What can I say? I’m a YOUmoz junkie! I can only imagine that SEOmoz V3 is being viewed as a major success by the SEOmoz crew. From a third-party perspective, it appears that comments have dramatically increased. (Although there was a little RingBait that also sucked in many warranted and well-deserved comments. Congratulations again Rand and MysteryGuest!) And there are several users who have submitted quite a bit of quality content over on the UGC side of the site. We’ve already experienced ThumbBait, experimentation with the Top Users list, a taste of Article Marketing, an epidemic Identity Crisis, and most of us are enjoying this new experience. And many, many more.
The enhancements to the site are welcomed and appreciated by many. There aren’t too many industry sites that let users contribute to the voice of the site without being an open forum. The features have evolved into a unique user experience and so far the ride has been great!
What’s more is that it has proven that SEOmoz listens to their users. This speaks volumes of how much SEOmoz values its readership. SEOmoz is building the loyalty and faith in its userbase that they will provide the content, the tools, the features, and the experience that is unique and tailored to their users needs.
Among the great features that have been granted to us so far, I’d humbly offer a few suggestions that I feel would continue to enhance the complete experience of the site. These are, after all, just suggestions so take them for what they are worth. I hope they can at least be used as springboards for brainstorming sessions for future versions/updates of YOUmoz.
Here’s a “wishlist” features I’d like to see:
Data, Data, and More Data: Now that we, the users, are contributing content to the Moz, it would helpful to know where our conversations are extending to as well. Did we get pinged by blogs offering a differing opinion from an SEO who wears a different color of hat? Did we capture the eyes of thousands of Reddit users? Pehaps a little “Holy Google, Batman! You should see the searches your post is getting!” Yes, any type of feedback to the user who contributed the piece would be helpful in allowing him to write a follow-up or directing a related post. Likewise, if other bloggers are linking and commenting then the original author could respond on their site as well. Referrer stats don’t need to be made public, but if a user can log in and catch a small blip on the radar, he/she would know where their writings were heard and recognized.
Check My “Spleling” at the Door: I suspect that most SEOmozzers are a level or two above me in the spelling department, so this may be a self-centered request in aims to artificially enhance the perception that others have of my IQ (or at least my spelling capabilities). Please add a spell checker to the WYSIWIG editor if possible. Not only would it save embarrassment of the author (me), it could save a lot of man hours at the time that posts get manually reviewed by your staff.
Guidelines and FAQs: Often when a new community is born (or in this case a new feature giving users the ability to participate in the community), new members can be apprehensive as to what is allowed or not. A “Welcome” guide would be appropriate for the new members that are obviously being attracted to this new service. A “Frequently Asked Questions” document would come in handy for those of use who are familiar with SEOmoz brand and what it represents. Possible items you could address: if affiliate links are allowed or not, if self-promotion is kosher, if we will get banned for submitting too many “rejected” posts, fair play, etc.
Img Hosting: I was considering an image for my previous entry, but when I saw that it needed to hosted remotely somewhere, I opted out. I didn’t want to use a free image hosting service in case bandwidth levels were ever met or the image was deleted by the service. Broken images just aren’t gonna fly with me. I also have the option of hosting on one of my own servers, but I have img hotlinking turned off on most of them.
Video and Widget Plugins: I don’t know, maybe this works already and just needs some clarification. YOUmoz should be able to do YOUtube after all. 🙂 Other widgets I thought were PollDaddy and Flickr.
Make it Friendly: We need friends. I know you don’t want YOUmoz to attract the MySpace type of crowds, but I’d love to be able to flag someone as a friend and get emails whenever he/she published a post. I’d also like to see a little icon or different color of outline on their avatar or something that would differentiate between their comments and the rest. I value ALL opinions, but want to know when some of my friends are in the same thread as me.
Comments/Recommendations on Profiles: Ok, so completely jumping over the line from “Socially Enhanced” Blog to “Social Network,” having the ability to leave a comment, or better yet a “recommendation” like LinkedIn, would allow us to recommend a colleague and their services. This could be one recommendation per user like LinkedIn, or an open comment thread like all the other networks out there. Either way it’s feedback for the user in a centralized place.
Private Messaging: I think a way to message individuals privately would be quite handy. Let’s say I want to take a discussion offline and either give a user a little advice or ask for a little help. Or perhaps I want to message them to inquire about their SMO services. Or perhaps I just want to wish them a Happy Birthday. Yeah, I’d really love to see some Private Messaging available.
I have a few other minor suggestions, but thought I’d suggest some of the more major ones first. I hope that we can open this thread into a suggestions and feedback thread where users can have a place to post their “wishlist” of requests.
Thanks again to Matt, Jeff, Scott, Rebecca, Jane, Gillian, and Rand for making this service available and for all the hard work that went into it. YOUmoz is great!
