Muse sales page generator tool - Poll to gauge interest

[dvdwlsh]

Okay, in the spirit of ultra-focused market research, I'd like to conduct a survey of fellow forum readers to help me determine whether or not to release a product:

Background
Over the past few months, I've been working behind-the-scenes with a select group of muse-creators that approached me with excellent product ideas but nearly no technical or design expertise. Many on the forum here face this same challenge. Creating a beautiful site with all the essentials for must-testing, order processing, search engine optimization, etc. Everyone is re-inventing the same wheel and many of you have found out the hard way that just throwing money at an Elance'er does not always create the results you expected. Hideous designs, poorly coded websites, lackluster copyrighting and countless hours becoming an expert in something you'd rather not become an expert in -- this scenario is all too common amongst the muse-minded.

Solution
Using my background as a web designer and software developer, I've created tools that automate much of this process. A muse sales page consists of many common elements and the only real variable is the product and the design. Every muse needs somewhat formulaic sales copy, order processing, SEO-friendly code, compelling photos, etc. These tools allow me to generate effective, attractive sales pages rapidly and handle the 80% that is the same from muse to muse. I've built this out of a need of efficiency and a general boredom with re-inventing wheels every time I have a product to market.

Question
If I were to release these tools as one simple product that would allow you to go from muse concept to web-ready, fully functional, multi-page sales site in under 1-2 hours, what would be your level of interest? I would likely price the product at $200-$300, which I would contrast to the bare-minimum of $500+ we generally must spend to have anything created via Elance, not to mention the many hours spent overcoming other web/technology hurdles.

Key Features

Highly polished design templates built using search engine friendly, standards-based code
Sales copywriting template/guide that ensures you follow the formulas known to convert for your particular product type
Includes numerous muse-specific elements (Testimonials, Feature Lists, Order Now buttons, Newsletter Opt-In Forms)
Adwords campaign generator to ensure your Adwords campaign and content convert


Feedback
What challenges would you need a tool to solve to justify your purchase? What are your concerns or questions? I'm truly deciding whether to invest the time to turn my proprietary tools into a product and any thoughts are highly valued.

[Susanna]

This is a great idea. Once concern is that not all muses are the same, some are product based and some are information based.

My biggest concern as a potential customer is that I don't want my website to look just like everyone else's. I want to express some individuality there, a brand identity if you will.

[dvdwlsh]

This is a great idea. Once concern is that not all muses are the same, some are product based and some are information based.
Agreed. The product would accommodate both types of products and would not try to force-fit them into the same mold.


My biggest concern as a potential customer is that I don't want my website to look just like everyone else's. I want to express some individuality there, a brand identity if you will.

Agreed again and I share that concern. The actual templates can be fully customized in terms of colors, layout, etc. and allows for you or a designer to completely tailor the aesthetic. The "templates" are more about structure and flow of elements as opposed to visual templates.

[sweet]

Fantastic idea!

I would definitely pay $200-300 for a package like that. Especially judging by your Audio Mixologist site. :-)

Clearly, you know how to put together a beautiful site, so that speaks for itself.

However, in return for my money I would want to be sure that your package is going to offer something more than, say, this easy-to-use free package: http://www.blinkweb.com.

I want evidence that you are able to use SEO techniques properly to ensure the best possible Google page rank for the pages on the sites you build.

And in terms of copywriting (i.e. sales pages), then I would also want to have evidence that you have a track record of writing sales pages that convert well (i.e. have led to real sales).

If you can convince me about those things, then I would buy your package in an instant. No hesitation.

[dvdwlsh]

...I would want to be sure that your package is going to offer something more than, say, this easy-to-use free package: http://www.blinkweb.com.
This is certainly a tool worth looking at, much like Weebly, but I'd take it in a different direction. More directly focused on sales page creation (though they do have some support for that) and with far more guidance to the novice-level muse creator.


I want evidence that you are able to use SEO techniques properly to ensure the best possible Google page rank for the pages on the sites you build.


Agreed. This would all be backed-up by industry-accepted approaches and tactics, rather than just my personal tactics.


And in terms of copywriting (i.e. sales pages), then I would also want to have evidence that you have a track record of writing sales pages that convert well (i.e. have led to real sales).


The one undeniable fact of sales letter creation is that, though products differ, it remains highly formulaic. Many people are making ungodly sums of money by following a similar approach. I would clearly support my claims on the product's sales page.

Appreciate the thoughts!

[Napoleon]

I'm a web designer and I'd definitely purchase it since designing a muse website takes too much time if you want it to be unique and attractive. At $200-$300 it looks a little pricey to me. How about $150? :)

[Napoleon]

How long will it take you to get it up and running? I'm anxious to get my hands on your product.

[TinaD]

Interesting concept...would like to know how it differs from a lot of the other design templates out there...I have used a couple of them and not been impressed, which is why I have gone to Elance now.

[webgal]

Examples on that site, blinkweb? I don't see anything but templates.

[Driven]

Like others, I would want to know that things like SEO and sales letter skills are good. I wouldn't have a problem purchasing a product that would do what I need it to do, which would be to rank high for search terms and sell effectively. The AudioMixologist site is amazing - would the program generate sites of that caliber?

[Napoleon]

I'm anxious!!!!!! When do you think you can have this SUPER MUSE ready??

[dvdwlsh]

Like others, I would want to know that things like SEO and sales letter skills are good. I wouldn't have a problem purchasing a product that would do what I need it to do, which would be to rank high for search terms and sell effectively. The AudioMixologist site is amazing - would the program generate sites of that caliber?

Driven, all of those things will be proven and validated on the sales page. There are effective, proven ways to handle SEO optimization, Adwords campaign creation and sales copy writing, and I simply want to make it simpler for muse-creators to follow the path of what works.

And yes (appreciate the compliment), the tool would create sites as compelling (and moreso) than my product's site. Design is such an overlook aspect of sales pages and this will allow for truly beautiful designs.

[webgal]

Like others, I would want to know that things like SEO and sales letter skills are good.

Sales letters aren't going to get you a ton of SEO. Menu driven sites do. Sales letters run on good prospect lists and ppc ads.

Menu-driven websites work better for SEO since there are more title tags and opportunities to have people land on subject-rich pages.

I guess the typical person doesn't know that there are templates out there. Usually, people just take a template use kompozer (a free tool) and customize from there. However, not everyone will know that and they will want something all-in-one. There are a ton of web builders out there. So you'd have to have at least some templates. And then people want to customize. There's where you get in to trouble. There's only so much you can do in this regard to make it easy for the web stupid.

[JKohlbach]

I'm a programmer and don't have a problem whipping up a site. But the time (hours/days) it consumes in "getting it perfect" to a standard i'm happy with is something i'd really be interested in negating.

In all seriousness, if your tool could generate what you say it can, I would pay money for it, probably in the range of $200. I think that is a fair price for what it does (automate something that can be done by hand with the right know how). I've had similar ideas about this in the past, but don't know enough about marketing to get it done effectively. Great idea, keep up the good work.

[dvdwlsh]

JKohlback, thanks for weighing in. Check out my post from earlier tonight for a quick demo if the tool in action...

Here's the post:
http://fourhourworkweek.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=2468