Check out the site :)

[Flignats]

Whats up Cashgamers, it's been a while since I've been around the forum. I pop in and out once in a while, but most of my time is taken up with college. I know Ikaruga can attest to that now

Movie-Critic

Anyway...

This is a latest creation that I wanted to make. I really enjoy movies (who doesn't?) and a few friends decided we should put together a movie review site. Well, I figured if we were going to do that, it had to be more than that as well!

So I configured it to have the core, movie reviews, and I tweaked the script out a little bit. I also added in News from TMZ and AOL on the front page, they automatically generate when they update. The slideshow is for articles that we write. The reviews have basic movie info, a trailer, and an Amazon referral link.

It also has a community module, so people can sign up and have a profile if they'd like too, but I dont want that part expressed too much.. Social networking.. profiles, ect.. done and overdone. It's just for people that really want it..

But, I feel that there is just something missing, no? Maybe the content on the front page needs more pictures? Or some movie stats? Something else to give the site a better feel. Anyone have some suggestions? Maybe a online skill game review section! Ha.. not really.. Let me know what you guys think though.

Thanks!

[Jacob]

I just got back from day 1 of jury duty...huge headache right now, but I promise I'll get back to you on this in a couple hours.

[Flignats]

Eeeeh Jury Duty.. Why don't you hand in a notarized letter saying you are in school? Get's us out of Jury Duty!

[Jacob]

Alrighty, back...

The overall design is pretty cool. I like the contrast of colors along with the overall layout, and the content you have displayed on the front page is a good start. Does the webpage display without needing to scroll horizontally with a 1280 x 768 resolution? I'm using a traditional 1024 x 768 resolution and I'm having to scroll horizontally to see the entire page...the norm is coming to be 1280 x 768 so not a big deal, just something I observed.

I think the big question that you'll need to address is why people should go to your site rather than AOL, TMZ, movies.yahoo.com, etc. I can go to Yahoo! Movies and get just about all the info I want on a newly released film...pictures, user reviews, critics' reviews, etc. What incentive is there for me to go to your site as opposed to a major movie review portal? How are you bringing value to the movie niche?

Your site's new, so I have a feeling the content will be laid out very differently in a couple months time...in my opinion, just try to overcome the hurdle mentioned previously and tweak out your site's layout to your liking, AND KEEP WORKING ON YOUR SITE'S CONTENT. If your site gets to the point where it can offer value to movie fans (everyone's a movie fan!) via its content, the traffic will come.

[Flignats]

I hear you on the resolution... it isn't dynamic so it won't shrink to smaller widths. But, digging through the site's stats, the vast majority of users are in 1280 or greater, so I haven't put too much effort into accommodating the 1024 ppl. the template itself gets a little messy when its shrunk to that width, so I initially avoided it. It might be something I have to look into further though, if the numbers grow.

So, the "big question." Well, Movie-Critic isn't the same, err.. doesnt aim to be the same as AOl, TMZ, IMDB, Yahoo! Movies, ect. The movies info (actors, trailer, ect) is there for people that are viewing the reviews, bc its essential to have, but we shouldn't be a "database" of movies users go to to look up movie details.

I've actually found that there are a decent (small comparatively) number of critic's review sites out there that are specifically followed, so Movie-Critic is targeting a niche. The goal is to provide the quality reviews of hand picked movies from our critics, so that people who enjooy our view will frequent the site and make it a tradition to finding good flicks and / or opinions. Once it grows in size, then *ideally* our critics would be recognized (accredidation through the OFCS) and their work can be displayed on places like Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, ect.

The 'fluff' or news and articles is there for a break in between users sifting through critic reviews. Keeps people updated, and allows for a variety, so they are not bored.

We've found that it is already gathering a niche following among users, with loyalty being displayed (repeat visitors). Currently we have 4 critics, so there is a good range of views for people to follow and try to match up with. Google is being generous to the site as well, and its ranking is increasing steadily.

Some basic info.. The site was completely developed in 8-10 days Credit to me (w00t), but it's never "complete" right? So I constantly do new things for it. since Feb 13th to the 23rd we've received over 1,000 unique visitors. <-- Another nice number, no paid advertising. We've also accrued about 700 backlinks, from mostly related websites. The domain was brand new, so it has a PR of 0, but I am expecting at least a PR of 1 on the next update.

and... I wanted to measure the site up against another to compare traffic... So I though I would use Cashgamers.net's traffic statistics as a goal to reach.. but... um... according to Alexa Cashgamer's seems to be ranked... 731,040 this week. Movie-Critic.net 1 week ranking - 291,545 ... Hmm... ? couldn't use 3 month average because the site hasnt been there for 3 months.. its inflated to high right now.

Content / layout / everything changes and evolves.. The look and feel is nice now, but I have a few ideas I want to implement and that will change the way it looks, just takes a little bit of time.

thanks for the great info! Please.. keep it all coming, any suggestion helps