MTB 198 Gets a Long Overdue Face Lift
First, we want to say “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” to all of our visitors. Your traffic and feedback is what continues to give MTBTrailReview.com the momentum to grow beyond our expectations. March 18, 2009 will be the one-year anniversary for the site and since it went online in 2008 we have delivered some serious reviews and contests to our viewers.
Initially, we weren’t going to revisit the idea of redesigning the website until after the anniversary. Robb and I discussed the ideas behind revamping everything, totally whiping the slate clean, and going with what ultimately would work best. Luckily, I have a bit of design and development credientials and brag-worthy works behind me to make some sound decisions.
What you see now is the new and hopefully improved MTBTRAILREVIEW.COM. The site is aiming more towards content and a much larger aim at getting you around where you want to be quicker. The objectives were simple:
- Deliver Content
- Make sense of the content
- Less confusion
- And save more space…
Sounds pretty simple right? Literally, it was a nightmare! We spent hundreds of hours on the phone, many sleepless nights and more criticism than we could keep up with. The site is light-weight and we are still tweaking things out as best as we can.
However, we are at a point in which we need more help. Tell us what you miss about the old site, what you would like to see on the new site now, and general feedback.
Immediately, you should notice the site loading faster; especially subsequent posts and pages. More “featurey” styled posts on the homepage and overall about 120% more content on the homepage. We want to deliver the best site we can, but we need your help.
Please give us feedback and criticism and we will listen.
Did you know?
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Tags: design, new website, redesign
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The new layout looks very clean- nice job.
I like it now, but then even before I thought this was one of the better looking sites.
Great new look. I love the textured background. Subtle, but really adds a nice touch. I’m getting into web design as well and will be using this site as inspiration (if you don’t mind).
Hey Robb,
Love the new layout. It compliments your already great reviews, tips and other interesting articles.
Whenever I buy stuff online from Jenson and PricePoint, I do so through your links so you can get some commission to help pay for this informative mtb site. I’m sure its not cheap and is a labor of love
Keep up the great work!
Brian,
Thanks for the support! The site is build and maintained out of a pure passion for the sport, so feedback like that is greatly appreciated.
Wow! Thanks for the responses guys. We are working towards getting stuff the way you want it to be. So far, we’ve gathered some useful feedback:
Post titles are shorter, Content on posts can be slightly harder to read, and too small meta information.
We have gathered a ton, but these three should hopefully get tweaked today. Going to darken up the content slightly and figure out how we can shrink down the title font for post titles. Obviously, this isn’t a deal breaker but we understand you want to read more into the title before clicking.. but hey.. it was intentional.
With the new titles, we’ve noticed more click-throughs which is great for us!
Looking at your site it’s clearly content driven, meaning people come here for what you say and how often you say it, so you’re right I think to focus on that aspect. I think people value your opinions.
The top links are nice and clear, the logo is more prominent and so on but I wonder if a different font in a larger size would also help you to direct people to the content (I know you’re limited here)?
I have to say though, I really liked the bike photo on the page background previously and reckon the use of photos in general, and especially for this kind of site, are what makes the difference between a proper bike site and just another ‘home-brew’ site.
So overall, more bike imagery and a larger font.
But I’ve been here myself, asking for design criticism can be pretty daunting and you don’t always get the responses you want. Remember that these are just my own opinions and stick to your guns if you’re happy with the decisions you’ve made up to now. Some stuff, like a clearer structure are quantifiably better but other stuff is subjective and your own choices are as valid as anything that anyone else might put forward.
But more inspiring bike imagery please!
Matt,
Thanks for the feedback! The top image is missed so we are trying to figure out ways to incorporate more!
Matt,
Thanks for the feedback. We are more than satisfied with the results of the day so far with the new design. We are definitely getting what we wanted out of the new site, and that is people moving around more.
We are seeing an almost double increase in page view with the same, if not less, quantity of visitors to the site.
So that is working out, but I understand your point on inspiring imagery. The photos attached to each post are the element that get individuals to click titles and read on.. Robb and I had this discussion earlier this afternoon as well, so we are glad to see someone on the same page.
We’re on it boss!
Alright, so let’s see what we accomplished on the website today…
We changed the header navigation a bit, fixed up some side bar elements, changed the “Related Posts” area below each post and added some fairly great links for stumble upon, digg and such. Fixed the leave a comment link and started talking about all the tweaks for tomorrow.
Seriously guys! If you would like to see anything changed, just let us know.. we need the feedback and fair amount of criticism to keep this site growing at the rate it deserves.
Woot!
Great improvement! I could not find anything before and now it is alot easier.
Great work.
@MTBNZ: Thanks! We are hoping to really create better structure to help everyone find what they are wanting to get to easier. Glad you like it! Thanks for the kudos again!