RIB Reviews

Stephen-RIB · 04 September 2006, 09:38

Finnaly forked out £100 for the trade membership, about time too JK is probably saying :-)

I am setting up a new website which will hopefully be useful to people interested in buying boats and related equipment and it is basically a consumer review website called Boat-Buyer.co.uk

There is a long way to go with this project and I hope I can count on your support.

If any of you would like to help me and fellow boating people by registering (its free) and then writing some objective reviews on your RIBs or other related equipment i would be very grateful. Each month we will be giving the best reviewer a prize! so get writing.

I have not launched the site fully yet as there is a bit to do but I would like to get it looking like people have used it and I know everyone here likes to talk about their boats. I will give the first 10 reviewers a bottle of RIBshine

Just go here http://www.boat-buyer.co.uk/reviews/

I hope this is ok?

Please give me your feedback on the site, concept, usability etc as well.

Thanks

Stephen.

Biggles · 04 September 2006, 20:31

Stephen.

I'm being objective here but I think the front page of your website looks pretty mundane and unproffesional.

I don't do web design for a living and I only want to help you but I clicked on the link and when it opened I was just hit with what looked like any old Forum website. It just had to much information in list format. How about making that first page look like a magazine cover. An enticer to something worth reading inside. Your front page looks like the third page of any other magazine, ie the index.

Now I'll go back and surf through it.

I am only saying this to try and help you. Maybe other people might think differently.

It certainly didn't light my fire.

Said in the best of intentions.

Nick R.

Stephen-RIB · 04 September 2006, 21:35

Hi,

Thanks for your input it is greatly appreciated. The page you have goen to will not ultimately be the landding page, what I am trying to do at the moment whilst all the nice templates and design work is being done is to get the database full of as many useful boat reviews for people to read as possible hence my little offer of some free Ribshine for you guys in advance of the launch. I agree with what you say if the site was to remain like this but have no fear it will be a much more interesting site with lots of news and stuff with a really simple navigation system as well.

Anyway, hopefully you can review a product or two for me.

Thanks

Stephen

sk8rpj · 05 September 2006, 02:43

I thought that it was pretty decent. For just getting it up and running and it still being a work in progress, I think that its good. I know that I couldn't do anywhere near that. As for the front page being a little mundane and unproffesional, its still a work in progress, and I think that your on the right track.

Stephen-RIB · 05 September 2006, 07:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by sk8rpj

I thought that it was pretty decent. For just getting it up and running and it still being a work in progress, I think that its good. I know that I couldn't do anywhere near that. As for the front page being a little mundane and unproffesional, its still a work in progress, and I think that your on the right track.

Thanks for the words of encouragement, I have just changed the format of the list on the front page to make it a little less busy.

Andy · 05 September 2006, 07:30

I would half your header height - at least, scrolling past that on every page is a pain. Apart from that it works for me.

prairie tuber · 05 September 2006, 12:22

The 'find the best price for boat X' ebay links definitely have to go. That makes the site look like some shell for ebay and will turn people away from the site.

Stephen-RIB · 05 September 2006, 12:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by prairie tuber

The 'find the best price for boat X' ebay links definitely have to go. That makes the site look like some shell for ebay and will turn people away from the site.

It is my intention to get the find best price feature to go to Boats and Outboards or one of the other big boats for sale websites. I think boats and outboards is probably the best one though.

MarkWildey · 05 September 2006, 12:43

fwiw....

Agree the logo is too big and leaves too much white space to the right.

I found one picture with a "supersize" link. Can't say the picture looked any bigger. The rest of the pictures are ok as thumbnails but need a link to a decent size so you can see the detail of the boat / product

Cheers

Mark