Daz4590 is a technology/gaming review site where Darren reviews gadgets and video games. Darren contacted me and asked me to review his site after he read the BluePop13 Dissection I did two weeks ago.
Darren, I assume that what you’re looking for is more readers, more subscribers and more advertising revenue. That’s why all the tweaks that I am proposing in this review are to improve user interaction, increase subscribers and boost your profits.
1. There are only 2 posts listed on the main page. And although there is this magical featured content box, you’re still losing page views because there are only 2 obvious places your reader can go to.
On the other hand, if there were at least 5 posts waiting for your visitors on the main page of your site, you’d see a much higher “pages per visit” ratio then you’re seeing now. Your bounce rates would have probably dropped as well.
2. I don’t know if you noticed, Darren, but you have 2 search fields on your site. Whether it was done on purpose or not, it’s still a mistake. You don’t need two search boxes, the one you have in the upper right corner will do just fine. Remove the widget.
I also recommend you switch the default WordPress search to Google Custom Search or Lijit Search. That way you’ll get paid each time your reader runs a search.
3. Remove the Meta Widget. It does nothing for your readers (or you).
4. Move the AdSense widget up so it stays above the fold. This will double your AdSense revenue.
Also, consider using AdSense Link Units below your category navigation strip and AdSense 336×280 Ad Unit below the headline on single posts and pages.
I’d even recommend looking up vendors in the gaming/technology niche you can promote using banner ads on your sidebar and/or blog pages.
There’s also plenty of gaming companies that would pay good money for an honest review of a respected gamer-blogger. Think about it…
5. Darren, you have to create an About Me page. Life stream won’t do. You have to tell your own story on paper (or on video). Life stream can’t do it for you. And if any, I’d recommend placing the life stream on your sidebar, where everyone can see how active you are.
6. Since you’re mega active on YouTube, you’d be better off replacing the Flickr widget with a YouTube widget with all your recent videos. This will get you more YouTube subscribers which will lead to increased popularity of your blog. Use Advanced YouTube Widget plugin.
7. Another thing to move up your sidebar is the recent comments widget which is buried way below where no one can see it. This will show your readers that there’s an activity on the site which will result in more comments and more activity.
8. Remove the date from Related Posts section to increase CTR. Your reader shouldn’t even think about the date you published the post, the only thing he needs to be concerned about is whether he wants to read it or not.
9. Increase the number of recent posts to 10-15 instead of 5. This will increase Click Through Rates and lower Bounce Rates.
10. Instead of tweetthis and sharethis, use the Digg Digg plugin with better ReTweet, FbShare, Digg, Stumbleupon and Delicious buttons to increase traffic from social media sites.
11. “Affiliates” page is confusing because you don’t have a product. Change the title to “Advertise”.
12. Create sub-categories for Game Reviews and Apps Reviews categories. It will improve hierarchy, indexing and shave off minutes off searches for your reader.
13. I don’t know if you noticed, but your RSS feed is broken. When I clicked on the RSS icon, it redirected me back to the home page.
It happens to most of the default WordPress themes, that’s why you should create an account with Feed Burner and create a new feed. And after you do that, use Feedburner Feedsmith plugin to redirect the default feed to the new one.
14. Not all your readers use RSS, Darren. Create a “subscribe via email” subscription box using Feed Burner to get more subscribers.
15. One more thing your home page lacks is a “# comments” link below each post. People use comments to determine how good your posts are and if you hide it, you’re letting them know that it’s not worth checking out.
Final Thoughts
As a review site Daz4590 lacks content. If I were you Darren, I’d post at least twice a day or get another person to do reviews with me.
In addition, I’d do more reviews in writing, since I like reading reviews more than watching them on video. But that’s just me, maybe you should run a poll amongst your audience to find out what do they prefer more and find out…
This concludes Daz4590 Review, to submit your site for review use Submit Website For Review page.
Your Thoughts?
I am still interested to know what you think of “Website Dissection”. It’s an experimental category and I need your feedback to know whether it’s worth pursuing. Please let me know what you think by leaving a comment.
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