Forum Moderators: phranque
Questions every webmaster should ask themselves before publishing a webpage:
1. Does this page provide any NEW INFORMATION or unique angle on the subject?
2. Does this page have ENOUGH CONTENT (not including advertising) to justify the amount of advertising placed on it?
3. Is this page actually USEFUL to a visitor, providing real insight?
And the most important question:
4. Am I PROUD to show it to my mother?
If you answer No to any of the above questions, please, I am begging you, go back and redo the page.
I am guilty of breaking these rules, and I am in fact rewritting about 30 articles into something I can be proud of. I couldn't work on a site I was ashamned to show my family and friends.
6. Is it libellous?
I'm not so sure about number 4 though, it's best not to think about that if you're writing about sex or romance.
the site/page is for the end user, not for whatever we can imagine them wanting..
Having quick and easy access to all that quality content is equally important.
Steve
<added>If 'moms' are your target market, then I would certainly value her input as well</added>
ENOUGH CONTENT - I did scrape the top 20 postions in the serps
USEFUL to a visitor - I assume it is useful since it has a 50% conversion rate. 1 out of 2 users are so happy they actually give me money.
show it to my mother - I make alot of money and can support myself, which makes my mom proud. Of course she still doesn't believe what I do is a real job since it is not in an office.
do i pass the test?
I make money from sites that contain content and functionality that is available all over the web (well, I do think my product is a bit better than others, but still).
Your sentiment is noble, But if it doesn't make money it's a hobby. And that doesn't mean that its primary function is the author being proud or it being unique on the web or my mom looking at it.
You might better ask yourself:
1) can I drive traffic to the site?
2) can I convert/monetize the traffic?
Those are the fundamentals of what most of us are doing here, not does my mom like my web page. My mom would be bored stiff looking at one of my sites.
About question #4...
If someone pays you premium pricing, and they want the site the way THEY want it (currently a problem with a client of mine), am I not ethically to give them the page they ask for? They have 1 page so far. Index.html, and they are already up to a $3,500 bill because I've done 7 index pages, which were all completely different, and ALL specified by the CLIENT as to what THEY want. I have also created 3 'spec' index pages to give them examples of what is good & bad according to the majority of surfers & web-masters. I am not allowed any creativity, or even input in a lot of cases. So am I proud of the site? No. It's ugly, doesn't flow well, and is not completely compatible with all browsers & resolutions.
You say to redesign the page, but I CAN'T. lol Should I just turn down the money and walk away, or bite the bullet and exclude it from my portfolio? I started a thread on it Here [webmasterworld.com]
In short I am pretty sure my mother would hate it, as she is most likely using IE 4.0 at 600X800 and has bad eye sight, thus won't be able to read the non-contrating background. What ever shall I do..? I won't ever show it to her, that's what! ;0)
-- Zak
7. will it make me any money?
I hope that was meant with a bit of a ;)
no, not really
Obviously that is not true in every case, but 'made for adsense' sites and similar are invariably poor quality...
Of course, you will almost certainly make more money from a better quality site, but not everyone is talented or willing enough to make a great site... some people just want to make money and don't care about the site itself.
(I am primarily talking about 'hobby' sites here)
