Quantity or Quality Recipes: What's more important Zazz?

[RZ-Admin]

Hiya Zazzites!
What's more important to you? The quality of recipes you find on Zazz or the quantity of recipes?

We'd love to hear your opinions as we plan improvements.

For example, if we required a good quality image of a recipe before making it public, what do you think?

Private recipes would still not require an image.

What other ideas do you have about improving the quality of recipes?

Thanks!
- Dave

[QueenBea]

Hey Dave, I'm glad you posted this here. In my opinion the quality of the recipe is very important. If the recipe is not well written I don't bother with it. It could be a great recipe and I might be missing out by not trying it, who knows..... That is just me.
I like a uniform format font on the recipes, by this I mean capitals where there should be capitals, periods at the end of an instruction and same size font for fractions ie: 1/2 cup or ½ cup throughout the recipe. It looks messy if you have a bunch of fractions with different font sizes/formats on the same recipe.
It is also important to me to have clear and concise instructions.
Again, If the recipe looks messy/not well written, I just keep scrolling and looking for another one.
This is not meant to offend any recipe author, it is only my opinion. ;)

[Shadows1]

I agree Bea.
I don't think requiring a photo is a good idea, many a good recipe here does not have a photo and requiring one would deter from the quality of the site.
That used to be part of the fun, making something and then photographing it.
I for one can no longer work well with my cameras and just wouldn't post here if photo was required.

Quality over quantity everytime.

[RZ-Admin]

Thanks for everyone's input. Are there more ideas on how to improve quality?

[Misa]

I agree that photos shouldn't be a requirement. Goodness knows we have some fabulous photographers that would do a better job than I could. I think it could be a turn off for those that don't feel comfortable with taking pictures and uploading.

[JostLori]

Agree with everyone else - a photo shouldn't be required to post a recipe. Sometimes we post recipes so we don't have to remember multiple websites where there are recipes we want to make at some point in the future. Not only that, but then we couldn't include Recipezazz private recipes in games like "Only the Lonely" that aren't reviewed or have a photo. The St Pats game going on right now gives extra points for submitting a photo to a recipe that doesn't have one. If a recipe is private, we wouldn't know about it. And finally, it would really stymie our games at Food Friends and Fun, where we madly post recipes for regions, or food themes, for play in the game. At JAP, they say "Recipes without photos will not show in newest recipes but will still be searchable, shareable and visible in your kitchen profile." That seems reasonable!

[RZ-Admin]

Yes. It is reasonable to allow recipes without photos and to figure out other ways to determine what shows where.

I'm still looking for other good ideas on how to improve the quality of the recipes.

Low quality recipes hinder people's experience on Zazz. So how can we improve our recipes?

[Misa]

Hmmm, could you direct us to what makes a recipe low quality or an example, maybe we can make more specific suggestions? What are people finding to be a problem?

[LindasBusyKitchen]

The quality of the recipe is definitely the most important thing to me. I like an introduction to the recipe and examples on how the recipe can be used in other recipes. Ex: Spaghetti Sauce... Great to use to make Lasagna, Stuffed Shells, Manicotti, Spaghetti Pie etc. I can look at a recipe and pretty much tell if I am going to like it or not, and if the recipe doesn't tell me anything, then I move on to find a better one. I don't necessarily need a photo in order to try one, but it is great to see an enticing photo that makes your mouth water. Not a requirement though for me!

[Sue]

I notice in the recipe results there isn't a sort for photo.
If there were, I would also be interested in sorting by multiple terms, such as sorting for recipes with photos and reviews.
That being said, I would also like to flip the results to pull up oldest, or those with no reviews or no photos (or any combination).
That is not going to improve quality though.
As far as quantity/quality, quality is a subjective thing. I wouldn't restrict recipes based on lack of photography. Bad photos can be worse than no photo. Reviews go a very long way.
I would suggest a separate dynamic feed on the cover page that admin would pick recipes to add to that have exceptional photos and numerous reviews. Sort of like a Zazz version of Foodgawker. People will want their recipes there, so they will try harder to get them there.
Getting good exposure on the best recipes is key, and you want to keep those pictures changing. Not have the same picture there for a month or Halloween recipes featured in March.
Then make a Pinterest board that admin also adds those to. And Pinterest boards do best with long pins. Admin can create quality pins from even square or wide photos. Pinterest can help bring in those vital new users. Google likes lots of users. Not just page views. New users from different IP's, not just the same IP hitting multiple pages over and over.