Wanted: Website Review My Second Worpress Site-Thoughts Please!

Aiden Roberts · Jul 16, 2011

Here we have my second attempt at using wordpress to build a minisite dog food bowls, it's not finished yet but I would love too know what you think of my attempt at using easy content units.

The poor acorners who have been talking me through wordpress have no idea how valuable their support has been and I fear that this attempt doesn't do them justice but please bare with me. I know the following areas need attention:

I need a decent logo

I still cant figure out how to put an ad in the box in the header

I am unable to change the font

I need to make the pictures on the right a bit more visually attractive

I have used magazine basic theme and stuck with Amazon for now so please remember this is only my second attempt at building something

Thanks in advance

Aiden

Joeyl · Jul 16, 2011

Heya,

To add a banner to the header, you would need to edit the header.php file you can do this from wp-admin side, under appearance/editor/header.php and then find the current banner placement and replace with your link/banner image.

The outline/categories seem good and varied, good luck with your sites

Tricky1 · Jul 16, 2011

Had an idea for a logo and quickly knocked it up....

Let me know what size and i'll scale it down for you.

Aiden Roberts · Jul 17, 2011

Wow!

Tricky1 that is brilliant, how do I know what size?

Sorry to ask such a stupid question but in the magazine basic theme I just put a file path, I would imagine it is thumbnail size about 150x150.

That really looks great.

Incidently the site is on page 1 G for 2 main keywords and page 2/3 for 5 other keywords, I am made up!

Thanks

Aiden

Aiden Roberts · Jul 17, 2011

Joeyl said:
Heya,

To add a banner to the header, you would need to edit the header.php file you can do this from wp-admin side, under appearance/editor/header.php and then find the current banner placement and replace with your link/banner image.

The outline/categories seem good and varied, good luck with your sites

Thanks Joeyl that is really helpful.

Regards

Aiden

Frog · Jul 18, 2011

Are you trying to build these as a hobby, or just for the sake of learning how to build WP sites? Or is the end aim to actually make money?

If its the former then thats cool, but if its the latter I would give in. What you are producing is not professional looking at all. You would be significantly better off working from stock templates like woothemes.com or elegantthemes.com - you can buy legitimately download Woothemes for free if you wanted.

Spending your time working on content or promoting the sites would be significantly better than spending it trying to put together a site which imo doesn't look very good. I think at that level of design, if I came across the site in a random search I'd hit back before even looking around it really. First impressions matter a lot.

Aiden Roberts · Jul 18, 2011

Hi Frog

Thanks for your comments; I Think!

I am what you would call an absolute beginner to building mini sites, wordpress included.

I have been learning everything from scratch with the help of some very patient Acorners. I am not too bothered at the moment in terms of design as I need to understand the mechanics before I can get creative and that is my motivation (certainly for a short while).

Ironically dog food bowls went up on Saturday I think, is on page 1 of G and has made a sale? That said I learn't so much putting it together that the money at present is welcome but irrelevent. I am more interested in knowing how to do it then I can hone my skills. I doubt they will ever come close to the briiliant free and premium themes I see out there which I will utilize in the future; so for now my philosophy is this: I need to learn to drive before I buy a Ferrari.

Much appreciate your comments and will take them on board.

Best Wishes

Aiden

Frog · Jul 18, 2011

Personally I can't design at all... I can just about hack together edits in html with trial and error but I can't build a good site from scratch. But with high quality design being a commodity (and priced as such) I don't have to.

It all depends on your long term goal - if its to learn web design as a hobby then you're absolutely taking the right route. If you want to make money I would seriously forget trying to design, and spend all your time working on ranking sites.

If you modify the logo on a template from woothemes.com, 99% of your visitors will not be able to tell you generated the site from a free template.

One thing I did learn from that site is the existence of those slow-eating bowls, I think I need one for my puppy

If I was in UK i'd buy one via your site, but I"m not so sorry

theonemanyuri · Jul 20, 2011

If your goal is to learn web design I think learning HTML and CSS first would be a much better route than WP. It's like trying to build a house and starting with the roof.

I don't really like that site, I agree with Frog. It's good that you're getting the hang of it but you could probably make better use of your time. If you want to affiliate then get a better theme and if you want to build websites learn how to code. All in my opinion obviously!

Aiden Roberts · Jul 20, 2011

theonemanyuri said:
If your goal is to learn web design I think learning HTML and CSS first would be a much better route than WP. It's like trying to build a house and starting with the roof.

I don't really like that site, I agree with Frog. It's good that you're getting the hang of it but you could probably make better use of your time. If you want to affiliate then get a better theme and if you want to build websites learn how to code. All in my opinion obviously!

I am building up a following off people who are not keen on dog food bowls :shock:, when I get to 10 I will change it!

Seriously I agree with you both, I know it looks like an amateur built it; I am an amateur, I am actively trying to learn code and css and am utilizing better themes so it will be changed soon.

I am waiting for G to crawl it again it's in 6th position page 1 at the moment so I want to see what happens to it (don't know why), I know the making money is more important so I am working on it behind the scenes.

Really appreciate your advice.

Aiden

AssetDomains · Jul 20, 2011

Its not the worst looking site in the world not bad for a second attempt keep at it.

No matter which theme you choose with easycontentunits you are limited some what to what you can achieve in terms of styling and what you can get google to crawl assuming your using the free java-script version.

Further down the line I think you'll want to look at pricetapestry or datafeedstudio to manage your feeds if you plan on doing more than just a few minsites

Aiden Roberts · Jul 20, 2011

Thanks newpc

I got a few pointers about content units and looked at datafeed studios, it scared the hell out of me to be honest so I chickened out and went with ECU for speed.

I am planning on building up a good few sites so I know I have got a lot to learn, I have started another thread on where to learn code and css and am checking out w3 schools, so hopefully when I am a bit more confident I can utilize some of the other resources.

As you will know from bailing me out many times over the last few weeks I am literally starting from scratch, there is so much to learn but I am in it for the long haul so hopefully I can create something soon that I can be proud of.

Appreciate your comments

Aiden