SITE REVIEW: www.12noon.net

Can you please give me a bit of feedback on my PPC search engine.

I'd like to know what you think of the search speed and what you think to the design of the site.
BTW it's OK for you to do searches, but please don't click on any of the links found once you've done a search. People are paying to list those sites and unless you want to go to the links you find, i don't want links clicking just for the sake of it !

Thanks to anyone who gives a review.

i LIKE THAT wavy like green where the headers are. The line effect thing is cool. Nice choice of colors. under the "Search by Category" well, i think thats a ittle confusing, maybe try to align it better or something. Also under the "search by category" header, smiley faces, I don't see any point in those except to add more graphics, but your choice to take them off or not. Maybe stay with the same colors where the links are. ex. under "navigation", the text and dots are black, maybe keep the links under "top searches" black, but dont put the white and yello in that box if you want some difference. Under the "Featured" header, Maybe make the grey and white a little more contrasting like darker grey or w/e color that is. Under the "site Stats" header, Those 2 links, dont belong under "Site Stats" header. Maybe create like a "Affiliates" or "Links" header for links like that.

I think you've got a point about the two links under "Site Stats". I'll have to have a good think about what to do with those. Also the Yellow is a bit too bright. I'm keeping the smiley faces though.

BTW my site was RED last week. This is a new design, so thanks for your review.
Oh, what did you think to the speed of the searches ?

Speed on scale 1-10, 10 being fastest, i give it a 8

love the site the smily faces add alot to the site. How much traffic do you bring in and how do you get traffic to your site?

I'm not getting mega big traffic at the moment, but then again i wont need it either. It's the search boxes affiliates have that will make my search engine worth listing your site on. I'm just starting to advertise the affiliate program now after testing and making sure everything works fully.

i c now

I like the design very much, very bright and cheerful, the layout and navigational aspects are also good, it doesn't confure you as other sites may do

the directory is the first thing you see, which i also think is a good idea

Do you think i should remove the affiliates directory thing on the right hand side of the page ? I think it looks ugly. I could add a few button adverts instead.

What do you think ?

Yeah that affiliate thing on the right is kind of tacky. It seems too cluttered and have never liked how some links take up more than one line because they are too long. For me the link "Work From home around your kids!" is one link, however it takes up multiple lines. A few button adverts might look better, not sure if it would convert any better though. Have you tried google ads? They seem to convert descent for me because they are well targeted, and look clean (not cluttered) on the page.

That affiliate thing will be gone soon.
The link "Work From home around your kids!" Is a paid for link. I have the top 3 paid adverts up in the top right corner and i can't change the link without emailing the person who's link it is and asking them. Well i could change it, but shouldn't. Anyway, i think i'm going to have to add something that limits the number of letters used in the title when someone lists a site.
Glad you pointed that out.


<EDIT>

I've just added a small amount of Altavista sites as part of my feed because some searches don't have many links. All Altavista links will come after the main paid for links tho.

Hey Cas, I'm just gonna point a few things out. This doesn't matter, but Xbox does not have a dash in it, it is one word. Your website seems geared towards getting Affiliates signed up rather than towards the users searching. I'm not saying that's bad, a person searching will most likely ignore the affiliates stuff if it is not an interest for them. Personally I find the pay methods on the main page a bit out of place. It seems that they should be located where a person signs up. Other than what I pointed out I like your website alot. It seems like you've got a nice little search engine going. Good luck with it.

I like the look of your site, i think that you've used the greens and waves to add a nice touch of style to your site, i do agree with the last post though, if your primary service is a search engine then you may want to gear it away from the affilitates atleast a little bit on the main page, other than that it looks good!

OK thanks.
I've taken the PayPal and credit card pictures from the footer and added a banner exchange. I've also taken the big affiliate directory image from the right hand side of the page. I still got some work to do on those parts of the search engine tho because they still look ugly.

Whoops, i forgot about the xbox thing !

I think you have done a great job with the design, the layout, the color scheme, and I love the smiley's.

Also I did a few searches, I am on broadband and they were quite slow... 15-20 secs. Ok I just did a few more, must of been a hiccup with your server or my connection, they are much faster now.

There are only 2 things about your site that could be viewed negatively.

1. Your site resembles a newly registered domain name, you know the ones people park before they add content. Personally I automatically hit the back button when I get to a page I think has not been added yet. It could be the search by category part that makes it look like that.

2. It appears that your site focuses on webmasters more than it does searchers. Hmm, don't know exactly how to word what I want to say. Anyhow, I think removing the navigational links on the left hand side, about the affiliate programs and the advertising links would be a good idea.

My thought is, that there is 2 types of visitors who go to search engines.

A. Those who go there to search (the majority). Those that do go to search, are never even going to pay attention to those links. They would probably care less about them being there, and might even get confused or distracted by them. Since searchers would be your majority of visitors, you could put something there that pertains to them.

B. Those who go there to list there site. If you go to any of the big names in search engines, you will see they don't put much emphasis on advertising with them. The link is there, but it is not taking up 1/10th of the visible main page. It is usually served best with just 1 link, like submit your site. If a visitor does visit you just to submit a site, then he obviously has his own website. When he clicks on the submit a website link then you could blast him with links and info about the affiliate program, and advertising options.

The fact is, people love submitting to search engines when they have there own site. However, the majority of visitors to search engines is people who just want to search. Also, when someone has there own website, and they do visit a search engine, they will look a little harder to find a link on how to submit there website. I think you should gear your website towards searchers rather than advertisers.