Starting a web host affiliate directory?

[Menard]

Of sorts anyway.

Not doing much with many of my hair-brained ideas anyway, I thought I might as well make use of my affiliates for now.

I am wanting to set up a simple site where I can list all of my web hosting affiliates.

I can do this from the simplistic, setting up a simple html page showing a banner for each affialte with a description for keywords; to the more comprehensive, setting up a script that would allow visitors to rate and review hosts and rank the hosts according to this.

There are various alternatives in-between the two.

Nothing here is original and the basic inspiration for this is WebHostingStuff, but I have no plans for anything as comprehensive as that.

I have been looking at some scripts from a simple ratings system that I can perhaps add to my html pages like http://www.dbscripts.net/ratings/demo/ to a digg type script such as http://demos.kubelabs.com/PHPDug/ or the Pligg script (their demo is down, but an example of the script is use can be found here: http://www.agentb.com/ ).

I have no pretentions about making this a comprehensive directory of web hosts; there are plenty of those out there. My concentration is on cheap hosts that offer short term payments, or hosts period that do not require a year or two years upfront to get their 'advertised price'. I am also wanting to concentrate on hosts that offer adult web hosting; though not all web hosts I will list will offer adult hosting. I don't expect to be listing too many hosts.

I was wondering if anyone might have either a ratings/review script they could suggest or a management or directory script they think would be good for this.

I already have a domain for this (as usual ). It is webhostingforcheap.info . Normally I don't care for .info domains as, after the first year they become the same cost as dotcoms and seem like less of a deal at that point. However, I did like the idea of having a stronger keyword association with info/information, and I got two years for 8.76 USD, giving me a discount on the second year. I got two years upfront, following Andy's advice (don't ya love it when we can blame stuff on Andy ...just kidding, Andy), and if it doesn't work out, I have not invested that much.

[Menard]

I have a basic template up now.

The color scheme is simple, and low on graphics (only the background and graphics for the web host; I only have one up for the sample).

The template is the same I have been using for other sites.

I am wondering if the background image is too much for the site. I was trying to theme it a little with the background image, but does it work with it or against it?

I will add some other basic pages; perhaps a lite blog for publishing short articles and maybe a resources page.

The page is just a simple html file, but I have named it index.php for future consideration, should I decide to use a php script for the site at a later time.


http://webhostingforcheap.info

[Andy]

Menard, I think you have a talent for writing articles and knowledge of the pros and cons of many cheap web hosts so I suggest that you focus on these core strengths and find somebody who is talented at graphic design to handle the template. That should free up a lot of your time to build the content of your sites.

Designing a site via feedback from forums must be a very slow process I think.

p.s. your domain name is good! Dunno about the template though 

[Menard]

I'll take that as a 'no' vote on the background.

I was beginning to dislike the background myself; just no color and using a theme like that was more of a novelty that would wear off the second time around.

I changed the background.

Too much blue perhaps?

[Menard]

Regardless of what you choose for a colour scheme, I would recommend sticking with white (or something very light) in the main content areas of the site. Since this is a content heavy site, your users will appreciate you for it.

Are you sure you were looking at the right site?

Most of the...scuse me...all of the content is there for keywords. Most visitors will end up clicking on the graphics they like the most.

I've never been particularly fond of white backgrounds, though I do have them on some sites, as, to me anyway, it is glaring and makes the content unpleasant to read. I will try an alternative template using an off-white and see how that looks. The primary reason for the blue, aside from I like blue, is that it is a calming color.


Updates:

I presently have 7 affiliates on the page now. Considering my picky (a.k.a. pig-headed) reqirements, that number is not going to grow much.

In order to have some of my other affiliates on the site, I am going to be adding an 'oversellers' page that will have my affiliate banners for HostGator, HostMonster, etc.

I am going to take some of the content from some of my old webmaster resources sites, update it, and use that for a resources section for now.

I'm looking at some lite, and I mean vey lite, blog scripts for an articles page; just a place to post some short articles to occasionally update the content.


That's pretty much it for now.

I hope it loads pretty quickly for everyone.

[Andy]

The white text on bright blue background is too glaring for my comfort levels. If you want colors that help get sales conversions, copy the colors that eBay and Amazon use.

At least use a less intense background color.

I just had another look at Tex Bev's site which uses a lot of blue, this looks good to me (not intense): http://www.activelysenior.com/ Maybe it will give you some ideas?

p.s. Bev's site got an average of 17 unique visitors per day this month which is nice. 475 visitors so far this month.

[Menard]

I just had another look at Tex Bev's site which uses a lot of blue, this looks good to me (not intense): http://www.activelysenior.com/ Maybe it will give you some ideas?

That's less intense?

I'll try an alternative using off-white and perhaps tone down the blue on this one and see which looks better.

[Andy]

I'll try an alternative using off-white and perhaps tone down the blue on this one and see which looks better.

I used to complain about this forum looking too bright, but I guess I got used to it.

For another good use of blue in a theme, check out my site here: http://www.adscube.com/

It's a sales site so it has the essential white background behind the black text, but I think I did a good job with the blue effects.

[Menard]

It's a sales site so it has the essential white background behind the black text, but I think I did a good job with the blue effects.

That is a very good use of blue, while maintaining black on white for the text area.

If it just weren't for the scary picture on the page.

[Menard]

I have two variations of the template.

The first is staying with a blue theme, but more muted and blending the table colors with the background: http://webhostingforcheap.info/sky.html


The second uses a slightly off-white text area and more garish colors, kind of like older eBay colors, just with a dark blue background rather than an image: http://webhostingforcheap.info/eggshell.html

[Andy]

That is a very good use of blue, while maintaining black on white for the text area.

If it just weren't for the scary picture on the page. Grin

Thanks for the compliment. Now all you need to do is remove the bold styling of your content, and add a shocking picture of yourself (or cheat and use a model).  I made product sales with my approach so it does work!

I prefer your option 2 but I prefer larger text size and no bolding of the entire text.

Some fine tuning tips: Make the header background color a complement to the rest of the page. Also, double the width of the side margins to show more of the background sky image.

So that should get your site up to speed for web 1.0  Hey, we are friends, just fooling around here!

Some more sites that are keen on blue themes:

http://www.here.org.uk/
http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/

[Menard]

Some fine tuning tips: Make the header background color a complement to the rest of the page. Also, double the width of the side margins to show more of the background sky image.

More like this? http://webhostingforcheap.info/sky2.html

[Andy]

It's a lot better now. 

[Menard]

Would it be redundant, being that the font size can be increased in the browser, to take the other template and make an optional vision impaired version of the site? Being that I already have the template, all I had to do was change the font and table sizes a little.

http://webhostingforcheap.info/largeprint.html

Or is this pointless?

[Queen Bee]

Are you sure you were looking at the right site?

Well, the meaning of "heavy" was in the context of graphics to text ratio.

Most of the...scuse me...all of the content is there for keywords. Most visitors will end up clicking on the graphics they like the most.

Emphasis being on most, I presume. I am one who does not click on graphics simply because of their aesthetic appeal. I am more of a reader, as I'm sure are many of the visitors to this forum.

Although unattractive (I doubt you mind me being blunt), the new scheme is an improvement-- the text is much easier to read now. Good luck with the site.