Online Casino

[ben01]

Hi,

I operate the site, which is an unbiased rakeback directory and poker forum. I would love to see what everyone thinks of it. All constructive criticism appreciated.

Anthony
President
http://www.RakeReport.net

[Anonymous]

Anthony, very well done work, I like it!

[ben01]

itay;147264 wrote:

Anthony, very well done work, I like it!

Hi Itay, thanks for chiming in. Nothing you would change or do differently?

[Catherine]

Good work :3eyes:

[Anonymous]

It might be me, but it seems rather cluttered at the top of the homepage with ads and links and offers. For instance, there are 2 different places that advertise win cash and prizes in our forum.

Best Regards,

Mark

[ben01]

Focal;147674 wrote:

It might be me, but it seems rather cluttered at the top of the homepage with ads and links and offers. For instance, there are 2 different places that advertise win cash and prizes in our forum.

Best Regards,

Mark

Hey Mark,

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. The left-side section used to have the following picture right below the Win Monthly Prizes! heading:

Obviously scaled down to fit that menubar section. But I figured having the total amount won would be a nicer draw for additional forum members, so I continually update that section instead.

It’s a new change, and I understand what you’re saying about having it in two places at the same time. So aside from that issue, what else do you feel makes the page look too “busy”?

My goal is obviously to give my advertisers the best possible exposure for their listings, so if cleaning up the front page will accomplish that then I’m willing to entertain suggestions.

AJ

[Anonymous]

I guess, quite honestly as a new visitor, I just get overwhelmed of where to go on the site. You have, win cash and prizes on the left, 3 featured advertisers that all want a person to click on them on the sides, win a free wsop seat at the top right, at top banner, win prizes and money in the center, an ad for rakebacks.com and a Bluff magazine add on the left. This is all above the fold right when the visitor gets to the site.

I wouldn’t know where to go and would probably click out of the site. I would just say minimize the ads and clean up the design a bit. There are different sized fonts and such.

Best of luck.

Mark

[ben01]

Hi Mark,

That’s some very solid advice. I’ll need to work out a redesign that should accomplish that. Thanks very much for your assistance!

[ben01]

Ok,

Taking Marks advice I made some changes I think will help, although it probably still needs some work:

-Moved all links sections to the left menubar

(previously there were some on the right and some on the left and I think that might be a bit messy/confusing. The right-side is only banner ads now)

-Changed background of links sections from black to silver

helping to soften the page a bit (the black was a little harsh looking)

-Removed the About RakeReport.net top-right section

All this really said was that we’re an unbiased poker rakeback directory, I don’t believe it added much use for the average visitor

-Removed WSOP Logo & Changed Top Center Yellow Box

I also got rid of the similar text/links about poker rakeback and prizes for our forums and combined them for just the center yellow box.

-Removed “Featured Advertiser” Heading & Personalized

Replaced each heading to match the advertisers specific site or product, such as Poker Manager, Free Poker E-Book, etc.

-Changed Heading Color From White To Black

The heading on each page, such as “Featured Offers-Dec 2007” was white and I changed it to black. I figured there needed to be some contrast since the top menu options for the forums and so forth are all white, and then the advertisers down the center of the page are also white.

I’m not sure if I like this look though, perhaps the other sections should be black and the heading should’ve stayed white?

[neophyte]

i love the keyword stuffing in the image alt tags. very blackhat.
:santa2:

[ben01]

alexross;148077 wrote:

i love the keyword stuffing in the image alt tags. very blackhat.
:santa2:

Actually a hold-over from the previous owner. I acquired the site in March of this year and know enough to make some changes to the site but haven’t gone too in-depth since I don’t have any formal web-coding training.

I’m kind of a jack-of-all-trades in that regard. Would you recommend the removal of those alt tags? Do they hurt my sites search engine performance?

[neophyte]

yes, don’t misuse the alt tag. its function is to describe an image, not for stuffing with keywords.

[ben01]

alexross;148135 wrote:

yes, don’t misuse the alt tag. its function is to describe an image, not for stuffing with keywords.

Hi Alex,

Thanks for the advice. I believe I’ve cleaned up the alt tags on the site, please let me know if they look alright and if you have any other suggestions.

AJ

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