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Started a new site for New Shooters!

Maverick9110e

Maverick9110e

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2010
Messages
224
Location
Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Hey all, first let me say that if this is not allowed or in the wrong section i apologize and i'll be happy to remove it. That being said i was hoping to let you all know about a new site i just started that we launched yesterday. www.NewShootersResource.com I'm basically creating a site for people who are new into shooting and the firearms world to come and learn and not feel intimitated. A place that is not swamped by Tacti-cool and internet rambo's. I'm, starting out on new ground and seeing where this all leads!! Wish us luck and check us out if you get the time and the chance. My goal is to help out as many people as i can. Help them understand about the different aspects of Open and Concealed carry along with a multitude of other things. I've got plenty of topics in store for everyone.
Also if you are on Facebook there is a link on the homepage of the site to check us out on Facebook as well. I appreciate all and any comments or suggestions, and if you can or would like to, help us spread the word!! Thanks for taking the time to check us out!

Link to the site: http://www.NewShootersResource.com
 
()pen(arry

()pen(arry

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2010
Messages
735
Location
Seattle, WA; escaped from 18 years in TX
  1. Find an editor who can identify and help you clarify ambiguities and jargon that will confuse newcomers. Your "first" article contains a number of idioms and phrases that will be confusing to your intended audience. Examples: "catastrophic", "index your trigger finger", and "carry firearm".
  2. Brevity is the friend of the instructor. Write as few words to completely and accurately convey the rule as possible, then provide topical examples. If you meander around the topic, you'll lose people to skimming, and no one who needs to learn something will have learned anything.
  3. Speaking of skimming, recognize that people will skim, no matter what. You have the rules bolded, which is good; make them paragraph headers. Visual segregation of the critical content has a tremendous subconscious impact on the reader. Bolded statements amidst normal text lose emphasis.
  4. Your writing feels like you're second-guessing responses from the nit-picking nit-wits from whom you want approval, that you're writing to satisfy the self-styled experts, in spite of having an intended audience of neophytes. Regain the focus: give accurate information to those who don't have it, and stop worrying about what the pedantic blowhards will quibble over. Don't state a rule and immediately qualify it; if the rule isn't accurate in itself, rephrase the rule. When you try to appease the unappeasable, you confuse your audience.
  5. Your sub-rule to rule number 3 should be its own rule, and be rule number one. If anything, the three rules you do identify are sub-rules of that. Yes, I'm aware that some people think that view is counter-productive, and that you should, instead, treat any gun you haven't personally cleared as loaded. If that's your view, then make that its own rule and make it rule number one. In any case, don't confuse people with sub-rules; keep it simple. Again, you're trying to assist neophytes.
  6. Drop your advertisers section. You want people who don't know about guns to believe your information is credible. A quick way to destroy your credibility, at least at this early stage, is to pander to advertisers. It doesn't matter if you're actually pandering; it sure looks like you are. The site is just some outwardly-static HTML. What could you possibly need funding for? A $15/month web server (which is all the current site merits)? Assume your audience will realize that; enough will that you can't dismiss them. When you've organically established credibility and a reader-base, the advertising will find you, without that menu link. Even if your primary motivation for the site is to make some extra money, which is perfectly acceptable, don't go straight for the goods; you have to earn them, or you won't get any but the nasty ones. In that regard, website monetization is much like dating.
 
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