Bitcoin Forum

Hi, I am James Bayley and I have spent the last six months building a crypto directory with user reviews (https://cryptostar.money). It now has over 7000 listings. I launched it a couple of weeks ago and I would really value your opinion.

Do you find it useful? How can I make it better for you?

-- Update 22 April 2019 --
I have summarised comments and replied below (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5133640.msg50722233#msg50722233).

I think your crypto directory with users review is already perfect. All bitcoiner needs to see and review your site because it is fully loaded from crypto news up and learn about crypto up to trading module is available. It is very good site especially for the newbies and to the bitcoiner that want a continuous learning.

Is your web application crawling the web and acting as a search engine? I definitely like the idea of the website but...

I think the way you should do it as add services manually to your database and retrieve them because honestly, it's really not accurate at all. I tried OTC trading, crypto wallets, etc. I couldn't find a single exchange or wallet I've seen before.

As for the comments, people often don't like to bother and make an account unless there is something in it for them. I would suggest implementing Disqus so they can comment from their Social media accounts instead.

I agree with what OmegaStarScream said. I just clicked on my country's tab and it took me to about 26 business listings of which even one I wasn't familiar with. It did not mention about Unocoin which is a leading exchange in India.

I did not get why exchanges and insurance companies fall under a category "Crypto Wallet".

Good effort op, but the quality of the website needs to be improved. The design looks pretty bland, but it could be improved to another level by hiring the services of a freelancer in this case.

Also, why did you compile information related to less popular websites(Most of them I have never heard of before) op?

Kudos to OP for your hardwork and dedication for providing a crypto directory. It can really be helpful since it has different links segregated depending to users needs, not to mention it has reviews. The site looks simple and user-friendly, this could help a lot of people, especially newbies.

*I am excited to see how much will this site improve in the long-run.

Thank you for your kind words. They give me the boost I need at the end of a long week. James

Thank you for the feedback Haunebu. I am a techie not a designer and I am sure that you are right. My next job is to improve the classifications of the data but after that I will work on the design as you suggest.

Not designed to make it easy for the eyes, you can try to  simply make the Nav links on the left side only going down. To  me its more convenient and easy to check  which I wanna look at than checking left to right which link to click. Are you by any chance once it gets known, you will ask fees for the listings?

I think don't have to repeat again that everything you did was researching about every business existing and listing them on a website. Honestly I appreciate your effort and I belive you when you say it took almost 6 months because we are talking about such a high number of businesses available. You should work on your design because it looks like a website built by a beginner and also work on organizing everything in a better looking way. Overall the idea is good but it needs a little improvement.

All I will say is that you directory advice site is in perfect position with up to date news and trading skills and learning procedure, I will like to say keep it up with the good job. And looking forward to new development because you must keep advancing to meat up with the trend of time.

I like the fact that you have plenty of listings there. I haven't heard about some of the companies and services listed so it is always interesting to check them out and see what they can offer in comparison with the ones I am used with.  As an advice you can work a little bit on the website esthetics. I do like that it is simple and you need to keep it simple going forward, but maybe you can make a more modern design.

I appreciate your ideas to help users evaluate and give personal opinions. But most of the listed projects are not moderated by you or the development team, so many fake ICOs still appear on the website, and I don't like this.

I like to second you. I checked crypto games and I am not aware of the games listed in site.
Games like EOSknight should ake up to the lidt.

For lending section, forum lending section can be included.

Thank you for your helpful comments. The current classifications was done by a script. This is clearly not working and I will need to start classifying the manually as you suggest. Interesting comment about Disqus. I will think about it.

When i try to open the site i get a warning;

Your access to this site was blocked by Wordfence, a security provider, who protects sites from malicious activity.

That mean only some users can access to it or what's the problem?

Thank you for the feedback fudster. I will consider this carefully when I redesign the site. James

Nice work it would help a lot for us to search regarding to crypto related stuffs.
It is about time that some one would make a search engine for all of the crypto related topics to make it easier for everyone to search for what they want to know regarding on crypto.

Your website looks attractive, but since I've never seen anything like it before, it's hard to understand what this website's for. Who is your target audience? Is it people working in crypto companies or dealing somehow with crypto-related business? Is it for people interested in investments in cryptos? Is it like a search engine for any crypto-related stuff?
I can also see that not all of the information is available on the website. For instance, the FAQ on advertising on your website is not working. There's also this trust issue regarding the ads. If your website is for people who do something with crypto-related companies, it's important that this website is not biased. If one can buy a top listing (and it won't be clear to customers that it was bought), it devaluates this website.
Anyway, looks cool whatever it is. Good luck!

Thank you for your advice. I will consider it carefully when I redesign the site. Yes, when the site is popular I will charge a monthly fee for listings and for features that help companies manage their user reviews.

You did a great job lot of content into this this will probably be a major refering system after adoption

James. Really great efforts and appreciation for them.

But my honest advice is, as per developer view I personally checked website based on WordPress CMS. Its great platform for website But as per comparing content site is bit large and in future, it will be might bigger so consider to switch to another platform, second thing UI and UX. Due to more content site taking more time to load, which is affecting on your site rankings.

Other things are just balanced completely. Great work.

You where very detailed with your work but still there is always room for improvement your site is quite attractive to the eye but there where few directory option you need to dig deeper into more complicated aspect

I am sorry that this happened to you. I use the Wordfence firewall and for some reason it is blocking you. If you tell me your IP number (Google "what is my ip") then that will help me fix my problem.

Many thanks,
James

Thank you kryptqnick  for your very helpful comments. I think that you are right that it is not clear what the site for and the how it works. I will think carefully about what you have said and make changes when I redesign it. James

Hi waitforme, thank you for pointing problem with ico listings. I will try to find them and remove them. If you see any listing you don't like just click "report abuse" and I can remove it.

This is actually what I'm looking for. It is very rare that the reviews were included and I am happy that you made an efforts doing this kind of directory. The website was too small but then i still like how you create this kind of stuffs. I've clicked crypto wallets and seems like it is already updated.

Thank you for your kind words lyks15. I will carefully consider how I can make it even easier for newbies and continuous learning. TI can now see that there is value in having a site that covers a wide range of topics for beginners and experts.

Thank you for your feedback Ailmand. I will pay careful attention to the needs of newbie as I develop the site.

I think you have done a good job. your work is going to help many new people coming into crypto. I will also be referring a few of my friends to read your content. 8)

Well, how did you do that within a couple of weeks? You completed it by using crawl bot or doing manual? Look at your website, it has a ton of work. 

First of all reviews are good but don't just write *#1 crypto directory with reviews *

Write #1 crypto directory
Mention reviews in a new section , this way it seems less weird because people would come to your page and find it just bang ! Why ?
Also how about adding about this forum ? Bitcointalk.org ?
I think that will be super helpful for all the newbies who are looking forward to joining the forum.
Thus you will be able to get more views , add how the signature campaigns works and stuff.
Best of luck , shows how hard you worked on it.

What a hidden gem! Thank you for posting this, I just love the geographical listing of Bitcoin companies, because I have browsed over to my own country and found several Bitcoin related companies that I did not even know existed.  ;)

Unfortunately there are not a lot I can add to improve your site, because it is perfect just the way it is. I would add a quick 'add URL" option for people who browse to their country and who wants to add companies that are not listed there.  ;)

Dear Commenter,

Thank you all very much for your comments. The mod in this forum said that I was not allowed to reply to you individually but must publish one reply to you all. This makes sense I guess but I hope you get the notification.

* Lyks15 - I will carefully consider how I can support newbies better
* OmegaStarScream - You are right. My next task is to improve the categorisations by doing them manually, interesting remark about using Disqus. I will consider it.
* erikalui - You are right. I will improve the categorisations
* haunebu - Thank you for you comments about the site design. After I have improved the categorisations I will make it look better
* Ailmand - Thank you for your kind words and comments about supporting newbies
* fudser - Thank you for your feedback about navigation. I will consider this carefully when I do the redesign
* MakeMoneyBTC - Thank you for your helpful comments about the design. I will improve this
* okala - Thank you for your kind words.
* ChrisPop - Thank you for your kind words. I will try to improve the design as you suggest - still simple but more modern
* waiforme - Thank you for pointing out fake ICOs. I will try to remove them.
* r1s2g3 - Thank you for your comments about the crypto games section. You know much more about this than me! I will improve it. Also a lending section in the forums.
* Vesperion - Thank you for reporting that my system's firewall blocked you. This should not have happened. If you could tell me your IP number this would help me resolve the issue.
* xvids - Thank you for your kind words
* kryptqnick - You make an excellent point. When I redesign the site I must make the offer clearer.
* MAKEDEV - Thank you for the confidence boost!
* Digitalbitcoin - You are so right. The first version ran very slowly and the front page is still not great. I have lots of caching in place but I know I need to do better.
* Sharon121212 - I carefully investigate what happens when you drill down into a category.
* maxreish - Thank you for your feedback. I will continue to update the site and make it better.
* Wasimalik - Thank you for sending your friends! That's great.
* jubilarian - I used a bot to get the data and then scripts + manual effort to classify it. It has taken me 6 months full-time so far. Looking at the feedback above it is clear that the robot classification is not working well and I will need to do more classifications manually.
* Kakmakr - I am very pleased that it helped you discover businesses in your country. I create the "quick add" as you suggest.

I will keep improving the site and I will keep you informed of progress.
Many thanks,
James