Review 2 - You help is appreciated

Could you remind us of what the original looked like? I don't really remember.

Here is the original critique.

Based on the last set of critiques I'm finding that some minor improvements have been made - changing the font to sans-serif, reformatting the FAQ etc.

I am still finding that this is very text heavy. Try reformatting things so it at least doesn't look like so much text. The design isn't very catchy at all - rather boring, nothing special. If nothing else you should certainly get yourself a better logo.

What I do like about the site is the colours you've chosen. The pale yellow and dusty blue is a nice combination. I'd actually like to see that combination strengthened, maybe with the addition of some #990033 (a dark red with a hint of pink)

Overall I agree with Megan,

I think there's to much text, guess no one's gonna read that amount of text on a homepage at all.
I should try to come up with another main color that goes well with the black, white and blue.
No offense, but IMO this site looks like it was built in 1997 or so, which I think will not attract visitors (unless they love a retro look )

Scrolling down I see a lot of white space beneath the text before the cell stops. I should fix that.

Hope it helps,

The site is not a "homepage". It is a business website. Can I get some suggestions on how to cut down the text? I have already cut down the description of the services as much as possible

I think that part of the problem is that it just looks like a lot of text because of the way it is formatted. Try adding some larger margins to the content area - shorter lines will make things easier to read. You might want to consider making this a fixed width design - it's worse on the other pages where there is no right sidebar.

Also try to eliminate redundant information. The first two paragraphs on the front page - the one bolded and in blue ("If you could add some HTML code...") at the top and the one under the first header ("AdBannerTrade.com offers you massive advertising...") are essentially saying the same thing so get rid of one of them. Next, get rid of that animated .gif. The next three paragraphs should be consolidated into one like this:

Quote: A member's suite of advertising services at your fingertips! AdBannerTrade.com will at least double your site's current traffic guaranteed! All advertising services listed below offer category, time and country targeting.

Link the "guaranteed" text to to some sort of money-back guarantee description or something. What happens if my traffic doesn't double? I also deleted the line about smartshow technology - that can go on the more details page.

It might be a good idea to just simply list the types of advertising you have, then link to the more info page and outline all the details there. As you have it there's a bit too much on the front page and not enough on the "see examples" page. (BTW, the scrolling text and the swim banner don't work in my browser - I'm using mozilla 0.9.5)

In order for this to work properly the right column will have to be shortened. Get rid of the news section (I think it's pretty safe to say that everybody knows!) and try to cut down on some of those partner sites if you can.

Tell me Megan. Go to this page, http://www.adbannertrade.com/demo

Out of all the services. What can you see and what can't you see. They use Javascript. I don't know much about mozilla but mabye it has troubles with javascript

Thanks
Andrew Drake

With 'homepage' I meant the first page of the site...

Ok. My mistake

I have cut down the text. Is it still too text heavy? I don't see how I can cut it down any more on the homepage. I will be editing the tour/more info pages later.

I am also going to link the "guranteed" text to a money back guarantee.

Thanks
Andrew

I agree it's way too wordy. It took me 20 minutes to take the tour. I like to be able to absorb information fast. Overall the site appeared pro but the wordy text frustrated me

Not much remains to be said, but I do not think the site's main page is overloaded with text. I think it is very professional, loads very fast and it is intuitive. Now the tour could be more like a "lightweight-wizard", if you know what I mean. Perhaps some images and "fun" instead of all the thick information. Maybe reducing the font size, reorganizing the layout and using some "boxes" with headlines for the descriptions (kinda like:

The Bottom line! (box)
(short description)
|
| 20% INCREASE!
V
TWICE EVERY MONTH!! (box)
(short description)

(or whatever...)
The one thing I really did not like AT ALL, and I think it messes with the overall look, is the red-flashing banner ("it this is flashing you won"). It appeared 3 out of 5 times I loaded the site and certainly was ugly to see.

Hope this is of any good (it will be good for myself!, I tells'ya )

cheers!

Thanks for the help. I am going to modify the tour when I have some time. Unfortunately I am doing university exams in a week so am flat out!!

That red flashing banner is just a members banner in the exchange.

Cheers,
Andrew

"Not much remains to be said, but I do not think the site's main page is overloaded with text"

Joba, I think that's because you did't see the previous version. Acdglobal changed it while this thread was going on

I like the top menu with mouseover effect.

I don't like your logo.

The "member services" box on first page:
Shorten it much, and put the "join" and "more details" buttons so you can see them without having too scroll down.
The image headings should maybe be linked to some place.

The opening "A member's suite......" is excellent text, but I think black text is better so that it matches the other text.

I don't like that partner links. All under "Financial services" links to the same place. And more of that...

Don't like counters.

I like the bottom menu and I like overall design, with table layouts.

The yellow halo around the text doesn't look very good. Maybe try getting rid of it. Your logo seems a bit aliased. Otherwise, it seems good.