Every reviewer has different reasons to write a website review. Some write it to get paid, while other write to get more traffic; yet another group of writers write it to get writing assignments. Bloggers also get paid for writing website reviews (paid review). Whatever your motivation is for writing a website review, there are certain principles that you need to follow, which you will know if you stick to this post till the end.
Elements of a website review
Introduction
A brief introduction about the purpose of the website you are going to review is very critical. In the introduction write in brief what the website is about, and give a brief history of the company and what it does. You can also mention in brief your opinion about the website.
Design
Design is the first thing anyone notice when he comes to a website. Analyze the following layout of the content and try to answer the following questions.
- Is it too cluttered? Or is it clutter-free?
- Does the color-scheme of the website good for the niche it operates in?
- Is it appealing?
- Is it easy to find information on the website?
- Is the design SEO-friendly?
Navigation
Navigation plays an important role in the whole website. Try to answer the following question in your review.
- Is the navigation intuitive?
- How many clicks does it require before you can reach the desired page?
- Are all page connected to the home page?
- Is the website using flash, Java-script or any other scripting for the navigation?
- How flat is the navigation? Or is it too-much layered?
- Are there any broken link?
- On which side of the website is the navigation?
- Does the website have an HTML and an XML site map?
- Is the navigation SEO-friendly?
Focus element
Focus element of the website is the core of the website, for which the website has been built. It’s the intent of the website is clear.
- Is the intent of the website clear?
- Does the focus element of the website express the objective?
- How quickly can a visitor tell what the website is about?
- What’s the website trying to accomplish?
Content
Content of a website is its lifeline. The quality of content will determine how long visitors stay on the website? The quality of the website’s content will determine if a visitor will return or not, and whether he will make a purchase or not.
- Is the content relevant to the website? Does it serve the purpose of the website?
- Is it well-written?
- Does it make sense?
- Does it contain grammatical, punctuation, or structural errors?
- Is the content professionally written?
- Is it SEO-friendly?
This is the basics of writing a website review. In case you need to go into more complex details when writing a website review then I will suggest you to wait till the next article comes along. Until then practice writing basic review using the elements suggested above.
Tags: Brief History, Color Scheme, Different Reasons, Element, Elements, Flash Java, Friendly Focus, Information Design, Java Script, Motivation, Niche, Objective, Scripting, Site Map, traffic, Using Flash, Website Design, Website Express, Website Navigation, Writing Assignments
We are often led to believe that web designing is nothing but a principle-led mechanical activity, which has very little to do with creativity. Well, I do not think so. It indeed is a principal-led mechanical activity as far as laying out a final page is concerned, but laying out is not when a page is designed. Creation of a web page is nothing but the final execution of the output a designer get during the long ideation. The web page is created then only in the mind of the web designer.
Creativity plays an important role in web designing and so does intuition.
What did I say…intuition?
How could intuition possibly be related to web designing?
Role of Intuition
Well, do not get bogged down by thinking that intuition does not matter in the process of designing a website because it does and it does a great deal. Talk of anything creative and you are talking of intuition playing a role in how it comes about. In terms of web designing, intuition play a significant part when:
- We chart out navigation map for the website. How users move from one place cannot be known by any other mean if not intuitively. You cannot explain how you know that the website visitors will go to c from a then come back to b then again to a then d and so on and so forth. An experienced web designer just knows how a visitor is going to interact with the website.
- We chose the color scheme. Indeed color theories are there to assist us on which color will look good with which color and which will look awful. But you cannot explain why a certain type of website works well with certain color scheme, while it fails when other color scheme is chosen. And why one color scheme works well with one type of website and does not work will with another kind of website.
- We decide the placement of elements in the website. There are many elements that are important for our website, but not all the elements will work at all places. Some elements work well when placed at the first position on above-the-fold while other works at eye-level. Can you explain why this subtle difference matter?
Can you help me find where else intuition plays an important role? Use the comment box and help me know more about this.
Tags: Color Scheme, Color Theories, Creation, Creative, Creativity, Designing A Website, Elements, Execution, Experienced Web Designer, First Position, Fo, Intuition, Map, Mechanical Activity, Plays, Principle, Web Designing, Web Page, Website Visitors
Google’s Adsense program is a ridiculously good way to make money online through advertising, without having to go through the daunting task of trying to solicit advertisers yourself. The problem is, most people don’t use Adsense properly, and so don’t see as much of a return from the program as they should. If you figure, it’s a good idea for everybody to have a personal blog in the first place, whether for professional reasons, or just for the sake of putting your ideas out there for other people to read. But if you’re going to go to that trouble, why not make a few dollars from your efforts, all you need is a few pointers on how to make the most of Adsense.
First and foremost, target your audience. Go through Google’s Adsense options and choose categories that have something in common with your blog. So obviously if you’re here reading this, you’re either an IT professional or in the field, so you want computer/internet products and services first and foremost. After which, make sure you pay close attention to which sorts of ads are receiving the most attention, as you can use that to your advantage by replacing any banners that nobody pays attention to, instead adding ads that are more likely to get clicked.
There’s no point in wasting ad space on something that’s not doing anything positive for you.
Be careful in picking your Adsense banner colors also, as there’s a huge mistake that most people make when formatting Adsense content for their blogs. And that huge mistake is, you do not want your ad banner to match your blog’s background color scheme. It’s a proven fact that a contrasting vibrant color will attract more attention to the advertisement, increasing the likelihood that Dave Websurfer will click on the banner, netting you some money for your trouble.
But the main attraction, as I always say it, is writing relevant intriguing content. That’s your blog or website’s lifeblood. The longer that Billy Interweb-Browser stays on your site, reading whatever it is you choose to write about, the more likely he is to notice an advertisement. And that’s the whole purpose of using your blog to generate any sort of cash flow.
Tags: Ad Space, Background Color, Color Scheme, Computer Internet, Daunting Task, Google, Internet Products, Intriguing Content, Lifeblood, Likelihood, Main Attraction, Mistake, Personal Blog, Pointers, Professional Reasons, Sake, Sorts, Target Your Audience, Vibrant Color, Websurfer
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