Please Review Our Online Poker Website

[PROFRBcom]

Hello GPWA,

We were hoping some of the more experienced members here might be so kind as to review our online poker related website, www.professionalrakeback.com

We have a lot of custom content that no one else has for online poker, but I am concerned about site design only being geared towards online poker players who have some understanding of the poker world. You see, the site caters to VIP type poker players, giving them advocacy, business advice (via Skype) and informational services as pertains to online poker. However, we have been working on ranking the site higher to help our clients with more recreational traffic, and as such, I'm certain we need to make ea variety of changes... however, I don't wish to influence the results of the answers, so, would you be so kind as to review our site for us?

[chaumi]

Tough one this, isn't it. You want to appeal to two entirely different groups of players.

And it depends on what you mean by recreational to some extent as well. Do you mean typical 'I've been playing for a few months and I pretty much know what's going on' players, or 'I haven't got a clue what poker is apart from how to spell it' players...(I know there is an in between as well)

So my perception as a non poker player......I think I would hit the home page and not have a clue what you were offering me (which is what you already know of course).

But I'm not convinced even those experienced players you were focusing on would really know what you were offering. To me, the header makes it look like you're marketing poker rooms. The wording is (to a non experienced poker player) too obscure, and to an experienced player doesn't nail it. They'd have to click on the 'read more' under the introduction...and that takes you to a page where you really start telling them what you offer.

I'd say that 'read more' page needs to go above the home page fold as some easy to read bullet points. Short and to the point, then pull them into the read more to get better detail.

Suggest put all that stuff below the fold on a poker offers page and let them choose to go to it (can be one of the bullet points)

If you want that home page to appeal to both experienced and non experienced players then break those bullet points down into two clear sections...though I'd be worried that might dilute the potential for the experienced players. A kind of snobbery, if you like.

Also I'm not sure you want those offers on the home page as you scroll down. Any visitor that hasn't 'got' what you're about above the fold may scroll and think you're 'just' another poker affiliate site, whereas in fact you're offering a lot more value. They may not realise that, which just serves to increase the need to explain clearly on first impression exactly what you are offering.

[sweetbet]

Decreasing the site's loading time might help the site to rank better in the search engines. According to webpagetest .org the site is a little slow to load.

[PROFRBcom]

Decreasing the site's loading time might help the site to rank better in the search engines. According to webpagetest .org the site is a little slow to load.

I think you're right here. We could likely size our images a bit better and make some other tweaks. Do you have any suggestions for safe+fast place to host a gaming site mainly targeting US players via offshore sites?

[sweetbet]

It might be an idea to make a list of some of the top gambling portal sites and then use whoishostingthis .com to see where they are hosted.

[PROFRBcom]

Tough one this, isn't it. You want to appeal to two entirely different groups of players.

Yes, ultimately we'll have other sites for the recreational focus, however, this site already ranks well for a number of terms and needs to be better utilized to bring in randoms.

And it depends on what you mean by recreational to some extent as well. Do you mean typical 'I've been playing for a few months and I pretty much know what's going on' players, or 'I haven't got a clue what poker is apart from how to spell it' players...(I know there is an in between as well)

Yea, in this case, I mean recreational = someone who has played poker online before, but isn't up to speed, and isn't pro/semi-pr, but isn't necessarily a winning player either. For example, we get a lot of guys to the website who haven't played since Black Friday and have the urge to come back, but don't want to get hosed by a Ponzi Scheme like Lock Poker. They come to us because of the exclusive content we produce, and we inform them of their choices and give them what we think is the best solution. Many of them have already done some cursory research though before finding us.

Complete poker newbs are something we'll target with another (dozen) websites.

So my perception as a non poker player......I think I would hit the home page and not have a clue what you were offering me (which is what you already know of course).

Yea, people out of the loop don't understand the menu bar I think. That needs to be reworked. I suppose we need to do some serious keyword research in order to title them appropriately/lower our bounce %.

But I'm not convinced even those experienced players you were focusing on would really know what you were offering. To me, the header makes it look like you're marketing poker rooms. The wording is (to a non experienced poker player) too obscure, and to an experienced player doesn't nail it. They'd have to click on the 'read more' under the introduction...and that takes you to a page where you really start telling them what you offer.

I'd say that 'read more' page needs to go above the home page fold as some easy to read bullet points. Short and to the point, then pull them into the read more to get better detail.

I agree with you here. That sticky post is sort of a hackjob. The Drupal template we're stuck on makes the type of organization you describe
(and we want) impossible. Unfortunately, I know of no easy remedy... probably have to change templates and redesign the whole thing

Suggest put all that stuff below the fold on a poker offers page and let them choose to go to it (can be one of the bullet points)

If you want that home page to appeal to both experienced and non experienced players then break those bullet points down into two clear sections...though I'd be worried that might dilute the potential for the experienced players. A kind of snobbery, if you like.

No, you're right, it would definitely dilute things for the pro players. As a pro player, I would notice that instantly and be turned off too some degree.

Also I'm not sure you want those offers on the home page as you scroll down. Any visitor that hasn't 'got' what you're about above the fold may scroll and think you're 'just' another poker affiliate site, whereas in fact you're offering a lot more value. They may not realise that, which just serves to increase the need to explain clearly on first impression exactly what you are offering.

Well, because of the menu confusion, that's why we have those offers on the front page. To make it easy for people to see some of what we have out there on offer. We do have the little descriptions in the images to highlight strengths of each room.




Thank you for all of that advice

[wettFORM.AT]

site looks good and clean but maybe a bit too clean. I think you could improve the header and maybe put something into the background not an image but maybe someting that makes it softer especially at the bottom.

[PROFRBcom]

I'm afraid that more images would slow the load time down even more. That's something we need to improve upon according to every analytics test we run Any ideas?

[PROFRBcom]

Changed up the site a bit. Thoughts?

[MMM]

Hi

I like very much the top and the left parts of the site. The center-bottom i find a bit confusing.

I probably missed and someone wrote it before, but i would add more content to the home page - there are places where it seems a bit empty. I wouldn't place full text there, but just highlights for each room: first, to catch the eye of your visitors and second to increase the % of players that will actually like the poker site review they clicked to and will continue further instead of coming back to the homepage looking for something else.

in terms of design: maybe you can make the images on the home page more similar in terms of size and format - i think it will look more clean.

The register part didn't work for me- got Accessed denied message.

Good Luck!

[PROFRBcom]

Hi

I like very much the top and the left parts of the site. The center-bottom i find a bit confusing.

I probably missed and someone wrote it before, but i would add more content to the home page - there are places where it seems a bit empty. I wouldn't place full text there, but just highlights for each room: first, to catch the eye of your visitors and second to increase the % of players that will actually like the poker site review they clicked to and will continue further instead of coming back to the homepage looking for something else.

in terms of design: maybe you can make the images on the home page more similar in terms of size and format - i think it will look more clean.

The register part didn't work for me- got Accessed denied message.

Good Luck!

Thanks for that review. I'm not sure how to add more content to the homepage exactly given the current layout with blog like updates and a left sidebar. I'd have to add content below the "blogish news updates" or on the left sidebar. Rearranging things isn't something I can easily do with this template.

The images are being changed up, and I agree with you. I think we're going to stick to 2 verical pixel sizes from now on whenever possible and mostly left center them with the text for a cleaner look.

The register part isn't for clients, only for admin login and I don't know how to remove it on this Drupal 7 install. Ideally I'd like to put the login for admins on its own special page... clients try to register and it confuses them... I'm sure it costs us business from time to time

[TomPregon]

I like the left menu, and header, the mid part section still is a bit 'messy' in my honest opinion. If I was you I would make a 'uniform' size for all images so that they will blend in nicely in to your home page. With that, I would also have an uniform size excerpt of the post you're linking to. This will probably give it a bit more of a professional look. Having said that, since you already rank nicely for many poker keywords, I would be careful to 'redesign' too much. Never change a winning team they say. Best of luck with your site.

[ricardouklon]

Out of curiosity, are there any money in the poker affiliates? I though all is dead..

[PROFRBcom]

Out of curiosity, are there any money in the poker affiliates? I though all is dead..

I don't have any casino, sportsbook, or other gambling sites to compare it to so any response I make would be lacking in relativity.

[sampendleton]

I like it, overall, it is simple and easy to navigate.
Just a suggestion, on your site's future update -- add some colors
Enticing and inviting enough to attract users.

[PROFRBcom]

I probably missed and someone wrote it before, but i would add more content to the home page

Added a left side bar with some text and keywords. Thoughts?

Also, I'm wondering if I should take the bold off of the anchor text on the direct affiliate links on the left sidebars. Too much bold = too many KY in Google's eyes = bad for SEO?