Front Page Face Lift

[DB]

I would really like to give my front page a face lift - something that makes it less template and more unique and hopefully bring new members on board.  If someone knows how to do that and can give me a rate quote, I'd appreciate it.  Or, let me know who to go to, or even point someone to me who does that.
Thanks a lot.  :-)

[TheCountryBoy]

Hello Dar,

You know there are a few things this ol country boy has learned in this business and a few I bear the scars of so I want to share a couple of them with you if I may.

You have just released Terrier Traffic with it's look and feel. People are now just getting used to seeing it.
Although I understand you wanting to make it look less like a template, I seriously suggest you wait 2 or three months. Sudden changes to front pages right after a site is released can give the impression that you do not have confidence in what you just asked people to join as well as making it harder for those who have seen your site but didn't join to come back when they decide they want to take another look. People are visual.

It is not enough to change just the front page. There are many sites who have opted for great front page graphics and then when the member goes inside the templates are back. This can lead to people saying things like (and I actually received an e-mail  like this) " love the front page BUT what happened to the rest of the site. Please let me know when you are finished building it so I can see if I want to join"

It is up to you what you do however I just thought you might want to consider this information.

There are two people right here on this forum who can help you with and design the look you want. Both have done work for a lot of us here and both are very good.

Naomi - Moonlight Fairy
Stephanie - Traffic Buds

Their information is listed under Sharing Resources (I think but if not it should be) as well as a couple of other places.

You may want to consider sprucing up your exchange with new splash pages and banners first but it is up to you.

[DB]

Thanks so much for your input.  I really hadn't thought about updating the face of the front page until I'd read this blog:

http://www.timlinden.com/blog/traffic-exchanges/spotting-bad-traffic-exchanges-part-1-what-does-it-look-like/

There are three parts to it so if you have time, read it and then read the comments and parts 2 and 3.  It made me really think.

Dar

[TrafficBudsnSure2Surf]

Hey Dar,

After your last post, I couldn't help but post in here. I understand the point of view you are coming from but there is another thing you need to realize and take into consideration...

Look at who is writing the blog. A so called 'Guru'. I am not sure how you feel about it, but the aspect as I see it is that the 'Gurus' don't really care. Tim's blog and series on this topic is just another way to devalue the smaller TE's so that members will start to doubt us and delete their accounts, only to go to his or other huge TEs.

I may be pretty off base with this idea, but who would really want to join a huge site like Start Exchange or TS25? These two sites are perfect examples of sites to really look out for. Why do so many surf there? Contests... Do they really look at your sites? Not really, at least not most of the time. They are too worried about climbing the ladder to the top and winning that week's contest.  Many are cheaters who pay workers in other countries to click for them. This is something that I have seen happen for the past few years, and in no way is it about to stop.

Anyhow, while I understand that it may seem that Tim has some 'great' advice, always look behind the curtain and ask yourself, why would he offer this information? What does he gain from it? And do the same for anyone who offers any kind of info.

[TheCountryBoy]

Hello Dar,

I want to say this very gently and I know as I write this that I am going to offend some people and possibly even you. This is not my intent however so I will apologize ahead of time. You are not the first I have discussed this with and you probably will not be the last.

First off, my guess is you purchased Terrier Traffic because of two things. You liked the script and you liked the look. Has anything changed? My guess is no. Yes eventually we all make changes so I am not against them. I myself have made changes to all my exchanges and will probably make more in the future along with my members input. They are the best judge of what they want.

Two and here is where I know I will probably offend either you or someone who reads this.
Dar, you are new to owning a TE and so I understand that you want to make it the best it can be as we all do and there is nothing wrong with that in the least. Any way you choose to do that is entirely up to you because after all it is your exchange and your business. The person whose blog you wrote is part of a group who do not have the same believe and although I will not deny their length of time in this industry, I will never follow them nor encourage any one who wants to remain independent to do so. They do not believe in people having their own ways or ideas. There is a reason he uses Blue Surf as an example.
I will agree the look is important however how you treat your members far outweighs it when it come to being successful. I know some sites out there that have spent a fortune on look and have less members than I do while there are others who have kept the template look and are quite successful.
Having a look that you like does NOT make your exchange a "Bad Exchange". No different than graphics costing thousands of dollars does NOT make your exchange a "Good Exchange".

Dar what I am trying to say is be careful. I think you have a bright future in the TE industry and I would hate to see a friend taken down as has happened to so many others who tried to follow these guys.
I am currently working with another owner who fell into this situation and now is trying to rebuild what they had as well as their confidence. There are a couple of people here who have also experienced the same thing.

Just so you know I have read this series before and I just quickly scanned it again to refresh my mind. My opinion has not changed and will not change. As well most of the comments through out it are from his friends whom he also gives good reviews to as they do him which gives them absolutely no value as far as I am concerned.

With that said I will now be quiet. Like I said it is your exchange and your business so what you do is up to you. We must all do what we think best. I like the look of Terrier Traffic (considered buying it myself) but again it is up to you.

[TheCountryBoy]

Look at who is writing the blog. A so called 'Guru'. I am not sure how you feel about it, but the aspect as I see it is that the 'Gurus' don't really care. Tim's blog and series on this topic is just another way to devalue the smaller TE's so that members will start to doubt us and delete their accounts, only to go to his or other huge TEs.

Very well said Stephnaie

I may be pretty off base with this idea, but who would really want to join a huge site like Start Exchange or TS25? These two sites are perfect examples of sites to really look out for. Why do so many surf there? Contests... Do they really look at your sites? Not really, at least not most of the time. They are too worried about climbing the ladder to the top and winning that week's contest.  Many are cheaters who pay workers in other countries to click for them. This is something that I have seen happen for the past few years, and in no way is it about to stop.

You are NOT off base. You hit a home run!!Wait a minute...Probably a grand slam!!!

[DB]

Thank you guys.  It's because I'm new that I'm paranoid and I guess people like him make me nervous about what I have and stuff.  I want to get new members and have them enjoy my traffic site.  I guess I feel that if he's saying stuff like that, perhaps people will doubt my site.

I noticed that a few people joined my site.  I have upgraded everyone to Platinum.  Let me know what you think as you surf and if there's anything I should change to make it better.  I'm always interested in hearing what others have to say...I still have to get on board and head over to your sites and I will do that as soon as I can.  If you could...those of you who did sign up at my site, just send me your links so I know exactly where to go.

Oh, and I just purchased a new site from a friend, if anyone is interested in checking it out and letting me know what you think.  It's called Click Diva.  It's at http://www.clickdiva.info - I liked the site and she said she wanted to sell it and get into other things, so I got it pretty cheap.

Take care everyone and thanks so much for your advice and mentorship!

Hugs, Dar

[dragbusfreak]

Hi Dar, I have now joined both your sites 

[ftsonline]

Hey Dar,

I may be a little late in adding to this conversation but I just want to add my support
to the advice given by Stephanie and Kevin.
Be very careful who's advice you take, these so called "gurus" have their own agenda.
They have no desire to help you and I. They are the same people who openly called
my site and all the sites of our members.... "garbage" sites.

I can assure you, through my limited experience, that no one here will ever intentionally
give you bad advice or lead you down the wrong path. That's not to say we are perfect,
we certainly are far from that, we are however experienced, caring and in in most cases
knowledgable (I'll exclude myself from that last category).

That's my 5 cents worth (use to be 2 cents worth....inflation)

Frank
www.holycowhits.com
www.onedollartraffic.net

[DB]

Thanks, I always appreciate the advice :-)  I'd rather get it from you guys than him anyway.  I guess I was just nervous.  I'm so new at this...and very impressionable.
Dar

[TheCountryBoy]

Hello Everyone,

It seems our little ol forum here is actually getting some attention from some people in other quarters of our industry and in particularly this post. Take a look at Tim Linden's Blog

http://www.timlinden.com/blog/general/surf-large-exchanges/

Your question Stephanie is what the whole blog is purportedly based on (You hit the big time - LOL)

I did read the blog with a little interest since he was kind enough to provide a link to here although he did not mention the AMCS Web Services Forum by name. It didn't take very much reading though to realize that that there was not going to really be anything different about this on. A couple of things did catch my attention though.

Yes, I own a larger exchange, but I’m not here to talk you into surfing my exchange. I’m here to help you become successful so you use my exchange long term.

This is interesting. He does not want to talk you into using his exchange but isn't the implication that if you do you will be successful? And if you don't use it long term what happens?

Also, generally speaking, larger exchanges tend to have better services. They have the resources to hire support people, to have programmers on call if things go wrong, faster better servers, etc

I don't know about that. I have used bigger exchanges and had to wait sometimes 48 hrs for simple things like site approvals and have you ever tried to get a quick answer with a lot of the hired "support ticket" setups? I guess most of us here would also have to disagree with the second part to as we have the best programmer and script support on the net. This was proved during a recent event.

They have lots of people to view your site.............................Having a large audience at your fingertips is HUGE!

Well I guess there is truth in that so I won't dispute the reality of it BUT what exactly comprises a large audience? I was by a large exchange ( if you go by numbers)a couple days ago whose front page says they have over 90 000 members however only 317 members were surfing at that time. I am no mathematician but doesn't that make it no bigger of an audience than on an exchange with let's say 500 members when you do it on a ratio scale?

The blog is about why you should use larger exchanges and he does keep his word that he would go over why you might ( key word might) want to use smaller exchanges.
This statement however kinda negates to me what he says in the article

but really you should be focusing your energies on the larger exchanges and supplementing it with smaller exchanges.

In closing I will say this. The advice I and others gave to Dar was good advice and I will stand by it. If

the exchange they mention actually looks decent

and

I don’t think the design goes in the bad exchanges category

then why in "reality" would you give tips to improve it?

Oh and Tim if you read this I never said you were a "Guru". I never denied your experience BUT like I said

I will never follow them nor encourage any one who wants to remain independent to do so.

God Bless

[DeborahHeath]

The point to this is what? While I agree with some points from both sides, I will say emphatically that this forum had better not be turned into a war zone as I will NOT allow it. My opinion is that this could have been emailed. I have noticed a slight trend in here off and on, but have bitten my tongue  Today, I could not and there is no response required for this post as it is not an open debate, just simply my opinion which will not be changed any by having a debate  I am a professional and do my best to attempt to act like one at all times regardless of what others are doing or saying.

Have a great day or evening!

[TheCountryBoy]

The point to this was an expression of my opinion as we are all entitled to do. No one has to read, respond to or agree with anything. It is their choice. There are things that happen outside of our AMCS world that can and will affect many and I would rather discuss them then ignore them and wait until they are brought to us.

By the way I too am a professional who also does his best to act like one at all times which also is not a debate. Implying otherwise does not change fact.

[DeborahHeath]

ROFLMMFAO! 

[ftsonline]

My apologies to Deborah up front because you are not going to like what I have to say. I mean no harm
and I am not criticizing however I would really like to know where you get the audacity to say that you are
not going to allow anything?
This is an open forum where we can express our thoughts and our feelings. We all realize that our thoughts
and feelings may or may not be the same as everyone else. But we still have the right to express them.
I too agree that both sides of this "discussion" (not "war") have some merits and I will never allow you or
anyone else to tell me when and where I can express my opinions.
As a side note... I was misquoted in the blog...I did not say they have a "hidden" agenda. I said they have
their "own" agenda.
If you do not like this thread Deborah, I suggest you just overlook it and go on to something that you do like.

I am not concerned that this forum is read by other than Amcs members, in fact, I think it's terrific!


Frank Shaffer