28th October 2009, 08:59 PM
David, sorry to hear numbers are down. Some of the reasons have been touched on already, personally I don't believe the recession/work worries are a major impact on internet traffic, although it may impact on people actually posting. Maybe actually some of the previously more frequent posters are now more busy out on site at the moment? I know I am!
A bit of constructive criticism: To be perfectly honest I think the site is now a bit overcomplicated (and changes too often). On a technical side it loads pretty slow and goes to that white screen needing a F5 refresh far too often.
I think the balance of the site is a bit off at the moment, and can feel a bit daunting and this may be off-putting to casual visitors. Personally I'm not interested in who the newest members are, what group they have just joined, or whether they have scratched their arse lately, maybe that 'Facebook' aspect has taken over far too much compared to the number of people using it? Maybe give more space to JOBS and real DISCUSSIONS and news on the front page, and reduce the amount of space given to stuff which is of interest to very few.
The old site was very simple, you could see all the latest threads easily and it was fast and easy to use. It pulled people in for a browse of latest discussions and gradually involved them.
I know you have put a huge amount of work into the site, and its potential is great, but I would keep it simple until traffic picks up organically. The potential of the Groups is massive, but there are simply too many of them to keep track of! Interesting topics or news is lost and if you only log in every week or so it is impossible to keep up -we don't all have this site running 24/7!!!
Let the new format settle in, its only been a couple of months, and let it grow as it wasnts, don't try and force people to be more involved than they want, it will only put people off.
keep up the good work!
chiz
A bit of constructive criticism: To be perfectly honest I think the site is now a bit overcomplicated (and changes too often). On a technical side it loads pretty slow and goes to that white screen needing a F5 refresh far too often.
I think the balance of the site is a bit off at the moment, and can feel a bit daunting and this may be off-putting to casual visitors. Personally I'm not interested in who the newest members are, what group they have just joined, or whether they have scratched their arse lately, maybe that 'Facebook' aspect has taken over far too much compared to the number of people using it? Maybe give more space to JOBS and real DISCUSSIONS and news on the front page, and reduce the amount of space given to stuff which is of interest to very few.
The old site was very simple, you could see all the latest threads easily and it was fast and easy to use. It pulled people in for a browse of latest discussions and gradually involved them.
I know you have put a huge amount of work into the site, and its potential is great, but I would keep it simple until traffic picks up organically. The potential of the Groups is massive, but there are simply too many of them to keep track of! Interesting topics or news is lost and if you only log in every week or so it is impossible to keep up -we don't all have this site running 24/7!!!
Let the new format settle in, its only been a couple of months, and let it grow as it wasnts, don't try and force people to be more involved than they want, it will only put people off.
keep up the good work!
chiz