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Drive-By-Shooting Sunday: Geek’s Dream Girl
After last week’s hit, the boys went to ground for a few days. Preventative maintenance. Some cocky photographer had leaked to the media, and James and Harry had pictures of themselves in the getaway car plastered on every front page of each major newspaper.
Luckily and despite John’s skill as a photographer, the images were blurry and sketchy, the faces too difficult to discern. Still…
“We have to blend this time, Jamie.” Harry pushed up the thick black-rimmed glasses that covered his green eyes. The tape at the bridge of the nose was a nice touch – or at least he thought so.
The white button-down shirts and high-waisted pants that were a tad too short at the ankles were a big difference from the custom-tailored tuxedos worn a week or two ago.
“Here.” Harry tossed a pocket protector at James. “You don’t look geeky enough yet.” James caught the plastic with a face that said he’d much rather be caught dead than wear what he did.
But sneaky wit was what the Pen Men were all about. Time and again, they surprised their victims. They could do it again.
This time, they left their weapons at home. Brains, not brawn, would prevail on today’s hit, Geek’s Dream Girl, the blog of E, a self-proclaimed Baskin-Robins of Geekdom.
Here’s what the site looked when we drove by:
“I’m not a big fan of pink, but you know what? It works here.” Harry nodded appreciatively at the décor. The pink wasn’t obnoxious at all, a nice soft shade that was easy on the eyes. “I don’t even have anything to say about the banner.
Neither did James. Cartoon vector images were usually not on the Men’s high list of “yessirs”, but this one worked perfectly. The image was playful and very well done. The title was easy to read and the subtext told people exactly what to expect.
“It’s a girlie site,” James commented. This site had “for women” all over it. The interesting thing was that most of the dating advice was geared to men, with plenty of how-tos and advice for geeks seeking love.
“If this is a site for guys,” he checked the banner’s tagline again, “why doesn’t she add something about that in there? ‘Life and love so you can navigate dating geek girls.’ I’m missing the ‘what’s in this for me’ message, you know? Confusing,” he shook his head.
The RSS button was small, a beautiful shade of purple that matched the site perfectly, but the potential of it being overlooked was quite high. Increasing the size to make it more visible would help it from becoming lost. However, it was still easy to see – enough that if no changes were made, there wouldn’t be a major negative effect.
“I like this,” James nodded as he walked around. “I can see where I’m going. This is well thought-out.”
The navigation was clearly defined and the tabbed blocks in the right-hand sidebar helped highlight other sections while conserving space at the same time.
The whole site was easy to move around. People had plenty of links above the fold and lots of places to click. A ’sticky’ site for sure. “More people should have user-friendly sites like these,” James nodded again. “Smart girl.”
“She’s just like a geek,” Harry mused. “A place for everything and everything in its place.” The site resembled a clean, highly organized desk with neat rows of shelves and compartments.
“She’s missing a ‘Contact’ page. She should add that into the site – unless she doesn’t want to be contacted. Dating site and all,” he explained.
James looked over the rest of the title tags. “I’d change that ‘Current Campaigns’. Unless you know what a campaign is, it sounds like it might be a campaign to raise money or awareness for a cause. Tucking in ‘RPG’ wouldn’t hurt.” Then again, who knew what RPG was?
“It’s a strange mix,” Harry added, thinking over the purpose of the site. While the owner blogged about all things Geek, she fluctuated between two major topics that weren’t particularly relevant: Geek dating advice and gaming.
“It makes me wonder if there’s more to the geek lifestyle?” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Then again, maybe not. Girls and gaming. Yup, that sounds about right.”
The whole sidebar was very clean, with little in the way of advertising or gadgets. It was surprisingly pleasant and a nice change from most geek blogs that get easily loaded down with social media widgets. Geeks do tend to love the latest in blog-tech.
The poll widget was well laid out, with just enough choice (no more than that, though, or you’ll paralyze people) and with clear questions that made James reach out to vote. “Don’t laugh,” he shot Harry a warning look. “I’m just being nice.”
“Her text shouldn’t be wrapping like that,” James frowned and pointed to the screen after he voted. “It makes the box look messy. She could shorten the questions or have someone look at the coding… Ha, see? 38% are with me,” he gave Harry a satisfied punch in the arm and moved on to the next section.
The AIM ‘contact me’ was a neat-looking widget (thought certainly large enough), and it fit the purpose of the site. The way the email address was split over three lines was confusing to the eye, though, and made the address hard to read. In a smaller font on one line, it would look much better.
All that was left was the Amazon widget, and even that looked quite fine.
“You know, she’s really not that bad off.” The color theme was perfect and easy to read, and the font was well selected. A small part of Harry was glad he hadn’t brought the revolver.
“Don’t tell me you’re going soft.” James said over his shoulder as he rooted around in the last section. There was nothing to find. The place was almost squeaky clean.
“Not going soft,” Harry held open the door for James, and they left the place as is. This victim didn’t deserve to die. “It’s good work, what can I say?”
Want more? You got it. Check out the lineup of upcoming hit jobs:
July 13 – Spiritual Tramp
July 20 – From the Living Room
July 27 – McAWilliams Photoblog
August 3 – Prin’s Links
August 10 – Abundance Blog
August 17 – Your Writing Cure
August 24 – Yes to Me
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35 Responses - Leave your comments too!
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James is reading:
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Taylor is reading:
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Social Hookups
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*peeks out from behind the couch*
You mean I’m still alive?
*brushes herself off*
I’d like to thank the Academy…. my designer, Heather, and all the little people everywhere who made this all possible, especially the gnomes.
Geek’s Dream Girl’s last blog post..Childfree by Choice: More Online Dating Tips
E,
Nice site. I checked it out a couple of weeks ago and I thought there might be trouble coming up with much. (About campaigns: I thought I might find you were raising money for breast cancer research and feeding children in Africa. Imagine my surprise.)
James,
You picked up on anything I might have wanted to point out, and there really isn’t much. A few tweaks to help the target audience to know that they are the target audience, and she’s good.
Nice work for a breezy Sunday morning.
Regards,
Kelly
Kelly’s last blog post..6 Signs That Mean Your Business Is Going to Have to Try Harder
I think it’s a well-designed site, I like the color, and I like the banner. I’ m not sure if men landing on this site for the first time would realize that it’s also directed at them, though.
Marelisa’s last blog post..Inspiration Sunday, July 6, 2008
You let her go! Awww, man. I need a beer. Damn this low-carb diet!!!!
Seriously though, its a pretty nice site. I’m not sold on the nav sidebar though. The last piece is a big blank rectangle, and I turned on all of the scripts, just to be sure. Nothing to see, at least not for me.
John Hewitt’s last blog post..A Career in Technical Writing: Two dates to the prom
Your hit of my first site (BookClubClassics) was so helpful, I would love a drive-by of my new site (LitGuides), too… You guys are great!!! Very generous…
Kristen’s last blog post..Welcome to Lit Guides!
Thanks for the nice comments, everybody!
Kelly – I went ahead and changed it to “Gaming” so at the very least, people will think I’m hunting quail or something.
Marelisa – That’s something I’m definitely trying to figure out. I polled my current readers and surprisingly, they said I should keep the color scheme as is… so I think it’s all about a new tagline… any ideas?
John – The Amazon widget does that every so often in some browsers – I’ve been pondering canning it, and will probably do so soon.
Geek’s Dream Girl’s last blog post..Childfree by Choice: More Online Dating Tips
@ Geek – See? Wasn’t so bad… we can be gentle, y’know. The only downside is that the crowd doesn’t pull you under and beat you up too. Quiet in our comment section this weekend…
@ Kirsten – August 31 for you
Oh man, now I’m gonna get creamed.
Scott’s last blog post..Booyah indeed…
@ Scott – You have no idea
James – I don’t mind getting beat up a little! I fixed some of the wording in the top nav bar and am on a vision quest for a new tagline…
Geek’s Dream Girl’s last blog post..Personal Ad Makeover: Austin (BEFORE)
Oh huff…
I seem to have gotten bumped off the to-be-shot-at list. I was scheduled for the 17th but I’m not there now.
Amy – Green Plan(t)’s last blog post..Hope No One Turned into a Lobster this Weekend
@ Amy – My apologies. I had a list and… um… Gmail ate it.
Rather than stick you at the end or shuffle everyone else, we’ll do something special for you to make up for being wieners.
Ok… how about this…
GEEK’S DREAM GIRL
helping guys like you find girls like me
hmmmm….
Geek’s Dream Girl’s last blog post..Personal Ad Makeover: Austin (DURING)
@ James – Thank you for the consideration.
@ Geek Girl – I like that tagline!
Amy – Green Plan(t)’s last blog post..A Tiny Home Obsession – Chatting with Sustainababe
Hmm… not bad at all…
Helping Geeks Find their Dream Girl
Geek Advice for Gamers so They Can Get the Girl
Live the Geek, Get the Girl (lacks clarity)
Learn How to Find A Girl Just Like You
I need more coffee. Ugh.
For Geeks Who Dream of Getting the Girl
Getting a Girl Beyond Your Dreams—Wild!
Your Dream Girl Awaits
How Do You Find the Girl of Your Dreams?
For the SM ISO Geek F for Dream Dates (okay, that’s terrible)
How to Get the Girl
Helping You to Get the Girl
Helping You to Get Your Dream Date
Geek Girl, what kind of search terms do guys use to find you? Your answer may be hiding there (see 4th example).
Later,
Kelly
Kelly’s last blog post..Inspiration Points: Is Hard Work the Only Way to Get Ahead?
My top search keywords:
geek’s dream girl (and all variations thereof)
dating profile help
milf
geek date ideas
childfree (from my latest posts, apparently!)
geek girls
sleeping whore (hahahha)
Geek’s Dream Girl’s last blog post..e’s Feed Favorites – 7/9/08
At least you don’t get:
Niebu
Cross dressing
Cross dressing fantasy
Men who cross dress
Cole Morrison Vampire
I’d take sleeping whore over cross dressers…
Hahaha. You wouldn’t want to see some of mine, either. (MILF must have been an interesting post, whew).
So how about:
Dating Ideas for the Geek in You
Helping You Date Your Dream Geek
Ideas for Dating a Dream
Tips and Ideas for Your Dream Dates
I like the idea of it being more personal (“you”) than abstract (“guys like you”).
Simplifying your original, which I liked:
Helping You Find Your Dream Girl
I LOVE tagline brainstorming. Quick geek fix for me.
Kelly’s last blog post..Inspiration Points: Is Hard Work the Only Way to Get Ahead?
If you want my opinion on taglines, I wouldn’t use keywords in them. Your banner is an image and it won’t be picked up by search engines.
Read this: http://www.copyblogger.com/create-a-tagline/
Then see what you come up with
@ Kelly – those are good. You’re missing the “so what” answer to make them perfect, but they’re pretty solid as is. Clear and understandable at a glance.
I like number two best.
And if you like tagline brainstorming, visit Copyblogger’s post today. Then check out the freakin’ exploding comment section. Wow.
Just because it won’t do SEO for you doesn’t mean it won’t work for humans who read it and then decide to stay. If you’re gonna have one, make it work as hard as it can, image or not, right?
Kelly’s last blog post..Inspiration Points: Is Hard Work the Only Way to Get Ahead?
Dude, been there all day. Watching it go crazy when I had a second. Too fast paced for me today. If you’d caught me on another day, I would have loved to play dueling banjos with you all.
Kelly’s last blog post..Inspiration Points: Is Hard Work the Only Way to Get Ahead?
Ahh, you’re referring to natural SEO, which is a different beast than keywording (at least in the copywriting world).
If you’re gonna have one, make it work hard. Yes.
Diana L Guerrero’s last blog post..FARTA Bus Bench
@ Diana – Very coolness. We can drive by your blog on September 21st. Long wait… you up for it?
James Chartrand – Men with Pens’s last blog post..When You Lose a Different Kind of Everything
Hey, my web girl is messing with my colors a bit, shooting for a darker purple for the outside instead of the pink/purple. Let me know what you think.
Geek’s Dream Girl’s last blog post..e on 4e: Creating a Character
@ E – Hmmm… not bad, not bad at all… Better than the pink, though it brings a heavier feel to the site. Still very appealing and a touch more masculine
Couple of personal notes (keeping in mind I’m the writer betwixt the two of us…)
The navigation font is a little small and appears slightly blurry. Could be my age. I’d suggest increasing the size, though.
The color of the chair’s stripes could possibly be changed to a different color. Instead of the same dark purple as the outside, I wouldn’t mind a lighter color there.
I could be wrong. Don’t quote me. Harry?
I know, right? A tad dark… but not sure what to do. My web girl and I are messing with some ideas. Hopefully we’ll come up with something good!
Geek’s Dream Girl’s last blog post..e on 4e: Creating a Character
My new paint job is live, if anybody wants to check it out!
Geek’s Dream Girl’s last blog post..Online Dating Etiquette 101: Winks
E,
Love the new color scheme. Love it!
Until later,
Kelly
Kelly’s last blog post..Naming 101.3: The Hall of Fame, the Hall of Shame, and How’d They Manage With That?
Thanks Kelly!
Geek’s Dream Girl’s last blog post..Moradin’s Lass: Mielka Dawnhammer