keebee

I guess I’m one to believe that what’s most important about a blog is the information provided. And if that’s true, then it only makes sense to publish that information in a format/style that is most easily absorbed and comprehended by the reader.

For example, if I’m reading a story about an oil spill off the coast of New Orleans, I really don’t care if the font face fits “thematically” into the rest of the site. My only interest is the story itself, and the quicker, the more efficiently I can get through that story, the better.

I’m more than a little troubled with the trend I see in “newspaper” blogs to use the same fonts they use in print. I can understand what the designers are attempting to do. But in my opinion, the printed-look just doesn’t translate well online. Untill such time that everyone has liquid plasma computer monitors (or some other HD interface) serif fonts will always be less readable than san-serif fonts.

I applaude you for wanting to publish a better-quality website. And I think your efforts will pay off in the long run.

I also think you’re on the right track to find readers from other sources than the search engines — things like Facebook, Twitter, and all that. People who are successful in those venues usually have something that other people are geniunely interested in. This is in contrast to people who are successful with search engines simply because they’ve figured out how to trick the spider bots.
In regard to sluggish signups for your newsletter…keep in mind that it’s kind of a numbers game. Doesn’t make much difference how great the thing is you’re offering, statistics show that you’ll be lucky to get one-half perent of your daily visitors to do anything you ask them to do. Take a look at your visitor stats and see what the “conversion” percentage is.

Also a good point made by raoulspence….body text column is a little wide. Keep in mind that we’re not just talking about personal preference here. This stuff has been researched, tested, analyzed for decades…in an attempt to find out what helps (or hurts) reader comprehension. It’a all well-documented science, actually.

I disagree with <thebettertwin> — yellow text doesn’t do anything to change the basic problem. It’s still reversed text, which has been proven to reduce reader comprehension.

Getting more visitors is a tricky process. Yes, it’s true that content is important, but there are a few other factors that outweigh the quality of your content — at least in regard to bringing in traffic from the search engines.

Someone else mentioned competition, and that in fact probably is the primary roadblock you’re facing — especially considering the over-saturated market of “weight loss” blogs and websites. For anyone who is serious about bringing in traffic from the search engines, I would suggest learning the basics of keyword research. This will help you direct your time and energy towards particular keyword phrases that you might actually have a fighting chance of ranking for. Otherwise you’re entering a fight blind folded.

One thought….
Any particular reason for the font choice? Serif fonts, like Times and Century, have always been a little difficult to read online, and that’s why the san-serif fonts (like Arial and Verdana) are more commonly used for body text on a webpage. (Check out the fonts used on this forum for posts and navigation).

The problem with serif fonts is that the small curved portion of the letter tends to break up when you look at it on a computer monitor — at least this is true when the font size is small.

Hope this helps

Hi there.
Just one thought….
I’m not a big fan of three-column layouts — especially if they are close to being equal widths. It creates a bit of competition for our attention — like our eye doesn’t really know where to go — left, right, or middle. I think the overall layout could be more balanced if the slide show occupied 2/3 width, and the right bar takes up the remaining 1/3. Then place the “Latest Posts” directly under the slide show window.

Just a suggestion.
Good luck!

Hi, Dan,
I think this is a really decent site….very easy to navigate.
One suggestion, though:
Reversed text (white on black) might be attractive, but it’s difficult to read. This is especially true for people who are coming to your site immediately after being on another site with the more common black on white. Kind of like walking into a dark moive theatre after being outside in the bright sun. Our eyes have to struggle a bit to make the transition. This is definitely not something you want visitors to experience.

Good luck on the project!