Log in

View Full Version : Can you all do me a favor?



Pages : 1 [2]

Darcy Foxx
01-09-2008, 08:05 PM
rather than having the 'ask cameron' as an email link, i'd have it go to another page where you can fill out a form which will be directly submitted to your email.

FBR
01-09-2008, 08:06 PM
Cam, I'm thinking you need to do something attention grabbing. Maybe even a bit outrageous. I dunno. There a so many zillons of folks on the web seems to me that would be the only opportunity. Maybe folks here can huddle up and come up with something that would work!

FBR

cameron_keys
01-09-2008, 08:09 PM
rather than having the 'ask cameron' as an email link, i'd have it go to another page where you can fill out a form which will be directly submitted to your email.

I think so too..I"ve already asked him about that and Im waiting for his reply

cameron_keys
01-09-2008, 08:10 PM
No-one is going to pay to see an advice column. Hellen Keller could see that one.

We dont expect people to...profit will be generated through ad sales and clicks

bellasera
01-09-2008, 08:11 PM
okay, here's an extremely basic example i just whipped up of a more user friendly site design.

http://www.queenashlee.com/askahotmodel/

once again, this is obviously extremely basic, but you get the idea. i think the title of the site needs to be attention grabbing, and people need to know what the point of the site is when they first look at it. the site needs to scream, "THIS IS WHAT MY PURPOSE IS"
Damn, you're good

Madcap
01-09-2008, 08:16 PM
We dont expect people to...profit will be generated through ad sales and clicks


Well, i didn't think YOU would. But some don't seem to grasp that part, it's no big deal.

cameron_keys
01-09-2008, 08:56 PM
OK he changed it a bit,still in the works..

Madcap
01-09-2008, 09:01 PM
That middle pic with you in black, good fucking god... Whoever kisses you on the cheek at night is one lucky dude!

WOW!

I'll try to work up something to hit you with, something real and kinda hard. Then i'll tell some people. I've also hit you with Stumble. I'll hit you with stumble every time i look at your site.

I wish you luck, cam. You are amazing.

Darcy Foxx
01-09-2008, 09:03 PM
sorry, but has this guy had any past experience in website design?

Madcap
01-09-2008, 09:10 PM
sorry, but has this guy had any past experience in website design?

I've designed some websites, but i don't like doing it. One piece of advice is to make it active. If it's black have some sparkles or twinkling stars, if it's colorfull blow it out with color but leave the text area white or solid black (with red text, who can argue with Darth Vader). Your graphics or animations don't matter as much as the content does, but you want the visitor's brain lighting up when they see it.

Think of a pet scan.

Darcy Foxx
01-09-2008, 09:16 PM
twinkling stars? are you serious? while we're at it, let's put in some marquee text and some cute animated GIF's.

Madcap
01-09-2008, 09:19 PM
twinkling stars? are you serious? while we're at it, let's put in some marquee text and some cute animated GIF's.

Hey, free gets what free is worth. This is what people who LIKE designing websites are for. What i meant was to make the thing active.

Arg, those picky Austrailians! No wonder after the apocalypse they wind up with Mohawks jumping on moving cars! ;)

Darcy Foxx
01-09-2008, 09:22 PM
it's true, i am excessively anal about site design.

ALee
01-09-2008, 09:31 PM
I am with Darcy on this one... your site needs something that screams what you do! Honestly when I clicked on it just now I could easily be fooled that it is very armature looking and looks messy....

Have a fiddle with it or try and do it yourself - looks like the guy who is promising you can't deliver :(

Madcap
01-09-2008, 09:34 PM
I just hate any sort of programming whatsoever. If i can't do it with frontpage, i find excuses to not do it. But i know what works on a finished page. Usually clever activity colorwise sells the show.

Flick6
01-09-2008, 10:02 PM
My biggest suggestion to any one designing a website is to draw it on a piece of paper first, take all your content and what not and sketch out what you want it to look like, then make it look like that, or get someone else to! Otherwise you can just get lost in all the possibilities. I think its a good idea but needs a bit more colour and life on the site, it's just a tad boring visually you know? Have fun anyway

Alaska
01-09-2008, 10:16 PM
Cam I just have one honest-2-god question....how do you keep up with the advice solicitations? I would be so overwhelmed and have yet to ask you a Q bc it'd be like a lost in the crowd thang imo....

Madcap
01-09-2008, 10:37 PM
Alaska,

I got one for YOU! You live in the desert, how the hell do you keep that skin tone? That "I'm tan but not insane" look?

Lets get to the bottom of THAT!

Alaska
01-09-2008, 11:09 PM
teeeheeheee that pic was taken in the depths of hellhole winter in Massachusetts a few days ago! I'm a Jersey girl like Cam, but maybe the diff is I never leave the house. :shrug: and plus there's a high of 40 here, it's not hot!

lestat1
01-09-2008, 11:21 PM
Cameron,
I highly recommend that you and/or your designer give this book a read:

The Non-Designers Design Book by Robin Williams (http://www.amazon.com/Non-Designers-Design-Book-Robin-Williams/dp/0321534042/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199944350&sr=8-1)

I had many professors in grad school use it in their courses, but it's very accessible to a complete novice. It will not teach you to create great masterpieces of web art. It will, however, teach you how to make a website that does not look amateurish or make common mistakes, but looks professional. It's $21.77 and an easy read.

I work as a programmer now, so mostly back-end stuff, but most of my education was in (to put it basically) writing for and designing websites. In my professional opinion, you're getting good advice here. You helped me out with advice in the Ask Cameron thread, so I'd really like to help you out. Keep us posted with how the site develops and I'm happy to offer continual feedback, but for now:


Work to create a tighter navigation system. I'm in IT and tech-savvy, and I found it difficult to navigate. It's best to concentrate your own site's links into a menu. Generally you want this to be along the left-hand side or the top of the screen. In the west, the upper-left hand corner is where our eyes go first. That's the page's focal point, and a good start to your menu.
The prime real estate, the dead center of the screen, has a bunch of ad links. No! They'd be perfect along the right edge, or at the bottom, or if you must for the initial financial click-through traffic, spaced like a stacked hamburger of buns and meat, horizontally and neatly.
The book I suggested will talk about this, but you have a pinkish color theme going. Great! Develop it more. Make headings/titles bold pink. Make links pink with lighter pink roll-over, use pink for borders to organize content, etc. A color scheme will tie the whole site together more. It's one of the things that turns a collection of pages into a "site."
Likewise with consistent design. The menu should be in the same spot on all pages, and things shouldn't jump around. Each page looks almost like it was designed seperately, then "mushed" together. When I've created websites, the first (main/home) and second (or first page of content) take forever. After that, each additional page is the same design template, with some new content slapped in.
Proximity. The book will talk a lot more about this, but things that logically or conceptually go together should be physically together. Like in a newspaper, the caption/credits for a photo aren't on the other side of the page, they're immediately below it. So have an "articles" menu item, or even a whole menu of all recent articles with them listed underneath. With the proximity and the heading, people know "Oh, those are the advice articles!" When I first looked, I thought they were ad links. :P
The pictures page: use thumbnails, have the links display full-sized images. I can do this with Photoshop fairly quickly, but it's not an easy tool. There is (I think even free) software out there that will create thumbnails for you, given a set of images.
About you. You've got some credentials and experience that many don't have. Talk about it, have a Biography page and explain just why you're someone to give advice! Market yourself and your resume; it gives added credibility to the website. Credibility is important on the web, you have to prove yourself moreso than a real-world store. Any weirdo yahoo can put up a website, it takes a bit more to have a brick-store business.
Personal not professional opinion: it's an advice site, you have pictures of you in a business suit and glasses looking all sexy and smart, and that's not the main page image for an ADVICE website!? :O

Madcap
01-09-2008, 11:52 PM
teeeheeheee that pic was taken in the depths of hellhole winter in Massachusetts a few days ago! I'm a Jersey girl like Cam, but maybe the diff is I never leave the house. :shrug: and plus there's a high of 40 here, it's not hot!

Yep.....

cameron_keys
01-10-2008, 12:08 PM
sorry, but has this guy had any past experience in website design?

Yes...hes done several other sites like this and supposedly had good luck withthem. But hopefuly if we can incorporate al your great ideas..mine will be the most profitable!


Cam I just have one honest-2-god question....how do you keep up with the advice solicitations? I would be so overwhelmed and have yet to ask you a Q bc it'd be like a lost in the crowd thang imo....

I just love it. It makes me feel needed and as if I have a purpose in this world...so it feeds me. THe more the better

cameron_keys
01-10-2008, 01:12 PM
Check it out now...Darcy...we took your advice and I like it much better now

DJ Machismo
01-10-2008, 01:58 PM
Generally, all the pages should have the same look to them. If you are doing black background, do it all around, if white, do that.

Also, he coded that thing up something funny. Whenever I click a link the images load at the bottom and get pushed up. It should not be doing that. Not to mention that the header image changes size between some pages.

Where did he learn to code?

cameron_keys
01-10-2008, 02:13 PM
Generally, all the pages should have the same look to them. If you are doing black background, do it all around, if white, do that.

Also, he coded that thing up something funny. Whenever I click a link the images load at the bottom and get pushed up. It should not be doing that. Not to mention that the header image changes size between some pages.

Where did he learn to code?

I agree that all backgrounds should be black...but I"m nto getting the image loading problem you are....

DJ Machismo
01-10-2008, 02:21 PM
Perhaps it is a firefox thing. Still something to look into.

EDIT: Just noticed, he didn't remove the table framework from the previous design, those are causing the issues.

Though I have to admit, I must reiterate Mast's suggestion of switching to Wordpress for this application.

All Good Things
01-10-2008, 04:49 PM
My first two thoughts.

1. If any asshat guy ever calls you fat again, I swear to God I will break his white cane and shoot his dog.

Well, I won't really shoot the dog. But you know what I mean. :)

2. If you need any help with web-based advertising, please let me know. I have a lot of experience with web advertising and can give you some advice, particularly with Google AdWords.

cameron_keys
01-10-2008, 04:58 PM
My first two thoughts.

1. If any asshat guy ever calls you fat again, I swear to God I will break his white cane and shoot his dog.

Well, I won't really shoot the dog. But you know what I mean. :)

2. If you need any help with web-based advertising, please let me know. I have a lot of experience with web advertising and can give you some advice, particularly with Google AdWords.


LOL at breaking the cane!

And we are going to be using Ad words. Starting with an initial investment of $100 and see how it works....any advice?

Pamela
01-10-2008, 05:03 PM
You GO Cam! I know it's "raw" but it's already fucking HOT! And getting better.

Darcy seems to be a TON of help. Both of you have beautiful sites... i know it's the PICTURES! Enough to bring anyone in ;)

Will only get better!!!!!

cameron_keys
01-10-2008, 05:12 PM
You GO Cam! I know it's "raw" but it's already fucking HOT! And getting better.

Darcy seems to be a TON of help. Both of you have beautiful sites... i know it's the PICTURES! Enough to bring anyone in ;)

Will only get better!!!!!


Darcy rocks!! I wish SHE was my business partner and doing all this. THe site would have rocked from the start. But I love and am indebted to her for her fabulous ideas now.

Darcy Foxx
01-10-2008, 07:15 PM
have you actually seen physical proof of this guys past websites? cos if you want me to be COMPLETELY honest, he codes like a 12 year old. the stuff he is doing is what i was doing as a kid who was building her first ever final fantasy website. it is the absolute most fucking basic html, and he does not seem to know....

scrap that. just checked the source code. he's using sitebuilder, which i'm going to assume means he has absolutely no knowledge of html at all. the html is a fucking mess. <td> tags all over the place that don't seem to make any sense at all.

i'm afraid there's not really much else i can say that's gonna be of help to him, sorry cam. i'm speaking a totally different language :(

Katrine
01-10-2008, 07:59 PM
I was thinking along the same lines as Darcy. I used to develop web tools (back-end code, databases, etc) and had to build web code, as well as work through other's code. And that was my impression from the site.

Most experienced website developers will have references, and or "test" sites they can send you as an example of their work. Does he have any of those?

For example: http://www.leveltendesign.com/portfolio_web_design.php

StuartL
01-11-2008, 09:19 AM
Hi there CK,

I'm going to avoid the 'I like or not' comments. Since I have been building my sites, I have found that when it comes to design all you get are differing opinions...

However, if you want to get noticed online for free traffic, you need to get your META tags sorted out. Title, Description, a H1 and keywords. At the moment, you seem to have none of that. If that is the case, then Google won't know what ads to display as well and will struggle to know what the page is about when it comes to listings.

Re the keywords, try here: http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/ that is the free tool and is nowhere near as good as the real one you pay for - but it is a start. Be specific not general. If you use 'advice' as a keyword, you'll be competing with many other sites that are way bigger and you'll be in several markets.

Re AdWords, get Perry Marshall's book on ebay for about £15 i think. The same info in his ebooks would be $99 or similar. After reading that, there will be very little else you need to know.

If you want to get started with incoming links, I outsource directory submissions - 200 at a time - to a guy in Pakistan. The directories he uses will not be the adult ones, but that should be ok I guess. If you want me to get him on the case for you, drop me a line.

In fact, if you have any questions about the marketing - rather than the design - drop me a line. I'll be happy to point you in the right direction.

Good luck,

Stuart

StuartL
01-11-2008, 09:23 AM
Ok. Next post.

SW online joint venture...

CK = agony aunt superstar

Darcy = webdesign building princess

Moi = in charge of promotion

cameron_keys
01-11-2008, 12:21 PM
He has several other sites that looked ok to me(but what do I know) that he says have been profitable. This is one of his that he says is doing very well:

Of course..I own all the content...so we could always do our own site...SW ran ..LOL!

DJ Machismo
01-11-2008, 01:30 PM
He has several other sites that looked ok to me(but what do I know) that he says have been profitable. This is one of his that he says is doing very well:http://askabeauty.com/

Of course..I own all the content...so we could always do our own site...SW ran ..LOL!

If you want my honest opinion, you should ditch him as your web designer. His pages look like crap and I just don't think he knows what he's talking about.

You have enough support here from the SW community to get your website done the way you deserve. Plus you'll be able to brag that the SW community is even more kickass than before.

Either way, you and your services deserve better.

EDIT: This is the page that I run for our DJ company All the Right Tunes (www.alltherighttunes.com)

Darcy Foxx
01-11-2008, 01:41 PM
yeah honestly cam, this guy has NO idea about website design.

Pamela
01-11-2008, 01:49 PM
Cam who is writing the content on that beauty site? Just skimmed (skin care) but some of the info. is like not correct. You deserve better. I agree with the others.

I know nothing of sites. I had one for phone sex years ago, and my IP did it, it looked beautiful and did well, but i had to keep paying him for EVERYTHING.

The Google ads are a pain in the rear. But i read about them being there for you.

Lapaholic
01-11-2008, 01:53 PM
I like the idea and i see your are making progress.... I wont go much into the looks of the site since - hell- im an accountant by training. But I do get confused when I first go in ..

IOW - i mite have the meat of the site right there on the opening page. Ie the questions and your responses in chronological order - along with a random sexy pic of yourself.

Elsewhere u can have the ABOUT link where u say Hey Im hot, I am a model and u can ask me anything.

Also u could have a links to filter your advice by question type - ie relationships, modeling blah blah.

Another neat feature may be to allow us losers - er I mean users to post our comments on your advice. That way u get more content for free - like a forum. So after each answer there would be a link to POST YOUR COMMENTS , VIEW USER COMMENTS. U could even have people sign in or if not allow them to use a SN on the fly much like StripClubList does..... ( of course doing that means policing what is being said )


I would line the Adsense Stuff along the right side of the page....

I do like the simplicity of the organization - maybe everything is not in the right place but Im a big believer in KISS ...

I think u have a good idea and wish you the best ...!!!


PS I hadnt read everyones opinions and if these have been mentioned - well Im sorry but i am lazy ;)

velvet
01-11-2008, 01:59 PM
like i said two pages back. that guy sucks! nothing personal against you cam.

cameron_keys
01-11-2008, 02:25 PM
Well I have a contract withthe guy..I can leave anytime, but I feel bad. Yeah..I'm seeing now how much he sucks as a designer(I found him on craigslist...oh well) so I think I should at least give it a cpl months and see where it goes. THEN if it isnt working I can tell him goodbye. He owns the domain..I own the content. So I'll be able to do something better..hopefully with you guys since you are all so amazingly knowledgeable...I should have checked here first...dumb me.

DJ Machismo
01-11-2008, 02:33 PM
I wouldn't wait and see. This is just dead time the website could be doing well as opposed to seeing what he "might" be able to do. You've shown us his other work and it sucks. So why would he do any better on yours. He doesn't appear to know any code and in reality probably never will.

See if you can work out a deal to buy the domain from him, and get someone else to do it. ASAP.

You shouldn't feel bad because he sucks as a designer. If he wants to keep clients then he should do good quality work, end of story.

If he won't sell you the domain, consider something else. This is after all a "Dear Abby:" style advice from a hot model. What about "DearHotModel.com", or "AskCameronKeys.com", "DearCameronKeys.com"... just as off the top of my head suggestions in the event that he's a dick and won't sell the domain name to you. You have plenty of options here.

cameron_keys
01-11-2008, 02:43 PM
I dont really care about the domain...if I were to cut and run I'd pick something better.(I"m very partial to Uncommon Sense which someone on here suggested)

I just feel bad that I agreed to it and then bailed immediately. He may suck..but hes trying and I feel I should at least give him a chance. Then I can say "this isnt working" as opposed to "everyone I showed it to thinks you suck".

DJ Machismo
01-11-2008, 02:46 PM
I dont really care about the domain...if I were to cut and run I'd pick something better.(I"m very partial to Uncommon Sense which someone on here suggested)

I just feel bad that I agreed to it and then bailed immediately. He may suck..but hes trying and I feel I should at least give him a chance. Then I can say "this isnt working" as opposed to "everyone I showed it to thinks you suck".

In the end that is up to you, but you know there's not future with him. So why bother wasting that time. You'll both get over it.

I do like the UncommonSense.com thing too.

SundayMorning
01-11-2008, 03:45 PM
I dont really care about the domain...if I were to cut and run I'd pick something better.(I"m very partial to Uncommon Sense which someone on here suggested)

I just feel bad that I agreed to it and then bailed immediately. He may suck..but hes trying and I feel I should at least give him a chance. Then I can say "this isnt working" as opposed to "everyone I showed it to thinks you suck".

OK but if three songs pass and he still hasn't asked for a dance, it's time to move on! ;D

ahmeerah
01-11-2008, 03:56 PM
I haven't read anyone else's comments but maybe what I have to say will be new:

1. Can you use a lighter shade of blue on the highlighted links on the main page? It kind of blends into the black too much (at least on my screen). So it's hard to read.

2. Modeling pics: I'd take out the one on the top right hand corner. While the others look like professional modeling gigs, that one in particular looks like a friend took it.

3. Banner: Use it (including the various links from your main page) on all pages for easy navigation. That way if I'm on your pictures page, I can still click on "The First Date" without having to go back "Home." Or make your banner include all those links on it too. If you're using Frontpage, use "shared links" in your design.

4. About Me: Add a picture of yourself! :o)

5. Eventually, Put all the question in the top half of the page and create bookmarks so that when you click on the question, the curser scrolls down to that specific question.

6. When you do #6, is there a way you can put the ads at the bottom of the page? Maybe if you set up the borders on your site you can figure out a way to do that?

All that aside, it looks really good!!!!

cameron_keys
01-11-2008, 04:00 PM
^^I DEF agree with adding apic to about me

As for the loinks...they show up on my computer as white so I mdont why they are blue on yours...

ahmeerah
01-11-2008, 04:09 PM
^^I DEF agree with adding apic to about me

As for the loinks...they show up on my computer as white so I mdont why they are blue on yours...

It's in the script where you highlight "modeling pics here" and "about me section." It's a bright blue but I had to look at the letters twice because the color is so close to the black.

But I mostly recommend putting all the links up on every page for easy navigation.