Tips To Increase Surfer Productivity?
 

I posted this in the Webmaster Q & A Section but no one wants to answer. Hopefully I'll have better luck here...

I've recently redesigned the index of my text TGP/MGP site in hopes of boosting productivity, but to no avail thus far. Could you take a look at my site, by CLICKING HERE, and recommend some possibilities to improve the visitor to click ratio?

I've taken several factors into account: surfer origin, server speed, gallery placement, etc. I don't understand why my productivity is still low...it's usually around 90-130% overall...but my trades (and I've tried many) seem to stay in the range of 20-70% productivity.

I'm hoping to get my trades up to around 200% and an overall of about 220-250% productivity.

Here are some ideas I've come up with:

Possibly adding pictures to increase clicks (downside: I'm trying to stay away from pics to help avoid 2257 issues)

Deleting top banner to move galleries up (downside: Less sales)

Changing color scheme (downside: I don't know if this will help...anyone know if light bg colors outperform dark bg colors prod-wise?)

Adding More Categories (downside: Takes a lot of time...which would suck if it wasn't part of the problem)

Having Categorized Sections on Main Page (5 or so galleries per category, sorted alphabetically)


So, as you can see, I have given this some thought...and yet my productivity remains fairly low. I've tried quite a few different trades but none of the traffic is doing too well overall...so if you have any suggestions/relevant links/etc, I would appreciate hearing them.

Thank you,
c-lo

- dump the welcome to my TGP paragraph
- left justify the descriptions
- go to a softer color scheme
- dont skim so much
- get a proper logo

Hey thanks for the recommendations, Shemp.

Right now I am skimming a little more than I should to the trades...1st click to galleries, and then 60% to trades on 2nd click...I did this so I could send more to trades due to low productivity.

As for the logo, I had one...but using a text header helps me get more SE traffic. The same can be said for the 'welcome to my tgp' paragraph. I know it eats up space but it also gets me good SE placement. Perhaps I'll shorten it...or delete it if nothing else works.

What do you mean by 'softer' color scheme? Lighter colors?

I may try left justifying it and removing the date from the descriptions.

By the way, did my site load at a reasonable speed? I thought my server speed may be an issue...

Thanks for the help man. I thought I'd never get a reply.


c-lo

dont argue, just do it... :)
your site looks like a piece of junk that a sponsor throws together, so every surfer can become a webmaster overnite...

you need a logo, so people can remember the site..
the load time was average for me...
i would try lighter colors..

Yay for shemp daddy

shemp - how can I improve www.foxyreviews.com please?

Alright alright...I'll take your advice. I don't have that many bookmarkers so I guess I'll toy around with the color scheme and what not.

And while I don't appreciate having my site called a "piece of junk that a sponsor throws together, so every surfer can become a webmaster overnite..." I am open for additional ideas on how to avoid this look.


Thanks again,
c-lo

i would hire a competent designer..
that index page is horrible... are you trrying to scare people away?
on the main page, a lot of the right hand text is almost impossible to read.
actually, i thought the name of the page was RTA...

your site needs an indentity, something that will separate it from the thousands of faceless sites out there...the day you opened that site, you started to compete with the Hun and AL4A and Worldsex...you gotta bring something to the table..

I agree. I do need more features that other TGPs lack. I need to diversify to build a consumer base more quickly...I guess I'm not fully aware of my options. I'm gonna brainstorm for a while and use the advice you've given me. Hopefully it will help my productivity. I appreciate the help.

You're not available on ICQ, are you? I can't find your info anywhere...:(
If you do have ICQ, my # is 308-743-669. I'd greatly appreciate it if we could have a brief chat.


Thanks,
c-lo

the info to contact me is on my webmaster page.
there is a link to it near the bottom of my tgp page

Well I thought about being a pessimist in the last post, but decided against it. But now that I take a look at Worldsex it really doesn't seem THAT different from my site...to me anyways.

Isn't it nearly impossible to grow a TGP to the size of Worldsex these days? IMO that site isnt that great...he just got in before the market was raped with saturation.

I'm using this site as an example because, out of the ones you mentioned, I suppose it's the most similar to mine. The main differences I notice are: he has black, dark blue, and yellow whereas I have black, light blue, and pink. He has more ads, shorter descriptions, and several columns whereas I only have 1 column. His site is spread out more wheras mine is kind of 'compact'.
He also uses a larger font.

I just can't see how my site looks anymore like something a sponsor threw together than his site does. I could replicate Worldsex if I wanted, but I'm not a dick so I'm not gonna try to rip the guy off.

All in all I just find it odd that many of the largest text tgps are the oldest, and it would seem that design has little to do with their traffic. There's no denying that it is much more difficult to start a TGP from scratch today than it was in 1995-1999. Perhaps it costs less today, but as far as design skills go, all the oldest (coincidentally largest) TGPs arent that impressive.

To me, sites like Wow TGP are impressive, even though he did just pay a guy to design it. Sites like Easy Pic and the Hun aren't so impressive IMO.

I don't mean to offend any of these sites owners, but come on...what do they have that most smaller new TGPs dont have (besides a decade of bookmarkers)?

That's all. If you'd like to debate this, feel free...perhaps I'll learn something amidst our argument. :)


later
c-lo

The man has spoken... listen hard, listen good, and listen long... :2 cents:

Thanks Shemp, I'll try to get in touch ASAP. Don't hate me for posting that previous post. It's nothing more than a release of pent up frustration. It's not directed at anyone specifically, especially not you since you've been such a help.

I'm still open to additional suggestions.


later
c-lo

By the way, I won't be implementing any of these tips until tomorrow...so don't think I've disregarded your posts.


All the Best
c-lo

Can take care of this with some CSS :)

Thanks Shemp

yup. listen to the shemp :thumbsup