New website - All comments welcome

[Echo]

Hi all,

I've launched my first poker affiliate website about 3 weeks ago ... it's still a work in progress (content, call to actions, marketing, link building etc etc)

All suggestions, comments and opinions are more than welcome! Don't be nice

Here's the site:

Best Poker Reviews & Online Poker Bonus Deals - thecardhunter.com

[Planet Mark]

Hey Echo

Had a quick look and will say that you have a clean look and feel there - though I have actually already seen this site, maybe 1000 times recently (though with many different looks and slightly different words!).

One small recommendation is to get your bonus codes / referral codes in place... otherwise anyone signing up through your reviews will find they have no code and google for this while they register - effectively losing you the player.

I'd also look for some way to stand out from the crowd and add value, though you have a good clean starting point here, really your site is exactly the same as all the others... meaning it will be an uphill battle to make it pay.

Best of luck in the business.

Mark

[Newjabber]

Yeah listing your bonus code one place at the top wont work.
You need better calls to actions in the reviews.
And in the text.
Just noticed those red boxes with links in them!

[sirtiner]

You should not have your url like that ?id=
You should use your postname

Other than that, i like it, its easy on the eye!

[addz123]

I love this site and the design. Very well layed out and interesting stuff all over the page.

My only suggestion after a browse of the homepage is to make your top logo fit better, capitalise all your titles and pages at the top, and to make the top page navigation text bit bigger. All small things, looks great already though.

[Echo]

Thanks for the comments and advice all!

I will definitely follow your advice on the bonus codes , thanks!

The “?p=” issue is something that needs to fixed for sure … probably committing seo suicide this way? hehe

Should I use more banners? trying to be very selective using them

In my opinion, the homepage still needs bit more “branding” and of course content etc. … but to end with a good old cliché, Rome wasn’t built in a day

[addz123]

I have a really good point. When i tried going back to your site i instincitively kept wanting to type www.thecardhuntersxcom instead of thecardhunter.com

i think the former (thecardhunters) is a much better domain and easier to remeber. I don't know if others agree with me? I think it actually makes more sense also - and you can just register the domain and redirect.

or even cardhunters.com

[CK]

Thanks for the comments and advice all!

I will definitely follow your advice on the bonus codes , thanks!

The “?p=” issue is something that needs to fixed for sure … probably committing seo suicide this way? hehe

Should I use more banners? trying to be very selective using them

In my opinion, the homepage still needs bit more “branding” and of course content etc. … but to end with a good old cliché, Rome wasn’t built in a day

A mod rewrite should fix your problem easily if your able to do it or hire someone who can

Should I add more banners?

Banners suck IMO. People don't click them and they're old. Using sentances within your text or a well displayed page works a heck of a lot better than placing banners all over the place.

@addz123 - both are equal to me. I wouldnt change the domain, what I would do is go buy up the other and just point it to the one he's already started if he plans on keeping this site for a while. To much trouble just for the (s) that I couldnt be bothered moving it.

[addaminsane]

very nice setup. the template is very nice. I would probably consider removing the left column as that dilutes some of the content visually and from an se perspective.

i noticed you've not implemented a disallowed redirect for affiliate links. that can help you to manage and expand your site easier without needing to go back and change specific hyperlinks. it looks like on some pages your using full tilts default banner codes which they intentionally optimize for seo for themselves. using the disallowed redirect will also safeguard you inadvertently boosting their seo with anchor text links throughout your entire site.

i'm not to sure about the value of the about us bar on the left. The most popular links would be more suited at the bottom or bottom right of the site, you want your content pages to be easy to read, you also want your content keywords to load before these on every page, so it is typically better to have a right side bar.

love the top right bar on the homepage and your table styling, very well done. if you're going to opt to sometimes use images to link to other pages for the sake of presentation, make sure that you include and alt tag on the image as it is almost like anchor text.

[Echo]

Thanks all for the interesting and very useful info and comments.

I'll make sure to work with a disallowed redirect, great tip! I'm actually still looking for the correct layout for most of the pages so I do know what to do in the coming days :-) A mod rewrite will be fixed soon.

btw. & off topic: the new PAL logo is very nice!