Hi all,

My cousin and brother-in-law are big into cigars. They smoke them like cigarettes these days. They are also big "users" of the web and do lots of research on them online and buy online too. We were chatting recently and they were saying they'd love to set up a website for cigars in ireland, i.e. blog, forum, reviews, etc. So, we decided to get the ball rolling. Registered the domain, came up with a concept last night and I was wondering if ye would be so kind as to throw your critical eye over it.

Cigars.ie Design Concept

Couple of points/questions I'd like to make/ask:

- The site is currently designed to 1024x768 size. For this site, I think we'll need the extra size. I don't want to design it to 100% width but I might load up one css file for 800x600 and another for greater than or equal to 1024x768. Anyone any thoughts on this? Could I get away with the one css at 1024x768. What's the best way to load up the css based on window size - javascript with a fall back method to 800x600 if no js available?

- What do you think of the images being used for the different sections? Don't mind the iStockPhoto bits. Haven't bought them til I know we'll use them.

- Nav: is it too small or does it need to be bolder and spread out more.

- Big Image: what ya think of all the cigars together? Use something else, leave it blank?

- Tagline (top right): what do you think? has some good keywords in there. Anyone got any suggestions?

- The forum: haven't decided on what forum I'd like to use. Thinking of either phpBB or vBulletin. I'm sure I could customise both of these to fit into this site design? Anyone know of a good asp/asp.net one that works like these? Would it be possible to integrate the forum members and the blog members so they only have 1 login to the site?

- General Idea: what do you think of the general idea of the website? It won't be a money maker but with enough visitors, their could be some good adsense, banner ads and potential sales down the line. I'm in from a technical point of view and online sales/marketing. The other 2 get to do all the content and moderation and stuff.

- Any other thoughts you might have!

Thanks in advance for your time guys. Much appreciated!

Dave

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David Behan
Web Design Ireland | Mortgages | Memorial Websites | Digital Printing

I like the look and feel and your choice of stock images is really good

You won't be able to monetise it as easily as with other sites as there are restrictions on sites advertising / promoting tobacco products

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Thanks michele. I had a feeling that we'd hit a wall with the monetising. I wonder could we set up a shop on it down the line! Probably need a licence to do something like that.

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David Behan
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It can be monetised - you just need to think outside the box a bit

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People who are potential advertisers on your site

The obvious:
Cigar shops
Whiskey / spirits shops
realbeers.ie
smoking paraphernalia eg lighters, cutters, humidors
Subscriptions to that cigar magazine

Not so obvious:
Also look at the demographic of site visitors, I'm guessing high disposable income? So ideal for companies who sell: luxury hotels, golf clubs, gyms, credit cards, high end cars etc

If you open your own shop I reckon you would be better off selling high-end smoking paraphernalia and related items eg lighters, cigar cutters, humdiors, wallets, money clips, cuff-links etc

You could also target things like christmas / birthdays, what to get the man who has everything? Selection of fine, hand picked cigars of course!

Anyway, I love the concept and the site looks great!

Cheers

Fintan

Thanks for that Fintan. We had our first official meeting yesterday and we only brushed on the monetising section. We mentioned a couple of things that you did there but are main aim is to get a good forum, blog and review section up and running. If we can get the members in, we'll look at the monetising down the line but it is always good to have an aim in mind!!! Thanks for that.

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David Behan
Web Design Ireland | Mortgages | Memorial Websites | Digital Printing

It looks good so far. I don't know about the background colour though. As you know, I like gradients, but I'm not sure this would go well. Maybe a cigar "box" colour. A rich light mahogany.

I think the images go well although the large one with the cigars looks a little.... dirty.

Regarding monetizing it. I wouldn't even think about it much until you have everything set up and have a relatively loyal following. That is the downfall of too many sites these days. Too much advertising on it from day one. I think in the future, some sort of affiliate programs could do very well.

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yeah, we might play around with colours a bit. We did the design together last night, in terms of I was designing while they threw feedback as I did it and this is what we ended up with. There are lots of images we can choose as well so that image might change.

I agree totally with what you said on monetising it too early. I want to have an idea of where we can go with this and add it on down the line. Initially, it will be a hobby site and if we can build it up, we'll revisit the monetising then.

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David Behan
Web Design Ireland | Mortgages | Memorial Websites | Digital Printing

nice job. I like the design.

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