Fan Film Resource (Star Wars)

OK, there's thread over on the Fan Films forum where I basically launched my site, but I have found my way over here looking for a different kind of feedback. This is my site:

http://www.kuatengineer.webs.com/

This site is on freewebs, which I'm sure you will all recognize. The primary focus is to have one site where these films can all be located in one place. I know there have been similar efforts in the past, but....

So, on this forum, here's what I'm looking to get info about:

1. General site construction. Does the homepage give you a clear expectation for what you will find on the site? And, does the site deliver that?

2. Traffic. Any out-of-the-box ideas for how to get this site noticed? Traffic has been growing (15-20 people per day), so I would hate to say that I'm disappointed in it so far - I'm not. So far, I've started the thread in the other forum, mainly to get help finding films (and a little for feedback), and I've put a promo video up on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZU_C0rdl-4
Plus, I've had a good deal of contact with film-makers as I've tracked down new films, so I believe word-of-mouth is helping.

I've read the sticky's here, and I know my site isn't exactly what woukd be recommended. Still, I put the site together because I'm a fan of the films, and finding those films can me a little maddening at times. It's the kind of thing where you might be on the 70th page of a Google search and 'find gold'.

I appreciate your feedback. You can PM me, or e-mail me at kuatengineer@yahoo.com

Thanks

 

There are a few things you can do to improve your site, and increase traffic.

Site improvements:
1.) Thumbs with a still for the film by links. TFN already does this for their fan film listing. You have to do this. The list of text links on your downloads section is bland. People will have a hard time choosing what it is they want to watch, its just random. You increase user satisfaction the easier you make it to find things.

2.) Summaries/reviews of each film. Instead of just listing the name of the fan film, and providing a download technical summary, you need to include some kind of story summary. Maybe a few extra choice stills from each fan film. Maybe some kind of rating out of 4 stars either voted on by viewers, or just assigned by yourself would be a good idea as well, so people can find the good material easier.

3.) categorization. Maybe add some sorting tags like, lightsaber battle, drama, comedy, animated, etc etc,so people who just like a certain kind of fan film can just look at a list of those.

Traffic increasing moves:
1.) Your content is one that people have great interest in. It ought to be easy to get people to visit your website. You just have to make sure you are the best one-stop shopping page for star wars fan films, and then post like a madman all over the entire internet to let people know. Go to digg.com and post stuff once your site is good to go. Hit the official site, blog about it on the official site, get a myspace page, get an atomfilms.com account. My fave saying when it comes to website promotion is "pimpin' ain't easy". You have got to, got to be out there promoting your website where star wars fans are at until everyone has at least heard of the site.

2.) Set up proper google tags. Make sure you are easy to find on google. If people google star wars fan films, you want to try and get yourself on the first page or two. Set up your tags right.

3.) Link exchange. Among the more popular fan films you are hosting for download, see if you can get their home-sites to put a reciprocal link in about your site. This helps you link off their traffic a bit.

4.) Buy an url. Not everyone has the cash, I guess, but youd be a lot more popular if you were StarWarsFanFilmsListing.com or whatever you can find that isnt taken, and is easy to remember. Its hard to pimp your site and then list some crazy url. People want to see you care, and part of showing you care means buying that url. People willing to spend hard-earned cash on their webpage instantly get a certain degree of respectability, and reecognition of professionalism. It makes some people interested enough to click who wouldn't go to a page otherwise.

Anyway, its a most impressive listing thus far, I wish you the best of luck with it!

 

NarCranor,
Thanks for taking a look, and for offering suggestions. Some of those things are things that I already have planned, or are in the works. I have had a little bit of an internal dilemma with how to effectively do descriptions, etc. without it becoming over-whelming. In particular, I am planning to do descriptions and categorizations (plus run times, etc.) for sure.

As far as pimpin' the site, that was kind of my thought, but I wasn't sure how to go about some of it. The URL is one of those things that has kept me from being too aggressive so far. I know people are like "kuatengineer? What is that?". There is a URL I would want that's taken (http://www.swfanfilms.com/), but not really being used. I believe it was a site that's pretty much like mine at one time, which I believe would actually help. I have tried to contact the guy, but with no real success so far. I also agree that Google is extremely important. The tags I have listed are star wars fan films, and that's it. Any direction there would be a HUGE help. Right now, it's easier to find my site by searching for a particular film.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

I must say I am impressed. When you said it is hosted on freewebs, I wasn't expecting such a nice looking site. The coding is very well done if you ask me. What NarCranor said is very good advice. I would definitely get a different URL. If you have to, find a free webhost that uses a more simple subdomain. Something like: swfanfilms.subdomain.com or swffresource.subdomain.com or something like that would work really well. If you are really serious, shell out the cash. I would also suggest reading this and this if you haven't already. Those threads are kind of getting pushed down and out of the way, but they are very helpful.

I have one thing that I would change if I were you. The side navigation, in my opinion, is a bit hard to read. The orange-ish links on the slightly orange, white and black background makes it difficult to see.

Again, a good job.

 

Every time I try to open your site, it freezes my browser. Is anyone else having that problem that you've talked to, or is it just me?

 

I haven't heard from anyone else that's had that problem. What kind of browser do you have?

 

Firefox. I don't know what version it is, though.

 

This may be a dumb idea, but try to hit this link:

http://kuatengineer.webs.com/downloadslibrary.htm

The home page has a sound wave on it, but it's the only page that does. I know other Firefox people have come to the site (from the web traffic info), but it's worth a try (?).

 

That link worked fine. Just out of curiosity, I then went back and clicked on the link for the home page, and it froze my browser. It must be something with the sound file you mentioned. Truth be told, I myself never really cared for sound files on websites, not just because stuff like this happens but I've always found them to be rather cheesy.

 

I have had that feedback ("cheesy") before. If it's freezing up any browsers, it will have to go....

And, it's gone.

 

Sorry if you liked it. I hate being the one to have been responsible for it, but it's true that it just wasn't working right with my browser. I'm not surprised that the feedback was the same with the music, though. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. In my opinion, it very rarely works and a well placed musical piece on a website is hard to come by.

 

No worries. I liked it, but the main point of the site is to increase interest in fan films, and that sound was keeping that from happening. I appreciate that you took the time to look and let me know there was a problem, so that I could fix it.