Any suggestions for my site?

[JonathanAlan]

Hey everyone!

I've been reading Steve's writing for about a year and a half now but I just joined the forums.

I just started my own site and its coming along slowly but surely. It's a leadership development web site. I've been studying leadership for a while and I'm really passionate about it so I wanted to share some knowledge and experiences. I write articles which I post and I have some forums. My site is:

Leader-Leadee: Home

What do you think of the site design? Content? My writing? (if you can call it that)

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thanks everyone.

[Daffy Duck]

I like the crisp, clean, simple design. Nice color choice. Not everyone is into minimal designs like that but hey, if it works, it works. Steve's design is very basic as well.

I don't like that your links are the same color as the rest of your text. This is against basic design principles. You need to let the visitor easily know what is a link and what is not.

Try sprucing up your articles with a related picture or two, like Leo does at ZenHabits.net. It makes it a little more pleasing to the eye.

You may want to incorporate a blogging platform like Wordpress into your site, so your visits can leave comments and such.

Nice start. Keep it up!

[JonathanAlan]

I'm a beginner in terms of building web sites. Can someone explain Wordpress to me? Is it difficult to use? I'm guessing its easier than manually changing my HTML code every time I update my blog?

[Daffy Duck]

The basics of Wordpress are pretty simple to use.

Check out this video: Introduction to Wordpress | Sweet 'n' Sassy Girls

[TaylorLord]

Using a wordpress blog is so much easier than coding html everytime you put up a new post! Html is static and very difficult as you know to change. Blogs are dynamic, meaning they can always change with ease! Once you get the Wordpress platform on your server, you simply install it and its ready to go right out of the box. Everything is WYSIWYG from there. You can begin to write add pluggins whatever you please. Along with it being easy its also free! If you can code html you will find using wordpress is something a baby can do


After you get into using wordpress you can buy or download some free themes to make your site look better. I am currently using Thesis theme, its one of the best on the market right now and isn't that expensive. Glad to be of some help

[JonathanAlan]

Thanks for the info about Wordpress! I'm going to check it out and see what I can come up with.

What does everyone think about the ads on the site? Should I make them bigger or include more ads?

Does anyone else think I should change the links to make them stand out more?

I also thought about using paragraph titles in my entries. I'll start doing that with my next article!

Any other tips or suggestions would be awesome! Thanks everyone

[TaylorLord]

That's actually a nice size for an Adsense ad and I am glad to see that you are blending your content with your ads good job . Its good to have ad's right from the get go that way you dont loose your readership, so very good stuff. Look forward to reading some more content!

[JonathanAlan]

I have one more question - how do I get my site to be listed on Google or Yahoo? I try searching for my site but it doesn't show up anywhere.

I have the right META tags in my html, is there anything else I have to do?

No one can really find my site right now unless I post links everywhere.

[Daffy Duck]

Originally Posted by JonathanAlan

I have one more question - how do I get my site to be listed on Google or Yahoo? I try searching for my site but it doesn't show up anywhere.

People spend years trying to figure Google out.

Check out this site for good tips: DIY Website Promotion | How to Create and Submit Websites to Search Engines like Google | Free Site Submission | Website Ranking | Do It Yourself

[TaylorLord]

One question, Have you submitted your site map to Google yet? If you havent its going to take a lot longer for google to index your site. Go to Google's webmaster tools to do this. Its totally free.

[JonathanAlan]

Thank you for your response!

I have added my site to the Google Webmaster Tools, but I haven't submitted a sitemap yet.

What's a sitemap and how do I submit it?

[Lil Chris]

If your using wordpress, search for the plugin that generates a google site map it's called "Google XML Sitemaps"...

Install that and it'll do it all for you...

[JonathanAlan]

What about if I'm not using Wordpress?

[Lil Chris]

Try this for info

sitemaps.org - Home

[JonathanAlan]

Awesome! Thanks Lil Chris!

[JonathanAlan]

Is there a way of putting an HTML code for a date on my site that updates everyday by itself? Right now I have to manually change the date every day

[Lil Chris]

Jonathan,
Try this, it's php code, but should work for your needs...

PHP Date() Function

This w3schools site has a lot of other info for you as well, check it out...

[ns123]

Have you seen Little Miss Sunshine?

You know, the part where the Dad is trying to sell his courses for how to succeed in 10 easy steps (or something like that). But no one is taking his courses or anything?

Well, he later meets with a businessman on his self-help course, and the business man tells him, something along the lines of... you are a nobody! It doesn't matter if your advice works!

Basically, the gist of it, because he is not rich, accomplished (in external ways) that no one will listen to him.

But at the end of the movie, you will see, that in all ways that count, the family has everything that is important in life.

But that doesn't change the fact that no one will listen to the dad's 10-easy-steps program.

[Daffy Duck]

Originally Posted by Lil Chris

PHP Date() Function

Good suggestion. In specific, this is the code you want to use exactly:

PHP Code:

<?php echo date("F j, Y"); ?>

You need to name the file SOMETHING.PHP instead of SOMETHING.HTML or whatever it is you're using. Your server also needs to support php for this to work. Most do.

[JonathanAlan]

Thanks Daffy. I'm going to try and work on that right now. I hope I can figure it out!

[Daffy Duck]

I think he responded to the wrong topic. What he said has nothing to do with your site.

[JonathanAlan]

So Daffy, am I just copying and pasting

<?php echo date("F j, Y"); ?>

in my html file where I want the Date to appear?

then saving the file as .PHP instead of .HTML ?

[Daffy Duck]

Yes. Should work, if your server is setup to handle PHP.

[Lil Chris]

Deleted

[JonathanAlan]

So I'm trying to put together a Privacy Policy for my site now.

I have Google Adsense and Analytics on my site.

Is there anything I need to include in my Privacy Policy specifically? I've looked at other sites for examples but every one seems to be different.