[azoundria]

I'm launching a free host in March, and trying to get opinions of the site so it can look great by then.

http://www.ismywebsite.com/

What do you think of the
1) Layout
2) Set Up/Organization
3) Hosting Features

[Fygar]

The fonts feel mismatching. I think if you want to go with the digital header deal, you should find a more coordinating font. The features list feels kind of boxy. Try and round the corners like you did with the page holder.

As far as hosting features, it's kind of confusing. Do you select one plan, or do you get all four plans? Do you have to earn higher plans? If you get all four, why wouldn't everyone just select the expert plan? Maybe you should also have a paid plan if your customers don't want advertisements on their website.

[capty99]

needs quite a bit of work.

header needs to be taken back to the drawing board completely.
like fygar said fonts need work, there are way too many to start with.

i see a break between the header and content area , if that is intended then are you really gonna have curved corners everywhere except there?

no idea about the plans either. same reasons as above.
someone can pick the smallest plan, have limited space, and not get any profit sharing or the biggest and get alot more space and 60% of ad profits? who is choosing the small one.

[theRemix]

take a look at other hosting companies, there are many out there, to help you get an idea of what customers expect to see. usually the second you enter a hosting service provider's site you know what they are offering.

here are some sites to get you started...

http://order.1and1.c...1A5C.TC60b?k_id

http://www.rackspace.com/index.php

http://www.cloudninehost.com/

http://www.siteground.com/

http://www.mochahost.com/

http://www.doteasy.com/

http://www.50megs.com/

http://dot5hosting.com/

and thousands more... good luck!

This post has been edited by theRemix: 23 January 2007 - 11:55 AM

[pdesigns]

I'll be frank -- I personally wouldn't get web hosting from a site like yours. I'd feel more trusting of a really well designed website (look at www.cssremix.com for examples). The fonts don't seem right -- try using something that is more common, arial, verdana, trebuchet ms, tahoma, those are some good fonts.

[eLliDKraM]

if it's free, i'm honestly not picky and i'll register no matter what. however the less legit it looks, the more fake all of my personal information gets

[azoundria]

Alright. Thanks for the input everyone. One of my friends (well he is now ) designed me a new layout for the site so it looks a lot better now. I also rephrased some of the content. Check it out now:

http://www.ismywebsite.com/

Keep the input coming! I appreciate it.

This post has been edited by azoundria: 19 February 2007 - 09:17 PM

[capty99]

Definitely better.
thats for sure.

nav bar and header image.
text is not crisp.
most noticeable on the top right image.
small things like that make a difference though.

the plans still dont make any sense to me???

the nav on the left is unnecessary.

[azoundria]

If it doesn't make sense to you did you read the text that pops up when you hover over the account types? And if that is not obvious that you should do that, what can I do about that?

The navigation on the left is unnecessary but many users will look for it there. I also plan to have a few more options on the left menu that I do up-top because more will fit. I don't think theres any disadvantage to having it is there?

[capty99]

okay,

the thing is that 99% of webhosts you go to their site and see a similar table
and then you see prices. because you are choosing one.

i had no idea that on yours you were given one and then moved on depending on the particular site. interesting concept, but should be spelled out above the table or something. at the same time. my eyes ignore the text and go straight to the table just due to the fact that since its a webhost, and other webhosts have it set up like that, i assume thats how its gonna be..

the blue box,
didn't even realize it was gonig to be filled with text,
didnt even know there was rollovers till you said something,
and when not in use looks really out of place.
if your set on using it blend it in with the other tables (stretch it to the top and bottom of the tables height) or somehow blend it in. right now it just looks tacked onto the side.

now that i look @ it ... i do like the content you have in there, most people dont explain what each row is about. nice work there.

the only issue i have with the left nav is the links are the exact same as the ad. i looked and saw ad. not another nav.

[azoundria]

Perhaps I could solve most of those misconceptions by putting 'Hover over a feature for more information' in the blue box as a default. I think if I stretched it from top to bottom it would not grab reader attention as much.

I'm trying to get my ads to fit in seemlessly - where they arent really noticed. I see a lot of hosts don't use ads on their sites but expect their users to. I want to prove to my visitors that you can still be successful with ads on your site - because it seems a lot of them are against having ads on their site - period! Even if they get to place tham and share the profits. And apparently there are a few free hosts out there who offer hosting without ads. Don't ask me how they survive but they exist.

This post has been edited by azoundria: 20 February 2007 - 12:04 PM

[eLliDKraM]

it's visually sufficient, i have some problems with the nav deal on the left. your actual naviation couldn't casually blend into ads by google, so put a color contrast in the background. my point being, the second i see it, i completely dismiss that entire table on the left making it completely useless. so if you need to have ads, incorporate them in a way that makes them visually contrsasting to actual integral parts of your services.

call me an economist but who the hell is gonna choose the newbie/basic/advanced plan when they can get the expert one for the same price. the profit share is semi-confusing, i fully get it so don't bother explaining it, but i can see where people will get caught up in your wording. i donno it all seems redundant, i'd charge or the higher the plan they take, you get the money advertising makes from their site (the higher the plan the relative profits you make increases other than inversely giving them more).

one more visual thing, that font in your 'pop up' info is a font that i am not digging. it's horizontally challenged or something; it's too smooshed together, so i'd get a more expanded font. other than that, it's a lot better

[azoundria]

Quote

it's visually sufficient, i have some problems with the nav deal on the left. your actual naviation couldn't casually blend into ads by google, so put a color contrast in the background. my point being, the second i see it, i completely dismiss that entire table on the left making it completely useless. so if you need to have ads, incorporate them in a way that makes them visually contrsasting to actual integral parts of your services.

So what your saying is I just wasted my time blending everything together? Could I get a second opinion on this (assuming someone actually reads this sentence)? I think that unblended ads would never be clicked because 99/100 users have something against clicking advertisements for some reason.

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call me an economist but who the hell is gonna choose the newbie/basic/advanced plan when they can get the expert one for the same price.

If you hovered over them and read a bit you'd know that your account started Newbie - then advances to Basic - then onto Advanced and finally Expert. You'd also know that the features aren't set in stone - they can be adjusted to suit your needs. But no one is hovering so I'm not sure how to get people to do that.

Quote

the profit share is semi-confusing, i fully get it so don't bother explaining it, but i can see where people will get caught up in your wording. i donno it all seems redundant, i'd charge or the higher the plan they take, you get the money advertising makes from their site (the higher the plan the relative profits you make increases other than inversely giving them more).

Part of the wording trouble is that I'm still establishing a lot of details about this plan - such as how exactly I'm going to keep track of over 100 AdSense channnels and how to deal with people disobeying the ToS because I'll probably get the entire site banned. If all works out right maybe I can form my own advertising company or something by that time.

Quote

one more visual thing, that font in your 'pop up' info is a font that i am not digging. it's horizontally challenged or something; it's too smooshed together, so i'd get a more expanded font. other than that, it's a lot better

Pop up? I have a huge hatred of that word and I can only guess, based on context, that you mean the 'Features' table. It's Arial Narrow - which I guess I am the only one who likes since this isn't the first time I've heard that. Arial takes up so much space. Is there an alternative that doesn't take up as much space but can still be read easily?

Thanks for replying.

[eLliDKraM]

ok i said i understand it, but i MEANT the first impression is going to come off as some sort of hosting redundancy and in the sign up process it will obviously become clear but honestly i don't care. do whatever, unless you revamp it again, i'm outta here

[azoundria]

Quote

But no one is hovering so I'm not sure how to get people to do that.

I am not denying that it's a problem - I'm asking for a solution. I was also explaining to you since I thought you were only saying you understood how profit shares work.

It's nice of you to point out the problem but I have an inability to see my site as a new visitor. I just can't forget how my system works and make myself confused like I would need to in order to fix this kind of problem. Do you know of any way to fix this misconception?

This post has been edited by azoundria: 23 February 2007 - 12:49 PM