If you’re new to the project, you might want to read the Community Consulting launch post and take a look at the post where Fashion-Incubator was opened for critique.
Every inch of the blog was pored over and evaluated, which has helped build a comprehensive body of tips and lessons we can all learn from.
In what follows, I’ll try to summarize the key recurring themes from the feedback Fashion-Incubator received.
Width issues
The most frequently mentioned aspect of the blog was its 4-column layout. At a 1024 x 768 resolution — the resolution most visitors would be using — the fourth column did not fully fit on the screen. Visitors can’t be expected to scroll around horizontally to view the full design of the site.
A common solution presented was to simplify the design down to three columns — something I strongly agree with.
A number of readers also felt the information on the page was too compacted. The space freed up by removing a column could be used to add more whitespace between the columns remaining. This would make the page more readable and inviting overall, and help to make the content stand out from the sidebars.
More simplicity needed
Many readers also felt the blog would benefit from greater simplicity. The sidebars are filled with links, ads and information which many readers felt could be done away with.
De-cluttering is an important practice because for every inessential item you subtract, you’re allowing a bigger chunk of reader attention to go towards what is important. My suggestions for de-cluttering the blog are:
- Remove the calendar widget and archives in the sidebar. As many readers pointed out, visitors are much more likely to browse by title rather than date. A separate archives page with post titles would be more useful, and would help de-clutter.
- Move links and resources to a separate page. There are a lot of good resources here, but many readers found that it was too much information presented at once, and the overall effect was distracting. I’d suggest moving these links and resources to their own dedicated page.
- Remove recent entries. The blog is only showing short post excerpts on the page, meaning it is already much easier for readers to scroll down the page than it is to pick out titles from a chunk of text. Kathleen will be able to free up a lot of space by removing this element.
- Simplify Amazon advertising. Many commenters found the number of Amazon ads overwhelming. Kathleen has highlighted that these are important resources for her readership, but I would suggest offering affiliate links to the books on a separate ‘essential resources’ page, linked prominently towards the top of the sidebar. I’d also suggest cutting down the number of Amazon books advertised on the main page. Focusing more attention on less ads will lead to more click-throughs overall.
- Simplify other advertising. Some readers felt that the amount of advertising overall impacted on their engagement with the blog. One thing Kathleen might consider is to assess her advertising strategy and retain only the ads that are performing well.
A more vibrant design
Another commonly cited issue was that some readers felt the design was too plain. A frequent suggestion was to add a logo or header image to the site — something that will not only make the blog more visually interesting, but will also help with branding and differentiating the blog from its competitors. Another simple way to liven up the design would be to add more imagery and formatting to posts.
A group of readers also suggested that post headlines be made larger and permalinked. As headlines are doorways into your posts, it’s important to emphasize them over the rest of what’s on your page.
What is it?
Throughout the review process a common question readers had trouble answering was: what is Fashion-Incubator about? Short of reading the content, there is no information available on the main page to introduce the blog to new readers.
Visitors are unlikely to invest time in reading posts unless they feel there’s something in it for them. That’s where things like tag-lines become important. As a new visitor, I found it difficult to work out what the blog was about and who its target audience was.
Some readers felt the blog’s About page was not easy enough to find and could be made more helpful. Though including author information is worthwhile, most visitors to your About page are primarily interested in two questions: what is this blog about and what can it offer me? It’s essential that you answer these two questions before anything else.
Emphasizing the book
Kathleen is a published author and sells a book she’s written through the blog. The book essentially forms a handbook to accompany the posts and is considered by many of her regular visitors to be required reading.
For that reason, it’s essential that the book is given greater emphasis. I’d suggest moving it into the top-left corner of the screen (where the calendar widget currently is) and making the image clickable — taking you to a page with more information on what it is and what it offers.
Subscription options
A group of readers suggested that the RSS icon should be moved towards the top of the sidebar. This is something I agree with, though I suspect only a small portion of the blog’s target audience would be using RSS, as the blog is not at all tech/internet related.
Those interested in subscribing are likely to do so via email. For that reason, I think the email subscription form needs more clarity. It’s quite vague at the moment and could prove confusing to some visitors.
I’d title the form ‘Get new posts emailed to you’ and provide instructions to ‘type your email address here’. Being clear about what subscription involves will only help increase subscriber numbers.
Positives
While focusing on what could be improved is more useful for the blogger, I think it’s worth acknowledging some of the things readers were impressed with.
The response to the blog’s content and writing style was generally very positive. A number of commenters also highlighted the engaged and active community of loyal readers and commenters Kathleen has built.
Many other aspects of the blog were mentioned by individual and smaller groups of readers — too many to mention here. You can view the full break-down of feedback in the comments on Fashion-Incubator’s introductory post.
The prize!
The quality of the feedback was outstanding overall, making it hard to choose a winner. That being said, there is only one iPod Shuffle to give away!
This week’s prize winner is Cathy Moore. Her feedback spanned everything from design to content, it clearly outlined some key areas for improvement and it was delivered with a lot of respect. Congratulations!
What’s next for ProBlogger Community Consulting?
We’ll be kicking off our second review in a few days, following the success of this one. Another blog, another prize, and hopefully many more lessons to be learned!
