You should take a look at this.

[CK]

It might just be me being anal, but it feels much more liberating to have a folder structure in sections that can be filled out with no worries of clutter. It might be a bitch to redirect your current urls to a new folder structure (e.g from "poker-betting-strategy-guide.php" to "/strategy/betting-guide/") but the sooner the better, and if it allows you to comfortably build a 1,000+ page website rather than almost limiting yourself to a 500 page website then it's undoubtedly worth it.

Just in case it was an oversight, if you take Gregs advice (which is spot on btw) your gonna have to pay extra attention to your files. Your using two different file paths some with the hypen and some with underscore although I think those are forced in because some of your pages are constructed with gaps ie "pokerstars review bonus code.html" I would try and be more conisistant with how you choose your file paths only because it will leave you with less headaches later when you decide to change it.

I would remove the second h1 tag. You dont need two on a page, and the one you placed in the header is useless it terms of helping your site... IMO

Other than that great site.


Edit - had a closer look at some articles. Are you linking out on your own...if so very nice

[Matt Geer]

Thanks so much guys for answering my call to action . It's all noted so far and I'm sure this is going to keep me busy for at least the coming evenings and weekends.

About the images: although I have ideas for images myself, adobe photoshop is a nightmare to make anything 'half decent' with as this program is far from intuitive to me. Paint I can handle but... it's paint. I was thinking about hiring someone or doing somesort of design contest for this as soon as my site generates some revenue. Do you have experience with this? (What would it cost to do 15-30 images/ pleased with the results?).

Depending on how difficult the images are I can probably just help you out. If you'd like, send me PM with some details.

[addz123]

i'm not as positive as everyone else on this thread. I honestly love your content, your writing style, and i love the whole theme of your site and it's focus on new players etc. Very well written and i don't want to take anything away from it. Everything said above i agree with.

But I think the style and aesphetics of the design really let it down. I love reading the times newspaper, but if it was just pure text without any pictures than it would put me off.

The reason i'm being critical here is because i think your site has really great potential, and it's one of those sites that has a strong enough focus to bring me back to learn more things and pick up where i left off.

But at the moment the design just bores me. If you could put some more pictures into the content to break it up, with some calls to action - or remove the big banner on the right and replace with some small pictures and navigation links i think it would work much better. Rather than having a frame of advertisments surrounding pure text, try to break it all up a bit.


This might sound strange, but if you could personalise the text more with a picture of a guy or person standing next to it, like i'm being taught by a real person and not just a site, than i think this would also do wonders. the site has a personal touch which i think needs to be exploited more.

I'd also make the header stand out more so you immediately see it 'first time poker player'. when i first looked at the site, i was sort of confused by the top graphics because it looked more like a spacecraft or industrial website than an actual poker/entertainment one.

Hope this information was useful. As good as the site is now, i just think it can be so much better and a benchmark for all new poker sites focusing on your niche.

cheers,
adam

[FirstTimePokerPlayer]

@ scrawnybob: if I'm writing content the coming period and it's not for my own site then it will most likely be to benefit my site (with a link). It really means a lot to me what you posted though, and you'll be the first one to know if/when I feel like writing for 'funds'.

@ Kaus: Actually all my most recent (and future) files now have hyphens, whereas some of my first pages had underscores and even spaces in them. After a healthy bunch of 404 errors, all the URLs with spaces now contain hyphens instead .

Completely forgot about the h1 in the header (I only see a php-include whenever I edit pages...). Don't even remember why I did it that way at the time. I'll make it an alt-tag instead.

Some of the links were followed by an exchange request, but that's only for a small portion of them (and unfortunately these requests mostly remained unanswered).

Part of the idea behind FTPP is to try to guide my visitors to trustworthy and quality sites (or at the very least helpful articles) to prevent that they'll spend a lot of time reading misleading, inaccurate or in general 'low quality' information without even realizing it (which is not unlikely when you're just starting out...). I like to believe that the links can really be an extension of the information I give them about a certain topic or otherwise might increase the chance they'll 'pick it up' or my credibility a bit if it tells them the same in a different way. So who still needs a return link then? I doubt it will cost me traffic/revenue much as the benefits outlined might as well result in some extra traffic too. And if visitors do flee my site because of those links, then there's probably something else I'm doing wrong that needs attention. Time will tell I guess. At least I made sure the traffic goes to sites which I think are worth it.

@ Adam: That is certainly useful information to me! I'll be sure to do something with it. It has become obvious to me now that design/images etc. can really add to the overall user experience and should not be neglected because photoshopping isn't my hobby.

The header is a poker table and was meant to pull a little bit of attention from visitors in order for them to figure that out, but maybe I should reconsider that one...

@ all: again, thanks so much for taking the time to review my site and write such helpful responses!

[addz123]

LOL I've just seen it's a poker table.

Still not changed my opinion though haha.

[Strider1973]

Your site is great - not beacause of the design (which is a bit minimalistic) but because it really seems to be a resource for online poker players. And most of the poker sites I find online (besides a few established sites) have crappy content written by persons who don't know much more about poker than their readers. I also liked your honesty in the article about Ongame - I've never seen "the truth" about Ongame on any of the thousands poker affiliate marketing site.

I have two suggestions:

1. I would redesign home page. For example, you might add four pictures for the four categories you have (General articles, how to play, where to play, poker room reviews) with a few lines of text below each picture.

2. I would add (left on top) another category "start playing poker in 10 minutes" where you say 1) these are the rules you must know 2) chose one of these three best rooms for new poker players and start playing at a play money table

[jdwanchalk]

It is good and puts many other affiliate sites to shame.