Anybody want to review my build...

[xxbossmanxx]

Hey all,

I have been on this build forever. I get tunnel vision sometimes and need some fresh eyes on the site.

This is an important site for me because I have many great card game and poker IDNs I am getting ready to point to it. Also, I will soon have browser language detection with multiple languages installed.

If you wouldnt mind surfing around it for a few mins and let me know what you think of the overall layout, ease of navigation, what you like most, what you hate most etc. that would be great!

TY!

http://www.im4poker.com

[chaumi]

Impressive...after studying hundreds of poker/casino sites during my own affiliate site developments, got to say this is the most striking and original seen.

Instinctive first thought was maybe slightly cluttered at top of home page - think it's the larger font size compared to the text in the main section coupled with the flag sizes. Maybe you could reduce the flag sizes without impacting the valuable marketing angle of multiple language cover. Difficult to tell if the two fonts are the same, but just look different due to size and bolding.

The orange works well, maybe try some text with a touch of the same blue in the banner or the poker table background to see if it has added impact.

Always thought myself that it may be better building individual sites for the language cover using a strong IDN in each local where practical, and linking back to main site - would appear to give increased indexing potential? Could probably still maintain the IM4 branded look.

The banner just below the fold is very attractive compared to most others available from the main poker sites, as such it may be slightly wasted not being immediately visible. Possible reduction in font size and flags at the top could bring the banner slightly into view, leading the visitor downwards, though the downside is that may distract from the overall precision of the page.

I've read some studies on eye movement of users across pages in the first few seconds, which supposedly is all we've got to make an impact - they suggest a large percentage tend to scan in a rough 'F' shape, starting about an inch down from left hand corner. If that's right, 'enter poker' would be in a perfect position, but that banner (or a smaller variation of it) could work effectively around this area too.

Noticed you've removed the border on the home page that's visible on some (all?) of the sub pages. Looks better to me with it removed.

Could be worth increasing the poker related content, maybe separate beginner and experienced player sections. Poker TV might hold visitors on site longer - I know where to get a feed for this, just shout.

Haven't got time to go through all pages, hope this helps.

[bramiozo]

This text, under the top flags ; Online poker Room, Casino, Poker messenger, Mail, Player chat rooms, Profiles, Blogs, Articles, Leagues, Tourneys and more! Only at IM4. Play for fun or real money.

I would drop that, I think it is redundant and as it is it looks kinda nasty, if you want to keep it I would make it bold and in the same color as the rest of the text.

Overall, there's too much text directly visible, I would use 1 color spectrum for your fonts, the sharp white really hurts my eyes.


It seems this is your own poker site ?

[bwhhisc]

Our Poker "client" runs thru many languages.

That word sounds strange in there....maybe change to "our poker games are offered in many languages"

Also, most sites I have seen say "play for fun", or "visit the casino" or to that effect. Enter Poker Site might have small tag line (play for fun or in our casino) if that is offered. Enter Casino might also have tag line if there is free play available or maybe list of games.

I have to think that most people would be skeptical about online gambling vs. a computer...and I have no ideas how customers would know if (your host company) is totally legit, or pays out x percentage. etc. I imagine there is no regulation in this business, or how does one know where is best to play?

Just thinking that maybe you need to put something about "the largest poker affiliate in the world" (not sure if that is the case) but something to let customers know. Maybe you can give us more insight into this business. Good luck with your site.

[chaumi]

Bill's made a good point about tag lines for 'enter poker' and 'enter casino'

One possible extra marketing ploy is the use of quotes, you might consider the tag lines to be quotes. Some research shows people are drawn to quotes, adding extra weight because someone actually said it. Some could also say it's a bit transparent, a toss up I guess.

Example (quote from me so you don't have to make it up, but of course can be your own quote :-).......

"....a striking and original poker community website...." and the add some other text...free poker games, forum, TV, thousands of online players etc etc

You may be able to use a quote such as this as the page heading or in the page content description so it shows in the text of the search results.

[jacksonm]

Hey all,

I have been on this build forever. I get tunnel vision sometimes and need some fresh eyes on the site.

This is an important site for me because I have many great card game and poker IDNs I am getting ready to point to it. Also, I will soon have browser language detection with multiple languages installed.

If you wouldnt mind surfing around it for a few mins and let me know what you think of the overall layout, ease of navigation, what you like most, what you hate most etc. that would be great!

TY!

http://www.im4poker.com


You asked for it, you got it :-)

1. The front page is 8 miles too long. It should fit without scrolling. A 3 column design would do wonders...

2. The site is quite IE and micro$oft centric. I use firefox and linux.

3. If I choose forums, the page loads, then a white box appears over the text in the mid-upper left side of the page.

4. If I go to poker site full, I'm prompted to download a binary which doesn't run on my platform.

5. The stars background and general site design scream 1999. When I look at this site, I wonder when the last time it was updated and if it even still works or not.


Then I leave the site after a few clicks as it seems that you don't want my business and I can't be arsed to hunt forever for how I can use your site.

Perhaps some browser/OS detection and relevant dynamic content would be really good to tell me immediately how I can use your site from my browser/OS combo so I won't run away.


BR,
--
jacksonm

[xxbossmanxx]

Excellent. All good stuff to work from. Thank you for the input guys.

[blastfromthepast]

Today's boxes are rounded rectangles.

[xxbossmanxx]

Ya, ill prob round them over and I will def. be doing what some people have suggested.

I use IE and so does most of the browsing world so that is the focus but eventually I would like to make it clean for all browsers and stuff.

As for a linux running firefox user I am not too worried about losing that .01% of the market share :)

[jacksonm]

As for a linux running firefox user I am not too worried about losing that .01% of the market share :)

Hi,
I think that is an naive and fairly inaccurate statement.

Firefox usage is somewhere between 15-20%, and non-windows users (OS X and linux combined) are somewhere between 10-15%.

Still, those numbers might be acceptable losses for you. Only you can make that decision.


BR,
jacksonm

[xxbossmanxx]

It was sarcastic. Although those numbers may be how it breaks down straight up, my demographic is online gamers the % of these users running linux is very low since they already know they will not be able to run much on the net.

Many samll changes have been made already. TY very much for the input guys, keep it coming if you dont mind.

Feel free to say whatever but if you must insist on calling it crap then I would like to see YOUR build :)

Many samll changes have been made already. TY very much for the input guys, keep it coming if you dont mind.

Feel free to say whatever but if you must insist on calling it crap then I would like to see YOUR build :)