Site Evaluation

[mgallone]

Hi everyone,

I've been slowly building a poker affiliate site for the past couple of months, adding to it here and there when I get the time between university study and offline work. It's starting to move into the realms of 'almost there', and I was wondering if anyone could give it a look and drop me some feeback?

The address is www.poker-gateway.com

(Clinton, feel free to edit this out if it contarvenes the rules)

If it has been removed and you'd still like to help, don't hesitate to drop me a PM

Marco

[hooperman]

What kind of feedback do you want Marco?

One thing I would change is the URL structure so that it has the post title in it (that's set in the permalink section). I just think it helps with readability, so it's more of a personal preference than anything else, though some would argue it helps with SEO.

Without going overboard, I'd try and keep search phrases in mind: on your "strategy" page, maybe "Poker Strategy" would be a better heading. Of course, it's going to take more than good <h1>s to get decent traffic from such a hard subject area.

[mgallone]

Thanks Hooperman, any feedback really- just want to get a general idea of what needs to be done. I'll certainlly sort out the perma links today.

[Clinton]

It looks like a nice site, Marco. I have a bit of trouble with the red text on black background and other minor inconveniences. But, the main things: What's the purpose of the site, what does it give visitors that they can't get anywhere else? Why should they come to you?

[mgallone]

What's the purpose of the site

The purpose, at the moment, is to provide visitors with honest and unbiased reviews about different poker rooms, and advice on how to play once they've selected a room.

what does it give visitors that they can't get anywhere else? Why should they come to you?

The million dollar question(s), and something that's a real melon scratcher. Try as I might, finding a unique niche in the poker market is worse than looking for a needle in a haystack (or an answer from me without a cliche ). The closest I've come so far to identifying something that doesn't seem available elsewhere is the 'roundup' that I've done so far for Full Tilt, and am also writing for numerous other poker rooms. It could be a useful resource to players who play at multiple rooms and want to keep track on all of the different offers and tournaments taking place. It's something I'm constantly looking at, though.

As for the red/orange text, for me it is the lesser of two evils, the other option being to have all links on the strategy page in small font white text. But it is certainly a design element that needs changing.

[christopheravell]

I am going to be honest with you as I always try to be....

First off, you need full disclosure. It appears the links you provide are affiliate links and, thus, you should (and might legally have to) disclose that you are compensated for your reviews in this manner. Here is a GREAT RESOURCE for doing this:

http://disclosurepolicy.org/generator/generate_policy

Secondly, your navigation needs to be more clear... What is your traffic strategy? Will people enter through the homepage? A landing page? Blog posts? If I landed on your homepage it might not be clear to me exactly where to go... Which is okay if your plan is to generate visitors through your blog posts.

I think you have a nice start here. But in my blatant honesty I think you might be a long stretch from making a profit; if that is your goal. I think along the lines of Clinton -- you're going to need to differentiate yourself more in order to attract / retain an audience.

Good luck, if you need any help let me know.

[mgallone]

Hi Chris, thanks for the advice. My goals with this website at the moment are a bit mixed (which might explain the lack of direction with regards to traffic targeting etc). Part of it is, of course, to see if I can generate a bit of money from it, but it is also my first foray into the world of website building so a large proportion is to build my experience in a field that I can hopefully earn something resembling a living from one day.
With regards to traffic, my main concern at the moment is not so much where traffic will go once on the website, but how they will get to the site in the first place. Obviously with poker being such a hotly contested field, getting good rankings through SEO alone is not an option, and I have no experience with building links, so I'm at a bit of a loss there- do I sign up to something like link market, hire someone to do it for me? (I have no idea how to approach anyone, correct etiquete etc). I can't bring myself to pay for PPC, it doesn't seem worth the cost when the vast majority of clicks probably won't convert into affiliate sales.

Wow- reading that back it is one giant moan Sorry about that, I don't intend to come off that way.

Thank you very much for your help so far everyone, it is greatly appreciated

[christopheravell]

Hi Chris, thanks for the advice. My goals with this website at the moment are a bit mixed (which might explain the lack of direction with regards to traffic targeting etc). Part of it is, of course, to see if I can generate a bit of money from it, but it is also my first foray into the world of website building so a large proportion is to build my experience in a field that I can hopefully earn something resembling a living from one day.
With regards to traffic, my main concern at the moment is not so much where traffic will go once on the website, but how they will get to the site in the first place. Obviously with poker being such a hotly contested field, getting good rankings through SEO alone is not an option, and I have no experience with building links, so I'm at a bit of a loss there- do I sign up to something like link market, hire someone to do it for me? (I have no idea how to approach anyone, correct etiquete etc). I can't bring myself to pay for PPC, it doesn't seem worth the cost when the vast majority of clicks probably won't convert into affiliate sales.

Wow- reading that back it is one giant moan Sorry about that, I don't intend to come off that way.

Thank you very much for your help so far everyone, it is greatly appreciated

OH MY, do NOT hire someone to build backlinks (at least at this stage). You certainly can compete on SEO but your site is going to have to stand out a bit more.

Keep learning the ropes before spending any money. Keep focused on this as a learning experience and in the meantime SAVE MONEY so that when you are a bit more experienced you have a serious investment available to take you to the level of success you're aiming for...

[tke71709]

OH MY, do NOT hire someone to build backlinks (at least at this stage).

Agreed

You certainly can compete on SEO but your site is going to have to stand out a bit more.

Disagreed. Mgallone, you've picked one of the hardest niches on the Internet to try to get a foothold in and you're years behind your competition in terms of SEO.

Nothing is impossible but in terms of a first foray into website building, I would have picked an easier niche to be honest. I'm concerned that you're going to work your heart out on the site and you're not going to see results (due to the competitiveness of the niche) which is going to sour you on the entire experience. There is nothing worse than spending hundreds of hours on something and not seeing any results.

That is the one great advantage to buying existing sites, someone already did a lot of the work for you, you know the results are there, you just need to build on them.

[christopheravell]

Agreed



Disagreed. Mgallone, you've picked one of the hardest niches on the Internet to try to get a foothold in and you're years behind your competition in terms of SEO.

Nothing is impossible but in terms of a first foray into website building, I would have picked an easier niche to be honest. I'm concerned that you're going to work your heart out on the site and you're not going to see results (due to the competitiveness of the niche) which is going to sour you on the entire experience. There is nothing worse than spending hundreds of hours on something and not seeing any results.

That is the one great advantage to buying existing sites, someone already did a lot of the work for you, you know the results are there, you just need to build on them.

I for one prefer building new sites to buying existing ones... Chances are, with your budget (and I am making assumptions here) you couldn't buy a *truly* established site. I think you picked a great niche -- one you KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT and ENJOY. I personally think a big mistake is people approach online business with a "gee, where can I make money" attitude. And guess what -- there are plenty of people willing to suck you (and your money) in on that motivation. BUT, if your motivation is based on what YOU ENJOY and WHAT YOU KNOW then you cannot be sucked in by hype. Either it is something you know and enjoy or it is not. If you love poker, build the best poker site you can!

Also, don;t let competitive niches scare you -- they are competitive for a reason!! I love going into a hotly contested niche and dominating it!