Just another site for review

[TCDC]

Greetings everyone,

Like many here my wife & I are working on this in our extra time. I have some web experience from other markets but haven't been at it for a while.

The site took about 15 hours to make from start to finish. Updating content is now a weekly task.

Like many others I'd be interested to know if anyone has any constructive criticism for us

It's always good to hear what you could improve.

I know everyone is busy so thanks in advance for anyone who takes a few minutes to review our site and send us comments, we appreciate it.

http://www.thecasinoblackbook.com

Regards from Montreal,

Taylor

[Nodepositworld]

It's a banner farm and nothing more imo. Try adding some content.

[davemerry]

HI Taylor,

Nodepositworld is right, put simply it has to much banners and not enough user information or direction.

Years back sites like this used to be common in the casino industry however slowly but surely informative sites which guided the user, rather than forced a decision upon them, have put them out of business.

I'd look at providing your users with information and only having a few select banners, otherwise users will feel like as they aren't getting good content, they aren't getting good banners...and simply press the back button...

Hope that helps.
Dave M

[Gabriel_LCP]

It's a banner farm and nothing more imo. Try adding some content.

I agree completely!! Maybe you could add some reviews for the casinos you give exposure too thus adding more content to your site!! I would start there!

I also noticed that the sections "USA Casinos" & "USA Gaming" are pretty much the same thing, I would take one out maybe!

[TCDC]

Hey guys,

Thanks very much for the feedback.

I had the idea that b/c most portals have a top 10 list, and of course there are many more than 10 sites to play, that a top 10 was limiting my traffic & exposure. I mean, there are 100's of sites to discover - I would *think* that by offering more of a selection that that would be more appealing than just a few choices. If I only offer 5 sites and they are not appealing to player X, then wouldn't it make more sense to offer more choices?

That's a question & not challenging your comments

I tend to agree re: the banner farm & have to think of ways to break it down. The reason I don't have reviews at this time is b/c not all sites I list, have reviews to post. I could take that as bad or irrelevant. I.e. just b/c there's no review doesn't mean it can't convert right?

So I'm a little torn. I agree w/ all of your comments & think it makes more sense to break things out to offer more guidance (didn't think that was necessarily needed expecting gamers knew what they wanted - but wanted choices instead of reviews) and content.

If, in your experience you think that 'less is more' then I'll have to give that some serious consideration.

Note: At this time we're a start-up w/ zero traffic - so the time is right to make adjustments. Makes me wonder how to select a few well converting brands over volume and how can I possibly make rankings when I don't have traffic?

Thanks again guys - much appreciated

Have a good one

T

[AWH-Gemma]

There are some good sites out there that offer the choice of a lot of casinos, you don't have to limit yourself to 5 or 10 casinos etc... just as others have said reconsider the layout. Would you really enjoy looking through a whole page of banners? Not only does it hurt your eyes but it doesn't give you any information.

With regards to reviews, most affiliates write their own reviews, hope this helps.

[ocreditor]

Hi Taylor, welcome to the forum and well done for asking for constructive criticism, it's not always easy to do.

Seeing as you're a start-up, you probably need to write your own reviews. Take a look at some other established affiliate sites to see how it's done, but make sure all the content you write is your own original work.This can be time consuming, and you said that you and your wife are working on this as a side project, so you might have to accept that this will eat into your evenings and weekends quite a lot! Good luck

[TCDC]

Hi Gemma & ocreditor

Thanks again for the feedback.

I agree it's a little hard on the eyes - we can definitely make some smarter design choices.

Re: reviews - yes it will have to be a mix of our own content & some that is provided.

Working the after hours is expected - it's more work to change everything but I am happy to get this out early on instead of waiting until we actually get some traffic & everyone hates the site

Thanks again everyone!

T

[Gabriel_LCP]

You could always just write short reviews and add screen shots from the casinos (homepage, different games they offer, etc) and that way you show some illustrative info for the casinos as well. Its an option! Best of luck to ya!

[xecutable]

Hi TCDC

Welcome to the forums! You've absolutely found the right place to get some pointers.
Here are some crucial things you would wanna change and I think everyone would agree, but they forgot to mention.

First start with getting rid of the "jack queen king ace picture". I don't know what resolution you are viewing from but it's taking like almost 1/3 of my 22" and it's taking the whole view on a 10" Eee PC. Large headers are never recommended, they don't really do anything for you and are distracting. Create a smaller logo, or save the space for advertising.

The reason you would want a Top10 list, is because you want to have a premium space on your website, something you can bargain for with casino brands. People are willing to give you more for rank1 spot which is a good thing. Consider that list to be placed, above fold (meaning I don't have to scroll down the horizontal bar to see it).

As people mentioned here, it's always a good idea to write a review, get one written for you, or just ask your affiliate manager to give you a general one, which you can modify to be unique. The reason behind it? Well right now, if I was brand new and looking for casinos how would I know which brand I can trust. Yes you had given me 30 banners and I am sure you have your thought on each brand, but I'd like to read those and make up my mind.

Know this, text links convert better for many affiliates. Banners are generally there for the look and feel. You would need some call to action words pointing to your links something like "Visit Brand.com Now" or "Register in Brand.com Today" etc anything that tells your visitors to go ahead and register.

So right now on your urgent list you should have.

1. Remove the big image, or at least reduce the size. You want as much information as possible above the fold. People do not like to scroll down what they came for to see.

2. You need content. At the moment there's no content, so you can't expect to rank well. Say hundred pages of reviews and bonus offers at around 400 words per page all unique, will be a good start.

3. Focus on more call to action words, like the ones I've mentioned above, stick with 1 size banner as I see you are using 728x90 but some images seem scaled ?

I think once you are done with those 3 and you have an ok final product with a Top10 or whatever # u want list, with over 30-40 reviews and call to action words with links, you can start going after building backlinks and adding even more content.

It would take time, and in this field "less is more" would not be appropriate. If anything else, people are always looking for more and more.

Hope this helps and gets you going on the right track. Take care.

Regards,

[TCDC]

Thanks a lot guys - I really appreciate all the help - I think this all makes sense so it's time to get to work.

Thanks again & have a good one

T