Teenlounge

[ivnj]

http://www.teenlounge.org

This is one I really want to keep.

But right now I have just a forum and a dead one at that. Just attracting a few more users would do? Or an intro page and a few more categories or sometihng instead of just a forum page. My design skills are kinda... well you can see.

The forum is comolete and I don't want to change that. But adding more besides a forum would help. Or just populating the forum more.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
ivnj

 

[Mike]

alright, where to start.

skin the forum, present to your target group - obviously teens.
start building the topics and sub topics - which direction are you going with the forum?
get ready to experience the mighty power of myspace, facebook and whoever else is out there offering what you offer and then a LOT more. rethink your strategy and find the niche market in the teengroups that you want to cater to.

upon making a decision where you want to take your project, build the logo to position your efforts. bring your site immediately to myspace and invite everyone that has a name...and then some. traffic is the key, offer something that the users cannot get on myspace, whatever that may be in the end, that is yours to figure out. talk to your friends, ask them about their experiences and what they'd like to see and have not seen so far. make their insight your advantage.

once you're done with the first "run" at your site, come back for another eval. where we can see more, have a better angle as to where you're taking your site.
btw, love the domain name, i think the name itself has great potential,...don't let it down! :tu:

 

[ivnj]

Thanks G,

best review I've heard of any site yet. What about if I use another approach.

http://teenlounge.org/dolphin54/

and stay away from the forum aspect. Dolphin54 is GPL so I set it up for free. That is the main page dolphin54.

Of course I need a new logo, etc. But instead of the forums mentioned before maybe this format.

Thanks,
ivnj

 

[Mike]

:rep always welcome: :cough:

That's an entirely different visual approach. Are you able to customize/rearrange the boxes? Customize the labels and so forth? If so, go ahead and do that, and let's see where you're taking it. Visually i like the Dolphin idea better, now all thats left to do is make it fit to the target you want to reach. (Music, Movies, Life Style, School,.... whatever it may be)
What would be great is to size the main page so that it fits onto a screen without having to scroll down. Not sure if you can do that, but it would greatly facilitate the "i can see it all with one approach, etc." idea.

If you change anything, i'm sure that there will be quite some opinions coming your way, pertaining to me; i probably won't get around to take another look until Sunday.

Til then. :tu:

 

[ivnj]

The buttons are all intergrated and everything so I think I don't want to mess with it.

http://www.boonex.com/products/dolphin/

or their support link.

http://www.expertzzz.com/forumz/

But look at the dolphin home page and ask around if you want. Or find me a better skin.

Thanks,
ivnj

 

[shockie]

the original site definitely needs a facelift, whether that be skinning or a new forum script. the dolphin site is much cleaner and easier on the eyes, but are you trying to develop teenlounge into a networking site, or a forum?

i've had experience running a forum before, and i'd suggest that you start with only a few forum categories to start, and then grow and branch out from there. i've seen too many forums out there with a million categories with a few posts in each.

if you're still looking for templates and whatnot, try phpBB.com

 

[zk0]

It badly needs a custom template!

 

[ivnj]

That is a custom template. I did all the work.. Anyway I don't like PHPBB. I've used it but too many updates and attacks, etc. But SMF simplemachines.org is great also which is What I used there.

But I really don't care. As long as it's popular. No competing with Myspace or anything. I've just always wanted something popular. Not sure if a forum or myspace type thing is better.

If dolphin is cleaner then lets stick with that. Might never be myspace popular but even a quarter of that would be nice. More than 27 members anyway.

As long as it has a LOUNGEE sorta feel to it.

Now that we've established that on to the next step.

Add logo. Then see if dolphin is missing anything. Or if more buttons can be added. Or if more are even needed.

Then after the design and layout are complete what next???

Thanks,
ivnj

 

[Mike]

Then after the design and layout are complete what next???

Advertising, Traffic, Content, Adsense, Banners, Content Driven Advertsing.

I assume that you're a student, if so, use your ties to your student community as a starting point. Make sure that others are aware of the existence of your site, let the word-of-mouth do the heavy lifting. It may take a while, but it still is the most reliable and recognized way of advertising. Visit with students from other schools/colleges, use events to your advantage, etc.
Backlinking on/from other boards, forums, etc. (myspace is always a good platform to leech traffic from)
SEO optimization, there are plenty of NP users that can point the way.
Conventional advertising applies as well, i'd wait for that though, let the site generate some revenue first, then start paying advertising bills, there is plenty of work to be done 'til you get there.

...and that's just the beginning.

 

[shockie]

pay hot girls to join and you'll get a lot of traffic soon enough

 

[ivnj]

No I'm not a student anymore. I'm 30. School is over.

Thanks,
ivnj

 

[k002]

I think it looks ok now, but it lacks focus.

"which direction are you going with the forum?
get ready to experience the mighty power of myspace, facebook and whoever else is out there offering what you offer and then a LOT more. rethink your strategy and find the niche market in the teengroups that you want to cater to."

Good advice, you definately need to find something to differentiate your site.