My first freesite; comments?

[twan]

Hello guys&gals,

I've just created my first freesite to do a little research on how freesites work:
http://handpickedgalleries.com/claudiajob/

I'm wondering if i did everything correctly and if you all have suggestions on how to make it better or more profitable.

Thanks. |king|

[Lemmy]

Hey twan. Yeah, there's a little room for improvement here.

Index page: You need more recips, two isn't enough. You also need to get some advertising up, that's the whole point of a freesite, to give the surfer something to click on that will make you money. And I don't really see the point of the pic that's linked to the bottom of the page.

Main Page: Again, more advertising. You're allowed three ads/page. Use them.

Gallery pages: More content. Most LLs require at least 10 pics/page. Put up some ads! Don't link between gallery pages, make the surfer go back to your main page (more ad views that way).

The way your freesite is right now I don't think anyone would list it.

Good luck!

[twan]

Hello Lemmy,
Thanks for the extensive reply. It was very usefull. I've followed your comments and have updated:
the index page, added a advertisement and removed the useless picture at the top. I've also added 2 recips, need to surf a bit to find more
the main page, didn't change much, only a extra banner at the bottom.
the galleries, added 1 picture to gal1 and 3 to gal2 (gal 2 had little thumbs so it looked like less content). Added a text link adv and linked the text on gal1. Gal 2 has received one big tip of the day to another related sponsor. I've also removed the links to galleries on the gallery pages.

Is it a bit better now?

[Lemmy]

Originally Posted by twan

Is it a bit better now?

Sort of.

You still need more recips, 9-12 seems to be the happy medium that most FS builders go with.

Regarding ads: No need to rely too heavily on sponsor banners. Mix it up with some juicy linked text of your own.

Main page: Why the linked picture to gallery #1? While it doesn't link to anything illegal it doesn't say where it's taking the surfer and would be considered blind by some reviewers.

Also, I would clearly mark the gallery links as "Gallery link 1" and "Gallery link 2" to avoid any confusion. Some FS builders like to make enter/gallery links small and hard to find to make the surfer hunt for them, the logic being they get exposed to more ads. My own philosophy is if the surfer doesn't find what he's looking for right away they'll just click out of your site. In other words, make clear, easy-to-find enter/gallery links. This will also make it easier to get accepted at the LLs.

Gallery #1: Your HTML seems to be screwed up + you still need more content.

General tip for the whole site: Until you're more comfortable with HTML and building sites, don't try anything too fancy. Simple goes a long way.

Final tip: Use a mouseover code to hide your affiliate code from the status bar. Some surfers are weary of clicking if the address is too funny-looking. Just make sure that the destination URL is always visible.

[twan]

Thanks again for the helpfull and friendly reply!

I've got 8 recips now, just need one more

I removed the link under the thumbnail on main page and made it alot smaller so that it appears to be more part of the title/header.

Also added "Gallery x" text as you suggested, i've added the description behind the text (searchmachine might like that more).

Oops, i couldn't find any html errors in my gallery 1 page, i think you saw a too long rowspan with no content as a html error, it's now filled with a bit more text.

I see KISS is always usefull in every biz.

About the hiding of the url with javascript, i'm not sure if i should do that, it is certainly a fact that some surfers pay attention to that. But i'm a bit worried about using javascript, when submitting galleries a year back javascript was not allowed. I'll read the rules from different sites which accept freesites to be sure about it.

I still need to replace 1 or 2 banners with text links.

I hope my site is much better now?

[Lemmy]

As long as the mouseover is just used to hide the affiliate code and the destination URL is clearly visible at all times you shouldn't have a problem. I always use it and have never been rejected for this reason as far as I know.

[Fido]

Now it looks ok, just put at least two more pics per gallery and I would list it.

[X-Drive]

There are also hardcore banner & recip button on your warning page. Remove them or your site will be declined by many linklists because of it. The whole point of warning page is to warn surfer that there is some explict content inside, so ppl who don't want to see it would be able to leave your site. |cool|

[twan]

Thanks for the many replies. I've just discovered a big bug, i always previewed the site if it looked correctly in firefox. But guess what, it does look good, but when looked in internet explorer half the pictures on my gallery pages disappear, it appeared to be a table with width of 600% I was really thinking: "i've got 15 images per gallery, why everyone is bugging me?"

I've replaced the hardcore banner with a more softcore version. I've also made my banner links hidden (they only show the base url).

I hope the site is now up to all standards? All the beginning is difficult, but now with the help of Lemmy and other people i have a nice page which i can use as reference. Next freesite will be made much faster i hope.

Thanks.

[Lemmy]

Originally Posted by twan

But guess what, it does look good, but when looked in internet explorer half the pictures on my gallery pages disappear

That's the error I was talking about.

If you're still looking for more places to submit take a look at my sig. Keep up the good work!

[twan]

A status msg:
The freesite has been listed on linkorama and pkitty

Thanks Lemmy i'll also submit my next freesite to your linklist.

[Lemmy]

Originally Posted by twan

The freesite has been listed on linkorama and pkitty

Way to go!