Revision of website / forum

[Straydog]

I have had my website for about 10 years now. It has had its ups and downs, transitions, software changes, and growing pains. Now it is mostly dead due to inattention.

That site can be found at www.grumpyoldmen.us

What I want to do is revamp everything which I know is a big task. I will purchase a quality theme eventually and will likely move to a custom eventually. It strayed from the original in that we were very much a gamer related community. Things changed, members moved on for various reasons, and life got in the way. Currently it has become a place for me to add my thoughts and bits of random hobbies.

One site that has caught my interest is https://generalchatter.co.uk/ Gemma, I know you put a lot of time and effort into your site and I absolutely like the recipe page as well as most of the layout. I want my own design and theme but with some similar things that I have seen there. I know we are at a point where x2 will be coming out so any changes would likely be geared toward that direction. I am using addons currently for a "portal" or front page but I am not attached to any specific part of anything. I want content on the main page and a forum for discussion. I have media and resource addons that I will use for mods and such from the gaming side of things.

I do not have a massive budget but I understand work costs money.

I am looking for ideas for the following.

• Ordering of the forum structure.
• A complete organized font page.
• How to incorporate my various likes, hobbies, photos, and other items into a coherent layout.
• I would like to see the forum active again but even if not I will use it as my online home.
• How to best present my interests to a community.

Those are the first few thoughts. I am looking for help both with the eventual layout as well as some fresh ideas to make things desirable to potential members. Essentially I think I am asking for a consultant that can guide me through making additions and content changes that appeal to others if that makes sense.

Would anyone be willing to assist me in this capacity? If so a pm is fine to discuss details. Prior experience and ability to demonstrate past success would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance for hearing me out. I look forward to your thoughts and input.

 

[Claudio]

I have had my website for about 10 years now. It has had its ups and downs, transitions, software changes, and growing pains. Now it is mostly dead due to inattention.

That site can be found at www.grumpyoldmen.us

What I want to do is revamp everything which I know is a big task. I will purchase a quality theme eventually and will likely move to a custom eventually. It strayed from the original in that we were very much a gamer related community. Things changed, members moved on for various reasons, and life got in the way. Currently it has become a place for me to add my thoughts and bits of random hobbies.

One site that has caught my interest is https://generalchatter.co.uk/ Gemma, I know you put a lot of time and effort into your site and I absolutely like the recipe page as well as most of the layout. I want my own design and theme but with some similar things that I have seen there. I know we are at a point where x2 will be coming out so any changes would likely be geared toward that direction. I am using addons currently for a "portal" or front page but I am not attached to any specific part of anything. I want content on the main page and a forum for discussion. I have media and resource addons that I will use for mods and such from the gaming side of things.

I do not have a massive budget but I understand work costs money.

I am looking for ideas for the following.

• Ordering of the forum structure.
• A complete organized font page.
• How to incorporate my various likes, hobbies, photos, and other items into a coherent layout.
• I would like to see the forum active again but even if not I will use it as my online home.
• How to best present my interests to a community.

Those are the first few thoughts. I am looking for help both with the eventual layout as well as some fresh ideas to make things desirable to potential members. Essentially I think I am asking for a consultant that can guide me through making additions and content changes that appeal to others if that makes sense.

Would anyone be willing to assist me in this capacity? If so a pm is fine to discuss details. Prior experience and ability to demonstrate past success would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance for hearing me out. I look forward to your thoughts and input.

Hello,

We can help you to turn your ideas into reality. Feel free to start a private conversation with me after checking the reviews of Todo10 on my signature.

 

[Aayush]

From what I see on your website, you can increase activity in 2 simple ways:
1. Content
2. Convenience

I feel that you have absolutely no content on your forums to engage your users. You need to take a step back and focus on content first. I'm not the kind of person who would encourage you that you should hire a SEO expert and all that. XenForo is pretty capable out of the box to handle the basic SEO essentials right out of the box. All you need to do now is:

1. Write engaging content for your community. Since you have run this community for 10 years, you know exactly what grinds the gears of grumpy old men i.e. your users. For eg. I see a steam game on your site. I would suggest, you create unique content around that game only. If you are a community that plays a lot of games. You can maybe post easter eggs, unique in-game moments.
In short, first you need a content strategy.
2. From my past experience, free addons available on XenForo should be enough for you to get started. Once you have some traction, you can begin investing in custom addons.
3. For convenience, you need to think of a way to keep your users updated about the latest in your community. You can either send them weekly updates with the best updates from your community or build a system for sending unique content via email so your users get exited to browse through your community to read related content.

Let me know if this helps.

 

[JacquiiDesigns]

Hi @Straydog - I'd be happy to implement your ideas.
Feel free to contact me via PM here on the forum and/or at my portfolio site. Both links are listed in my signature below.
Thanks for the consideration.

J.

 

[Gemma]

I absolutely like the recipe page as well as most of the layout.

The recipe book is using the Showcase addon by @Bob. I don't think I've changed much, maybe a little customization here and there and changed the phrases to something more appropriate for recipes - it's a brilliant piece of software out of the box so no need to change anything.

I'm pretty limited for time nowadays and don't spend nearly as much time online as I used to but if there is anything I can help you with feel free to send me a message either here or on General Chatter and I'll see what I can do.