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[JustRadek]

Hi all,

I'm in the process of redesigning our currently splash-page-esque website, so I've decided to do some research and maybe get some feedback as well.

Obviously one of the advantages that indie developers have is their ability to get directly involved with their audience. The lack of non-disclosure agreements allows indies to share all sorts of information about their games prior to release, and it also serves as a great promotional tool. As a result, many sites are centered around blogs that house a large chunk of the content and discussion (e.g., 2D Boy and Wolfire Games).

Aside from that rather obvious point, a few other things seem to be fairly common:

• The standard about/contact/games sections are usually part of a header or sidebar menu that's accessible no matter what page is currently being viewed.
• No one likes spam, so e-mails are hidden and all contact is done through a form.
• Photos are common, proving that the developers are indeed real people (it's actually a nice, humanizing touch).
• In addition to RSS feeds for the blog, newsletters are pretty common. Blog entries can still be delivered through e-mail, but these mailing lists seem to serve as press release delivery systems -- is this what you guys use 'em for?
• Stores are not always a separate section on the site (sometimes they're external or appended to each game's individual page), but info on how to get the product into the user's hands is always available.

I was actually surprised that few sites seemed to use social bookmarking in any way. Granted those buttons can get annoying, but they bring in a large amount of traffic to my own blog, so their absence seemed a bit odd.

Are there any other things you guys would like to note from your own personal experience, or just mention things that you'd like to see in indie sites?

[Aquin]

I think you pretty much nailed it.  Also, try to keep Flash and other pageloading things to a minimum.  I hates that.

Yeah I gotta get in on that social bookmarking magic.  I think I get like 10 hits a day right now.

Obviously I could do better. 

[JustRadek]

One other thing I forgot to mention was Google Analytics. It's a very common choice for tracking and analyzing traffic, and obviously a good tool for indie developers.

Are there any other applications you guys find useful?

[James Kaudewitz]

You make lots of sound points. I just got into Analytics (can you believe I never heard of it til now!?). I don't know of much else, though. I'll actually be following this topic because of that.

[gambrinous]

• No one likes spam, so e-mails are hidden and all contact is done through a form.

If you are using google apps for your domain (which I'd highly recommend, it's free), then you don't need to worry about spam. Put your email address right there on the homepage. I hate when I'm trying to contact another dev and I can't find their email address anywhere on their site.

[JustRadek]

Yes, I understand why those contact forms might be a bit annoying, but how does Goggle Apps save you from spam? Do you simply mean that their filters are so good that you rarely need to worry about junk mail?

Also, I think we're going to start using Google Apps more so in the future simply to take advantage of their webmail services (my old company funneled their e-mails through Google), but it's not something I have a lot of experience with myself so I can't really comment.

[gambrinous]

Yep that's exactly it. I use google apps entirely to use the gmail interface for my site email. The spam filter is so good you basically need not worry about openly publishing your email address on your site.

[Mipe]

You may want to use an alias, so that you know where the e-mail is coming from. Just add + and an alias of choice to your username, like this:

[email protected]
where [email protected] is the actual account. Gmail is pretty smart about this.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

i also just use my email, not a contact form. i don't have any problems with spam. maybe 1 or 2 spam messages gets through a day at most, but so what, they take 2 seconds to select and click on the report spam button; a small price to pay for allowing your fans to know your real email address

[JustRadek]

Thanks for the feedback. I think we'll initially go with a form just because we're not using Google Apps right now, and I personally never click on mailto links unless I'm on my home computer, but I think we'll eventually publish the e-mail addresses. Being able to see them is a plus, and it makes it easier to add them to contact lists and send e-mails with links and attachments (if necessary).

Are there any other tips or suggestions you guys can give based on your personal experience with running these types of sites?

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

one suggestion is to test it out in different browsers -- i didn't, my sites don't work in ie6 and i never got around to fixing it. so avoid that mistake by making sure it works in all browsers as you build it.

another suggestion is to offer some reward for signing up to the newsletter, in order to increase the chances that visiting people will do that, and having a lot of people on it is good for when you launch new games. for instance, on my site i give a collection of our old freeware games, including the soundtracks etc. in a zip to people who sign up. of course some few will just sign up and immediately unsubscribe and get the zip, but that's fine too, it probably increases overall signup rate.

another suggestion is to use full-size screenshots of your games. nothing annoys me more than seeing little 100x80 thumbnails. i want to see what the games look like, not a tiny image that i have to click on to see what it looks like.

[JustRadek]

Huh, I never thought of giving special incentives for newsletter subscribers, but it's definitely an interesting idea.

As for browser cross/backward compatibility, one can only go so far, but I am testing it out on the newest releases of IE, Opera, Firefox and Chrome (haven't tried Safari yet but I will eventually). For older browsers, or browsers I don't/can't run, I use BrowserShots. It can't tell me what's wrong with the site if the layout is messed up, but at least I can get a good overview of how it looks in various browsers/resolution combinations, and if there any major issues I can investigate 'em from there.

[greenexec]

I like the bubbles on your site.

Two things:

1. Your links in the first post didn't work for me (you need a colon after http:, and no surrounding quotes), so it took me a few tries to figure out how to get there.

2. I've found it super-helpful to have a goal in mind with the website.  So, for yours, I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do.  Was I supposed to play a game?  Or hire you?

I had several versions of my game site that didn't have a big enough download link.  I figured, hey, it's in the navigation, people will find it, right?  Then I tested the version that had a huge "PLAY NOW!" button in orange above the fold as the second thing you see on the page, after the logo.  That resulted in more downloads.

So, for your site, I sort of wish the links were bigger.  You have this subtle link to Tribes of Mexica.  It's too subtle for me.  If you want me to follow it, you need a big offset box that's, like, traffic cone orange with glitter and sparkles on it that says "GAMES TO PLAY: " and then a huge graphic telling me that if I click that I get a game to play.  Then I'll think, wow, I like games, and then I'll click it.

I usually think "Wow, I like games."  :-)

[JustRadek]

Thanks -- when I first included the URLs in my posts they looked OK, but now I see that they got a bit mangled.

As for our current website, it's pretty much a placeholder until I finish developing the new version. Just figured it'd be better to throw something online until the "real" site was finished.

[James Kaudewitz]

I too use Gmail as an alias (mainly because my site's email form is so stinking slow!). I watch the spam box of mine fill up and make myself feel like I'm popular 

[JustRadek]

Hey guys, if you're interested our website went up recently and I've made a post summarizing its development:

http://www.incubatorgames.com/index.php/20091104/making-a-website/

[ChevyRay]

I always put my email right up in the open as well. It makes contact much more personal with your gamers and fellow developers. I have a spam inbox where spam goes, so as long as you don't bludgeon your email with naughty links and atrocious spelling, etc. it's just fine.

Site looks nice, very clean. I need to do a site makeover sometime, I've not been liking my own lately.

[JustRadek]

Thanks, I'd say I'm quite happy with the site myself, heh.

As for e-mail addresses, we'll probably put up ours sooner or later, but not before we make the switch to GoogleApps.

[James Kaudewitz]

Thanks, I'd say I'm quite happy with the site myself, heh.

As for e-mail addresses, we'll probably put up ours sooner or later, but not before we make the switch to GoogleApps.

My web host Recently told me to get GoogleApps (since their built-in webmail is crap and they block POP3 forwarding). I'm kinda POed. Hopefully it all runs smoothly, though. How's GoogleApps working for you? (or haven't you got it set up?).

[JustRadek]

We haven't set it up yet, mostly because my PC/iPhone are hooked up to all my e-mail accounts so it hasn't been a huge priority.

My old company did use GoogleApps for e-mail, though, and they raved about it. They initially set it up just to have a better webmail client, but I'm guessing the spam filters and other features of Gmail didn't hurt either.