Week 3: Frequent Sites

www.crossfitsociety.com

This site is for a business owned by a couple of friends of mine. I also use this site frequently as a member of their gym, so I was curious to know if I could review this site with fresh eyes. Most immediately, they have a rotating display with member pictures and random quotes to the work of the coaches. This was probably an attempt at adding some levity to the otherwise serious business of strength and conditioning. With the exception of one or two rotating backgrounds, the colors and contrast are pleasing and don't negatively distract attention. They placed their brand logo in the upper right hand and their business name on the left, and I wonder if there would be a way to distribute that a little more like the lecture states, and as demonstrated on the Apple site. I also noticed that they only display Twitter and Facebook links at the top, despite having other social media accounts. Right away you notice a call to action on the front page to "Book a Free Consultation". Also, the navigation bar is simple and the depth of content is not overly extensive. They could potentially list Success Stories under About Us, but I don't know if it would make much of a difference, if any. I appreciate that they offer a brief explanation of the services they offer, along with a few site links at the bottom for "Partners" and "Friends", which would direct visitors to like-minded sites. They also have widgets at the bottom for their Yelp reviews and Google Maps to show their location.

When navigating around, you'll notice that their content is up to date, especially in the WOD & Blog area. I noticed that the White Board link under The CFS Experience is not functioning properly, and should be fixed for frequent visitors and members. Overall this site is easy to use, provides excellent content for the subject, and is designed well. I've seen similar sites go too far with information on diets and too much detail on the actual workouts and overall concept. In fact, their original site was on the borderline of offering too much of this, but the changes that they made were just what was needed. I personally keep coming back for the WOD & Blog, so for me, content is key.

http://fourhourworkweek.com/blog/

I visit the Tim Ferriss blog, fairly  often, possibly more often than I need to. The reality is that I love this guy's podcast, as well as the content he provides. Unfortunately, his brand of the "Four Hour..." doesn't explain everything he really does, and he even admits to it often sounding like an infomercial. Obviously, it hasn't been a major detractor when one looks at the success of his books, blog, podcast, high profile guests, and consulting done for major companies.

After talking up his business acumen, I will say that I dislike just a few things about his site. First off, he rotates through some dated photos. I understand that he is trying to promote his accomplishments, but I see the picture of him competing in the tango it makes me feel like I've walked into a gaudy foreign discotheque. His menu seems simple enough, but visitors new to Tim Ferriss may wonder what 4HWW, 4HB, and 4HC signify. It would be easy enough to hover and check for themselves, but maybe offer one menu item titled 4 Hour Book Series, which encompasses all three. He also seems to offer more depth of content for one, and not the others, telling me that he may have gotten tired of adding content to his site.

However, this site is not all that bad in the least, otherwise I would not be a repeat visitor. I subscribe to his VIP newsletter, which is a "call to action" at the top of his page, so there I find out each time a new blog or podcast is released. Even so, I end up visiting his site every few days just to navigate through older content for anything that I might find relevant to my life. He also offers a Most Popular section for specific blog posts and podcast episodes, and beneath that a list of popular topics in which you will find all of his related content.

For the most part his site is simple and effective. You can either scroll through all of his content, or use the easy search function at the top of his page. You will notice that aside from sharing capabilities, and a FB "Like" button, he either doesn't have, or doesn't use, social media. I know that he often  comments(read:complains) about trolling, so I wonder if this is a conscious decision on his part. Either way, the ease of use and great content offered on this site keep me coming back for more.