Nov 05 2007
Looking for Comments on my Nearly Done Site
I’ve been talking for ages about this new site I’ve been working on for what seems like an eternity and it’s finally ready. Well, it’s not actually new (it’s an overhaul of this old site) and it’s not actually finished… but I said last week that I’d unleash the beast today whether or not it was done so here it is, in its half-completed glory!
New Site: Working Holiday Info
Bits that I Still Need to Do:
- Header image - It’s crapola and I need to come up with something better but it’s not at the top of my list just now.
- Uncompleted sections - The Students, Articles, and Contests sections don’t even exist and the Destinations and Jobs sections are works in progress. The Visas bit is pretty much done but there are some small gaps here and there.
- Main page - Need to finish bits and flesh it out a bit more but not sure how.
- Blog - I’ve struggled my way to something that fits with the look of my site but I can’t work out how to get the text and links and stuff to match up. I need to write some posts as well. I think this section will focus on news and contests and maybe some personal observations by me.
- Forum - I haven’t even attempted this yet but I’ll get on the case this week I think. I’ve decided to buy a vBulletin board for $160 but won’t have the benefit of a ‘one click install’ so have to be in the right frame of mind to want to tackle the installation.
- Articles - I’ve got a few ideas up my sleeve and just need to sit down and write.
- Layout - There are some individual pages that I’d like to organise better.
Geez with all the stuff that’s not done it makes me wonder what I’ve been working on these past few months! The visa info has been a mission to compile and my little cartoons have taken plenty of time too.
So I guess I’m curious about what you think of it. Because the thing is only half finished now is the time to chime in with any suggestions or criticism so I can fix it up. I’d be keen to know if you think the navigation is set up well and if there are any sections that aren’t listed that you think would fit well with the site. Anything really! Do your worst, I can take it!!
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I've been travelling since January 2008 living off earnings from the web. Follow me as I bum around Asia and beyond, getting up to mischief and working online as I go. 
Kirsty the site looks great way better than your old style,
thats the good news
As you mention you have still got a lot of things left to do my gut sayse you should scratch all of those things “that are not at least 90% done”
for now, basicaly anything thats not done now & switch your site over.
Then go back & tackle all the things to do “One by One”
The way that you build your sites with design & detail the things you have left to do all could take a week each or more.
Which ever way you slice & dice it this is a large project for someone working full time, Imagine doing a jigsaw with 10,000 pieces that contains 10 pictures or imagine If it came in 10 separate boxes with 1,000 pieces in each. Doing the 10 boxes individualy then putting the 10 pictures together after would be a lot easier than attaking a single box with 10,0000 pieces in it.
Looks like you are attacking the box with 10,000 pieces at present.
Looks great — particularly like the right nav bar and how you’ve wangled that single adsense unit in there. Like the WTF - WTV icon too - nice one.
Must have been quite a bit of research digging out some of the details you have there. take a look around for some visa affiliate programs, could be a nice way to supplement the adsense $
Heya
Looks fab. Like Travelfish said, I love how you’ve woven in adsense without it being obvious or overpowering. I didn’t see what the site looked like before. Do you have any screenshots?
Thanks Neale. Ya I know what you mean and that was the plan initially but I seem to have added a bunch of things. Plus I wanted to get general opinions on it all and decided to just leave it in for now. I’ll probably cut out some things tonight and polish some other bits and get this baby out there!
Thanks TF, I think the right side navigation is the only part I’m really really happy with. My London site has a similar setup and gets well over a 4% clickthrough rate so I’m hoping this one performs too. As for the visa thing I had thought about that but I’m a bit torn because I would never actually recommend people use these services. I might keep an open mind though because I can always offer the product and still state my views. I’m sure there are people who’d rather pay more for less hassle.
IM I’ve changed the post to make it clearer. I’ve got links to both sites up. The old site is still live at http://www.workingholidayinfo.com and the new one is running alongside it at http://www.workingholidayinfo.com/index2.php
I like the header! Don’t change a thing.
Nice design…
* Header image - I count six glasses that suggest containing alcohol, and a spoon that is either used for preparing absinthe or crack. The remaining image is a under construction sign. That is the only one I’d leave intact, and perhaps a mug of beer. Other than that perhaps wine grapes to indicate wine grape picking, scuba glasses to indicate teaching scuba diving in Cancun etc.
* Uncompleted sections - Visas section looks great with different mascots for different work programs in different countries. Perhaps you can continue in the same vein creating images/buying images of that mach the students, articles and contests.
* Main page - I disagree about you needing to flesh it out, it’s good as is, if you move the google ads to bottom of page it would look a little less spammy but it would not make a big change of impression given how little space is used for google ads.
* Blog - It fits with the look of the site, I really recommend using timespamp of wordpress to load a months worth of short posts in advance, will be alot easyer to accomplish and insure consistancy, 50% of visitors I once read, won’t be back if they don’t see a change on second visit.
* Forum - I use a host that charges just under $30 per month for 15 (soon to be operational) sites and there are no install fee’s ever, that includes modules, templates/thems, forums, guestbooks and whatever, as long as it’s open source they won’t charge for installing it.
* Articles - I’m sure you’ll turn up with interesting articles as you have so far.
* Layout - All in all pretty good, simple and intuitive navigation.
Keep up the good work!
I really should have picked up on that…
I think you’re doing a great job with your sites. They seem to offer genuinely valuable information and target your market really well. To be honest, I’m a little out of my comfort zone with this type of business model, and my webmaster skills are amoebic! But I’m glad to have found your blog.
Amoebic… haha!
Crack… haha again! That’s supposed to be absinthe and I’ve just chucked those boozy images up there by the ‘men at work’ for the time being because they were the easiest to make fit. I’ve got some ideas up my sleeve so I’ll have a crack again next weekend I think. Thanks for the suggestions, I’m hard at work now doing a bit of tidying and chopping here and there. Hoping to get this baby up and running soonish.
Overall it looks fantastic and I agree with Neale - get it out there and then ad the missing bits
Couple of things I would ad at some time - the fact that Australians and NZ dont need visas to work in each others countries (tell me if you need the links) - also the same for EU passport holders Actually maybe something about dual passports might be good -lots of people seem confused about that - its almost always the easiest way to get a “visa” Typo in galway toilets story “people to manage to get poo”. In NZ we call places you ski “ski resorts” not “ski hills” - we have mtns not hills
I had the same issue with my new blog on my site - I decided in the end to backdate the hello world post and then stay with real time for the other posts - probably mainly because I ended up writing was real long. I think if you write long posts you dont have to post one everyday - I struggled to keep up with this blog when you were posting long posts everyday - its much more manageable now. I think the short posts every day or multi a day is OK but I think your niche (and mind) suit going for longer posts. Once I cicked on NZ from the Working Holiday Jobs I couldnt navigate back to the working holiday jobs to select another country Australia jobs the RSA is compulsory, particularly in NSW. Lots of labouring jobs in Perth but you will need your own steel-capped boots and again you may have to pay to do the 1 day safety course MARCASTA ?
Looks great. I wish I could create a design like that. Just don’t have the patience. Vbulletin is very simple to install. It is quick to get up and running but there are so many different options and mods to play with.
You might need to add an extra zero on the price of the expensive watermelons in Japan.
you seem to know what’s good and bad about it already Kirsty!
i’d agree totally.
however, most of it “will do” for the mo, i’d get as much content on as fast as poss, then worry about the header image and minor details.
Yeah I concur with Matty, the content is more important than the look for now so don’t sweat it regards bits that don’t go hard-coded into each page.
Fantabulous, Kirsty…let me think…will I ever get to my Philippine website? My head is spinning like there’s no end…can’t even make it to the title.
Very nice looking website :
It’s very clear, no clutter.
Adsense blends very well… bravo.
Impressed!