iWebBuddy's Forum Review - SparkChat.net

iWebBuddy's Forum Review - SparkChat.net

Graphics :

Logo :
I have to say, another logo that even took about 5 minutes to create would look better than the current one. The forum's logo made me want to close the window that displayed the index of the forums. Come on, I know you can do better than this. There are many graphic designers out there, find the right one, . The forum logo is one of the main attractions of any forum.

Marks - 1/10

Forum's Template :
Finally, something to bring 'SparkChat' back up. The forum's template looks fine. Simple and nice, that's my best option. Although that mini-chat box looks hideous where it's positioned, the green and white color of your website template made the site worthy of looking at. Now, let us take a look at the header of the forum. I already had to say everything about the logo, now let us take a step back into the background.



( View full sized image? )

Now, you have to be blind if you do not see both of those colors in the background. The way the logo is positioned between those two colors throws the forum off the color range. Also, that text that says, 'SparkChat' located in the middle of the header. The title ( or ) slogan should be below or on the top of the forum's logo. Something else like a search box would have been a better replacement for that text.

Marks - 13/20

Overall Marks For Graphics = 14/30

Meta Tags :

Meta Tags are what makes google index your website or forum on it's search engine. It is the most common thing that generates traffic to your site. And, as I see on this forum, there are no meta tags... Blank spaces...

Code:

<meta name="keywords" content="" />
<meta name="description" content="" />

The only good reason I can find to say why this site is being indexed on google, is because of the title tags added in the web pages, and the domain name. The site will not be added in the best pages of google, where everyone searches for something. Try adding some meta tags, so that the forum can generate more traffic, and if you can not figure out any, you can use this tool :

> Google's keyword external tool

And, if that is not giving you what you want, you can ask in the forums of iWebBuddy.com :

> Search Engine Optimization - Find The Best Keywords

Marks - 3/10

Overall Marks For Meta Tags = 3/10

Content :

Main Content :
I see there are many useful forums on SparkChat.net. The 'Advice and Real Life' forum can really help out someone under stress or someone that needs help with everyday living. A 'Debating Room' forum where your members can debate on all sorts of topics that they can think of. And a 'Foruming Life' forum for others to share their experiences with forums. There are a lot more, but I'll just point out a few. This is one of the best general discussion forums I have ever seen. But, after all of that, what will make a guest join the forums? The first or second thing a visitor looks when clicking a link to a forum, is, what does it have to offer? Sure, you'll chat a lot, but that will most likely be the last thing on the person's mind. I suggest you add up a quick note, that can be easily seen my visitors, that will tell them what your forum has to offer. This will clear the road to their understanding, and if they are interested in your forum, they might register. Also, there might be forums that's telling me there is good content on your forum, but I have not seen much yet. You should write up some useful articles, that will help others know that you can offer good advice, and when they see your articles, they will want to ask + post.

Marks - 29/40

Organization :
The only thing that am seeing out of place is this :



( View full sized image? )

The title of that section is called the 'Relaxation Lounge' if am not wrong. If your asking questions about someone in there, is that relaxing? I don't think so, . But, I may be wrong. Also, the 'Voting Centre' forum should be a discussion forum, just with a poll added to the normal discussion topic.

That's the only problem with the organization of the forum that I have with SparkChat.net.

Marks - 7/10

Overall Marks For Content = 36/50

Activity :

Forum Activity :
Since your forum is new, you would not get penalized in this area. The lack of meta tags may cause a low number of visitors from search engines. But, there are some members that stays on your forum that are trying to help build the community, and that's what I like to see. So, I see full marks in this area.

Marks - 5/5

BackLinks :
As I said before, you did not use much meta tags on your web pages, so google is not going to give out much useful backlinks. I see that this forum is being advertised on other good PR websites, and that is what will generate a lot of backlinks. But, you do not have enough. I have to say, to reach the goal, you need even more backlinks. Affiliation, online website directories, promotion ( advertising on other websites on the promotion sections ) , link to us and signatures are the best ways to get backlinks, and the generate even more traffic to a site.

But, there is one thing I must warn the site owner about about SparkChat.net.
I have found some broken links on google pages. Here is a link :

> More results from sparkchat.net

You see that error page ( Not Found ) , those pages are the worst to have. Google already indexed the pages from crawling the forums, and then the data from that page goes blank in less than a minute. I suggest staying away from these kind of things.

Marks - 3/5

Overall Marks For Activity = 8/10

---

Overall Marks For SparkChat.net = 61%

Congratulations, the forum passed :

---

Grab this review for your website or forum :

Code:

[font=Georgia][size=24][center]iWebBuddy's Forum Review - [url=http://www.sparkchat.net/]SparkChat.net[/url][/center][/size]

[size=18][b][u]Graphics :[/u][/b][/size]

[b][color=green]Logo :[/color][/b]
I have to say, another logo that even took about 5 minutes to create would look better than the current one. The forum's logo made me want to close the window that displayed the index of the forums. Come on, I know you can do better than this. There are many graphic designers out there, find the right one, [img]http://illiweb.com/fa/i/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]. The forum logo is one of the main attractions of any forum.

[b]Marks - 1/10[/b]

[b][color=green]Forum's Template :[/color][/b]
Finally, something to bring 'SparkChat' back up. The forum's template looks fine. Simple and nice, that's my best option. Although that mini-chat box looks hideous where it's positioned, the green and white color of your website template made the site worthy of looking at. Now, let us take a look at the header of the forum. I already had to say everything about the logo, now let us take a step back into the background.

[img]http://i16.servimg.com/u/f16/14/46/24/48/error110.png[/img]

( [url=http://i16.servimg.com/u/f16/14/46/24/48/error110.png]View full sized image?[/url] )

Now, you have to be blind if you do not see both of those colors in the background. The way the logo is positioned between those two colors throws the forum off the color range. Also, that text that says, 'SparkChat' located in the middle of the header. The title ( or ) slogan should be below or on the top of the forum's logo. Something else like a search box would have been a better replacement for that text.

[b]Marks - 13/20[/b]

[b][center][size=16]Overall Marks For Graphics =  14/30[/size][/center][/b]

[size=18][b][u]Meta Tags :[/u][/b][/size]

Meta Tags are what makes google index your website or forum on it's search engine. It is the most common thing that generates traffic to your site. And, as I see on this forum, there are no meta tags... Blank spaces...

[code]<meta name="keywords" content="" />
<meta name="description" content="" />[/code]

The only good reason I can find to say why this site is being indexed on google, is because of the title tags added in the web pages, and the domain name. The site will not be added in the best pages of google, where everyone searches for something. Try adding some meta tags, so that the forum can generate more traffic, and if you can not figure out any, you can use this tool :

> [url=https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal]Google's keyword external tool[/url]

And, if that is not giving you what you want, you can ask in the forums of iWebBuddy.com :

> [url=http://www.iwebbuddy.com/search-engine-optimization-f15/]Search Engine Optimization - Find The Best Keywords[/url]

[b]Marks - 3/10[/b]

[b][center][size=16]Overall Marks For Meta Tags =  3/10[/size][/center][/b]

[size=18][b][u]Content :[/u][/b][/size]

[b][color=green]Main Content :[/color][/b]
I see there are many useful forums on SparkChat.net. The 'Advice and Real Life' forum can really help out someone under stress or someone that needs help with everyday living. A 'Debating Room' forum where your members can debate on all sorts of topics that they can think of. And a 'Foruming Life' forum for others to share their experiences with forums. There are a lot more, but I'll just point out a few. This is one of the best general discussion forums I have ever seen. But, after all of that, what will make a guest join the forums? The first or second thing a visitor looks when clicking a link to a forum, is, what does it have to offer? Sure, you'll chat a lot, but that will most likely be the last thing on the person's mind. I suggest you add up a quick note, that can be easily seen my visitors, that will tell them what your forum has to offer. This will clear the road to their understanding, and if they are interested in your forum, they might register. Also, there might be forums that's telling me there is good content on your forum, but I have not seen much yet. You should write up some useful articles, that will help others know that you can offer good advice, and when they see your articles, they will want to ask + post.

[b]Marks - 29/40[/b]

[b][color=green]Organisation :[/color][/b]
The only thing that am seeing out of place is this :

[img]http://www.iwebbuddy.com/users/2613/16/40/39/album/im10.png[/img]

The title of that section is called the 'Relaxation Lounge' if am not wrong. If your asking questions about someone in there, is that relaxing? I don't think so, [img]http://illiweb.com/fa/i/smiles/kopfschuettel.gif[/img]. But, I may be wrong. Also, the 'Voting Centre' forum should be a discussion forum, just with a poll added to the normal discussion topic.
 
That's the only problem with the organisation of the forum that I have with SparkChat.net.

[b]Marks - 7/10[/b]

[b][center][size=16]Overall Marks For Content =  36/50[/size][/center][/b]

[size=18][b][u]Activity :[/u][/b][/size]

[b][color=green]Forum Activity :[/color][/b]
Since your forum is new, you would not get penalised in this area. The lack of meta tags may cause a low number of visitors from search engines. But, there are some members that stays on your forum that are trying to help build the community, and that's what I like to see. So, I see full marks in this area.

[b]Marks - 5/5[/b]

[b][color=green]BackLinks :[/color][/b]
As I said before, you did not use much meta tags on your web pages, so google is not going to give out much useful backlinks. I see that this forum is being advertised on other good PR websites, and that is what will generate a lot of backlinks. But, you do not have enough. I have to say, to reach the goal, you need even more backlinks. Affiliation, online website directories, promotion ( advertising on other websites on the promotion sections ) , link to us and signatures are the best ways to get backlinks, and the generate even more traffic to a site.

But, there is one thing I must warn the site owner about about SparkChat.net.
I have found some broken links on google pages. Here is a link :

> [url=http://www.google.tt/search?hl=en&rlz=1W1GGLL_en&q=+site:sparkchat.net+sparkchat.net&ei=PUcYS9eUKdPQlAfSu9DrAg&sa=X&oi=nshc&resnum=1&ct=more-results&ved=0CAwQ2AQ]More results from sparkchat.net[/url]

You see that error page ( Not Found ) , those pages are the worst to have. Google already indexed the pages from crawling the forums, and then the data from that page goes blank in less than a minute. I suggest staying away from these kind of things.

[b]Marks - 3/5[/b]

[b][center][size=16]Overall Marks For Activity =  8/10[/size][/center][/b]

[hr]

[b][center][size=20][color=green]Overall Marks For [url=http://www.sparkchat.net/]SparkChat.net[/url] = 61%[/color][/size][/b]

[b][color=red]Congratulations, the forum passed :[/b][/color]

[img]http://i96.servimg.com/u/f96/14/46/24/48/pass10.png[/img][/center][/font]

I have to say, another logo that even took about 5 minutes to create would look better than the current one. The forum's logo made me want to close the window that displayed the index of the forums. Come on, I know you can do better than this. There are many graphic designers out there, find the right one, . The forum logo is one of the main attractions of any forum.

Now, you have to be blind if you do not see both of those colors in the background. The way the logo is positioned between those two colors throws the forum off the color range. Also, that text that says, 'SparkChat' located in the middle of the header. The title ( or ) slogan should be below or on the top of the forum's logo. Something else like a search box would have been a better replacement for that text.

The whole meta tag part

I see there are many useful forums on SparkChat.net. The 'Advice and Real Life' forum can really help out someone under stress or someone that needs help with everyday living. A 'Debating Room' forum where your members can debate on all sorts of topics that they can think of. And a 'Foruming Life' forum for others to share their experiences with forums. There are a lot more, but I'll just point out a few. This is one of the best general discussion forums I have ever seen. But, after all of that, what will make a guest join the forums? The first or second thing a visitor looks when clicking a link to a forum, is, what does it have to offer? Sure, you'll chat a lot, but that will most likely be the last thing on the person's mind. I suggest you add up a quick note, that can be easily seen my visitors, that will tell them what your forum has to offer. This will clear the road to their understanding, and if they are interested in your forum, they might register. Also, there might be forums that's telling me there is good content on your forum, but I have not seen much yet. You should write up some useful articles, that will help others know that you can offer good advice, and when they see your articles, they will want to ask + post.

The only thing that am seeing out of place is this :



( View full sized image? )

The title of that section is called the 'Relaxation Lounge' if am not wrong. If your asking questions about someone in there, is that relaxing? I don't think so, . But, I may be wrong. Also, the 'Voting Centre' forum should be a discussion forum, just with a poll added to the normal discussion topic.

That's the only problem with the organization of the forum that I have with SparkChat.net.

Since your forum is new, you would not get penalized in this area. The lack of meta tags may cause a low number of visitors from search engines. But, there are some members that stays on your forum that are trying to help build the community, and that's what I like to see. So, I see full marks in this area.

As I said before, you did not use much meta tags on your web pages, so google is not going to give out much useful backlinks. I see that this forum is being advertised on other good PR websites, and that is what will generate a lot of backlinks. But, you do not have enough. I have to say, to reach the goal, you need even more backlinks. Affiliation, online website directories, promotion ( advertising on other websites on the promotion sections ) , link to us and signatures are the best ways to get backlinks, and the generate even more traffic to a site.

But, there is one thing I must warn the site owner about about SparkChat.net.
I have found some broken links on google pages. Here is a link :

> More results from sparkchat.net

You see that error page ( Not Found ) , those pages are the worst to have. Google already indexed the pages from crawling the forums, and then the data from that page goes blank in less than a minute. I suggest staying away from these kind of things.

Dreamlimix wrote:Actually, people liked that logo because it's simple and good, plus I can't have a huge one like forumotion forum's do, because it's true PHPBB it doesn't allow huge logos.. If you look at other phpBB sites, you will see this type of banners aswell. I don't need to find right designer because I can do good designing myself (:

Dreamlimix wrote:If you search "SparkChat" in google, it's the first in ranking

Dreamlimix wrote:True that. Do you have a suggestion on what should I change the Relaxation Lounge name to? also the voting centre is just about normal voting like This VS That etc..

Dreamlimix wrote:About that broken link thing, That is indeed a bad thing >.> It's because I moved from MyBB to phpBB google indexed the old mybb forum causing broken links.

Dreamlimix wrote:You offer an awesome service here =)

I was not really suggesting a huge logo. A better looking one will do nice. The way the font was designed in your current logo, that might not attractive to a few people. And the way the phpBB only allows small logos, you'll need a more attractive one to fit in just right.

Those title tags are meta tags that displays the name of your forum. And, you have title tags in your forum, that means google will index your site,

But, to get more traffic, use the meta tags for keywords and description.

I have one. 'SparkChat Community Centre'.

Next time, when switching, un-index your forum from google. So that these kind of errors wouldn't happen,

Thanks! But please try not to double post unless separated by 24 hours,

Dreamlimix wrote:How? Teach me, I don't know how to, lol!

Code:

<title>SparkChat • Index page</title>

Dreamlimix wrote:No, it will sound like it's our bulletin like in first category.

• SparkChat Lounge
  

Dreamlimix wrote:Check out, I installed that mod and now added meta tags