Hey all I revamped my site months ago and went to straight wordpress blog, but never asked you kind people to review. I personally feel it's much better than my last version....definitely easier to update....

All opinions are welcome, I'm sure there's much that needs to be tightened up, so you all let me have it brutally please..

http://www.SouthernRapNews.com

__________________
www.SouthernRapNews.com
www.RulingClassEnt.com

hey there Topchoice the design is really good and the content is nice
but there is a readability issue which is the light grey colour you used for the text I think you should make it darker or even black.
and good luck

__________________
check out my Blog Marketing Tips Series , "Part 9" Other Forms Of Content

A Guide To Egypt Learn about the Egyptian Climate and more!

I like the color selection and layout. One thing, why do you have that blank page at the root and then force people to click enter? I would get rid of that.

Joe

Here are a few things that would help.

I agree that having an "entry" page is problematic and I would not likely use one myself, but the biggest issue there is that the "click here" box leads to a 404 error! You have to click on the link further down the page and I suspect that you lose a lot of people who leave after getting the 404 and never notice the link.

When you do enter the site, your first page there loads very slowly. In particular, for whatever reason (at least in my browser--firefox) the header waits for all the rest of page to load, lots of images, before it loads. There are several approaches that could help with that.

Finally I also agree that the text is hard to read. Not enough contrast for my eyes at least.

__________________
Good Success!
James
Douglas County Master Gardeners
"We don't always get what we want, but we always get what we expect."

Hey James and everyone else who replied, thanks for the input...I have an entry page to hit you with an ad as soon as you come to the site. I plan to sell that ad space soon. Why wouldn't that be smart? I'm all ears.

As far as the 404 error...thanks for the heads up, didn't know that ad wasn't working(I try not to click them myself)....I wonder if I move the ENTER link higher and/or make it larger will it make a difference.....as far as the slow loading, did anyone else have that problem, cuz it comes right up for me.

As far as the text goes, I really thought I stepped my game up since my last design, but I'll heed you all's words...thanks again.

I need you all to please respond to this.

__________________
www.SouthernRapNews.com
www.RulingClassEnt.com

looks great layout is very smooth

hi topchoice, In collage I studied graphics & advertising and one of the things I learned was a concept that most advertisers do not pay attention to, this concept is related to whether the main product should be shown in the beginning or at the end in dynamic adds?
and adds on a web site are considered dynamic!!

O.K,,,, here is the important part ... studied show that the product at the beginning is what sticks to the customer's mind

that's why it's never a good idea to advertise someone else before you even start talking about your stuff.

__________________
check out my Blog Marketing Tips Series , "Part 9" Other Forms Of Content

A Guide To Egypt Learn about the Egyptian Climate and more!

In my case though, since I'm not selling any products, and my site is for news and info...does that change that theory?

__________________
www.SouthernRapNews.com
www.RulingClassEnt.com

well actually it's all up to you the theory might even be wrong
and that adv space will sell very well if you make good traffic,
but I personally would move it inside the site and show my stuff on the home page
and by the way "information is a product"
and wish you the best of luck

__________________
check out my Blog Marketing Tips Series , "Part 9" Other Forms Of Content

A Guide To Egypt Learn about the Egyptian Climate and more!

thats a very neat looking site

Looks great dude, very clean and smooth. Hope its a success for you.

__________________
www.the-fight-site.com

I just love that design, very fresh.

With regards to the front-page ad, I would suggest putting that on a randomizer. I don't know how else to call it, but basically, instead of that being your very first page 100% of the time, it be your front page X% of the time. I'm by no means an expert, but does this hurt your listing with google?

Hotscripts.com has plenty of advertisement scripts that you can check into for this if you so choose.

Another suggestion, again with the advertisements, is the google ads between blog posts. I feel that you lose alot of vertical space with the square ads, with horizontal space going to waste; I personally would use the horizontal ones, perhaps the small banner or even the leaderboard.

I would probably also make the blog text a tad bit darker. While it is readable, I do have to strain my eyes somewhat to read it.

I've read a few places that says the square ads are more effective...how do you all feel about this? Also, I have a random thingy with the square ads to avoid ad blindness by rotating the ads either to the left/right/bottom of the post.

__________________
www.SouthernRapNews.com
www.RulingClassEnt.com

the square is good!
but different shapes & sizes fit in different places
so virtually all of them are good, but in the right place

__________________
check out my Blog Marketing Tips Series , "Part 9" Other Forms Of Content

A Guide To Egypt Learn about the Egyptian Climate and more!