|
Post by pinkfloyd on Aug 7, 2010 13:45:38 GMT 1
Honestly, this site looks like it was made in 1994 .. have you thought of re-designing it ? if you're lazy there's wordpress with tons of goods themes for it (i.e. woothemes.com) etc.
|
|
|
Post by pinkfloyd on Aug 7, 2010 15:37:05 GMT 1
I'm talking about both site and forum( i.e. phpbb bulletin board wouldn't hurt here).. for example, look at www.gototurkey.co.ukIt's not perfect, but it has at least modern design.. and "warmer" vibe main page of this site screams "click on ads!", categories are not separated well enough visually if you know what I mean, everything looks like google ads etc. but on the positive side it has community, you can ask questions, expat community is here etc. I just want to say it can be better with little effort.. just wanna be constructive, even though you have excellent search engine ranking, you're probably losing good number of visitors because of that stuff..
|
|
|
Post by 3lions on Aug 7, 2010 17:37:11 GMT 1
...I guess 1994 wasn't really a good year was it, but I wouldn't want to upset some of the ghosts that must inhabit this board.
|
|
|
Post by pinkfloyd on Aug 7, 2010 19:11:59 GMT 1
and also, you are not watching your market enough imho, because you can see on this board people that already relocated here, (or are planning).. want to start a business, retire or do something for living, and there's nothing on that topic on main page, all info is scattered in threads on forum.. you (or crowdsource somehow) can also compile FAQ on other topics commonly asked in forums. that's info they actually want to have, and want to have it without digging through 30 threads
german and italian versions of site wouldn't hurt too..combined with .de & .it domain redirected here
blah, I feel so smart today ;D please ship 15000 € for consultations, thanx
|
|
|
Post by dugodude on Aug 7, 2010 19:34:14 GMT 1
I'm talking about both site and forum( i.e. phpbb bulletin board wouldn't hurt here).. for example, look at www.gototurkey.co.ukIt's not perfect, but it has at least modern design.. and "warmer" vibe I just want to say it can be better with little effort.. just wanna be constructive, even though you have excellent search engine ranking, you're probably losing good number of visitors because of that stuff.. The turkey board you compare this to is the official Turkish Tourism site. If you want the fancy official Croatian site, go there. Hardly fair to compare that this site, which is run by one person, Anna (AFAIK) and who, again to the best of my knowledge, has nothing officially to do with the Croatian state. Maybe Anna does get revenues from this board, but the impression I get is she does she does this out of love for the country. To me, this makes the board all the more 'authentic' - that is to say, most people are not here for anything other than general disinterested interest and concern on the subject of Croatia. Yes, one or two push the odd professional service, but it's sort of low key. But if I felt Anna or anyone at the top was acting with a vested interest, trying to please advertisers, it would detract from the whole value of the board. "main page of this site screams "click on ads!", categories are not separated well enough visually if you know what I mean, " No, I don't know what you mean. It works. "everything looks like google ads etc." etc what? And anyway they don't, not to me at least. "but on the positive side it has community, you can ask questions, expat community is here etc." Well, that is surely the point. If it was all buttons and flashing bells but no real people, no Mambos, Madgolfers, Crojoes and the like, I'd never look in. I accept that you say you want to be constructive, so fine, but if any changes meant losing the 'ghosts' and their words, as another poster has pointed out, then that would be a very sad loss indeed, and not worth the change in my opinion. Not worth it in anyway whatsoever. DD
|
|
|
Post by pinkfloyd on Aug 7, 2010 20:28:39 GMT 1
DD, all I'm saying is.. if you do something, you should do it as best you can possible, and if you don't adapt & evolve.. competition will eat you, cause if you hate money - they don't. I just gave some suggestions because imho this site has lot of potential, and with carefully made improvements(so it doesn't lose google's love etc.), it can be absolute #1. And improvements I mentioned were with VISITOR IN FIRST PLACE, they were about improving user experience, didn't said a word about who to offer advertising etc. but speaking of that, I saw on net.hr(probably paid article), Aquarius club on Zrće also gave them video to go with article, so why not also here do stuff like that.. implementing youtube videos valuable to tourists..promoting nightclubs, using their photo galleries, blah. users get the material they want, and don't care if Anna got monies for that or not.. and so on, you get the point
|
|
|
Post by crojoe on Aug 7, 2010 21:27:28 GMT 1
I agree that a tourist site, a business site, my own site needs to be modern, but this is really a forum, a place to chit-chat, share experiences, so the way it is set out makes it easy to navigate, see what’s new and not have a load of graphics and pop-ups, other then a few text ads
|
|
|
Post by mambo on Aug 7, 2010 21:52:10 GMT 1
I am happy that there is not a load of useless 'flash' and other crap. Where I live there is no ADSL, so I have to work with a USB stick, which means .......slooooooowwww internet. This site loads very quick, does what it needs to do, so why change it ? Is the information different when it is written in Silver or Red ?
|
|
|
Post by pinkfloyd on Aug 7, 2010 22:23:27 GMT 1
great comment mambo.. there can also be mobile, and low-bandwith version of site..
and concerning Silver and Red.. if you think that way, then in business meeting you can also exchange same information if you come in slippers, short pants and t-shirt, instead of nice suit and shoes
|
|
|
Post by Ribaric on Aug 8, 2010 11:13:56 GMT 1
I host 12 websites for people and have compiled all of them, none have flash, java or any other plug in - everythning is XHTML with a few lo-res pictures. All my feedback is positive because the sites load quickly and are not filled with BS. I would support any move which would speed things up and simplify the experience for users. For those who like techno-babble and have enough spare time in their lives to understand all the functions of a mobile phone, there are always alternatives. For the rest of us who don't want to think about how to "drive" it, this forum and website is just about perfect.
Adding extra functionality can be a good idea but it must remain separate from the core purpose and be an easily ignored option for those of us who have no interest in fads and "design".
|
|
|
Post by mambo on Aug 8, 2010 14:52:44 GMT 1
@ Pinkfloyd, .
LOL And the good part is that it is absolutely possible to show up in a business meeting in shorts and slippers. Maybe a bit cold in the winter time, but it is possible...............only problem is that you have to be the most important person at the table, otherwise they don't accept it.
You may have noticed that Richard Branson never wears a suit, but he is the boss, so nobody dares to say anything.
I have the idea that, as long as people want something from you, they could not care less even if you show up naked.
|
|
|
Post by pinkfloyd on Aug 8, 2010 22:41:39 GMT 1
;D OK, now webmaster at least has ideas, knows what forum regulars think about this.. but aaanyway in her place I'd put a survey on a main site. altough she has full right to ignore every word of mine, ignoring other visitors is just stupid. so, survey about what type of content would visitors wan't to see more, what features would be great to add, what would they change on the site if they could, etc. and offer some "valuable" prize to get more and better responses.. Good sites do stuff like that, I'm not makin it up Ribaric, mobile version would be useful for example when tourist "immediately" want's to find out some info and he hasn't access to computer.. btw. like 2 months ago on a train station in Varaždin, some highschool "kids"(I'm 23 so.. ) threw a comment like "woo Manchester".. to some (older) foreigner obviously, because he responded with something like "yea football". was that you? and yes, I have elephant memory
|
|
|
Post by usplitu on Aug 8, 2010 22:42:35 GMT 1
Anna .... just tell them it's 'Retro' !!!
Forum is great - and what's wrong with a basic & simple front end ? It certainly does the job for me!
|
|
|
Post by Sasha on Aug 9, 2010 14:15:41 GMT 1
I like the simplicity and the quick loading of this website - no need to change IMO!
|
|
|
Post by Anna on Aug 9, 2010 16:02:09 GMT 1
1994! That would mean the Visit Croatia site is almost amongst the front-runners of the Internet! (We were only four years after, though...) No, seriously, thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions, whether positive or "constructive". pinkfloyd, I think by some of the responses you'll see that the forum and the main site are reasonably separate in terms of who uses what and for who. I'm sure a lot of the regular contributors to the forum probably never look at the main site, and have no need to. If you asked visitors of the forum (which you have done, and received responses from) and visitors of the site the same question, you'd get different answers, I'm sure! So, if we look at the forum and site separately... Personally, I think the forum is more or less fine - does its job, is simple and not too much else going on apart from being a forum. Sometimes I think maybe newcomers have trouble finding out how to post, and I'm not 100% why - maybe that's not clear enough? It's true that migrating to another forum type would probably entirely lose 7 years' worth of threads from here; there's no way that I can see that they can be exported. Yup, I totally agree that a compilation of some FAQs might be useful - good idea. One suggestion that always comes around is that there should be more boards - but I sometimes think that if you have a forum with 25 or so boards (say, for each travel region of Croatia; for travelling by ferry; for travelling by bus etc) people become too confused and give up before they even post. (Or the moderator then just has to keep moving topics which is a bit pointless.) What do people think? As for the main site, well, definitely, a more modern design would be great, and a design and navigation overhaul is probably due! Though I really don't think it's fair to compare it to a proper tourist organisation site (Turkey's - and if that's actually a proper site, I'm really not that impressed!) which doesn't need ads because, well, the get their government funding. Take a look around at some other "amateur" travel websites and most actually look pretty basic, but if they have the info people want...? As for not watching my market enough (re expat pages)...hmmm...wonder what might be better, a random blurb or a live forum where people can ask questions? I'd rather people discuss the matter, ask questions, give out their advice then for me to have some vague waffle that might not be all that helpful...purely for the sake of having it! (And as I've said maybe a million times before - this site (and forum) started off as purely travel, so all these other sections and so on already are an expansion because people wanted it.) Hate to say it, consultancy fee won't be paid as these ideas are already all in my head and probably anyone else's that has anything to do with construction of websites. I feel a bit sad, though, by the comment - "altough she has full right to ignore every word of mine, ignoring other visitors is just stupid" so even if I don't like your suggestions, I'm still stupid... Here's a question for you, though, pinkfloyd - what do you think of the official CRO tourist website?
|
|