The Shoe Community

Goodfella

Well-known member
Would really appreciate some feedback and input. Let me know if you think there is something i can do to improve my website.
Also we are currently having a $100 giveaway in the "Announcement" Section if anyone is interested. Site link is www.shoecommunity.com


Thanks in advance!
 
Sorry if I am a bit too blunt/straight forward with my comments, just want to help :)

I'm not a person into shoes/footwear, although I have a sister and that has taught me quite a lot (lol). The first thing that strikes me when I visit your community is the lack of customization to cater to the genre! You have selected a good forum style, but it looks too official/business like. You are doing good on the content side, it doesn't seem to be empty or lacking while browsing through, but you could customize and add more elements to make your audience feel at home. Some suggestions would be to change node icons to heels/boots etc. Add some shopping bags/shoe boxes (what are they called, when you buy em they put it to you in that and hand it to you) as a background image at the bottom of your page, it's just a minor addition that will add a lot. Small things like that add more to the experience, you need not create a own design or develop one (though I do suggest, if you wish to grow the community, either style your own themes to suit your genre or approach some awesome style developers on XenForo!)

Apart from that, are you on social networks? For your niche, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest <- these three will work the best (my opinion). Try to find some deals to post often on the social networks, images of new products and latest news related to the industry, it will attract more crowd to your community eventually. Do not pay for facebook advertising or promotion of your facebook page, its a huge scam, just take your time, continue to add content, ask your members to like it and it'll grow slowly but with more quality of followers :)

Good luck, and hope your community does well!
 
Sorry if I am a bit too blunt/straight forward with my comments, just want to help :)

I'm not a person into shoes/footwear, although I have a sister and that has taught me quite a lot (lol). The first thing that strikes me when I visit your community is the lack of customization to cater to the genre! You have selected a good forum style, but it looks too official/business like. You are doing good on the content side, it doesn't seem to be empty or lacking while browsing through, but you could customize and add more elements to make your audience feel at home. Some suggestions would be to change node icons to heels/boots etc. Add some shopping bags/shoe boxes (what are they called, when you buy em they put it to you in that and hand it to you) as a background image at the bottom of your page, it's just a minor addition that will add a lot. Small things like that add more to the experience, you need not create a own design or develop one (though I do suggest, if you wish to grow the community, either style your own themes to suit your genre or approach some awesome style developers on XenForo!)

Apart from that, are you on social networks? For your niche, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest <- these three will work the best (my opinion). Try to find some deals to post often on the social networks, images of new products and latest news related to the industry, it will attract more crowd to your community eventually. Do not pay for facebook advertising or promotion of your facebook page, its a huge scam, just take your time, continue to add content, ask your members to like it and it'll grow slowly but with more quality of followers :)

Good luck, and hope your community does well!
Divvens, you're comments are not blunt at all! I appreciate that you were straight forward with me instead of beating around the bush. Your comments will help me improve my website and satisfy my user base!

I really like the node icon suggestion! That is a very good one. After you pointed it out i realized that it does look more like a professional website instead of something attracted for the audience I'm targeting.
I was actually planning on a custom style once the community shows steady growth. I tried to minimize my initial investment until I notice that its growing at a good pace and members are doing what i want them to do (post).
Regarding social networks, I am on Twitter approaching 3,000 real followers. Pinterest has been taken care off. Stumbleupon also done :). However Facebook i made the mistake and purchased a few likes, they ended up being fake likes so now i need to flush this.
We have had a she giveaway 2 weeks ago and gave away a pair of female shoes. Tomorrow our second giveaway ends and we are giving away a $100 gift card. Right after that we will launch our third giveaway which we have a few ideas for.
We also plan on making some shirts and sending them to some of our supporters. I would like you to have one! Thanks so much for this feedback!

All the best,
Sal
 
Top Bottom