My website, FinancialBin.com, re-launch...

[TheFinBin]

Hey Everybody,

I just wanted to let you know that I have re-launched my website, The Financial Bin (Financial Bin - World Markets, Finance, Economy, Business, Financial RSS Feeds, Market Buzz). It took a few months, but I figured out how to have the links I post automatically update.

Basically, the site is a financial news aggregator. My goal is to provide an outlet for people to educate themselves on things like the world markets, stocks, bonds, emerging markets, currencies, etc. I will also have links for specific topics in the news that could affect the world markets and economy (i.e. the unrest in Egypt or QE).

I ask that you take a look and offer any feedback. I would love to hear what you think.

Here are prior threads where I talk about my site:

1. https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/fastlane-marketplace/27275-drudge-report-style-site.html

2. https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/we...ody-have-any-experience-wix-com-webs-com.html

Thank you,

Dave

 

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[JEdwards]

Seems like an interesting idea. Needs a favicon.

Good luck.

 

[TheFinBin]

Thanks, Jack. I will surely add one.

 

[ManWithABeard]

good job man. I like the website, it's cool and most importantly it's useful. the black background kind of reminds me of a ghost story website, but other than that I can see myself going to it on a bi-daily (if there's such a term) basis. keep up the good work.

 

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[TheFinBin]

good job man. I like the website, it's cool and most importantly it's useful. the black background kind of reminds me of a ghost story website, but other than that I can see myself going to it on a bi-daily (if there's such a term) basis. keep up the good work.

Thanks for the compliments. I really appreciate it.

The ghost story website comment made me laugh. Then again, in today's environment, much of what you read in terms of financial news is scary...haha. I just felt it worked well with the green for now. I'm open to suggestions.

But, seriously, please visit it as often as you can and tell your friends! Thanks again!

 

[Davidla]

Goodluck with the re-launch!

I was missing something to hook me up and get me interested in the links...
Something like a story/first few sentences of a story for each category..or one main story for the page. Maybe pictures aswell?

I am not sure what exactly are your plans for the website: is it just to post links under categories, or to be some kind of financial portal?

I felt very overwhelmed by all the links without content, and didn´t even get to reading the links themselves.

 

[TheFinBin]

Goodluck with the re-launch!

I was missing something to hook me up and get me interested in the links...
Something like a story/first few sentences of a story for each category..or one main story for the page. Maybe pictures aswell?

I am not sure what exactly are your plans for the website: is it just to post links under categories, or to be some kind of financial portal?

I felt very overwhelmed by all the links without content, and didn´t even get to reading the links themselves.

David,

Thank you. I really do appreciate the honest feedback.

To be honest with you, the concerns you raised have actually been worries of mine. So, it helps to know where I need to improve in order to engage the user better.

The end goal would for the site to be a financial portal. I want it to be a "one-stop shop" in a sense for people to learn about the financial markets and the economy. I see it as a place to learn the basics and follow current events.

Again, thanks for taking the time to look at the site and offer your insight. I would ask you to continue to monitor my progress and take a peek from time to time.

Thanks,

Dave

 

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[ManWithABeard]

Thanks for the compliments. I really appreciate it.

The ghost story website comment made me laugh. Then again, in today's environment, much of what you read in terms of financial news is scary...haha. I just felt it worked well with the green for now. I'm open to suggestions.

But, seriously, please visit it as often as you can and tell your friends! Thanks again!

haha you have a good point there, sometimes the financial news is a bit horrifying at times. hehe yeah the green does match the black background i suppose. If I ever have any suggestions about the look and asethetic, i'll shoot some your way (though I'm not a professional in that area).

I'll link it in my blog, hopefully that can help generate some traffic for ya.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Not sure if a need exists for this, but that really isn't for me to determine as that's the market's job. IMO, in needs to be better organized. It also looks very 90's design which I understand because of Drudge, but mind you, these sites were founded in the 90's (with Craigslist) so they can get away with it. Perhaps you should put the website's each respective logos next to each sub-category for easier recognition. Also think your header graphic needs to be sharper and more professional. I'd also give the user the ability to tailor their FinBin ... for example, if I log in, I'd like to see the following: Currency, Australia -- Stocks (my stocks) -- MuniBond Markets -- that way, the "fin bin" is MY BIN and not filled with extraneous stuff I don't want.

 

[TheFinBin]

Not sure if a need exists for this, but that really isn't for me to determine as that's the market's job. IMO, in needs to be better organized. It also looks very 90's design which I understand because of Drudge, but mind you, these sites were founded in the 90's (with Craigslist) so they can get away with it. Perhaps you should put the website's each respective logos next to each sub-category for easier recognition. Also think your header graphic needs to be sharper and more professional. I'd also give the user the ability to tailor their FinBin ... for example, if I log in, I'd like to see the following: Currency, Australia -- Stocks (my stocks) -- MuniBond Markets -- that way, the "fin bin" is MY BIN and not filled with extraneous stuff I don't want.

MJ,

First of all, thank you for the feedback. I really do appreciate it.

As for the market for it, my thought process was that there is a lot of financial news out there from many different resources. My goal is accumulate the most relevant information together from a variety of sources. I also figured that, given the financial/economic crisis we're still in, it would help people understand what's going on.

Yeah, a few people have said that it could be organized better and is a bit overwhelming with the sheer amount of information. Do you have any particular suggestions in mind? I was considering maybe breaking it up with feeds for videos and/or pictures. I was also considering possibly having drop down menus for people to pick what feeds to display.

The design. Yeah, I really just taught myself some HTML, CSS, and PHP from Dec. on, so maybe I am stuck in the '90s in a sense. But, I do agree it could look crisper -- I think that's the word I'm looking for.

I like the idea of displaying each site's logo next to the feed. I'll implement that as soon as possible.

I was concerned about the header graphic too. My goal is try and brand the site. Do you have suggestions for programs for how to develop better graphics? Or could you refer me to a fellow fastlaner who may know?

I LOVE the "MyFinBin" idea. To be honest, I wanted to add a forum and social networking elements to the site. I really wanted it to be a place for people to talk with each other about financial topics. So I could use the MyFinBin idea in conjunction with that. Ha, again, I am beginner here. Can you think of any resources for that off hand?

MJ, thanks again for responding. Getting your opinions and suggestions really is helpful. I appreciate you taking the time.

Thanks,

Dave

 

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[TheFinBin]

haha you have a good point there, sometimes the financial news is a bit horrifying at times. hehe yeah the green does match the black background i suppose. If I ever have any suggestions about the look and asethetic, i'll shoot some your way (though I'm not a professional in that area).

I'll link it in my blog, hopefully that can help generate some traffic for ya.

Hey, I really appreciate that! Thank you. What's your blog address? I'd love to check it out and link to it as well.

 

[ManWithABeard]

Hey, I really appreciate that! Thank you. What's your blog address? I'd love to check it out and link to it as well.

oh anytime! I will private message it to you. I'm not ready for it be posted publicly just yet since it's still under going some tweaking and stuff.

 

[JRTX]

Dave,

Nice start. May I offer a suggestion?

Make all your story links open to a new tab or window in the browser. This way when visitors are done reading the article and close the tab or window they remain at your site. I think this change will keep people on your site longer.

Just a suggestion, good luck!

JR

 

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[TheFinBin]

JR,

I appreciate the suggestion. I have actually been going back and forth about this myself. The reason I leaned more toward forcing the user to click back to the site is because I was under the assumption that it counted as another impression.

Therefore, by my logic, as the user clicked back and forth per article, it would generate more revenue under a cost-per-impression model. Granted, I don't have ads up yet. And, starting out at least, I would go with a CPC model...something with Google AdSense as MJ suggested before. I realize I would need a ton of users for the CPM model, but like I said it was something I was going back and forth on.

What do you think?

Thanks again,

Dave