African Charity Drive Website - Please Help!!
I would dearly appreciate some criticism on the site I have knocked up to tell the world all about ACD. We leave in December with the Plymouth Dakar Challenge so I need to raise a fair amount of sponsorship soon and a good website will lend us credibility. A UK satellite broadband company has donated the equipment and airtime to update our site with daily text, photos video shorts and even a webcast from the Sahara. I am very closely involved in this whole project so it’s difficult for me to tell whether this site is any good and where its faults lie. This is the site I made for last years trip but I want to distance our ACD from that as I think it could detract form the seriousness of this years project.
These are my main worries:
Does the site make the details and objectives of ACD clear?
Is it sticky enough to grab the attention of the reader and keep them reading the rest of the pages?
Is it written in perhaps too much of a corporate manner? Is there to too much or to little info?
If you were a potential corporate sponsor would this help you deside whether to dig deep in your pockets?
There arent many images, should I try to use more?
We are hoping for a lot of traffic during the event so do you think I will need a dedicated streaming server to accommodate it?
Also could someone direct me towards a method of making the newsletter subscribe box functional? I have asp.net installed on the shared server I am currently using. I can also use Perl cgi scripts on it. I know there are free scripts out there but which one would be easy for an amateur like me to install and administer?
Also can anyone see how I can tweak my CSS to give better results in mozilla?
Sorry if this post is too long winded but I really would value the input of the kind I have had in the past on these boards.
I’m running out of time so really I need help on this,
Many Thanks in advance,
Joe
mfdc posted this at 10:28 — 27th August 2004.
They have: 160 posts
Joined: Aug 2004
It's a good start with a nice simple format. You need to do something about the image however at the top left, it doesnt seem to fit in with the page. Also, the colour scheme is very bright & adds to a slightly 'amateur' ish feel to it.
Reduce the font size slightly so you can incorporate slightly more information on the main page & use some CSS on the links down the left hand side to make the roll-over more interesting.
If you want people tp sponsor you, your going to need to look much more professional before they feel confident in giving you cash. Regardless of how good your reasons are
heebiejeebieclu posted this at 13:18 — 27th August 2004.
They have: 527 posts
Joined: Aug 2004
Very, very good. I would put the menu above the newsletter signup.
mikuaraman posted this at 16:52 — 31st August 2004.
They have: 14 posts
Joined: Aug 2004
I like the site a lot. Very simple, very effective.
One issue was that when I went to the "What we need" page, the left hand navigation bar went to the bottom of the page when I was using Mozilla 1.6. It seemed to work fine in Explorer.
Miku Araman
http://www.vegasfreebie.com/ - Free things to do in Las Vegas
KarenArt posted this at 13:16 — 3rd September 2004.
She has: 354 posts
Joined: May 2001
Well, if you are after sponsors you want to make your text sound very professional and to the point. You want to assure potential sponsors that you are a real organization and their money would be well spent.
I'm no good at copy so I couldn't tell you if you're wording is the best.
What you want to make sure you're clear on...
What the problem is
How your organization is helping
Why you need sponsors
What is in it for the sponsors
I think you may want to add something about what you've done in the past to assure potential sponsors that you are a real organization. Adding some pictures could be good with this.
Also if there is any kind of tax break or something like that that sponsors can get, let them know it.
Just one nitpicky item on your layout...
You might want to make your cellpadding 3 or 5 in your menutable so things don't look quite so crowded.
Best of luck with this! It looks like a very worthwhile endeavor!
gotta finish redesigning my sites so I can show them again.
The purpose of education is... to get more jokes!
heebiejeebieclu posted this at 13:16 — 3rd September 2004.
They have: 527 posts
Joined: Aug 2004
A checklist might be nice on 'what we need'
jo5eph posted this at 14:34 — 11th September 2004.
They have: 24 posts
Joined: Jul 2004
Thanks for the comments people. I have been away working on ACD for a while which is why I havn't replied sooner. I will take all your comments on board and repost here when I have made changes.
Thanks again,
Joe
treepirates.org
rustsafari.com
africantruckdrive.org
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