NEW TEMPLATE (v6)

[inspireme]

thanks, this is the second one, work in progress though, no download yet.

http://indexu.co.uk/demoSVN/

I may do a third next week, but i want to see how these go... the purpose is to get links or get copyright removal so need to wait and see. Would be nice if nicecoder would have a user submitted plugin/theme area where i could put them - would definitely encourage me to make more ... maybe 10-15 if i found its a good way to get links.

[richrf]

Hi,

I like the clean colors of this design. Also the menu layouts. I am not a designer, but I would love to try to tweak this design a bit. For example, I would use white background in he sidebar, use grey colors in the menus, etc. to soften it up a bit. The black throughout is a bit stark and detracts from overall look. Possibly a slightly smaller font so that it does not seem to packed in.

I would move the sidebar to the right for SEO purposes, and put fresh text blocks at the top of the page - also for SEO. This is what I want to do for my site. A bit more color in the header/logo and I think it looks really sharp. Congratulations on a fine layout! Definitely one of the better ones that I have come across among the directory scripts.

Rich

[richrf]

Also, I am thinking of a fluid layout to use more real estate. What do you and others think about fluid layouts? Too much hassle. For SEO reasons I like fresh content, and lots of it, near the top of the page. The search engines love it.

Rich

[inspireme]

What difference does it make if the menu is on the right for seo?

I did a menu on the right for bigfreeguide.com but then i have decided never to do that again, doing an adblock on the left is a lot more effective when you come to monetize sites. I havent finished that design, its got a long way to go yet, everything below the header is basically what i had on the other theme.

[richrf]

What difference does it make if the menu is on the right for seo?

I did a menu on the right for bigfreeguide.com but then i have decided never to do that again, doing an adblock on the left is a lot more effective when you come to monetize sites. I havent finished that design, its got a long way to go yet, everything below the header is basically what i had on the other theme.

Hi,

As a general rule, I like to keep fresh content as near as possible to the top of the page as the search engine (read Google) sees it. I agree that adblocks on the left are more effective than the right, but I am more interested in SERP than monetization at this time.

Here is a link to Problogger.net which is a blog that is highly optimized for SEO. He is one of the top rated bloggers on the net right now and he totally recently totally redid his site as an example of new web design.

I think the design is really coming along nicely and hopefully NiceCoder picks it up as a standard. I think that the directory script business in general has not kept up with changes in the industry, and a theme with a modern design that is optimized for SEO would definitely differentiate IndexU from its competitors.

Keep up the great work!

Rich

[CEC]

sorry richrf, where the menu is located has absolutely no bearing on seo. if you listen or take seriously even a small percentage of what the seo rumour mill spins -- outside of some very basics -- you'll be very busy with no net gain.

[richrf]

sorry richrf, where the menu is located has absolutely no bearing on seo. if you listen or take seriously even a small percentage of what the seo rumour mill spins -- outside of some very basics -- you'll be very busy with no net gain.

Hi,

I did manage to do some amount of experimentation on Links.com, with various layouts. Because Google is constantly visiting and ranking my site, I was able to make changes, such as column positioning, and get very quick feedback on the SERP results. For my site, I definitely did better with right column sidebar. It may not affect other sites in the same way. It all depends. It is not an accident that Problogger.net has a right column sidebar.

Rich

[CEC]

there's a huge plecebo effect with this stuff. the number of intervening variables that play into how a site is treated can't possibly be controlled. in any event, i don't mean to downplay your experiences and/or research.
c

[richrf]

there's a huge plecebo effect with this stuff. the number of intervening variables that play into how a site is treated can't possibly be controlled. in any event, i don't mean to downplay your experiences and/or research.
c

Controlled - no. Influenced - yes. I can make some very minor changes to my site right now, and have it move up in SERP, for certain key words, within a few days. But it doesn't matter to me right now since I really need to redo the site, so I am just leaving it alone for now.

Rich

[inspireme]

The only difference menu placement would make is that on the right hand side you place the code int he footer, on the left hand side you place it on the header. Its true that important content should be near the top, so perhaps you would have a small net gain from having a right hand side menu.

That said, from a user perspective left hand menus are easily understandable, peoples eyes flash left when they load up a page, this is where you want to show them how to use the site, once this is finished im going to do a yahoo style fluid layout... the one im doing above is more business niche related i suppose, finance etc.

[richrf]

That said, from a user perspective left hand menus are easily understandable, peoples eyes flash left when they load up a page, this is where you want to show them how to use the site, once this is finished im going to do a yahoo style fluid layout... the one im doing above is more business niche related i suppose, finance etc.

Yes, I agree. Visitors always look left, which is why my preference, for my site, is to have fresh content on the left, as opposed to the menu. I want the visitor to see something new, and hopefully interesting, when their eyes meet the page for the first time.

In a left hand menu setup, the first thing they see is the menu. That is not what I want them to see. I want them to see something new. Most newspapers I read, are set up in the same way. The index (menu) is tucked away at the bottom of the page somewhere. I wouldn't do this, because I want the menu easily accessible on the right, but I do not want it to be the first thing that a visitor sees, unless it is fresh content.

I think NiceCoder should have a good template with both options, just as Wordpress has. In this way, they would have something to offer all customers with varied intentions. I am not being stubborn about this. I have done the experiments, and have satisfied myself that placement of fresh content is important to increasing traffic - in several dimensions. Of course, there is lots more to learn insofar as SERP and visitor traffic is concerned.

Again, thanks for your excellent work.

Rich

[richrf]

Hi guys,

JoomlaChicago recently redesigned their homepage. I think it is an excellent example of modern design - e.g. font, colors, content placement, menu placement, keyword placement, etc. This is pretty much what I would be looking for in a template. What do you think?

One of the challenges for directories, is to create fresh content on the homepage. That is what is drawing me to IndexU. I would like the main portion of the page, on the left, to be devoted to Feature, New, Most Popular listings, as well as articles that can be integrated with a WP blog. I think a directory script that is better optimized for visitors, which greatly affects SERP, would definitely differentiate IndexU from other scripts. Right now, directories, unfortunately, are optimized for paid listings, which is something Google is definitely unhappy about.

Rich