running forum advice

[glassjoe]

Please take a look at my site, www.runnersrule.com and let me know what you think.
Im doing some decent marketing, its only been up since January 1st,2010 and we have 130 members.
Any comments good or not so good are apprecitated.
Doing some contests, t-shirt give aways, online social networking marketing, seems to be doing good.
i have vbseo installed and working, waiting for results on that, 2 weeks isnt long enough to give it, if anyone can help me out with seo optimization that would be cool.

[Adam H]

My honest first thoughts ( please dont take this in the wrong way ) Is it needs a more customised theme ( even if its a free one you find on sites like this ) just to give it some character , Also instead of spending loads of money on marketing go and pay a professional to create a header / logo . No point in marketing a site if your bounce rate is through the roof.

Secondly i know its hard to no stick adverts on a site but i would leave it ( yup take them down ) at least for 3 - 4 months, while the forum is new you will most likely get pennies for in the coming months and ads like that ( that blatant ) will turn potential members away.

Once you have a nice looking theme you can then use a proper ad management system and actually make the ads look like a part of the site.

EDIT : also that header is too big, in actual size and the size of the file , 300k + image will slow your load times, you can easily get that down alot

EDIT 2 : Ive taken the liberty of reducing the image size for you, its now down to 100k. ( it will be ok at least until you get the site designed

[ChopSuey]

New boards don't get a good start......advertise on sites like webmaster forums or adminextra.com....

WOW the banner is HUGE, thanks to riverwire for changing it.

[glassjoe]

Thanks, will get working on these things.

--------------- Added [DATE]1264277344[/DATE] at [TIME]1264277344[/TIME] ---------------

Originally Posted by riverwire

My honest first thoughts ( please dont take this in the wrong way ) Is it needs a more customised theme ( even if its a free one you find on sites like this ) just to give it some character , Also instead of spending loads of money on marketing go and pay a professional to create a header / logo . No point in marketing a site if your bounce rate is through the roof.

Secondly i know its hard to no stick adverts on a site but i would leave it ( yup take them down ) at least for 3 - 4 months, while the forum is new you will most likely get pennies for in the coming months and ads like that ( that blatant ) will turn potential members away.

Once you have a nice looking theme you can then use a proper ad management system and actually make the ads look like a part of the site.

EDIT : also that header is too big, in actual size and the size of the file , 300k + image will slow your load times, you can easily get that down alot

EDIT 2 : Ive taken the liberty of reducing the image size for you, its now down to 100k. ( it will be ok at least until you get the site designed

how does this banner load for you? its too tall, but length wise it fits any screen i have looked at it on, but i have had some people tell me that with an older monitor it stetches really far to the right, past the ads....
havent been around an old monitor so i dont know.

People are liking the logo, probably wont change it, reall simple, really easy, really printable for shirts and advertising.
I do appreciate your feedback, dont get me wrong, and thanks for resizing the header.

Im not sure if it the demographic or not, but the adsense google advertisements are actually doing about $10 a day, which at least pays for the site.....
i have done other forums, and i know it is usually pennies a day, not sure why this one is doing better.

thanks again for your help.

--------------- Added [DATE]1264277534[/DATE] at [TIME]1264277534[/TIME] ---------------

Here the simple stats from google analytics since January 4th, i dont completely understand bounce rates? are these numbers above or below average?
1,695 Visits
39,364 Pageviews
23.22 Pages/Visit 0.47% Bounce Rate
00:10:37 Avg. Time on Site
43.07% % New Visits

[DocEldridge]

I think the logo is good. But is is too much of a contrast to the background color. Maybe something a little more subtle. or a blue closer to the RR in the logo. The ads do detract just a little but if they are paying. Go for it! Your forum categories seem spot on. How are you advertising your site? Your bounce rate is really low so that's good.