Introduction
On to the slaying of the second website for this assignment, Rich Soil. ensure your smocks are covering the majority of your clothes, its going to get messy with this one really fast. Please ensure to wipe the blood off your shoes before you exit the theater.
Whats Wrong
Problem 1 - Not Consistent
When going to the link provided to us on the Blackboard website, I was appalled at the set up of the page. After clicking around to different links, I found the real home page for which this website is designated for. The home page is very well set up and appeasing to the eye. Someone took time to create a home page that appealed to readers and random visitors. However, after going through the forums, blogs, and other tabs available, they are simply links to different website that were weaved together by the user.
My suggestion would be to make all the other links consistent with the design of the home page. It will also keep traffic all on one website and increase the amount of hits that the owner of the site would get.
Problem 2 - No Introduction
I am still not sure what the hell this website is about. Although I am impressed at the kind of traffic the forums get, as well as the amount of content that is published on this website a day, it does not say clearly as to what the intent of this site is. Most sites have an introduction or short blurb explaining the purpose of the website, but this one makes no such mention. I had to dig through to find this information, which as a visitor I shouldn't have to.
My suggestion would be to create an introduction blurb and clean up the "about" section. This tab moves away form the home page and goes to another 1990's looking page with just a bunch of text randomly typed on it. The owner needs to redo this tab and include a lot of the information up front for people to get a frame of reference for what the site is about.
(PS, $500 an hour for a consult? There are some patent attorneys who don't charge that much.)
Problem 3 - Forums Underutilized
I'm shocked to see how much activity the forum for his website gets. There is a section on plans that has over 16,000 responses. For the amount of traffic that he has, he is missing a lot of opportunities for both business and visibility on the web.
What he needs to do is fully integrate the forums into his website. Currently, the forums are held on 'premies.com' and not on his site 'rich soil.com'. I am not sure if he owns both of these, but if he were to integrate the blog, forums, and every other tab he has, the amount of traffic to his website could generate hundreds of dollars a month in advertising alone.
Whats Right
Number 1 - Content
The man provides a ton of fresh content daily. There is a sign up tab for a news letter that appears right away that people can sign up for. This is one of the only things I think he is doing well.
Number 2 - Semi Professional on the homepage
Although the links dive off into sites and links that look like my grandfathers garage, the information on the home page looks professional and well put together. And beyond just the design and presentation, there is a lot of content that people can find useful. Additionally, his tone and humor that is put throughout the website gives him a unique flavor that people somehow enjoy chewing on.
Design
As mentioned throughout this article, the design is inconstant and overall horrendous past the home page. It was weaved together from a lot of work that was done over the years. This website has been around for a very long time, much longer than others. Most of the other pages are very old and get a lot of the same visitors. However, no effort has been made to circle all of these up together and make them all look the same. A serious amount of updating in design is needed.
Aesthetics
Nothing about this site is appealing to the eye beyond the homepage. It makes me want to barf my coffee up when I go to his 'about' page and see the brown and tan outlay splattered about. However, his home page is set with the color tone and theme that is constant with "soil". I would say that it works, but it just needs to look consistent. Other than that, the make up of the website does encourage me to look around and click on links to learn more. Its just horrifying going to those new pages and seeing the thrown together formats and presentations.
Branding
The man does have a brand at least. The Rich Soil concept has potential and is semi translated into the home page. Although slightly tacky, it does match his personality which comes out through the page. If only he made is more consistent.
Conclusion
I know I gave this website a lot of crap, but overall its better than the first site I viewed, be it scattered and disorganized. This site has incredible potential for being great and really capturing a lot of people.
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