Open forum …. any suggestions for tweaking the site?

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It is exactly two years since I last ran an ‘open forum’ where I opened up the comments to ideas on tweaking the site. It worked well so I thought I would try it again.

Without a huge team behind me, any changes to Head for Points will always be ‘evolution not revolution’. That said, because there are now two of us there is more flexibility. Some of the benefits of that in recent months have been:

the Christmas party, which could never have been done without a second pair of hands (the fact that I’d never done it before is proof of that)

the introduction of video to our reviews and the launch of a YouTube channel

increased review coverage, both of hotels and via press events such as the recent Cathay lounge launch

letting Anika write 95% of Shopper Points, freeing up more of my time for HfP

On the short list for improvements is:

an improved mobile site

the introduction of a Q&A page where readers can post questions which other readers can answer (this will NOT be a forum, it will be a specific Q&A page)

the reintroduction of a luxury hotel booking service (coming in January)

However, I am fully aware that there is an element of ‘snow blindness’ in what we do. After all, we look at the site every day for a considerable period of time, and we can only second-guess how you, the readers, respond to the different elements.

As we start a new year, I’d like to open up the floor to any suggestions you have about the site. Remember that I need to cater for two audiences at the same time – the regular readers and the thousands of people who come here via Google each day and who I want to convert into regular readers.

Is it clear to a newcomer what the site is about and why they should keep on reading it?

Are there too many menus at the top of the page? Too few?

Are there too many ads? (Probably not, most sites would run ads inside posts as well, which I don’t)

Are the sidebars too confusing? Should I push the social media links more?

Should there be more ‘sticky’ information for newcomers?

Does the mix of content – which veers from Tesco deals to airline deals to credit card sign-up offers – work for you?

Is the mix of news versus ‘reference / background’ articles (eg ‘How to use Combine My Avios with Iberia’) right?

Does the current format of running a fixed number of stories at fixed times every day – with a ‘lead’ story and two less important ones below – work for you? (Most sites just post at random times throughout the day, but I am middle-aged and grew up with the newspaper tradition!)

If there is anything about the way the site currently looks that annoys or confuses you, or if you have any ideas for improvements, please post below. You can also email me at rob [at] headforpoints.com if you’d prefer.

Anything from your dislike of how I punctuate the headlines through to ideas for new ‘sticky’ pages are welcome – no idea is too small. And, to be honest, small changes are easier to implement than large changes ….

Thank you, and a Happy New Year for 2017.

Category

General

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Rhys says:

1 Jan1 January 19:19

Would it be possible to rate comments. If someone refers to a new deal (think Harry comment), provides a clear explanation (think Genghis or Alan) or details their point earning experience (think the lady who lives in Scotland (Polly?)) then it would be useful to have those highlighted.
- Rob says:
  
  1 Jan1 January 19:53
  
  No. It is an option for the Q&A section which I may or may not activate.
the_real_a says:

1 Jan1 January 20:35

Firstly i think the guaranteed 3 articles each morning keeps engagement, whatever your routine in the morning you know there will be something to read with your coffee. The regularity allows you to build in the articles to your schedule.

I find the hotel review articles entertaining, and especially on slow news days offer a nice way to fill. Would like to add parking arrangements into the text though. I do look forward Anikas descriptive review of the of the hair products 🙂 but seriously my GF appreciates the female perspective to the review so Anika is bringing in new readership!

As the readership grows, the comments are still mostly high quality. What we are starting to see is the occasional grumpy less refined comment / whingeing, but it does not detriment the site. Some way to log-in and view, edit or reply to your own older comments would be preferable as others have stated outside of 24 hours readers drop off. Some of the best nuggets of information still come from the discussions in the comments.
Off topic comments usually bring useful information and i do not really understand the clean/tidy freak complaints. Posters do usually mark them clearly as OT.

I would be really interested in another reader survey and follow up article on the reader breakdown and expand into perceptions of the different FF programs.

Finally, i believe most of the readership here are involved in or are interested in business. So i would have no objection to having an expansion of articles that focus on the business related aspects of the FF programs. I still remember the article that Andrew Steffel did a year or so ago was very insightful.
- Rob says:
  
  1 Jan1 January 21:06
  
  I am spending 3 days at the major global loyalty conference in Feb (and speaking) so some interesting business content should come from that.
  - Genghis says:
    
    1 Jan1 January 21:10
    
    Look forward to it.
- Alan says:
  
  1 Jan1 January 21:11
  
  Agree more on the behind the scenes side of programmes would be interesting – and also be quite unusual content, hopefully drawing in some more views/links!
- ADS says:
  
  13 Jan13 January 13:06
  
  hotel review are the one type of article that i regularly skip. if i want to find out about hotels in a city, i go to Tripadvisor for multiple reviews.
  
  what are the viewing stats like for your hotel review articles – higher or lower than average ?!
  - Rob says:
    
    13 Jan13 January 13:51
    
    Good for Google traffic, good for building relationships with hotel groups.
Tom Murray says:

1 Jan1 January 20:46

Rob this is a great site – and Anika running Shopper Points too adds value and as you say must ease the load for you.

It doesn’t want to be a forum forum with all the flaming and scratchiness that those multi faceted arenas can provoke. HFP is friendly and informative – it’s not, nor would I want it to be Flyertalk.

For me the mobile issue is not so important. There is a wealth of information here; some of that is not immediately apparent but getting to know the gist of things and the way it works unlocks knowledge that is useful to me. I would not read this on my phone no matter how smart. It’s better for me to use my laptop or pc when I have 5 minutes peace i.e. breakfast

O/T comments are somewhat irritating particularly the brashness of some’s timing – just like interrupting someone’s conversation. However when they too become informative, I forgive them 🙂
Hopefully the proposed Q/A will deal with this.

Tongue in cheek, we should be hoping the participation and readership remains somewhat ‘elite’ (that’s us!) – the more that learns, the fewer the seats!

Finally – thanks Rob and thanks Anika – you work hard, and it shows

TM
Mikeeact says:

1 Jan1 January 20:47

Like somebody else mentioned, I tend to file all interesting links to folders on my tablet….some go back of course to the early days of HFP, and then pull them up as and when.One of the difficulties for Rob must be trying to keep on top of them all, endeavouring to keep them all up to date which is virtually impossible. Of course,it would be nice to have a note of what’s updated, but at least i have a reference point I can refer to. Keeping up with the Avios changes can be mind boggling between the different offerings, and chosing one over the other is time consuming. I guess a ‘Compare the schemes.com’ pointing out the differences , quirks, etc.,between them wouldn’t go amiss.But then, if as seems likely ,they may all be rolled into one Avios.com programme at least it should be easierr to keep an eye on changes.
Simon Fisher says:

1 Jan1 January 21:50

I would love to see the ability to ask a question.
The ability to ask questions would remove the need for off topic comments, however might generate more work for you and Anika.
I find the search function a bit quirky, maybe look at an advanced option.
Overall, I love what you do and if you don’t change anything will remain a happy customer.
Yuff says:

1 Jan1 January 21:14

One final point please can you ask Tesco to re-instate cc points, for gift cards, as I’m sure that would make a lot of readers on here very happy 😉
Kip says:

1 Jan1 January 21:54

My two cents:

I like:
– the 3 articles a day. I think that works well particularly with the ‘Bits’ label.
– the hotel and airline reviews. I saw the other day you said you didn’t think reviews of the Watford HIE would be interesting but I suspect more readers stay there than in Bora Bora so it might be useful to throw the occasional routine hotel review in.
– the current mobile offering. I read every day on my Android and it works fine for me.

Perhaps could improve:
– more Star Alliance/SkyTeam/Virgin articles. To earn short-haul FF miles outside London, *A is the only real option. I appreciate it’s a bigger field but within OW you only focus on certain airlines (I’ve never seen an S7 article…) so why not (say) LH/LX/SK/A3 and see how it goes?

From the comments today:
– I think creating an account and signing in before making a comment is a good idea.
– I don’t think splitting the content between email and website is a good idea.

Overall it’s a great site that actually enables people to experience things they otherwise wouldn’t have a clue how to achieve.
- Rob says:
  
  1 Jan1 January 22:17
  
  I did review the Holiday Inn Brent Cross last December but that was mildly ironic. There is also an aspirational element to HFP which does not sit well with reviews of the HI Brent Cross! I tend to cover such places if I go to them as part of promotions (eg a mattress run) because there is then a ‘story’ attached to the review.
  - Alan says:
    
    1 Jan1 January 22:20
    
    If you’re ever desperate I’ve still got my photos from my one month stay at the Doubletree Dundee (paid for by insurer when roof repair work being undertaken!) 😀 Was actually a superb stay with really helpful staff and a nicely renovated room with decent food! The Hilton points earned (incl reducing room servicing to every 3rd day) paid for a couple of nights in the Palmer House Hilton on Chicago when rates were >$400 a night!!
Melvin says:

1 Jan1 January 22:00

Hi Rob,

My request for change is a simple formatting one. I would like to see the subject header before the picture in your articles. The header is the natural break so in a ‘bits’ email the picture feels like its attached to the previous article.

Sorry if this has been said previously but I didn’t want to sift through the other 198 comments.
- Rob says:
  
  1 Jan1 January 22:14
  
  There is no rule to this. A ‘bits’ article with 3 stories will only have 2 pictures, so I decide which images in the system are most suitable and then use those. This means that the picture below the first story could relate to either the first or second story!