The main center picture (where the Zr1 is) will be a rotating banner of current articles, shown as a picture and a title. All the pictures on there now are just some stock photo’s that won’t be used so no worries about that. Not worried about Rspeed here, going quite a different route that most sites take. Most (such as Rspeed) put both blog and forum into one, I am however planning on keeping them different entities but connected. IE all the discussion and comments will be on the forum site. As we’ve seen the general comments are always a turnoff and ruin a lot if they are not separated. Examples Youtube, Myspace, our forums, etc.
Advertising is always in mind, and there will be a dedicated typical ad bar up on the top. However it’s not the priority by far and I’d rather keep the design as clean as possible instead of getting a buck. Hence why there still isn’t an ad on the forums. I do this because I want to and I enjoy doing it and if it costs me money well then you can call it a hobby.
If it does prove to be successful, then we can always add a bar later on and manage that.
I’d rather spend time on a photoshoot or an article rather then marketing management. But thank you sir for the suggestion!
Any other suggestions/ideas about a format?
I tend to like the look of the alternating ladder type. Where the first post Article is on the left and picture is on the right. However the following blog it’s reversed, with picture on the left article on the right and so on.
Also buttons.
Gallery will be where all the shoots of cars, shows, testing etc. It will either be in a categorized order by the event, or all just thrown together.
Video is self explanatory, so if Forums, Signup etc.
Any other buttons we should consider?
Also thinking of having a little box on the side where the titles of the last 5 active threads will be listed, which will re-direct to the forums.