visualskirmish Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 Hey Guys, We launched our site http://www.visualskirmish.com about 6 months ago and we are having trouble getting traffic. I'm in the process of doing some SEO work, adding links and what not but we can't seem to get any organic clicks, just the cpc from Adwords which cost way too much. Any good ideas to generate more traffic? We also are experiencing that many of our users that join do not actually join a contest, they might upload a pic or video but do not actually join. If it is the entry fee, where could we find sponsors for our contests? Any ideas for graphic design or api? Thanks for your comments! James Arnold Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/196151-visual-skirmish-video-and-photo-contests/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewooleymammoth Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 get bumper stickers made and send them to people who join for free. become active on a large multimedia forum and put your site in the signature. also reference things from your site on the forum when talking to other members. add a forum to your own site. Your main banner flash thing starts with calculating which caught me off guard and made me stare at that instead of looking at what your site was. many people may be put off by that. I would get rid of the flash. it takes to long to load and looks a little cheesy IMO(Not good for a media site.). I would go with a js based banner thing there if your looking for some pizazz. you could do just fine with static content though. I would also make it a little shorter so the lower content is visible in the screen without having to scroll down. The paragraph below the flash is a little too lengthy. people browsing arnt gonna stop and read that. You need to get your point across in as few lines as possible. Looking at it again, i might just get rid of that whole mid section. its distracting and the bits below it about how much money people are making is more attractive to me. also you should consider clean urls, nicer looking and more search engine friendly I think the site has potential though, i like the idea and the look. Maybe ill enter in some things... (Look the forum idea is working already (don't spam this forum)) as for the entry fee, you could have a varying range of fees (with varying rewards) I might try this out if the fee was 50 cents then move up to a more expensive one once i decide i like it. Or even a free one with something other than cash as a reward (like free entry to a more expensive competition or their art printed on a shirt). hope that helps Or (if nothing else) inspires some of your own ideas Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/196151-visual-skirmish-video-and-photo-contests/#findComment-1030105 Share on other sites More sharing options...
visualskirmish Posted March 22, 2010 Author Share Posted March 22, 2010 Thanks for the comments. I agree the text is a little lengthy, I'll try to shorten that. However, I was planning on using the flash banner to advertise contests and/or sponsors so I may keep that. When you say get rid of the whole midsection, what exactly are you referring to? Thanks for the tips on the forums, I'm working on that. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/196151-visual-skirmish-video-and-photo-contests/#findComment-1030116 Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewooleymammoth Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 the flash and the paragraph. I wouldn't use it for advertising because its so big and the main focus on the page. but that's up to you. I just joined and i dont really like how specefic the catagories are. IMO i would create some larger catagories. Like "digital art", "music video", "stock photos (no photoshop)" etc. After signing up i realized i dont even have the oppertunity to enter any contents because they are too specific. i dont have any pictures of babys or pets and i dont have any suprise videos etc. The catagories should be things people can create or capture when they want to join a contest not just things hopefully i might have. (thats all my opinion, maybe thats not what your going for) Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/196151-visual-skirmish-video-and-photo-contests/#findComment-1030129 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ignace Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 1. Invest in a proffesional looking website 2. Invest in making your website usable and accessible and valid!! 3. Read up on SEO, SEM, SEA, .. make sure to fully understand SEO Handy SEO document freely distributed by Google http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/www.google.com/nl//webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf Learn to use the tools made available by popular search engines (webmaster, analytics, ..) Use Google Analytics to setup Goals and Funnels to see your website progress 4. Learn about writing good copy to lead to a call-to-action These are a few good starters Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/196151-visual-skirmish-video-and-photo-contests/#findComment-1030130 Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcandiottix Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 1. Invest in a proffesional looking website 2. Invest in making your website usable and accessible and valid!! 3. Read up on SEO, SEM, SEA, .. make sure to fully understand SEO Handy SEO document freely distributed by Google http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/www.google.com/nl//webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf Learn to use the tools made available by popular search engines (webmaster, analytics, ..) Use Google Analytics to setup Goals and Funnels to see your website progress 4. Learn about writing good copy to lead to a call-to-action These are a few good starters Agreed ... this site looks "fake" .. I don't mean it in an a**hole way ... but... I'd be very hard pressed to send my paypal info, etc. to this site because it doesn't feel real. And in turn I don't think trust is established. I would definitely refine the look of the website to make it look like a site that is already been up and doing well. Maybe check out deviantart.com ... It's an artist website that's pretty well done. Also try to slim down the main page. There's too much going on. I would have your Flash banner with text links below. Let people watch your flash intro for 10 seconds or so and then let their eyes drift down the page to find links they would be interested in. Instead, you look down and see a blob of everything. It needs separation too. There's a bunch of video tiles in the center but I have no idea which ones are for what. I think the idea is there but in order to have retention, your visitors need to feel comfortable and feel consistency in design. Someone mentioned broadening your subjects for submission.. totally agree =) Good luck! K. Candiotti Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/196151-visual-skirmish-video-and-photo-contests/#findComment-1030842 Share on other sites More sharing options...
visualskirmish Posted March 24, 2010 Author Share Posted March 24, 2010 I don't understand what doesn't look real about it? Is it lack of content? I paid a professional to do the layout, design, and coding. What do you think specifically could be improved? Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/196151-visual-skirmish-video-and-photo-contests/#findComment-1031075 Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewooleymammoth Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 I dont think its too fake looking. I think that the logo/banner text could use a little work, (you could make that a contest) and look a little cheesy. but other than the banner and the flash, i dont think it too fake looking. again with the flash: you should consider that most people will move on to another website within 5 - 10 seconds if they dont see what they are looking for. They also hate scrolling. so having the flash load and take up all the room is probably killing you. I would atleast consider having it made about 25% of its height. or perhaps make it a vertical add and make the width a little smaller. so you can get some content up to the top thats imediatly visible. also consider that the most common screen size is only 768px tall. so between your nav, banner and flash, the main content is very hidden. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/196151-visual-skirmish-video-and-photo-contests/#findComment-1031213 Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcandiottix Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 As a personal preference i don't like the blue. I think it's a bit distracting, especially with the fading in the background. One problem in that you have cluttered font type. You use heading font sizes to attract attention about a main topic... On your site, it's a hodge podge of font weight, size, color... it's all very distracting. I like your site from the top until right below the flash banner. After that it gets way too busy. You have a strangely justified paragraph out of nowhere... get rid of it.. that text should be in an about section or, preferably in the flash animation. The not a member / login bubble... bad place for it. I don't even know what your site is really about and now you want me to join? I'd put this at the button or as a tab up top. The white section with the competitions is good... but the videos below that.... what are those there? There doesn't seem to be any order to them. It says 10 competitions, 8 competition, 7 competitions ...... I don't get what that even means or why that's there. Visual skrimish blog... nay. Get that off the front page and make it a tab. Put recent members below the white thing with the videos .. maybe a sideways scrolling banner of new members. You have way too much horizontal data otherwise... if i read your page left to right im getting bombarded by 5 different topics at once. Polls.... meh.... don't on the front page... put that on the member log in page.. if i'm coming to your site and not found what i'm looking for then i dont care to vote.. if i'm a member i've already logged in before getting down that far.. see the problem? Suggestion box... again, not on the front page. After that the bottom of the page is okay. I don;t care much for the logo either...that font is distracting.. especially when you use such a bland font under it saying "your media competition" ... hope that helps. -K.candiotti Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/196151-visual-skirmish-video-and-photo-contests/#findComment-1031304 Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewooleymammoth Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 i see that you are new to the forum, and i want to impress upon you that these criticisms are not meant to be any kind of attack. At first you may think people are being rude and harsh. They aren't just straight to the point and very opinionated. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/196151-visual-skirmish-video-and-photo-contests/#findComment-1031395 Share on other sites More sharing options...
visualskirmish Posted March 25, 2010 Author Share Posted March 25, 2010 To: thewooleymammoth Thanks for the comments, I rather someone be a little harsh as long as they are honest so I can improve it so its no problem. To: xcandiottix - If not blue, what color would you use? Maybe a lighter blue or green (to indicate money). Would be a lot to change it since some of the graphics have a blue bg. - I thought the logo was kind of cool, I designed it myself...maybe I can change the font. Is the picture of the eye professional enough? - I agree, some are the fonts are off, I'll work on fixing that. - I agree about the paragraph, I was just using that for Seo, but I can put it on the about us page. - We have a login button at the very top as well...I thought the login/register box was nice looking and would be in a good place if I take out that paragraph. - Polls and suggestion box I could probably leave out, Maybe I'll change that to suggest a contest. - Blog, I kind of like there not sure where else it could go...maybe on the community page. - Although, if i take out all of this then it would be just empty space, might look funny. - If you look at it there are competitions, then right below are the top 3 photos or videos vertically per competition, maybe i need a divider line. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/196151-visual-skirmish-video-and-photo-contests/#findComment-1031647 Share on other sites More sharing options...
visualskirmish Posted March 25, 2010 Author Share Posted March 25, 2010 Eric - I forgot, I made a music video contest just for you bud Check it out in browse contests Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/196151-visual-skirmish-video-and-photo-contests/#findComment-1031659 Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewooleymammoth Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 i noticed you start in 150 entries on some of them, they are only at like 5, you might want to decrease the amount of people needed. You should also simply base the prize on how many people joined. so if fifteen people joined at 2 bucks each and i win 10 bucks id probably be happy with that. the way it is now i am likely to forget it exists because there is no suspense. there is no deadline for me to check in on. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/196151-visual-skirmish-video-and-photo-contests/#findComment-1031702 Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewooleymammoth Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 i just found a bug as well. i uploaded a large image (3.5MB) and it thought it was a video Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/196151-visual-skirmish-video-and-photo-contests/#findComment-1031716 Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnoTheDev Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 Any good ideas to generate more traffic What are your Google rankings for your target keyphrases? The issue with your site is that it has no solid content that a search engine could use to understand what the site is actually about. To me it just looks like a mish mash of all kinds of random stuff like pictures / videos etc. It looks like one of those crappy directory / social bookmarking based scripts with a skin on it like pligg or php motion. Another thing is that your urls are totally unfriendly to search engines. use mod_rewrite to make them friendly and get some keywords in them. Also your page titles are duplicated across the site. Each click should use a different title to indicate to a search engine that this page is different content to the last page. If all your page titles say 'Visual Skirmish | Video Contest, Photo Contest, Win Cash Prizes' then Google will put this site in the sandbox (duplicate content) bin. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/196151-visual-skirmish-video-and-photo-contests/#findComment-1031721 Share on other sites More sharing options...
visualskirmish Posted March 25, 2010 Author Share Posted March 25, 2010 Eric: which pic are you referring to? Neil: Funny thing is I haven't got one organic click with these yet. Rankings: online photo contest - not sure photo contest - I have no idea photo contests - no idea photo contest win cash #19 photo contest with cash #46 photo contest with cash prizes #45 video contests - #37 video contest - no idea Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/196151-visual-skirmish-video-and-photo-contests/#findComment-1031755 Share on other sites More sharing options...
visualskirmish Posted March 25, 2010 Author Share Posted March 25, 2010 Also, I updated the logo graphic, I couldnt find a font I like so I just made the logo look a better, you may have to refresh to see it. I took out the words below the flash animation as well. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/196151-visual-skirmish-video-and-photo-contests/#findComment-1031765 Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewooleymammoth Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 Eric - I forgot, I made a music video contest just for you bud Check it out in browse contests nice lol, I dont have the time to make a video right now, ive been doing a lot of digital art though. If there were a contest i could enter these in i would, but they dont fit anywhere. http://5wooley4.deviantart.com/ I may have figured out why that bug occured. it was a large file in CMKY format. Deviant art told me that browsers dont work with CMKY. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/196151-visual-skirmish-video-and-photo-contests/#findComment-1031783 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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