What makes a Good Website

[Greg]

I wanted to open a new thread here to discuss what works and what doesn't work with new poker portal designs. We had a 2 page thread going here today I felt like there was just too much detail on the way the sites were presented in it. I can relate with these affiliates from past experience and realize as we all have certain marketing insights that should remain unspoken. Now, I am certain that most sites out there that are really successful aren't hard to find, honestly if they were then they wouldn't be that successful!

Bottom line is that there were some serious 'rips' on a few sites here that didn't need to be and while I want to make sure that real, relevant marketing is discussed this one thread in particular was getting a little out of bounds.

For this thread please feel free to point out things that you like/dislike and also what you can see from your OWN sites thats working/not working. Sorry to drop this one but I want to make sure that everyone is looked after in their best interest. Some people don't like their sites being listed as 'model pages' and while imitation is the best form of flattery I can see when it can get annoying as well.

With that being said please feel free to go off here like round table discussion on design, seo, ppc, content, your mom, your forum, whatever else you think is relevant. And thanks for the understanding.

[Ridge]

I understand but I think this goes against what this forum/should be about.. This place has always been about helping each other, I understand that some webmasters don't want their sites linked to, but that is kinda censorship and seem a little over the top..

So, we can't link to a site we like?? I mean c'mon, what is this place becoming? Again, I guess I understand but it's kinda sad to see we are going in this direction.. It seems lately there is a lot of shit throwing going on here and people blasting each other all the time and now this..

Just to be clear, I'm not blasting you Greg. I just think that things like this are strange and it makes me wonder about what direction we are going in. I've been on these forums for years and lately it's getting pretty bad..

Also, it makes me wonder what kind of information this thread will generate now anyway? Obviously the bugger affiliates won't post their stuff..

[Randy]

What works? Fonts that are big enough for me to read, and sites that load in a reasonable amount of time.

Written content that looks like someone actually proofread what they wrote before they published it works too.

I can skip the other bells and whistles, for the most part.

[Greg]

Hey Ridge, My original post was regarding sites being mentioned and critiqued in an unfair way. At PAP we always try to be very open and fair, but this community is not about saying bad things about other people's sites and pointing them out as examples of poor design, etc.

Obviously we want to keep the bright minds here in the community and posting, sharing success and failures. There are a lot of players out there in tons of different markets. I think it's great when members are open and involved and I don't want you to think in any way that we are going to slow that down here or stop trying to be innovative.
Sorry of that impression came off, the hard hitting stuff is always appreciated!

[Ridge]

Hey Ridge, My original post was regarding sites being mentioned and critiqued in an unfair way. At PAP we always try to be very open and fair, but this community is not about saying bad things about other people's sites and pointing them out as examples of poor design, etc.

Ok, that makes more sense then, I misunderstood and I didn't read the other thread before it was deleted..

Thanks for the clarification Greg.

Carry on

[Ridge]

I agree with Randy-

Loads Fast
Very Few banners (if any)
Only banners that "blend well" with the color scheme
Proper Section separation
Good internal navigation
Good Anchor text and sentence structure - If the opening sentence to your article, review page, etc. isn't good, you'll never get anyone there from your homepage..

[scottmc]

There does seem to be a bit of censorship going on at these forums and Greg's first post is very unclear about why it happened in this case.

This seems to be more than just unfair criticism. And if it is just criticism why censor it - if it's unfair just ignore it and if it's fair learn something from the criticism.

"We had a 2 page thread going here today I felt like there was just too much detail on the way the sites were presented in it. I can relate with these affiliates from past experience and realize as we all have certain marketing insights that should remain unspoken."

What does the above quote mean, people were giving too much away about other sites? What's next, people asking for Randy to be banned because he gives too much good advice?

I would propose that you uncensor the previous thread (locked or unlocked) and let everyone decide for themselves if the critiques are warranted or not.

[Randy]

How about we move discussion of the previous thread to a new thread devoted just to that subject, and keep this thread focused on the subject of good websites?

[PPP]

It would be nice to focus on positive things that can help people.

In this case, great thread choice.

-Finding some niche or concept that SOME people like. Trying to please everyone, and trying to force people to like what you like is ineffective marketing.

-Good site architecture from day one. You can literally pay for years for not doing it right from the beginning.

[Prenut]

Was there a thread that was deleted or something? I'm not sure what some of this talk is in regards to but I must have missed something.