I don't see any visual examples (or a tour) of why I would want to create a community website.
Ask YC: Feedback on my community website
11–18 of 18 posts
Re: Ask YC: Feedback on my community website
#12Just a quick note, but I was surprised that I had to delete the "City or Zip Code" text inside the search box. Would be a bit of polish to make it clear whenever I click on it the first time.
Also, as mentioned by alex_c, the front page seems very static, give me something that's showing the most recent activities/postings on the site perhaps.
And finally, I even read your about section, and I'm not entirely sure what it is you do, and why I would be interested. You may want to review your about text, share it with people who have never heard of your site, and ask them to describe, in their own words, what it is you do, and to give you an example of what it might be good for. If they don't answer well enough, you'll know you need to revise your description.
I agree with most of the other feedback as well.
Good luck with it.
Re: Ask YC: Feedback on my community website
#13I looked at the sample community and went: wow a village toolbox with no tools. I think you should spend more time thinking of tools for the community not just a message board and sending emails to people, something like ning does. This bring me to the question, if you want to build a community site how are going to be different from ning, collectiveX? Is it worth the effort of trying to compete with these guys?
My reasoning for building this was that our community had a need for an online presence, and none of the tools were quite right. The main differentiator come from the assumption that the community members are neighbours, often with a pre-existing relationship. The tool share and skill share start to leverage that.
Re: Ask YC: Feedback on my community website
#14Some initial thoughts:
There's an extra 1/10th of the "Log in" button in Opera 9.62.
I don't like how the box on the right side of the home page looks like a pushed in button. The front page doesn't stand up and scream that you're offering something I want -- try updating the design. CSS Zen Garden is a great resource for inspiration.
Sounds like you have an interesting idea there. Have you thought about selling the service instead of offering it for free? I'd imagine you could get home owners associations and other similar organizations to pay for access.
Re: Ask YC: Feedback on my community website
#15Some initial thoughts: There's an extra 1/10th of the "Log in" button in Opera 9.62. I don't like how the box on the right side of the home page looks like a pushed in button. The front page doesn't stand up and scream that you're offering something I want -- try updating the design. CSS Zen Garden is a great resource for inspiration. Sounds like you have an interesting idea there. Have you thought about selling the…
I have, I've played with various different ideas for generating revenue, but I think anything that charges for a community or for membership is doomed to fail. I'm going after hyper-local advertising. Members of a community can buy a banner ad for $4/month, and there's a nifty banner ad creator to make it easy.
Re: Ask YC: Feedback on my community website
#16I feel it is almost part of my responcibility at this site to help review other start ups. So I try to check out all the feedback on X posts. I just don't have a need for this one at the time but could see how it would be useful. So I just tried to look around and notice whatever I could. * The find groups in this location should empty and be ready for you to type a zip after you click in it * If it finds no results…
There is a sample community ( http://sample.villagetoolbox.com ) that is linked from the from page. I'll also link it from the search results page.
Thanks for the feedback
Re: Ask YC: Feedback on my community website
#17I like your idea. My personal gut feeling is that there is still lots of room for innovation and money to be made in the local online market.
I think you need to find a way of getting people to come back to the site even before there are many(any) others using it. Some tool that is useful in its own right that will encourage people to sign up and keep visiting. From then on the community aspect will become a bonus as the site grows.
Also the design is quite unappealing - maybe paying a designer a few hundred dollars for a PSD would be a good idea.
Re: Ask YC: Feedback on my community website
#18it's not clear for me (from Europe) if or that this site is US-focused. Maybe that should be made clear in the ZIP code edit field.