16 replies to this topic

[MaKa]

I've been working on my new website http://www.emofaces.com for the last ... well way to long to be honest. I was going to wait with asking for an review when it was completely finished, but I realise that it's probably never going to be "completely" finished, so here it goes.

General
Background
The site is an upgrade and rework of the predecessors smiling-faces.com (Due to trademark issues I had to rename the website in 2002 from smiley-faces.com).

Because I now want to aim at a larger market and emofaces.com is easier to remember I decided to launch the new site under a different domain. (Yes, I'm aware of the potential ranking loss this might occur, but I feel that emofaces.com will be better to market).

Is this site completed or under construction?
The site is almost completed.

I've soft launched it and I am almost ready to 302 the old sites to the new site until it has gained links by itself.

I haven't finished converting all emoticons and buddy icons images, so some are missing.

I have to further optimise the download page. All input there is appreciated.

Some page that where on the old site have not been implemented yet.

SEO
Do you have incoming links?
Not many to the new site yet. Will do a search for sites linking to the old site after the new site is launched.

What keywords are you targeting?
emoticons
buddy icons
smilies
etc.

in addition the longer tail keyphrases such as 'fireman emoticon' etc.

Do you want your code reviewed for errors or improvements?
The W3C validator says it's ok, but if you have any further suggestions for on site optimisation let me know.

Marketing
Who is your target audience? Think about:
Gender
Nationality
Age Range
Income/Education level
Likes/Dislikes

I'm planning on sending a questionair to people who have previously bought my download. Offering them either a free or discounted download in exchange for filling in a questoinair.

From stats I found that the main visitors to my website are female aged between 12 and 18.

From e-mail communications I get the feeling that people who are buying the downloads are pensioners who like to use the emofaces in their e-mails to for example their grand children. (But this is based on a very small sample)

Why is your site different from sites selling/offering similar
info/goods/services? Why will someone want to do business you?
Original figures that are free of spyware and adware. Free for non-commercial personal use and you can download them all for your convenience for a modest fee.

How important is usability?
Very important. I hopefully managed to create a usable website, but am open for all feedback.

What is the purpose of the site? (inform, sell, online community,
support B&M business, contact info only, etc)
Sell the downloadable archive.
Sell products featuring the graphics.
Provide entertaining graphics for people to use.
Provide a little joy to the visitors.

My aim is to get 500 subscribers to either the daily or weekly emofaces e-mail by the end of March 2007.

Design
Do you want design suggestions?
I haven't created the design myself, so and I'm open for all feedback. I'm aware that the Emoface selection in the header could do with
improvement.

Multi languages
The website is also available in Dutch at: http://www.emofaces.nl

[jtaylor123]

not really related, but did you know that emo is a genre of music? That's what I thought this site might be about.

[MaKa]

I wasn't aware of that. I did some research on the term emoface, and it was hardly ever used. Didn't look at the term emo. Articles on Wikipedia seem a bit negative about the term emo, but I hope that won't affect my site.

Maybe I should make an emo emoface

[jtaylor123]

I wasn't aware of that. I did some research on the term emoface, and it was hardly ever used. Didn't look at the term emo. Articles on Wikipedia seem a bit negative about the term emo, but I hope that won't affect my site.

Maybe I should make an emo emoface

haha, yes, that would be awesome.

[Abhay]

Lots of space empty in lower side of home page

design is didnt impressd much
Navigation needs to be improved

Fonts needs some wrk

[ScottSalwolke]

From your data it sounds like you have two very diverse markets here. Elderly citizens and teenage girls. I'm not sure if the site would appeal that strongly to either. And I wonder if daily emails won't become tiresome for your market. It might be better to keep it at least weekly so as not to wear out your welcome.

[MaKa]

Navigation needs to be improved

Fonts needs some wrk

Could you elaborate on these, what parts of the navigation did you have problems with? And which fonts are you talking about? All fonts on the whole site or specifically the logo/headers?

And I wonder if daily emails won't become tiresome for your market. It might be better to keep it at least weekly so as not to wear out your welcome.

The unsubscribe rates are pretty low so far. I would like to add a message on unsubscriptions from daily emails telling them about the weekly versions, but unfortunately I'm using a third party emailing system that doesn't allow this at the moment.

[topherjknoll]

not really related, but did you know that emo is a genre of music? That's what I thought this site might be about.

Me too. Only I wasn't thinking about the genre of music. I was thinking about sad faces... don't be sad. haha

[doogie88]

lol I had a total different idea of your site when I seen the name.

[lisety]

Just took a quick look at your site.
The red links(Emoticons, Buddy Icons, etc.) at the top cover part of your logo, that really needs to be fixed (moved to the right). Also, the overall appearance wasn't balanced.

I would rearrange some of your categories (like Media, Regions, etc) so that they look more balanced on the page, some categories have lots of choices, others don't....arrange it so that they fill up all the space without leaving big gaps. It's a little lopsided right now so the first impression isn't great.

I do like your design with the wavy line and the big smiley face on the right.

I would also align your image links on the right and left side so that they don't go further than your copyright (you'll either have to come up with more copy, never a bad idea, or cut some of the images), otherwise there is too much blank space. With those images the one on the left is higher than the one on the right because of the wavy line. I would have Top 5 and New 5 align.

I think if you do these things it will look more professional but that's just my

[MaKa]

Thanks for the feedback, I've incorporated some of you tips. I still have to find a good way to make the Emoticon, Buddy Icon, Smilies selection more intuitive.

There is an Emo emoface now:

[jdenver]

If you are serious about this project, consider taking on a consultant for the design. I want to be straight up with you because I want you to succeed. The second I log on the site, I want to exit. The concept is great, you need a design that makes people want to say.

Fix that and you're golden.

[MaKa]

Thanks for all your comments. I've made some additional changes.

@lisety: I've now (hopefully) made the overall balance better. If the browser size becomes really small it gets a bit clutter but on the optimised size 1024 it looks better. The categories are still on my 2do list.

@jdenver: the design isn't created by me, but by a professional designer.

[dropin]

i think the colors, fonts and spacing of the layout could be improved.

i think more white would do good with the grey and the yellow kind of hurts my eyes.

you also might try making the fonts a little smaller and decreasing the overall width of the design.

hope this helps, good luck.

[lisety]

I just took a quick look as I'm in the middle of moving. Overall it looks better than it did before. One thing I would change is at the top left you have yourwebsite.com in yellow. The yellow doesn't contrast very much and is a little difficult to read. You're on the right track, I think....just keep improving and I'll try to take a better look later:-)