Very harsh feedback received. Contacts. Second opinion needed! Please :
So my friend on Facebook gave me feedback today. Luckily I have a steel spine!! lol. I must admit it's stole a bit of wind from my sails - yet I'd like a second opinion before I start working on what she says. It would help me greatly. I've learned through my life that one opinion in a million shouldn't really matter, there's always going to be one that shits on your parade. :)
Here's what she said: ps. My website is http://free-dating-service.com
"I am honest to the core so don't get annoyed with what I'm about to say... You are doing more damage than anything else by using that name just to keyword target. The free dating thing is regarded as a scam the whole world over. Use meta tags, how do you think all the other websites get their traffic through keywords. First impressions count and to be honest you're giving off a bad one with the name and appearance.
As to how you word it, it's worded like a blog, it comes across as a guy on the internet saying what he thinks without really knowing what he's talking about. My first impression, if I hadn't known it was your site, would have been to close it right away, glad that I had flashblock, adblock, noscript and other security running.
It's not even coming up in a web search as it is now, you don't put the website url in meta tags, you use keywords that are searchable in google. To be very blunt, it doesn't look professional, it looks like some guy is sat at home with pound signs in his eyes and no regard for how it reflects on him."
So what do you think? Do you agree? Or do you disagree? The more helpful you can be, the better. And plus, I have a steel spine so please don't feel you're being harsh if you agree, you're opinion, whatever it is, is actually being helpful :)
Cheers in advance :)
Recent Comments
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Hi Raymond, I truly enjoyed reading your info. I noticed your profile uses words like "human condition" and "connection". Those seem very appropriate for your articles. I'm new so I can help with the tags that have been metioned. The great thing is that there are tons of people on here who can. I'm following you because I want to remember to check your site. Really really great stuff!!! Happy Friday.. almost !! -Shannon :)
Hey Raymond :)
Oh no, what am I doing here again??
I think you already know how fond I am of you and your site, don'tcha? ;)
I can't even remember how I first met you... maybe it was that handsome and alluring profile photo of yours... Lol
But seriously, I am giving my 2 cents worth as though you were my lil brother or a dear friend...
Do you remember when I said I hope I wouldn't get into any trouble for Liking your Fb page? Do you know why I didn't leave a comment on your site although I had wanted to?
I had never visited any dating sites before and I may not have a full understanding of your site's objectives, but as a lady, I think I can understand where your friend is coming from and bluewolf65 has given some great suggestions.
I'm sorry that it had never crossed my mind to give you any feedback earlier as I thought that you had decided on your niche and site name purely based on lucrative reasons and it's money-making potential.
You might want to make some changes to your site into one that has a less "sleazy" image so that it would appeal to a wider audience type like yuppies or the go-to site for "virgin" daters... I dunno.
As far as content goes, I haven't read most of it, but as long as you keep it clean and from your heart who's to say you don't know what you're talking about.
Personally, even though I don't know you well, I'd like to see my lil bro's face on a site which evokes trust and finesse, and the current color choice and design of your logo might not be doing a good job of that. But that's just my opinion. :)
So that's it from me to you, Raymond. ~ Sue
P/S: I had to re-type my entire comment as Windows update caused my computer to shut down earlier!!
Awesome Sue. Truly awesome! I absolutely love the feedback that all of you have given me. I have now since changed my site name to "The Relationship Blogger" and url for that matter. I'm also taking the logo down and thinking long and hard about it.
"Free is confusing," I naturally expect to be able to connect with other singles through you site in some way, but don't see how. The domain doesn't relate to your info based site. People who are looking for a free dating service willn't stay on your site, because they are looking for a dating service not an info site. Get the new you, and the home page are the same page, you need to change that. What do you want the purpose of your site to be?
I think that your website is great, I am no expert on the website structure just a novice that is learning but on my first impression it looks good, I like the theme of the website and the content is very good and engagive and it attracted me to keep reading it. I just think that you need a lot more of the content.
Ante
I don't know anything about your niche Raymond and not enough about website structure to give you any sensible feedback, my only "expertise" would be in spelling, grammar, syntax, headings, paragraphs, comments etc.....but talk about kicking a guy in the credentials.
How long has she been your friend and more to the point, for how much longer? LOLsss
She may be totally correct with her critique, but there's a way to go about it and I'm not certain that's it!!
Mark
lmao Mark, I agree. I didn't think it was fair to criticize me so harshly when there was nothing positive in there whatsoever.
I also like how you just said everything there.. but didn't say anything at all. Bahaha. You must have been a manager at some point in your life ;)
I looked at the whole website and I thought it had some good info. I would steer away from the word "FREE" however. Many people react to that word negatively. I also get negative vibes from the word "DATING". Somehow, in my brain, it registers as "WILD ORGIASTIC SEX". I personally think you would get more subscribers by substituting something like "Forming Beneficial Relationships With The Opposite Sex" or "Finding Your Perfect Match". Of course, that is just my opinion. Wishing you great success. See you in the sun!
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I understand that friends are supposed to be honest.... but she's just mean... sorry if that offends her!
Regarding your site, I will go take a look and let you know my thoughts.... :)