Some sites sell things and others educate you, this site does both.  The Sunbounce web site sells some awesome equipment at fantasticly high prices, cause it’s worth every penny.  Most of the web sites I review I do have some sort of relationship, either I’m an affiliate, I know the owner, or I just like site.  This is one of those sites that I wish I knew the owner or was affiliated in someway, because the videos they make using their product and the end results that they do post are simply amazing.  The site is geared towards learning and as you see the product in use in numerous videos (over 100+) your desire to recreate what your seeing grows to the point that you feel the need to buy a sun-bounce product.

URL:  http://www.sunbounce.com/cms/index.php?id=1143&L=1

Summary:  The web site looks like it’s outgrown it’s current design as the ad and video links are haphazardly thrown on the home page.  Font sizes jump in point size throughout the web site indicating that more attention should be devoted to stylesheets.  Localization of the web site is not complete, meaning that the site is primarily a European web site and the English version appears to have many translation issues, though none to distract from content.  As an international user I expect more.

Pros:

• Without a doubt my favorite section is the videos of professional photographers on real photo shoots
• International web site with lots of language support
• Definitely an artistic web site not for the casual viewer

Cons:

• Localization is still far from perfect on this web site though PHP does support some sophisticated technical capabilities in this area
• Organization is a bit distracting and doesn’t quite seem as professional as it could be

Hosting a web site is always a challenging event.  First, the client must consider how fast they are going to grow versus how much they are willing to spend for the service among a variety of other technical decisions.  What I like about FullControl.net’s web site is they are very clear about the services they offer.  On the front page you will quickly see they are tech driven company for techies.  If you don’t know what server specs you need then you will quickly bounce from this web site to one less technical in nature.  After all if you don’t know if you need 1000GB of Monthly Bandwidth, you really shouldn’t be purchasing it! 

URL:  http://fullcontrol.net/

Eating your own dog food.

Summary:  Every web site I have reviewed so far and every will, I have some association with and FullControl.net is no exception.  I have hosted a server with them for over 4 years now, with absolutely no issues.  And their simplistic web site with just the details absolutely works for me.  The web site looks very portal-ish.  There are small sections dedicated to to each of the services they offer and navigation is straight forward.  Every time I forget the phone number I look right on the front page and a real life person answers the phone and directs my call exactly how I would like it.

Pros

• Simple web site, but requires advanced knowledge of networking and servers to truly understand what you’re purchasing
• Just enough testimonials and pictures to give the web site authenticity without going overboard and appearing like a scammer
• Customer service is quick and efficient when questions arise

Cons

• Again this web site requires some technical knowledge to appreciate
• Personally, I wouldn’t order from the web site without calling
• The contact us page doesn’t display well in my browser and could use a little more “designing”

Some sites grab you as rip offs and some just seem like rip offs until you open up the hood and do a real close inspection.  The software developer in me has a real hard time condoning web sites that are a proponent of allowing programs to create your website, however; the business side of me slaps me across the face and says Lisa is offering advice for free, so why in the world wouldn’t you take it?  What really had me is Lisa’s video’s.  She speaks from experience and is genuinely sincere, and her advice is rock solid.  Not many people who are proponents of making money on the internet discourage people from their techniques, but Lisa tells future web entrepreneurs that there is no get rich quick scheme and that you should expect to work 10-12 hour days.  All of the content on the 2CreateAWebSite blog appears to be sponsored by other companies or are distributed for free by Lisa, which in my book goes a long way towards credibility.  While I’m not rushing out to become an affiliate of SBI! (Site Build It!) I will continue to read and listen to Lisa Irby’s advice.

Summary:  This post won’t make you rich.  Wealth doesn’t just fall into your lap, good hard work sure does help.  And let’s face it even if Great Aunt Matilda leaves you a fortune in her will you still have to work at being nice and not ticking her off.  Lisa’s reference to BAM (Brains and Motivation) as an essential element for success is right in line with my value system.

URL:  http://blog.2createawebsite.com/

Pros

• Solid advice from a passionate and experienced web master
• Free content that is well maintained
• Appropriate cross linking within the site and to external partners
• I don’t feel like I’m on a scam site :)
• Lisa is very direct in telling you which products she recommends

Cons

• Videos are great, but if they could be shortened to under 5 minutes the would be ideal.
• I found her site motivational to blog and web content owners, but to the general public this site might appear like a scam
• A lot of good content is found in the comments and I wish there was a rating system for comments to help filter out the *junk*.

This review is about a web site that I wish some of my relatives read before they called the computer guru up and asked if what they were reading is for real.  Let’s face facts not everything on the internet is real and it will never be that way.  So before you become known around the office as an utterly naive internet addict whose sole purpose is to perpetuate  urban legends please, check out Snopes.  At the very least Snopes identifies common emails that are just plain bogus and in some cases can help guide you from making a costly mistake, and hopefully prevent you from looking like a goober, too.

URL:  http://www.snopes.com/

Summary:  Snopes has a lengthy history of exposing internet falsehoods and ending debates of *is that email real*.  Through the years the only purpose of the site is to gain readership through stories and capitalize on advertising dollars.  Snopes has several useful features including a top 25 list, a newsletter and message board.  Snopes web design does contain some marketing tricks including exchanging the header of the web site with adds, occasionally using Google Ads in the left navigation and inconsistent page layout.  Long story short if Snopes wants to move up, invest in page design as they have already mastered content accumulation.

Favorite Urban Legend…Tainted Baby Carrots

Pros:

• Could definitely help internet newbies determine if they are onto something cool or just plain naive.
• If nothing else I like to compare my junk email box to the scams and stories in the archive
• Love the top 15 legends in the navigation and the top 25 list.

Cons:

• Uncertain page layout makes the web site look unprofessional and lends to the thought that Snopes may even be a scam itself
• Icons are a bit infantile considering modern web sites tend not to use animated dancing gifs
• Too many ads distract from content

No, this web site isn’t full of computer glitches instead this web site sells real, live bugs!  That’s right they sell insects and if you really want to make a 7 year old boy happy you’ll buy him bugs like the Madagascar Hissing Cockroach, Pray Mantis, or Earthworm cocoons. 

The problem with this site is that Mom won’t approve any purchases… that’s right not a single one.  Though I’d bet Carter Hayes of Pacific Heights wished he could have bought insects to drive out other tenants from Insect Lore.

URL:  http://insectlore.stores.yahoo.net/index.html

Summary:  This web site appears a bit outdated in the design department like a circa 1997 HTML book hack, but due to the nature of Insect Lore’s business the site works for me.  I’m not going to give at an A or a B but in the end it works, which is all that’s necessary to survive in the web world.  The descriptions of each product and how to order are very informative and cross selling is very good and not overly aggressive.  Disclaimer:  I have not ordered from Insect Lore so I cannot recommend their services, but recognize the company does use a Yahoo storefront which does give them a little more credibility than the crackpot that’s writing this post!

Pros:

• Very concise descriptions of product
• Easy ordering instructions
• You come here to order bugs and bug related equipment specifically.  There’s  nothing to distract you from your purchase which is kind of nice for a change.

Cons:

• Detail care instructions should be found in each description of live insects would be a quick upgrade
• I’m surprised there isn’t a more well defined header for this web site.  The do have very well defined left hand navigation and we all know I’d label that feature as old school
• Real pictures are used but it’s really hard to determine from existing pictures what you are receiving when you order.
• I’d love to see a dedicated web cam on a Hissing Cockroach Butterfly Garden.

This is day two in my week long experiment to review seven web sites in hopes of developing a matrix to further evaluate web sites.  If you missed my first post, it was about Project Gutenburg.  Today’s web site for review is under the direction of the Bureau of Land Management and is the repository for the General Land Office Records for many states.  The link is below:

http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/

Summary:  Once in awhile you find a site that you just type in random names to see what pulls up.  This is exactly the kind of web site you can spend hours plugging in your great grandparents names and get information about where they lived and in some cases how much they paid for their land.  My first impression is that this is a very clean site, though I’m not sure how the row of landscape pictures across the top serves a purpose for the overall User Interface design and therefore recommend it’s removal and the site would look a step up in the realm of presentation.  After using the site for a over 100 searches of my ancestral home lands, I was impressed by the performance of the site and its ease of use, which is obviously a goal the developers placed high on the requirements list.

For example my Great Grandfather Charley F Reynolds lived in Arkansas I found in less than a minute and I even spelled his first name incorrectly.  The document that was provided listed the legal land description.  Some one with a little more skill than I have acquired to date, might be able to determine the exact location where Charley lived, unfortunately I’ll just use the City, State and County information to do more genealogical research.  One final recommendation for change… in addition to legal land descriptions, integrate with either Bing Maps or Google Maps and show your users exactly where the land is located.

Pros:

• Direct and to the point this site will allow quick searches in addition to providing scans of original documents to the user in multiple file formats
• Performance of this web site is snappy and image optimization is high
• This is a government web site so accessibility is a concern and this site adheres to Section 508 compliance.
• Loved the small add in the bottom right advertising the wild horse and burro program

Cons:

• Ok, does every government web site have to look the same?
• Legal land description is hard to pinpoint on a map
• Well, maybe only hard core genealogists really care about this site

I’ve decided to do a short experiment.  For the next seven days I will review one web site, afterwards I’ll analyze my reviews for common points and create a matrix which I will use to review more web sites, though I won’t make the promise/commitment of doing one per day after my initial seven.

First up, is Project Guttenburg. 

Summary:  As far as web sites are concerned, if you fall into the camp that content is king then this web site is right up your alley.  With over 28,000 downloadable classic novels and many off the ordinary beat books you can easily get your high class reading material here, for free.

Pros: 

• Many classical authors that you’ve always wanted to read, yet didn’t want to pay for
• There are roughly 1,000 audio books, again many of the classics… so if you don’t want to read, you could potentially listen to your next reading assignment
• Quick loading site with little to no fluff
• Volunteers transcribe books and proof read, so a life skill can also be acquired through the site
• Typical information is provided about the project via the About Us heading, though I wish it were a separate page so it would get indexed higher in search rankings

Cons:

• Not every book is available in the format you’d like to have it.  Not many PDFs, though many are text only, or a combination of HTML and images.
• Not sure who’s funding the site as it appears to be a donation only web site… I’m curious about the stability of the site and ownership continuity.
• Search is rather minimal.  Most searches are done via author or Title (or words int hat title)
• Left hand only navigation is very old school

MSN's Wonderwall is an intense web site with lots of features. I propose it's too feature intense. With the loading of many pictures that I just don't care to see in order to read the 3 paragraphs that I wanted to read, I want to scream. Nowadays, I mouse over the link to see if I must visit the Wonder "when it's going to load" wall. What irks me even more is the guys analyzing the statics for this site. I'd wager they see increased site loyalty and fewer bounces than before, but not for the right reasons. When I visit I do click more than usual and stay longer, because I don't plan on coming back anytime soon -- read as I don't visit as often analytical gurus. You can visit the Wonderwall, if it loads quickly I’ll claim that Microsoft saw my article and invested heavily in speed ;)