Ideas to improve Torrust website

[grmbyrn]

@josecelano @da2ce7 @WarmBeer @cgbosse @mario-nt
Below are some of the ideas to improve the Torrust website. Please comment if you have thoughts on them or would like to suggest something yourself:

• Add GitHub stars to let users know how popular the repos are.
• Add dates to blog post cards to let users know that the blog is regularly updated.
• Improve CTA so that users are encouraged to contribute or engage with the content.
• Add link to most recent page to a prominent position on the home page along with something to make it look like it's just been released, as if it's breaking news.
• Increase width of blog posts and content on larger screens.
• Add hamburger menu to header on smaller screens.
• Move menu to the left on larger screens.
• User testimonials and how Torrust has helped them.
• Add looping carousel of images to make the website seem more personal.
• Add videos to blog posts so that the user can read the blog post or watch it being explained it some format. This blog does a good job of combining written and visual: Joy of Code
• Include video testimonials, interviews, or behind-the-scenes footage.
• Include interactive elements such as polls, quizzes, or surveys.
• Host contests or challenges to encourage user participation.
• Create a newsletter to update users when a new post is added, or any other content update. Add a link in a prominent position that encourages user to engage with GitHub repos.
• Display social media other than GitHub or share buttons to encourage users to follow and share the content.
• Display a form to contact us if they have any questions about contributing or about anything else.

[josecelano]

Hi @grmbyrn,

What is the CTA?

I think all of them are good ideas, but I think on the list below, those are the ones with the highest priority (in terms of the value we get from them and considering the effort to implement them). Order by priority.

1. Create a newsletter to update users when a new post is added, or any other content update.
2. Display social media other than GitHub or share buttons to encourage users to follow and share the content.
3. Add link to most recent page to a prominent position on the home page along with something to make it look like it's just been released, as if it's breaking news.
4. Increase width of blog posts and content on larger screens.
5. Add hamburger menu to header on smaller screens.
6. Move menu to the left on larger screens.

[grmbyrn]

That's a good list. Any other ideas are great too.

CTA is 'call to action', something to encourage the user to read the blogs, start contributing, etc. It's from marketing I think, things you see like 'Join free for a month', '30% off for new users' or 'Click the link for exclusive access'. At the moment, 'Get Started' would be the CTA on the Torrust website but perhaps something else, or maybe something in addition to 'Get Started', could make the user more likely to get involved in Torrust.

[cgbosse]

I think that we should focus on the items suggested by Jose first too.
And do them as separate issues with small pushes that way we see the progress each time you finish one.

[grmbyrn]

Display social media other than GitHub or share buttons to encourage users to follow and share the content.

Is there anything other than GitHub which would be appropriate to add in order to encourage users to follow and share content?

[josecelano]

• Copy permanent link
• Share on X
• Share on Facebook
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share on Reddit

Consider using a service like: https://sharethis.com/

[mario-nt]

I like the ideas, but personally, I think some of them like "include video testimonials, user testimonials and how Torrust has helped them" are more geared towards selling products, and might not necessarily fit with the repos, as they are open source and we don't really offer anything that can be sell.

In general, they are all really good ideas!

[cgbosse]

I do agree with this, right now we do not have any user testimonials nor such a large community.