Forum is extremely unsuccessful due to rival site

[thesignalman]

First thought that came to mind...

Emm, I, see
Kay, ee, why,
Emm, oh, you, ess, ee.

View attachment 269621

How's this?

 

[Arantor]

Personally I’m not a fan of the black, it feels like it’s encroaching on the rest of the header, when the rest of the site is light coloured.

However a bigger problem is the fact the site is closed. A site that is closed is not going to be posting and every day it stays closed is one more day of lost momentum you have to fight back against when you reopen.

 

[ForumFan]

I think you're obsessing over the logo and header too much. Keep it simple for now. Go live online with the forum. Work on CONTENT and SEO.

 

[Old Nick]

 

[benFF]

View attachment 269594

Thought of this as another possibility for the new logo, but worried it's too simplistic

I quite like the traffic light in the yellow box, it can be easily used for the site icon too (favicon and pwa)

Not all that text though.

 

[beerForo]

bikeshedding
The act of wasting time on trivial details while important matters are inadequately attended is sometimes known as bikeshedding. That term originates from Parkinson's observation of a committee organized to approve plans for a nuclear power plant. As Parkinson noted, the committee devoted a disproportionate amount of time to relatively unimportant details -- such as the materials for a bicycle storage shed -- which limited the time available to focus on the design of the nuclear plant.

 

[Mr Lucky]

I think it's very important to get listed and favorable (first page) positioning in Google's search results.

So, what do people find when they Google "your special interest forum?"

It's important for SEO to go beyond that.

If there is a niche then you ideally want to rank well for that niche whether it's a forum our not. Very few people add the keyword form to a search because most people are looking for information about the niche per se without it being forum.

It's very easy to rank in the top few serach results if you are a forum assuming that people put the word forum in their search - but they don't. It's easy to get complacent and you are doing well because you are not doing a realistic search that normal people do.
The only way to find out how you are doing is to just put the special interest search terms (without forum) and then see how you are doing compared with the completion, ie all the YouTube crap, Wikipedia, retailers, dealers, bloggers etc.

 

[Mr Lucky]

View attachment 269622

How's this?

That's a good one. Apart from the annoying key icon and having to register to actually see anything which will lose you loads of traffic and members.

 

[ForumFan]

If there is a niche then you ideally want to rank well for that niche whether it's a forum our not. Very few people add the keyword form to a search because most people are looking for information about the niche per se without it being forum.

Certainly. I wasn't going to write a tome on SEO and keywords in this context / environment. My comment included but a single example.

It's very easy to rank in the top few serach results if you are a forum assuming that people put the word forum in their search

Of course. Run your searches with as many conceivable combinations of keywords. Think like the "consumer" or searcher.

The only way to find out how you are doing is to just put the special interest search terms (without forum) and then see how you are doing compared with the completion, ie all the YouTube crap, Wikipedia, retailers, dealers, bloggers etc.

Yep. But again, I wasn't going to expound on the rather vast subject of SEO. I was trying to keep the message simple by including just one example of a search.

Basically... trying to suggest that there are more important things than the logo.

 

[ForumFan]

having to register to actually see anything which will lose you loads of traffic and members.

I've tried. It seems he's adamant about keeping it entirely private. BIG mistake, if you want to actually grow a forum. Really, REALLY BIG mistake.

But, what do I / we know, eh?

PS... I won't register just to look and offer advice. I'm not a traffic light / sign guy, so the topic doesn't interest me. But I WOULD check out the forum from a marketing and functional perspective... if I didn't have to register.

 

[Mr Lucky]

But, what do I / we know, eh?

 

[Hotfix]

View attachment 269616


How would this logo be. Not sure if it's too simple

It's not too simple. It's unpleasant to look at. The circles aren't centered so the logo lacks harmony. They also remind me of Mickey Mouse. The color combination gives me a headache. It's too bright and there's not enough contrast. The font looks too playful or childish in this context. It might not even be legible on mobile devices because it's so small.

I think you should ask or hire someone to design a modern logo for you. You can focus on more important things like creating good content for the people you want to visit your site. That's my honest opinion.

 

[thesignalman]

It's not too simple. It's unpleasant to look at. The circles aren't centered so the logo lacks harmony. They also remind me of Mickey Mouse. The color combination gives me a headache. It's too bright and there's not enough contrast. The font looks too playful or childish in this context. It might not even be legible on mobile devices because it's so small.

I think you should ask or hire someone to design a modern logo for you. You can focus on more important things like creating good content for the people you want to visit your site. That's my honest opinion.

Here's another logo design I had in mind:

 

[Hotfix]

Here's another logo design I had in mind:


View attachment 269636

That's a million times better than the one you posted before this.

 

[thesignalman]

That's a million times better than the one you posted before this.

Thought of this one to match the white background

 

[beerForo]

Long and skinny won't read well on mobile unless you adjust the css.
This is the code I use:

/* mobile logo larger */
.p-nav-smallLogo
{
    display: none !important;
}
.p-header-logo
{
    max-width: none !important;
}
.has-js .p-header
{
    display: block;
}

 

[Hotfix]

View attachment 269637

Thought of this one to match the white background

That looks great too. You could drop the first word because it's not in your domain name. But yeah. Now you have a beautiful logo. Congratulations!

 

[beerForo]

Yes please use one and open your site lol.

 

[thesignalman]

That looks great too. You could drop the first word because it's not in your domain name. But yeah. Now you have a beautiful logo. Congratulations!

Yes I do

 

[thesignalman]

Yes please use one and open your site lol.

In a bit.