Site review

[casinomax]

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I would really appreciate someone reviewing one my sites, got thick skin so please be brutal!

http://www.casinomax.co.uk

[matbennett]

Hi Casino Max,

Only got a couple of mins to spare, but here are my initial impressions from a "punters-eye" view.

Immediate impression :: Wow... fast. Really fast. Nice one.

The site is very plain. I like clean sites, but your is so plain that the ads don't just stand out, but look out of place. The first page made me think immediately of e-spotting results as well (Sorry to all the espotting guys, but that is never a good thing for me).

2 things that annoyed me:

1. The javascript resize. It's my window and I will have it any size I want. I never stay on sites that muck around with my window size. If I am on a high-res screen I will often have a couple of windows side by side, so sites that re-size them are annoying.

2. Your left hand menu. Sorry, it just looks like a mess to me. I'd suggest either rewording the options or picking another font.


Initially I thought that your site was also really short of content, but then I saw the e-book. Why not integrate this content into the site a bit better? You can always still provide a link to download it.

OK, that's it from me. That was my impression from a 30 second flick only, but that's about how long I stay on most sites that I see.

Hope that some of it is useful.

[casinomax]

Guys, thanks a lot.

Will take a look at the left menu, that is one of the things I just chucked together. I have thought about incorporating the ebook but I have not got the time at the moment!

Will have a butchers at the font too, would colour instead of dowdy grey help ?

Anyone more for anymore ??

[999gi]

For me a larger font would help

Also the links in your opening paragraph are what Id expect to be in your menu, wheras your actual menu only seems to have 50% of its link directly about betting. Your giving too much exposure to your guestbook (do these really add value these days) and to insurancemax, which to me is not a complimentary market so the level of cross sell is minimal. Stick it at the bottom of the page if you want the link...other MAX sites...insurance...etc.

[renegade]

Graphically the page elements are floating in thin air and could do a second colour either on the background or selected areas to give the page a consistent structure / layout.
Agree the main font is too small.
Would be nice if the top menu had rollover (CSS) on the individual tabs and I like hyperlinks to be underlined - at least when the mouse cursor hovers over them.
The arcs used are OK but it would make sense to pick a size and stick with it, so either the side menu arcs go smaller or the top menu gets bigger (or changes from semi-hemispheres to quadrants).
Perhaps the top tabbed menu could extend site wide and reverse out the casinomax logo - which is currently floating too high visually above the top grey tab menu.
Agree adding the e-book to top menu would be good - either on a "Downloads" or "eBook" page.
So apart from the text, the top menu, the side menu and the layout I love it

[zaq]

1. title: "Welcome to casinoMAX.co.uk"

change to: "casino max .co.uk casino guide"

2. keywords: <meta name="keywords" content="casino free bets cash bookmakers gambling blokes online on-line casinomax max web tips advice">

change to: <meta name="keywords" content="casino, uk casino, casino game, internet casino, free casino game, casino download, casino gambling">

3. description: content="casinoMAX free gambling">

change to: content="casino max .co.uk casino guide">

4. text: "Welcome to casinoMAX.co.uk, your one stop guide to the best UK Casinos and Bookies. Take a look round the site and enjoy the many offers such as free cash at a number of top casinos and bookmakers. Don't forget to sign our our guestbook, register for free updates and download our winning casino e-book."

change to: "Welcome to casino MAX .co.uk, your one stop guide to the best UK Casino's and Bookie's. Take a look round the site and enjoy the many offers such as free cash at a number of top casino's and bookmaker's. Don't forget to sign our our guestbook, register for free updates and download our winning casino e-book."

5. the text link: "William Hill Casino" , "Vegas Villa Online" , "Littlewoods" , "Gala Casino"

change to: "casino offer 1: William Hill Casino" , "casino offer 2: Vegas Villa Online" , "casino offer 3: Littlewoods" , "casino offer 4: Gala Casino"


6. grey text bottom of page: "© Copyright casinomax.co.uk 2003. All rights reserved.Trade Marks and Images owned by respective partners."

change to: black text no need for light grey text some search engines ban you for doing this etc

© Copyright casino max .co.uk 2003. All rights reserved.Trade Marks and Images owned by respective partners.


7. all images etc website logo give it a name like "casino max" all other images start the names with the word casino.

My 2p worths

[renegade]

Nice one Zaq. I find it amazing how different people can come at a site from two completely different angles with no overlap!
If we're not careful it could end up looking good AND making money

[zaq]

Thanks Joe

We see if casinomax remembers us when he is walking up cayman islands 7 mile beach

[Melter]

Can I have a zaq makeover please.

[Elaine]

Quote:
__________________________________________________ _
originally posted by zaq

change to: <meta name="keywords" content="casino, uk casino, casino game, internet casino, free casino game, casino download, casino gambling">
__________________________________________________ _

Is the above allowed, all that 'casinoing', I thought this was considered spam, plus Google no longer looked at keywords.

Have I been misled?

[Yogi62]

change to: black text no need for light grey text some search engines ban you for doing this etc

Can you expand on this a little more please ? - does this include google.

[Keith]

Can you expand on this a little more please ? - does this include google

Yes it has been known for Google to kick a site out of serps for this practice however you would know it by looking at the latests rankings

[zaq]

Originally posted by Elaine
Quote: Is the above allowed, all that 'casinoing', I thought this was considered spam, plus Google no longer looked at keywords.

Have I been misled?

Yes you been misled how can keywords to do with the website business be considered spam plus these words are typed in by people looking for casino websites.

[zaq]

Originally posted by Yogi62
Can you expand on this a little more please ? - does this include google.

Keith is right, you not being clever by trying to trick the search engines with grey text grey background it just dont work!