I've been surfing a bit lately and looking at different sites. Now, I still love reading webcomics and I like looking at various news stories. I have found a site that's given me a stern reminder of what not to do with web site. Now, before you click that link, I'm warning you, it's truly pathetic and is a complete eyesore. So, let's look at the glaring problems with it as a lesson for those people who are thinking of starting up their own site.
First up the viewer is greeted with a front page that looks like some kid drew on the back of his notebook. You are to click the image to go further, however there's nothing telling you to click the image. In fact upon first seeing the image in question my initial instinct was to click the 'back' button to get away from it. There's two problems on that page. First, the image is not an inviting one and does not communicate anything about the site itself other than the name, and that's only if you can actually read it. Second, there's nothing on there prompting viewers of the image to click on it. "Click the image to enter" is a familiar phrase to anyone online, but it's not something that should be taken for granted.
Once you've clicked on it you find a fairly unattractive main page. The page is also stretched so that you must scroll to the right to navigate from there. Again, two major problems. Again, the site is unpleasant to look at, but the even bigger problem is the page stretching. Ease of site navigation is crucial. Things should be clearly labeled and easy to find. Websites like these are a presentation. Neatness counts.
Lack of content is the site's biggest weakness. There's nothing there to look at or read aside from a few character profiles which are not compelling. This site is meant to be about a new comic book company. There's no sample art to be seen. There are no previews. There's no real content. I had a previous website, that was very light on content, however there was still something there. Now, the site I'm at now is completely content driven. The sole purpose for the site is to make our content available to whomever wants to view it. The site I'm discussing now is meant to advertise the comics the people behind it intend to publish. There's nothing there to hook a potential reader.
There's a whole area about the personal belief system of the head of this site. This has no place here. I worked for a sci-fi/fantasy/gaming zine about ten years ago. The editor had a page in which he'd discuss things pertinent to the zine. These were things that readers of this zine would be interested in. He made the mistake one month of using that page to discuss his beliefs over something political. Readers did not pick up that zine to read about politics and there were complaints. Back to the matter at hand, if this site is supposed to be about a comic company, then it should be about that comic company and not also serve as a soapbox or pulpit.
And there's a forum on there for people to discuss the content of which there is none of. I know there's some very good webcomics that have their own forums, but these forums aren't of any real use to the companies. It's tempting to add them to your site, to see what people think of your work. However, you're not likely to get good constructive criticism. I tried offering that once on a forum for a fairly prominent webcomic only to have the rabid mouth-breathing regulars descend upon me like a pack of rabid howler monkeys condemning me for daring to utter something that wasn't praise for the cartoonist's work. I like a good forum as much as the next geek, but they're not really of any use and it's just one more thing to tend to when you should be worried about content. For that matter, the content should come first, and then maybe see if there's enough interest to warrant a forum.
Another problem is the overuse of capital letters and horrible spelling and grammar mistakes that plague the site. Mistakes happen, but there's no excuse for this level of incompetency for any firm that wishes to be taken seriously. Any errors should be dealt with as soon as possible. The overuse of the capital letters makes it look like it was being put together by a child screaming for attention.
Now according to this site, they're planning on shipping their books out on May 3rd. Unfortunately, there will likely be nowhere to ship them to. This website is the primary means of advertising for this company. Advertising isn't meant to turn people away.
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