This is my site. I posted a barebones iteration a few months ago. It didn't garner much inerest (perhaps deservedly so).
Anyway... GroupsFinder helps you find and track all of the groups near you, and the events that the groups host.
What's cool/unique about this is that you can track entire categories (currently tech, and design) via email, Twitter and RSS (as well as on the site) without having to join all of the groups.
Also new in this iteration - global scope, a new UI, a second category (design groups/events) and lots of other little tweaks.
Let me know what you like, and what I need to change.
1. You need a logo/branding. The header looks like a stock WP template.
2. The footer is good.
3. The main content area needs work. I'd remove the social stuff from there, you already have it in your footer.
4. Where is your call to action? Those two categories in your main content area should be large buttons with a bgcolor that makes them pop a bit.
5. It's a tough sell for me with Meetup.com, I'd start doing some active promotion on there by signing up for tech groups or emailing the leaders to see if they would be interested in listing themselves on your site (or you do it for them).
6. You already know my general location (guestimate), so show me example meetups straight from your main page and list my location. Urge me to change. You already got me on your site, sell me. Don't make me click through another page, I already lost interest. I want to see value add when I hit your page. I want to know you have content pertinent to me.
But the social links on category and category/city pages are unique to the category/city being viewed, whereas the ones in the footer are unchanging, always pointing to the site root.
Does that change your mind on removing them from the sidebar?
4. Done
5. Not sure what you mean by "It's a tough sell for me with Meetup.com", but there are already 7000 groups and 7500 events on my site. I pull daily from meetup and icals, but the whole point of the site is that it's all of the groups, not just those on meetup.com
I've also published upcoming events to 72 (and counting) categorized/localized Twitter accounts
He's a really nice guy and he just did a logo for me (as part of a work swap we arranged on weekendhacker.net) and I was very happy with the result. He might do you a good deal if you mention Charlie recommended him to you.
I really like what you've done here, and have actually just found several groups/meetups I'd like to check out.
I agree with jqueryin on most of his/her points, especially point 6. Opening up with: "Here's a couple groups right nearby!" would be great!
I'd love the ability to search or filter on keywords. My area pulled up about 200 tech groups (I assume SF/NYC would be worse) and it would be great to be able to narrow that down using keywords/tags or even a search. Most of the group names have keywords in them: Java, Ruby, Marketing, Entrepreneur, etc... so you should be able to build a list of keywords with group counts next to them with checkboxes or something, so I can uncheck Ruby/Rails and check Java or whatever my interests are.
I really like this site, but I think promoting it might be tough, since I keep ending up on Meetup.com, so sharing your site around is odd for me.
Filtering within categories has been on my todo list. I'll reprioritize.
Right now there are over 500 non-meetup.com groups on the site (and if that seems low, keep in mind that curation is a key value proposition I'm providing). That said, I have several hundred more staged that I need to do a little more cleaning up on before I push to the production site.
Also, if you missed it, check out the RSS and Twitter feeds. Seeing all of the upcoming events in one place, without having to join all of the groups (and be subject to inbox deluge) is pretty nifty.
In the spirit of constructive criticism: I can't see the difference with going to the Meetup home page. Actually, for the meetups, you are worse, because you have less information. I can imagine that you include events that are not on meetup, but it's not enough for me.
8 comments
[ 4.0 ms ] story [ 28.4 ms ] threadThis is my site. I posted a barebones iteration a few months ago. It didn't garner much inerest (perhaps deservedly so).
Anyway... GroupsFinder helps you find and track all of the groups near you, and the events that the groups host.
What's cool/unique about this is that you can track entire categories (currently tech, and design) via email, Twitter and RSS (as well as on the site) without having to join all of the groups.
Also new in this iteration - global scope, a new UI, a second category (design groups/events) and lots of other little tweaks.
Let me know what you like, and what I need to change.
Thanks!
2. The footer is good.
3. The main content area needs work. I'd remove the social stuff from there, you already have it in your footer.
4. Where is your call to action? Those two categories in your main content area should be large buttons with a bgcolor that makes them pop a bit.
5. It's a tough sell for me with Meetup.com, I'd start doing some active promotion on there by signing up for tech groups or emailing the leaders to see if they would be interested in listing themselves on your site (or you do it for them).
6. You already know my general location (guestimate), so show me example meetups straight from your main page and list my location. Urge me to change. You already got me on your site, sell me. Don't make me click through another page, I already lost interest. I want to see value add when I hit your page. I want to know you have content pertinent to me.
3. Removed from the home page.
But the social links on category and category/city pages are unique to the category/city being viewed, whereas the ones in the footer are unchanging, always pointing to the site root.
Does that change your mind on removing them from the sidebar?
4. Done
5. Not sure what you mean by "It's a tough sell for me with Meetup.com", but there are already 7000 groups and 7500 events on my site. I pull daily from meetup and icals, but the whole point of the site is that it's all of the groups, not just those on meetup.com
I've also published upcoming events to 72 (and counting) categorized/localized Twitter accounts
6. Good idea. On it.
Thanks for the feedback.
Have a chat with Christian of http://www.disenolopez.com/
He's a really nice guy and he just did a logo for me (as part of a work swap we arranged on weekendhacker.net) and I was very happy with the result. He might do you a good deal if you mention Charlie recommended him to you.
Just a suggestion. Good luck!
If I landed on your site and I saw a group in my neighborhood, I would 100% look into them (even if I didn't know what the group was)
I agree with jqueryin on most of his/her points, especially point 6. Opening up with: "Here's a couple groups right nearby!" would be great!
I'd love the ability to search or filter on keywords. My area pulled up about 200 tech groups (I assume SF/NYC would be worse) and it would be great to be able to narrow that down using keywords/tags or even a search. Most of the group names have keywords in them: Java, Ruby, Marketing, Entrepreneur, etc... so you should be able to build a list of keywords with group counts next to them with checkboxes or something, so I can uncheck Ruby/Rails and check Java or whatever my interests are.
I really like this site, but I think promoting it might be tough, since I keep ending up on Meetup.com, so sharing your site around is odd for me.
Right now there are over 500 non-meetup.com groups on the site (and if that seems low, keep in mind that curation is a key value proposition I'm providing). That said, I have several hundred more staged that I need to do a little more cleaning up on before I push to the production site.
Also, if you missed it, check out the RSS and Twitter feeds. Seeing all of the upcoming events in one place, without having to join all of the groups (and be subject to inbox deluge) is pretty nifty.
Thanks for the feedback... and the morale boost.