Reviews
March 28th, 2008 at 07:57am
Under Reviews
My first impression towards this website is - it is a nice design, but is it complete?
It is clear that this website provides information about four wheel events. If you are into ATV off road racing, then you should check this out often. Texas ATVs gives four-wheeler enthusiasts a place to interact and share information. Members can use the site to find nearby trails, get tips from other people in the sport and more.
Functions
The website has incorporated a lot of functions, including:
- Forum
- Membership
- Event Calender (coming soon)
- Locate riding area (coming soon)
- Upload videos
- Upload photos
In terms of function, it is very comprehensive. It would be good if the not-ready functions are hidden until they are available.
Color
It is designed around blue, gray and red. It seems a bit dark though. Some elements should be added to brighten up the design.
Monetization
There is currently 1 ad banner running. The position of it is under the fold. It would be good if an above-the-fold ad banner space is present, as these spots would worth more.
Video
There is a video located at the bottom left corner of the website. However, it does not show clearly the purpose of the video. Some indication should be provided.
Summary
It is a nice website! Just bear in mind the attractiveness to the internet user, and also the usability.
By Leo
March 28th, 2008 at 07:35am
Under Reviews
Not all people are computer literate. However, more and more people rely on the computer nowadays, including students and businesses. When the computer broke down, it is perfectly normal to panic.
With the help of onsite computer services, you don’t need to panic anymore. When you are in need of computer technical support, you can contact Fast-Teks for help. They are leading onsite computer services company in the US. Their technicians, trainers and website developers have helped lots of people with their computer needs. They have both business and residential service, and are fast and affordable.
(Brought to you by Fast-Teks)
By Leo
March 26th, 2008 at 11:10am
Under Reviews
A review (? hasn’t really been specified) has been ordered by Kaushal Sheth. Kaushal designs themes for various blogs including WordPress and Blogger.
Apparently his work has been stopped because his web host was down for a day. He was doing some research to find the best web hosting company.
I do agree with him strongly that a web host must be reliable. The current host that I am using is claiming 99.9% uptime. And to be honest, I have not seen it down at all for my 3+ years of using it. I have all my clients hosted on this host.
However, I won’t really use this post as a ‘guide to web hosting‘ as it is lack of information. Yes, it does tell me which hosting company is preferred, but then, it doesn’t really stated clearly why. It would be preferable if a detailed comparison is presented on the post. Kaushal, you might want to consider this?
By Leo
March 11th, 2008 at 07:21am
Under Reviews
The famous free Business Cards from Vista Print. Yes, comes back again.
I think everybody knows what it is. Therefore I would focus on the usability of the process in this review.
The homepage clearly states - 250 business cards, 42 designs to choose from, and 3 easy steps. Clicking on the banner brings us to the first step - select your design.
As mentioned there are 42 designs to choose from. No matter what your taste is and the industry you are in, there are different themes that should suit what you need. The details can be filled on the left hand column as illustrated.
You can even choose the color theme! But don’t be too excited yet. It is just for the text, not the design. Don’t forget to prove the design by initialing in the text box. Click next to go to step 2.
Step 2 is for you to sign in (?!). Or you can continue as a guest. Then you got to choose your preferred quantity. And here it comes - you actually have to go through 6 other pages to finish this step. A few upselling here eg. letterhead, notepad, t-shirts etc. And also a partner offer of a postage print trial use.
Step 3 would be the usual shopping cart process. Check out, enter your credit card and shipping information, and you are done.
My opinion is that the conversion path is too long. Users tend to think “Do I really need this?” on every single step that they go through. Therefore, it is likely that customers would be lost during the path. The design phase is easy to use and hence for a quick business card order, it is highly efficient. If you are fussy and wants something more delicate, you can certainly order through Vista Print with your own design.
(Brought to you by http://www.vistaprint.co.uk)
By Leo
March 11th, 2008 at 07:01am
Under Blogging+ Link Building+ Reviews
As promised a long time ago (see my post on 18 Jan about Monetize your blog / website), here comes the first part of the series: Monetize your blog by writing.
I have been using a few of the services below to monetize this blog. Here are the links for them and also my comments towards them.
Smorty - So far I have found this service pays really fast. It probably take a few days to approve your post. Sometimes longer, sometimes shorter. Once approved, money would be transferred to your Paypal account immediately. Sometimes I got too busy that I have to let these opportunities go; and I don’t really want my blog to be full of sponsored articles anyway. But still, I would say Smorty has brought me some extra cash, fast and easy.
Pay Per Post - this is my favourite program. For a blog like this one (PR2 as of 11/3/08), there would be at least 20 offers for me to choose from every single time I log onto their panel. You just need to make sure the topics are relevant to your blog, and that you must have a non-sponsored post in between the sponsored ones. Oh, maximum 3 posts per day. Payment is prompt - usually arrives within 2 weeks. Highly recommended 
Blogvertise - another sponsored blog post program. Their payment is prompt but I don’t always receive offer as often. (Probably because my blog is not having a lot of traffic). When I first started I got only $2 per post, but as time goes by, my offers are having higher and higher values. Little money adds up. If you want to monetize your blog then you surely should sign up.
Sponsored Reviews - Apart from the usual get offer - blog - get paid - blog again model, you can bid for the projects that was advertised. You can set your minimum payment threshold and then start bidding! Easy to use interface. Again, prompt payment.
ReviewMe - Apart from the usual blogging offer, you can put a badge on your website asking advertisers to purchase a blog from you. John Chow has one that offers reviews of $500. You set your own price - and of course, you have to know what your reviews are worth before setting, or else nobody would purchase reviews from you.
Blog for Bucks - I think this is a new service. At least I haven’t really heard anyone talking about them before. I didn’t find this service - indeed, they reached me and asked whether I want to write some reviews. Because I was served personally, I got paid really quick. I received the offer on Friday, wrote them all in one go, and they approved them on Saturday. Their payment is on every Monday, and I really got them the next Monday. They even sent me a confirmation of payment. The down side is you don’t really got the chance to choose what to write. But I expressed to them that I don’t want to write about sexual, gambling and religious contents.
Bloggerwave - I am not sure if this service still work? I used to write post for this one, but started a few months ago, I was not able to login at all. I tried to sign up for a new account but never receive any confirmation email. You may want to give it a try. When it was working, the payment was prompt and very fast.
By Leo
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