Web Design Contest No 1

[neddy]

As this is the first web design contest, please bear with us if our description or brief isn’t perfect; or if we miss some things.

We welcome questions, constructive comments and suggestions to help make the format better and/or easier to understand.

Please also read the Web Design Contest Overview to understand the rules.

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Domain Name: SunshineCoast.com.au

Prizes: $600 for winning designer; $150 for runner-up.

Start / Finish Date: 13th March to 27th March (14 days).


Overview

I want to create a sensational informational website about the Sunshine Coast and all its various locations (coastal and hinterland).

The site will incorporate sections such as: overview / description of each location; accommodation; tours / tourist attractions; restaurants, shopping; real estate; blog; forum; newsletter etc.

I plan to use feed from ATDW (Australian Tourism Data Warehouse) for accommodation and tours.

The site will be fully monetised with paid advertisers and/or affiliate ads.

However, for purposes of this contest, you will only be designing a mock up of three sample pages.

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Requirements / Brief for the contest:

• Whilst designers will initially be doing just a mockup / .psd - I prefer the site to ultimately be a Wordpress design (though non WP entries will not be excluded).
  
  
• Three pages – a home page; one internal page e.g. Noosa; plus one advertising page (where advertisers can select an advertising banner or package).
  
  
• Home Page must incorporate navigational tabs to various sections as out lined in overview; and it must incorporate some dummy advertising blocks. Emphasis on social media links.
  
  
• Internal Page should be a sample typical page of a specific location e.g. Noosa. This will include some dummy content, plus individual navigation tabs for various sub-categories like accommodation, tours; Real Estate etc.
  
  
• Advertising Page should include a sample rate card for various banner sizes / editorials – plus a “call to action” enquiry form for potential advertisers.
  
  
• As far as other inclusions including logo or banner; sliding images and/or videos, that is left to the designer’s discretion.

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Some sites I like:

goldcoast.com.au; nyc.com; newyork.com (I don’t necessarily like everything about these sites, but they have some good features).

Here is a helpful link to some other geo sites: http://www.noupe.com/showcases/showcase-of-tourism-website-designs.html

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General and Specific Terms of Contest:


As outlined in Web Contest Design Overview thread; plus:

If you intend participating, you must please register by posting your details on this thread.

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Other:

• I am prepared to enter into a negotiated web design contract with the successful designer. Estimated budget $5000 to $8000.
  
  
• Please ask as many questions as you like - either by posting on here, or by PM or email. ned at dntrade dot com dot au.

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[SEOconsultant]

Well, Ned after the SEO challenge, this is what I obtained:

* Over 3000 unique visitors to my site coming from DNTRADE (thanks!)
* I raised over $1400 for my tiny charity. $900 via here and $500 a few hours ago via a Webinar.
* I closed 3 SEO deals from people reading about the SEO challenge. The deals aprox 5K ...

So my opinion is: If you are thinking about it... stop thinking so much and do it.

Tons to win, learn and share...
nothing really to loose.

Thanks Ned!
to all of you: Best of luck!

 

[neddy]

Thanks for all the feedback and suggestions - both on this thread and via email and PM.

On reflection, I have decided not to proceed with this contest.

As I originally prefaced, this was the first contest, and there may have been things that needed to be changed to make it more appealing.

I'm always happy to listen and adapt.

Prior to deciding to cancel this, I was going to change the contest and implement these changes below:

• I only want a mockup of the homepage done - forget the other two pages.
  
  
• Prize is $500 (instead of $600) - runner up prize is still $100.
  
  
• Designs can be emailed to me rather than posted here. I will then post each entry at the end of the 14 days for comment by the rest of our community. This avoids any problems with "copying".

The SEO contest we did was a great success - and I put my own money on the line. Our members on DNT got a great benefit from the whole experiment.

But perhaps I didn't think this contest through enough - and perhaps I was naïve in thinking the same thing could be done for a web design contest.

Whilst my intentions were good and honourable, I don't need the stress, or any negative publicity - which is why I have decided to cancel it.

And I have no hard feelings.

Cheers, Ned

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[Ash]

I didn't mind having a go at it.

 

[ScottNugent]

Sad to see it go Ned, unfortunate a few haters couldn't leave it alone. Best of luck for your next idea!

 

[neddy]

Sad to see it go Ned, unfortunate a few haters couldn't leave it alone. Best of luck for your next idea!

Thanks for your thoughts Scott.

But I don't look upon those that criticized / critiqued as "haters". As it was something new, I welcomed any suggestions that would make this an enduring initiative.

And Jam came up with some good ideas.

So I may well give it another go soon - albeit with a bit of refinement.

Cheers, Ned