What do you want from us?
We at TheCellularGuru.com are a sensitive bunch. We look around at other websites and get jealous at all the attention. Sure, we know we’re good, but we’re curious why you go to those other sites, and not ours. Or, reversed, we want to know what it would take for you to come to our site over those. Sure, we can all get along and Kumbayah and all that jazz, but what we’re truly after is world domination.
There’s something to be said for starting a site and growing it into something you love, hoping that people will love it to. We know there are things we need to improve badly, like the design of the site, and the fact that there aren’t enough writers to manage the amount of sheer phone-related content out there. But we do our best.
What we want to know is simple: what could we do better, what do we do well, and what do you want to see more of?
Cell phones are at the core of our being: we do this because we love it. And to love something is to cherish it, and to want it to flourish.
So therefore we need something from you, too! If you love our site, follow us on Twitter, like our Facebook page, and tell your friends so we can stick around for a long, long time.
| Print article | This entry was posted by CellGuru on July 27, 2024 at 9:32 am, and is filed under General. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
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about 5 months ago
I think my biggest gripe is theme. I know a good design can be very hard to find, and a completely custom design can be very expensive ($500+) but a well thought out layout and theme can really make the visitors stick around.
Also, you have a general cell phone blog. That's going to be tough. You're competing with crackberry, TIPB, Android Central, etc. These sites focus on a specific niche of the cell phone world and they WILL have more news and more insider scoops. My suggestion is don't focus so much on becoming BGR, but find your own style and your own brand of news and reviews
Another suggestion I have is more reviews. But not just regular reviews, I can head over to engadget, bgr, or crackberry if I want a Blackberry 9700 review. What I'm trying to say is find your own style. The Nexus One piece by GuruDaniel was awesome, and very unique in its style. More pieces like that will help I think.
Other than that, maybe open a forum? The problem with blogs is unless you're THE first to report on something, people won't stick around for much. Other sites have a bigger install-base and why come here if they've already seen the news somewhere else 10 times you know what I mean? Opinion pieces might make people come back, but sometimes they're too lengthy and too long to read when you're just glancing over at a site.
In terms of layout, I will say this: you NEED a featured post block somewhere in your header. People will visit the site for the first time, and when they see that big ass featured post or featured review they'll want to click on it and see what the hell it's about.
Well, that's about all I can think of for now.
about 5 months ago
I liked what Paul had to say. To add on, what you really need to get control of is the consumer who may or may not know all too much about a blackberry OS, iOS, android 2.1, or froyo. Basically, make your reviews so that ALL of us can understand (i've seen some pretty overly confusing reviews on particular websites that make me angry to have wasted that much time in my life)
There are the big boys, BGR standing out big time here. But your goal (like paul said) isn't to directly headhunt sites like BGR, and Engadget, I see you guys being more of a grassroots sort of thing going here.
Post more stuff that us ladies want to read too (the bbm post lifted my spirits…those should come more often)
thats all
about 5 months ago
oh and another thing that sprung to mind. perhaps you can do more community type posts. Something like “if you could switch phones right now, what would you switch to” or something along those lines.
about 5 months ago
I agree with Amanda - make it more dumbed down - or create a separate section - like a starter's guide.
One esthetic is the pictures - they are not great, and I know those get sent to you, but please do something about them to make the phones look more exciting rather than something that fell off a truck… Blogs are usually good for pictures more than writing.
about 5 months ago
I must say One thing you did right was getting guest Bloggers like @Wedding_crasher (Christine).
If not for that I'd have never stumbled upon this great website! This like that can really diversify and open up the span of your user base in my opinion.. it's underrated & it works well!
Otherwise as an interface designer I'll have to agree it matters.. and not in the sense of being flashy! It matters and people notice if they can feel the “soul” of a product through the design! It's worth the effort to reassess it for all of the Hardwork and content being g uploaded to this website!
Oh course a reassessment of design means.. how much of the things in the navigation and elements like yahoo buzz do people click.. remember if it's not being clicked it's just another call to action being wasted, which ends up as a huge distraction to lil ole me..
Simple n stupid wins maybe you can identify some related things that people may want to look at build that a “sister” website and network it with this one.. Use some diffrent “so simple it's stupid” strategies then see if it works.. you don't have to risk it all by changing this website try it wiht a similar product! That will give ya more reason to have guest posts yay!
Anyway, I basically just talked what was on my mind, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
about 5 months ago
I appreciate every word. Thank you
about 5 months ago
for better pictures I suggest you get one of these: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/386544-RE...
it's not very expensive, and all you have to do is get 3 cheap lamps from ikea or something and place them on the sides and top. it will create a seamless background and very soft, diffused light.
about 5 months ago
Personally I disagree with your being a general cellular blog as a disadvantage as compared to Crackberry, TIDB, Android Central, etc. I love having a central place to come for all mobile news as opposed to 4 or 5 separate sites. So much so that your site has moved into my daily rotation along with Engadget, Gizmodo & BGR.
One thing I'd say, as you already alluded to, is that you just need more writers & more frequent updates; Since this is a general mobile site & your aim is to compete with the specific niche sites, you won't be able to do that if you can't compete with the amount news & info these sites provide. Maybe as well as the main page, have company-specific categories your readers can click on if they want to read specifically about say Android or Blackberry or whatever. You can even just take articles straight from the others sites (Crackberry, etc.), crediting & linking to them obviously, so as to make this a one-stop shop so to speak & build up a reader-base until you have enough writers to compete with them directly.
I think a quality forum would be a great idea as well, with general sections, OS & handset specific sections, and so on. Keep up the good work though, I'm loving it so far.
about 5 months ago
I think more writers and forums would be absolutely perfect
about 5 months ago
Focus on one area at a time. Seems like all you guys rock Blackberry I would suggest focusing on Blackberry first get some readers and then expand off that. Instead of looking at what you guys don't have. check out other sites and see what they do have (Scout). Look at their reviews and giveaways. Look at how they approach things. I'm not saying copy them or do what they do, but twist it a little and put your on guru style on it. Do weekly giveaways of little apps like berryweather or a couple of themes. It doesn't always have to be a big giveaway. I would definitly get a forum to, but make sure u are ready cause they are really a lot to manage. I would get just a dedicated person to manage the forums seperatly. Also get the community more involved like put up a form where users can submit their own reviews. Last thing the design in solid, but come on there is really nothing that gets me going about the design. Look at crackberry for example they have a design that makes you remember that site and wanna come back. That's what you need to do. I'm a WP expert and can help you with finding one and doing some tweaks with it. if you like, but if you do these (What everyone said) Then i'm sure your site will get a much more bigger readership and I wish you the best of luck in the future.
about 5 months ago
Sorry my comment is one big mess was doing it in a hurry.
about 5 months ago
Thank you,
We are in the midst of a total site re-launch. It'll turn everything around.
Appreciate the words
Corey Herscu
@cellguru
O:416.300.3025
D:416.300.3030
about 5 months ago
remember, if you need a write or community manager
about 5 months ago
Pardon?