[moneydriven]

Hey guys,

I haven't posted here in a while. I've been busy.

I just wanted to get everyone's opinion about my website, HangBase.com. It's a networking site exclusively for couples, where they can search for other couples in their area that they can contact and hang out with.

The site is growing pretty fast. People seem to like the idea. Any ideas on how to make it grow even faster? Marketing tips would be appreciated

[pacificfame]

Honestly the design is horrible. If you are truly serious about the growth of your website, invest in the design and function as well as marketing.

Good luck with it though, I hope everything works out.

[pacificfame]

Honestly the design is horrible. If you are truly serious about the growth of your website, I would recommend some investment in the design and function as well as marketing.

I hope everything works out with Hang Base. Good Luck.

Also, the link in your signature needs fixed.

[akula]

Very poor. 2/10

moneydriven, you need to have a serious sit down with someone

you can't just make things up out of your head

there's rules and best practices for how to develop and commercialise internet products

[greggomatic76]

I hate to agree with pacificame but I must. The design just shouts that you are an amateur. If you are serious about it going somewhere you will need to invest in not only site design but also someone to write some sales copy for you. If you insist on doing it yourself, I would focus on a couple things.

First, your tag line "Find Other Couples You Can Hang Out With!!" is weak, do most couples even worry about having people to hang out with? I don't, but if they do, help them realize that and then create a need for them that is satisfied by your service.

Second, too much text! Explain the purpose of your site without saying "we" every other word. "We" usually is written by one person trying to sound like something bigger than that.

Third, simplify the layout and base it on some other networking sites, follow their example. The graphics and layout looks kinda cheap and makes me wonder if those couples on the main page or your neighbors or cousins.

It seems like a good idea, hopefully it all works out for you!

[akula]

greggomatic is certainly kind and generous to offer this kind of constructive feedback

tips and hints are nice, but this is simply a case where the founder needs to stop all this 'I'm self taught' rubbish, and get at least an ounce of formal education, training and work experience

It's unproductive to have this project continue to limp along and waste resources. It's more productive for moneydriven's career to get some training and mentoring.

moneydriven, why are you doing a project if you don't know how to do it? I don't know how to cook, but at least when I do, I use a cook book to prevent myself getting poisoned. In your case, you're just grabbing what ever you can get off the shelf and mixing it into one vile mess - and you will get poisoned. This mess will cut years of your life.

[moneydriven]

First of all, akula. You are very rude. Secondly, allow me to respond:

I may be an amateur at web designing, but I'm a Software Engineer with 6 years of real work experience, so please do not insult me, akula.

Would you say the same thing to the creator of Craigslist or PlentyOfFish.com?? When I started the site, I didn't want it to be flashy. I wanted it to be useful, easy to use and I didn't want it to look like it belongs to a multi-million dollar company.

Another thing: Over one thousand people signed up to my site in about a month and a half. That tells me they think it's a good idea.

I see a lot of sites on this website that look amazing but don't provide anything useful for people. When I asked for your opinion, I was mainly interested in what you thought about the idea. I really don't care about having a flashy site, like I said before. I guess I should have made that clear.

PlentyOfFish.com is one of the ugliest websites on the net and its owner is a millionaire. If you think your site needs to be flashy to be successful, then I guess you are the one that doesn't know what you are talking about.

It's amazing to me that you guys don't jump on people with horrible ideas. All you care about is how the website looks. That's not what makes the money.

[t4tom4]

Hi - I have to agree, there is no need to be rude - Everyone is entitled to design their own website and the last thing they need to be told is "its rubbish - think again".

Nevertheless - The idea may be good, but I would agree that perhaps you need to work on the design of the site. This takes time and will improve over a period of time. You will need to play around with a variety of designs, look at other peoples and search google for tips and hints. But... with a bit of hard work you can get it there. I knew nothing before I started and taught myself every aspect of web design (So... some people may not like your site, big deal - keep at it )

[Nigami Enterprise]

Personally i didnt think the site was that bad at all and i dont mind the concept. Mayb the ones dishing out are single and havnt gotten over valetines yet.

[moneydriven]

Originally Posted by Nigami Enterprise

Personally i didnt think the site was that bad at all and i dont mind the concept. Mayb the ones dishing out are single and havnt gotten over valetines yet.

Thanks Nigami. I guess I should have thought about that. I bet most people on this site are not married, so they don't see the point of my site. Married people understand the problem that my site is trying to solve.

[akula]

okey dokey fellas, you can all just hold hands, swap love letters and do all sorts of other gay shit to make eachother feel nice. nigami will play the catcher.

now, moneydriven, listen up!

1. your system design has a serious flaw. it doesn't encourage users to fill out their profile, which makes your site unusable. look at your listings; 90%-99% of your users don't upload their pictures.

2. if you don't solve this problem, you are gonna fail because you're spending all this effort getting people to register on the site, but when they do, they fail to become active because all the people's profile's are blank. this multiplies your cost of acquiring an active member to 90x that of acquiring a registered member.

3. to correct this problem, implement the same feature as vkontakte.ru (russian facebook). go and register on that site. the points system allocates greater privileges to people who fill out their profiles/invite their friends/leave comments on other people's profiles.

if you had implemented this feature a month back - your pageviews would be 10x > than what they are now

finally, for the last time, remember this point: people can't help you if you adopt any attitude other than "I'm hopeless and I need help".

if you want to be successful, always, under all circumstances, pretend that you suck.

are you to backwards to understand that?