. Too much smart blur on the babes on photos.html. Needs animate continue button or join button. IMHO Ask for the sale at least twice per page. Suggestive text needs work... "YOU SHOOT" on movies.html, what the heck does that mean and why is it taking up the best real estate on the page? "I'M NOT THAT INNOCENT YOU KNOW!" hmmm... sounds lame. Change that text to... "You might think I'm innocent but... I really crave hard cocks shoved up my ass!" :)~. Could use better coloring to highlight the text. I like the little cuttout at the bottom with sales text sitting on the background. On bonus.html the fonts could be biggter... good coloring though. Not enough links to the join page throughout the whole tour. In most cases the point of a tour is to get eyeballs in front of the join page. WTF... bonus.html join link loops to bonus.html. Why bother entering an unfinished design in this contest? If I knew it was half assed I wouldn't have taken the time to rate it. :(

G - Teen Stop: Nice color usage. There's a little horizontal scroll at 800X600 and the continue button is below the fold. What the heck does "Independent site parts updates!" mean?. I read the rest of the text and it reads as if the designer does not speak English as a primary language... no worries, just make sure your clients proof their text before you go live. :) Why does tour1.html pop in a new window? THe animated continue button is good. a highlighted join now! button would have been better. SOme of the babes don't look like teens. Nice animation on tour2.html... it should have a phat blind Click Here to Watch graphic right in the middle. Incomplete join form... why did half of you not complete the join form it's the most important page inthe tour? :(

H - Wood Nymph & Holly Potter: No domain/branding on the main page. At 800X600 the bottom link is below the fold (very bad). The text at the top of the main page is some of the most valuable space on the page and you wasted it with silly text.I stay away from purposely mispelling words "Halp" (I'm assuming you did that on purpose). Doesn't look like you preloaded the mouseover graphics (They take too long to load). Holly Potter is kind of fugly. YOu could have at least shown some nipple on the index page. Nice animated Instant Access graphic. The preview button is a little strange. It's not clear that the button goes to the next page in the preview. This tour is kind of a mind fuck with out a clear path to the join page. Join page looks good but... how much does access cost? WOuld you click on a join form button without knowing how much access costs?

Continued next post...

Continued...

I - Naturally Large Boobs: Nice animation and coloring on the bottom links. Girls Bios are always good to have too :) Needs more links to the join page... (ask for the sale twice per page). Free sample videos is a kick ass sales tool. YOu could get more mileage out of it by putting on then index page "FREE XXX Sample Videos Inside!". tour1.html Cherry's tits are small :)~. IMHO the domain name at the top right could be bigger. Definetly needs more links to the join page. ANother incomplete join page... how lame :(. Nice color useage through out the site. COuld use some suggestive text and not just specs on what's in the site. Tell how the chicks love having hard cocks rammed between there tits and huge loads of warm cum shot on their chins. :)

J - Web Young: Nice bios with suggestive text on the index. Three links to the join page is good. Nice spread shot on the index page is good. MOre nice bios and clam shots on page2.html. And more links to the join page. Bio text could be highlighted a little better IMHO. Animating the Join NOW graphics would be better also. hmmm... 3rd page of bios... what about videos Live chat and all that good shit? The 4th page of bios and join buttons... and another incomplete join page. You need to let the surfer know what they are going to get inside. Mix it up some between bios, site info, and suggestive text.

K - Young Teen Nudes: Nice :"Get instant access now" animation is good. Text lower left should be highlighted better. The chicks don't look like teens. Nice hardcore shots on tour1.html. Nice overview of XXX Movies. Why is the first letter of every word capitalized? Nice screen shot of the chat interface on tour2.html. To much text... text is important but there could be another good hardcore pic on tour2.html. Un finished join page... the most important part.

L - Wild & Ready: This motherfucker is built to sell I wouldn't change a thing except... add a free embedded video. The email grabber on the join page rocks.

Regards,

SixNine
SoulCash.com

:thumbsup

SixNine, I just wanna say thank you for taking the time to do this.... it looks like the same process I went through myself when looking at the sites for the first time.... great input! :thumbsup

sorry it had to be for nothing bro.....

Thank's for the very helpfull info :)

No problem Amp... if somebody gets something out of the feedback it was worth it... and I won't have to sit around waiting 3 months for you to return my calls because someone else will have their shit wired tight. :)

SixNine

congratulations Sixnine!

If I were a graphic designer I would be very pleased to get such a detaileed feedback. From your notes I realise many things I should consider as webmaster too. :thumbsup

Yup... there was quite a bit of obvious shit left out on some of the designs.

SixNine

Great analysis, that's why SixNine is a successful paysite operator, because he knows what converts and even more importantly ... why.

Wow I've learned a lot from your feedback.

I have a 1 page teen tour that does around 1:500 and I'm going to try your suggestions to get that ratio better.

thanks SixNine!

:thumbsup

thanks for taking the time to post all that after spending time reviewing..

great feedback btw

I said it first... wild & ready is going to be a fucking cash cow:thumbsup

The things I said don't always work but they outline a good formula to use as a starting point... surfers are trigger happy... give them something on the index page that makes them stop then...tell (don't ask) the surfer to join your site while always directing them towards the join page. Put a counter on each page and keep track of the surfers surfing pattern through your tour. if half of the surfers aren't reaching the join page tweak the tour.

Damn that fucking truth serum... hope it wears off soon :)

SixNine
SoulCash.com

holy shit man... I was just re-reading what you wrote and had a flashback.... my girl told me someone called a while ago, (a loooooong while ago) and I was in the shower.... she told me it was you and by the time I got out I had completely fuckin' spaced it out man......


oops..... :(

SixNine,

This has to be one of the most useful posts I've seen on GFY in a long, long time. Although I wasn't competing in the design off I'm sure those who did will appreciate your extensive analysis of their sites.

Don't blow this off guys, its an excellent chance to learn from your own mistakes. Not many people are willing to take the time to write a brutally honest critque on your site.

Man that is what I call a great learning experience. Thanx for the info SixNine!!:thumbsup

great reading Six9..now I see why I pick your brain!:thumbsup

Right on guys...

AMP yea that was me man... I know a babe in San Jose that need a quote for a foot fetish site. She's coming to Internext with me so she can decide what she wants to do.

I'll hit you after the show for a quote (hopefully I'll talk her out of the foot fetish niche)

SixNine
SoulCash.com

Damn,

I'm bookmarking this page!

Thanks dude, I think this is the most informative thread of the week, (A new idea for a contest) Great read although dont plan on designing still fun

Wow, what a truly informative thread. Thanks, SixNine, for posting your notes on a public board! I'm inspired :)

Sixnine, that was awesome info.....coming from you and backed by Lensman gives it all some very sound credibility. Those are some words to remember for all the paysite owners.
:thumbsup to Sixnine & Lensman

Yea Lightning, Lensman and I go back a little ways. :)

FUCK...
The truth serum is starting to wear off... now I wish I never started this thread.

:)Just Kidding:)

SixNine

well done sixnine. very insightful and spelled out to a tee so even the newbies can understand. Want a copy writing job =)

Don't say that, then they'll think I cheated and had you vote for us. The truth is I don't think you knew who's sites those were.

And definantly don't tell them how you got your nic :winkwink:

Hey man, great comments.

For people like me and other starting designers this can be very usefull to read :thumbsup

Q.

wow sixnine plz be my GURU :thumbsup

What a fucked up end to a really kewl contest :( I'm sure the people that acted like professionals will still clean house with mass contract work. :)

hehe my old nick was lame compared to SixNine, I'm glad you put a gun to my head and made me change it :thumbsup

srikanth... you've got to blaze your own trail but feel free to hit me up anytime: 27263279... <--- SixNine leans over to his business card to double check that's his ICQ number aaaaaaand... yes it is! >

SixNine

Nice post man

you know what your are talking about

all your sites convert and Kick ass

thanks for the design work you have done for me in the past


Too bad you still dont have your
design company around Blackhorse studios
you could show some of your mainstream stuff
that shit rocked


Tanker

Not to be an ass, since I don't care either way and wasn't in the competition, but the original point of this contest was hot shit Photoshop skills.

Everyone who built a tour built them to showoff their graphic skills. That's why some of the major flaws in the designs that you pointed out exist in the first place. These tours weren't built to sell. They didn't need to be finished. The location of the join button didn't matter.

Just letting you know why some of the flaws were there. Not because these people don't know how to build tours that convert, but because conversion ability didn't matter previously.

SixtyNine - don't let them behind the curtain ;)

VERY informative post...

Thanx a bunch SixNine!

I never got any comments constructive as this one on my designs... I've been doing adult designs for almost 2 years now and still learned a lot from those posts you added...

This is worth gold man... :winkwink:

THANX!

bat

Well... the top 3 winners have complete tours...

Building a groovy tour with no join page is like building a really nice house with no doors, and saying...
8 year old kid voice---> "You didn't say it needed doors":Graucho

SixNine

Very Insightful SixNine !

I might be stupid for asking this, but where can I find the URL's to the sites reviewed?

Other than that, great info!! :thumbsup

this thing was from last summer.... it's long gone.

heh