Bitcoin Forum

Hello, I created a crypto news site, give me some feedback. FYI .. I know alot more needs to be done, including SSL on it. Enjoy and give me topics of interests... Checkout the Instagram page as well, has shortened version of each post.

Thanks,
www.thisCrowd.com

Before any publication, you need to do the basic setup. With SSL implementation, your redirects are not properly configured, so the page with the www prefix is not available.
It really shouldn't be a difficult task, almost any beginner can set it up. See on Amazon where you host the site about DNS settings or you can use the .httaccess file

For example, add the file to the root named .httaccess with this inside


Whose are the texts that you have published on the site? Yours, copied from somewhere or generated by AI?

The site is not responsive enough from my side (it takes a few minutes to fully load). Instead of placing all the thumbnails of news that has ever been published, I think you would be better off loading a selection of featured/highlighted news to make the site lighter and friendlier for cheap hosting servers.

Can you access this news site even if it's not responsive?
I want to try to know the contents of the site but it can't be accessed, is there an error made or is it under repair?
I don't know if the OP when he came here was ready or trying to figure out the problem?

This is a picture of the site not being accessible.
https://talkimg.com/images/2023/10/26/TraL1.png

Same as others, I'm also getting the "Server Not Found" error therefore we can assume that the problem is on your server side.

Aside from the website link, you can also post here all the channels available e.g. Instagram as you mentioned, and any others.

Anyway, just fixed the server issue and expect that the community will give you honest reviews for your reference.

I could access the site just fine when I remove the "www" from the URL. This is what I see.

https://www.talkimg.com/images/2023/10/26/TrMcd.md.png (https://www.talkimg.com/image/TrMcd)
            
I like the clean and uncluttered look although I imagine advertising banners will be added in later and that might change the appearance somewhat. The one thing that was really annoying is that with endless scrolling it takes a while to load more stories when you scroll to the bottom of the page. This can probably be fixed so they load instantly but it's the only issue I have with the site.

The crypto news site interface is nice and the design isn't bad. I was just thinking how many people visit dedicated sites for crypto news in the recent time. I know there was a time people were just publishing crypto related news in their crypto website,  but these days the trend has reduced.
I know that it is not easy to draw traffic to your site and when the traffic is not fast coming, the team members would be somehow discouraged.

So, if you are to be successful in your project, maybe you have to do something from different from what others are doing. I wish you success in your project.

The website loads very slowly on my end. I don't think it is caused by my internet connection, instead, I suspect the culprit comes from your server or hosting. I also tried to view it through a mobile browser or a smaller view, and it looks like you don't apply a flexible theme since it looks so terrible as of now. I think you should consider adding a flexible theme to target mobile users.

Btw, some of the news content looks to be AI-generated, is this intended? I found one or two sentences very familiar with sentences from a book, while the rest are similar to other sources. I don't think people would like AI-generated content if what they want is factuality and accuracy,

i have tried to access your website but the problem is that it is not accessible at all. it appears to be down and inaccessible to anyone. you should be able to pay attention to the uptime of your website because it affects google's crawl and user comfort. and just as a suggestion, after i checked, you are still using the default name server, it is better to use the cloudflare name server and make settings so that your website can still be accessed even when it is down.

I succeeded in accessing the site after deleting “www” from the URL, and it worked for me, but I only see the project logo. The site needs updating to work and then provide essential features to be able to compete, especially since there are many sites that provide news, articles, and analyzes and it is difficult to compete with them without enough writers who need funding.

I tried to visit the site on Tor and it also does not work, so there is a problem with the hosting.

I can see that your site is hosted on Wordpress your login link is not hidden https://thiscrowd.com/wp-login.php I recommend that you use a plugin to hide your login page.
This is one of the reasons why I prefer Namecheap's domain and hosting over any other domain registrar because they offer free SSL,  once you register your domain and add it to your Cpanel the SSL is automatically added, and it is free for one year since you are not hosted on Namecheap your best option is to get a free SSL from

https://letsencrypt.org/

You can use letsencrypt.org for full setup but you have to read the documentation, additionally, there are plugins that you can use for free SSL but you need to verify it every 3 months or a certain length of time because it's free, or you can upgrade for one year or lifetime depending on your budget.

You should not create an announcement here if your site is not ready for visitors, SSL is very important you're losing a lot if you ignore fixing it

Here is the list of the best WP SSL plugin

https://colorlib.com/wp/ssl-plugins/

Hahaha right I didn't think of removing the "www" because I immediately clicked the link above. Now have successfully viewed this site.

The appearance of the site is quite simple there is no impression of a more interesting (this is my version of the view) maybe the OP can consider it where he will follow how other news sites are many with features, here I see there is no search list column, I think it needs to be added.

I see content that contains AI and after checking in several detectors, it is almost 99% AI, so this article is not original writing but is generated by AI, if this is like this of course I don't like it.

I have tried accessing the site and there are several problems.
The first problem, when opening in a new tab, the page cannot be accessed.
Second problem, I tried deleting [www][dot] and leaving thisCrowd[dot]com, the site can be accessed but the opening process is slow.

The news on the site is good. My input is that it would be better if this site was improved and the website pages are lighter so that visitors don't get bored when visiting the site.

Thanks

I took a quick look at your site and there's some interesting content there! But like others said, there are some areas that need some attention. 

First thing your website is kinda slow to load - that can make people bounce real quick.  Optimizing the speed should be a top priority.  Also you gotta get an SSL certificate ASAP.  And yeah, definitely fix that www redirect thing that examplens already pointed out.  I tried the link you shared and it still doesn't work.

On the plus side some of the content is interesting.  But there are already so many similar sites out there. You gotta think about how to stand out.  Maybe add a comments section to encourage user engagement? That could make the experience more interactive.

Overall there's potential but still work to be done.  Don't get discouraged though - take the feedback and run with it!

I don't know why it has become a common occurrence to open a topic with a discussion about their project, and after that only ignoring and not being interested in the feedback given by other users.


AI-generated content doesn't necessarily have to be spammy and uninteresting. With proper use, and asking precise questions and tasks, AI can help create attractive content.

When you start a website the primary goal is to get traffic. Google after its own AI content generator known Bard is not ranking down contents which have been generated by an AI. Unless the content doesn't make any correlation to the topic and has relevant information that covers every aspect, it will get rank on the first page. The trick is always to generate content that is unique or based trending topics.

While human written content still make to the top without the same criteria. The difference is how much the content adds value and whether it makes some unique difference to an AI based content.

P.S: OP your website is down.

I agree with you boss. Cheap hosting service or not, I believe websites like this should have load on scroll functions or provide users the ability to load more content if and when they want. This website has a load on scroll function but only after you get to the end of the first set of posts. I think number of posts in the first sets is too long. Also, loading a few posts will reduce loading time compared to loading many.

---

I really like the design. I haven't looked at it on mobile though so my comments would be about the desktop view. I am also going to ignore the speed aspect of things since other responses have already addressed that.

As a product designer with a lot of experience in designing websites, I wish to suggest a few design related improvements.
I'll like to first of all commend you for I think the site's design is really on point. I just hope you didn't use a template.

https://www.talkimg.com/images/2023/11/02/tuD52.png
👆 I like what you did with the heading there, showing the website motor. I think it is really nice. I also noticed the logo get's smaller as I scroll down. I think the logo should me more smaller, let's say fairly 70pixels in height. This, I think will allow the logo area to take less space thereby creating more room for the content.

Secondly, on the categories directly below the logo and moto. Again, kudos to you on how you added the number of posts on each list item. I can imagine several horrible ways some designers would have done it. What I want to suggest here is that the list should stick to the page top edge as the user scrolls so that they can easily filter the content without having to scroll to the top.

Thirdly, the container showing the post thumbnail, heading and some of the body content, should be linked and not just the heading. Research has thought me that users to just click on anywhere on the container to open it.

Fourthly, the head image in the post page is too big. I think half of the size would make a better view. I had to scroll about three times to get to the bottom of the image and I couldn't see the whole image at once. So making it smaller will improve the experience.

The last thing I'll like point out is the color of the text on the post page. It doesn't have enough contrast.

Extra touches you could add to make the site really pop is to include dark mode. It really helps with a more focused reading when necessary.

And this is all I can share for now. I am a Product design enthusiast who spends more time responding to posts rather than making my own  ;D

Firstly I must appreciate the logo designer. I love the logo.

Then, am not impressed with the number of time taken for the site to display fully. The loading time is quite long, perhaps the size of the images on the site is large , if that is the case I would suggest optimization to reduce the size. I dont know if its actually coming from bad network from my end but its still up top 5 minute and its still loading. Let me refresh to see if its also from the developers end.

Says the site is down  :(

I was able to access the site only once and it was very basic, but since then... the site has been down.  ::)  It does not create a good first impression, when you advertise the site and it is down for most of the visitors.

I think you should change your hosting service and also implement the SSL as soon as possible to give some credibility to the site. The world needs reliable and trustworthy Crypto news sites, because there are a lot of shit sites that are spreading FUD out there.  ;)

Hope you get it sorted, because I will check in again.  ;)

Both of you, try to type thiscrowd.com in your browser, without www.
The dev did not properly redirect the site, so the domain with the www prefix is undefined. I suggested earlier how to solve this issue https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5471690.msg63058288#msg63058288

Place fewer posts on the home page, about 4 columns and 3 rows (add a load more button if necessary), this will help you improve alignment and make the site less visually cluttered.

My monitor have 26 inches (ultrawide), and the images are misaligned.

It would be interesting to leave the header in a dark color, for example, a black background and the logo white.

The banner with currency prices would look better above the header, it would draw more attention.

It's not dowm... he is just posting a www subdomain without forwarding.

Try http://thiscrowd.com

What’s different about your site that others don’t already have? What type of information? Where do you provide it from? Who’s the source

It is the complaint of all who read OP's thread because he did not bother to come back and fix the error he is losing visitors here in Bitcointalk, that is not the right behavior if you're promoting your project or platform here in Bitcointalk, be ready to engage with members and be open to any suggestion.

If you're fully engaged and have taken the advice of members here especially those who know the issues and have answers on how to make your platform great, your platform will have more followers and it will be recommended by the community.
The community is more than willing to help those who ask for feedback, but you should show your willingness to listen and take action.

website seems down for me but lets be honest. there's probably litterally hundreds if not thousands of websites devoted to crypto in all its forms. to me that seems like an impossible thing to break into because there's already an overabundance of crypto news websites and alot of them are redundant as it is. people here are being nice and supportive and positive but lets be honest. how many of them added your webiste to their bookmarks?


exactly. viewing audiences of crypto websites are probably a very fickle bunch they don't contribute donations they just leach your content by reading it and maybe linking it if you're lucky that's all you will ever get from them. but if they find a better website they might forget all about you.

Good post, bear in mind his SSL is invalid/expired.

May not be a bad idea to setup LetsEncrypt.
@OP what's your hosting situation like? VPS, Shared?

I've tried opening the site but it's down for me.

It would've been a plus if the OP had screenshots before we'd clicked the sites but it doesn't matter if it isn't working. You're right there's sites devoted to cryptos so if the OP's trying to break in the market he's going to be behind big heavy established sites.

If the site's working or down who's going to bookmark it I won't if I'm being honest.

yeah plus those sites have budgets to pay people to write for them. so they dig up stories you don't see on other sites until the other sites copy and paste.

the only sites people here are going to be frequenting is established sites that pump out tons of content daily. it's not like people even WANT to go visit those news sites. only time they do is when some big story happens and someone links it here on the forum.  :-X

It's going to be a full time job for the OP if he's updating latest feeds to his site. That's going to increase expenses because he'll have to employ staff to trawl the net for stories or news flash. Big sites have experience which's helped them stay ahead. The OP hasn't managed to get the site working it doesn't work.

kind of like creating a new altcoin. no one really cares and there's plenty of them already that no one really cares about. but that shouldn't stop someone from trying if that's what they really want to do.  :o

Obviously needing a whole lot of work.

To give people news might sound easy but the process through which it is presented isn't always as easy as expected. There are a whole lot of aesthetics that must be satisfied before we arrive at the product but as developers already know, the process is more important than the product. Even the reviewers care more about the process than they do about the product.

You might want to properly address the medium through which you wish to communicate the news to the public....the website.

He's tried to enter a space which's occupied by companies with resources he can't compete against. The future's safe when ppl try making business from outside their comfort area. It's entrepreneurial spirit which's helping devs push tech boundaries so I respect him for trying.

I updated the site with new articles and updated my SSL. Still a work in progress, let me know check it out.

www.thisCrowd.com (http://www.thisCrowd.com)

There isn't anything to look except thiscrowd in large font. Where's the news articles?

Give it some extra time to load.

Even on gigabyte internet in an uncongested area, it still takes your website a few seconds to load.   I can imagine people with non-fibre would have it even worse, and people that have a lot of windows open and are going through VPN/TOR.

I understand the way you built it, and I like the design, but maybe you could add a loading indicator of some kind?   

I also do not understand how such a page load affects Google, because that will affect your SEO.   
https://webmasters.stackexchange.com/questions/26679/why-does-google-think-that-pages-load-slow

which SSL did you used? it still gives the msg that "parts of this website are not secure such as Images" Maybe something is wrong with your images.

you should use shorter descriptions (equal for all articles) because the layout is kinda breaking up.
https://www.talkimg.com/images/2024/01/13/3tgKv.png

Overall it is a nice website. all the best.

I opened it with a normal broadband 10mb package internet, it opened within few seconds. I am using the Mozilla browser.

It takes a lot of time to load this page. I think you need to focus on increasing the loading time of your web page as it gives a very bad impression, and many people will just cannot wait that long to load the site.
I do not know if you are hosting it on a slow server or if your site is heavy to load  ???


There are a lot of sites offering similar information but that does not mean that if one site is providing crypto news information, the other cannot. If the site is a good one it will still attract people and can generate revenue too. SEO matters a lot if OP wants his site to become visible in Google searches.

Responsiveness is still something that needs to be corrected on the website, it seems to me that the problem is the theme, from what I've seen it is focused on agency portfolios. Do a test with a specific theme for a news portal, for example.

Test on a local server like wamp, xampp, etc. If you like the result, just upload it to the production server.

Good luck with the project!  ;)

Checked out your news site, and I must say it's looking pretty neat! I appreciate the clean design and straightforward layout. Adding SSL is a good call for security, as you mentioned.

For topics of interest, how about diving into recent developments in DeFi, NFTs, or upcoming blockchain projects? It would also be cool to see some analysis pieces on market trends.

I'll take a look at your Instagram page too.

Yes, I am trying to fix the load times, it must be the image sizes and the amount of stories being loaded at once. It runs fast on my end, but I know that may not be the case for everyone. I will fix asap.

Update: I fixed some of the speed/loading issues. I was rated a D on gtmetrix, now an A.


Grade A currently.
https://gtmetrix.com/reports/thiscrowd.com/KilvabkX/

Thanks for all the feedback.

Added meme photos on the weekends, let me know what ya think.

memes vs stories, but they will come on Friday - Sunday.

https://thiscrowd.com (https://thiscrowd.com)

Not sure if it is only me.

The site takes to load about 3-5 seconds each times. Then, before I see the news/articles I get prompted with an annoying modal (at least on the first visit). That alone had a negative impact on my first impression.

The site itself is very nicely structured. I don't know of any other crypto news site (at least none of the ones I use) that uses this tile structure throughout. Nice and clear. I think the font of the articles is still a bit too small. 2pt larger would be better in my opinion.