Okay, gente. The first installment of The Fitlanthropist is over, and I am in the process of collecting my donations. $10. $10. That’s all I’m asking for. I lost ten pounds, and I’m paying $10 into the donation pot for Free Arts of Arizona. I would LOVE if you would join me by donating BEFORE next Friday, January 22 (you can do so by going HERE).
I am not quite at the point where I’m ready to evaluate how this went (because I still need some donations), but I would like some preliminary input from you all…and you’ll get the chance to win a $15 iTunes giftcard compliments of the Fitlanthropist. Here’s what you need to do:
Leave a comment for me with your name and tell me how I can improve what I’m doing with The Fitlanthropist.
Be brutally honest. There are a decent amount of readers (I check the stats once in a while), so I know some of you must have something to say. I need to hear it, else there’s no way I can improve, nor will I reach future fundraising goals! After you leave your comment, I’ll assign you a number in the order you post and next Friday (Jan. 22), I’ll use a random number generator to “draw” our winner. And again, you’ll get a $15 iTunes gift card.
Neato, right? You don’t even have to pay for postage. 
Go!
Hi John! I would like to be able to subscribe to your updates on Google Reader, but it tells me that there is no feed. I don’t know anything about this kind of stuff, so maybe it’s user error.
Great job!
Tara
Okay, nevermind. I figured it out. Okay, then my next comment is that I want to see a graph.
Okay. I’ll be honest. The page isn’t that eye-catching, you know? Color… must have color! And graphics! You definitely need an icon or mascot or whatever they call those representative symbols (sudden vocab infarct going on here). Your masthead is a bit plain, I think making it more interesting would go a LOOONG way in improving the appearance of the whole site. Vary your fonts and colors more. I do understand/appreciate the simplistic design and adding some of those design elements doesn’t have to ruin it!! I love the color blocks on the home page! Too much white space on most of the pages… you don’t have to fill white space with graphics like pictures, but simple lines and bars that match the theme would do the trick.
And here comes the apology: Sorry if too brutal. I really do like the page and LOVE the project! You rock!
)
I have no idea. I’m trying to lose weight too. Good on ya! Keep it up.
I agree with Erika, about the aesthetics. I’d also like to see more about the “how” and “what” you are doing. It would mean more work on the posting, so maybe that isn’t feasible for you, but I’d really like to see the “Today was tough because…., but I made this choice because….”
there have been some good ideas already suggested. i personally like the simplicity of the sight though. i like that there isn’t a lot going on. i like kelly’s idea about what you are doing. like the pictures when we all went running during christmas. have you taken a before picture? because you should. then you can see how much you have changed after all of this!
Thanks for the comments so far, everyone! There’s no such thing as too brutal here…let me have it! It’s all for improvement sake!
I like the site. I also really admire what you’re doing, losing weight for charity is a laudable pursuit. My suggestion is to add a blog-roll. Just a thought.
Thanks, Andrew. A great idea…I have since added your blog to the list.
I like the look of your site, but I too would like to see what exactly you’re doing to lose the weight. Maybe a post every now and then describing your typical workout or about what changes to your diet you have made. I think it motivates me more to hear about the details of exercise and diet changes that other people do. And it gives me ideas for what I can do too.
I agree with Kelly about getting specific on what you’re doing to lose weight. Food choices, exercise, what trips you up, what successes you’re having, etc.
You could also include recipes, inspirational thoughts…etc.
I also think it might be cool to do a post or two about the charity you choose. Maybe they would guest post?
Those are just some of my thoughts.