News and Reviews : Running a user driven website today viz. MouthShut.com is like running and participating in a nascent Democracy. No way, every one will be happy. I guess that is the summary of customer feedback for MS.
The challenge for MS type of sites (without having own inventory or products) is content and quality. Unfortunately, you can’t filter and control too much, lest you will lose the appeal. May be that is the case with MS.
Of course, some of Faisal’s team could be biased to promote a particular type of User / Blog / Reviews or bashing, but I guess overall he has done a fine job with his MS initiative.
If I were to recommend changes, I would do the followings:
1. Remove Google Ad’s from Reviews space. It is irritating for readers. There are other ways of making marketing revenue to sustain the business cost.
2. Genuine News and Reviews about People, Product and Places at Mouthshut.com should be rewarded based on Reader Hits and Feedback.
3. My Diary Post should be 100% free for the individual inserts, without any control and censorship from MS Team. Let this also be rated as other reviews. This will build more interaction with MS Members and that will push MS Alexa Ranking.
4. Mouth-Pad approval response is very-very slow. They are taking over 15-20 days to approve a new review. By that time, story and excitement is over. May be the reviewers are not competent to judge or decide quickly.
5. International Appeal - MouthShut.com is run by an NRI but it has very limited international appeal. Not many people know about it in United States where I stay.
6. Look and Feel – MouthShut.com new look is good but still way behind for a site that has Alexa Ranking as high as 3K.
Over all a good site. I would rate MouthShut.com 3.5 on 5 Stars.
Cheers to Faisal and the MouthShut? Team!
Manish Jaiswal
CEO – Bonsai Insurance Brokers
India InsuranceMall?; USA InsuranceMall