First Draft of A Muse - Please Critique

[GAtkins]

Greetings friends:

Great Book and great site - all that stuff.

I am in the early stages of creating/testing a muse located here:

www.marketscholar.com

It is a site that will provide comprehensive stock market, market history and retirement education in multiple media.

Please take a look if you have time. All constructive comments, critiques, and ideas are much appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any ideas or observations.

Glenn

[wildsoul]

Hi Glenn,

I think you've got a million dollar-sounding domain name!
Your credentials look good.

The website needs a little polishing though. The navigation really confused me, generally you see index buttons on the left, or at the top, but not both. Also, don't underline text unless it's a link.

If you can make your site look as high-level as your idea, and I believe you CAN without hiring an expensive designer, then I think you've got a muse that could be very nice to you.

[MuseMojo]

Congratulations Glen!

Your text content confirms your credentials and experience very well. Your choice of color is restrained and reassuring. Exactly what I'd want from a financial advisor.

I have a graphic designer background and a smidgin of html layout experience, so any one, please feel free to correct my woeful ignorance. Then again, it could just be my screen settings.

My apologies being said in advance...

Headline Banner/rectangle: I suspect that you need a 'hard' or 'forced' line break between "Market Scholar" and "The Best In Investor Education". This will force "The Best in Investor Education" onto its own line. Right now I'm seeing "Education" sitting alone on the second line.

Wildsoul's right. You don't need both sets of index/navigation buttons.

Also, your horizonal "Introduction" thru "Purchase" buttons extend outside the overall table boundaries when my windows screens are in 'nested' format. Just leave them off and just use the vertical ones. It beats trying to create adjustable gif button sizes to your horizontal table measurement. If you want to keep the horizontal ones, why don't you just make the background color the same as the background color within your text area?

Also, the order should probably be

Home
Quick Start (put your links to your dvd, cd, ebook etc here)
Bio
FAQ
Links
Contact
Purchase (put links to dvd, cd, ebooks, etc on this page also)
Paypal 'bug'
Secure transaction 'bug'

Just my 2cents.

[MuseMojo]

Congratulations Glen!

Your text content confirms your credentials and experience very well. Your choice of color is restrained and reassuring. Exactly what I'd want from a financial advisor.

I have a graphic designer background and a smidgin of html layout experience, so any one, please feel free to correct my woeful ignorance. Then again, it could just be my screen settings.

My apologies being said in advance...

Headline Banner/rectangle: I suspect that you need a 'hard' or 'forced' line break between "Market Scholar" and "The Best In Investor Education". This will force "The Best in Investor Education" onto its own line. Right now I'm seeing "Education" sitting alone on the second line.

Wildsoul's right. You don't need both sets of index/navigation buttons.

Also, your horizonal "Introduction" thru "Purchase" buttons extend outside the overall table boundaries when my windows screens are in 'nested' format. Just leave them off and just use the vertical ones. It beats trying to create adjustable gif button sizes to your horizontal table measurement. If you want to keep the horizontal ones, why don't you just make the background color the same as the background color within your text area?

Also, the order should probably be

Home
Quick Start (put your links to your dvd, cd, ebook etc here)
Bio
FAQ
Links
Contact
Purchase (put links to dvd, cd, ebooks, etc on this page also)
Paypal 'bug'
Secure transaction 'bug'

Just my 2cents.

[MarkRoX]

Going along with some of what MuseMojo posted earlier...

As far as the look of your site, you should probably pull elements of presentation from other investment/financial based websites. I'd say aim for a 'clean' and focused appearance, especially with the color palette you choose.

To get some ideas of possible 'looks', you may want to just scroll through some premium website templates and get color ideas. Depending on the complexity of the template, you may even be able to just purchase the template (anywhere between $10-$65) and just cut and paste your text, links, and photos into it. So the graphical layout will already done for you, now you just need to add your content to it.

Also... the colors of your text vs the back ground... light colors on a dark background takes more effort to read than dark on light. I feel that yours take even more effort because they're not completely contrasting colors. The offwhite on top of the marbled background, and then the maroon on top of that in particular, get tiresome on the eyes.

Especially considering how much text content you have for people to read. It's almost a battle compared to other websites who have true contrasting colors between light and dark.

Luckily the content isn't your problem at this point... for many people that's the hardest part.

Good luck!

M.

[GAtkins]

Great suggestions everyone. Thank you very much. Please keep them coming.

MarkRox, any specific ideas about where to get premade templates and do you have specific suggestions on color or other sites to model?

Please keep the comments coming. They are very helpful.

Glenn

[Vagabond]

i will agree that the domain name is great!!

i think the information on the site is really good but I dont like the colors and design layout at all.

also, i would expand on exactly what theyre getting as the descriptions are a bit bare bones in my opinion.

however, i think with the right site you could probably charge a decent amount more. to me once you get over the $40-$50 impulse purchase price point, you just have to use sales copy to justify higher prices and I feel like you could probably charge in the low $100's.. obviously this isnt based on anything but if its selling well at $79 you could always try raising the price and see what happens...

[Marcie]

I think the design could be greatly improved simply by having a professional "logo" and tagline done in a banner that would take up the top part of the page...probably could be done cheaply by someone at elance.com

HTH!

[atiff]

hey Glenn

Great job , i like the whole thing, and i think you will do great. I was wondering what tools you used to create your DVD, any advice would be highly appreciated. Thanks and keep it up

[GAtkins]

Thanks. I use a Pro-sumer version of an Panasonic 3CCD (forget the model as I am not at home) camera and Adobe Premeire Elements for non-linear editing.

Initially I will burn the first-run myself using my computer and print covers and directly on the DVD using an Epson printer specifically made to print directly on the printable surfaces of the DVD, which most of them will do. This is slow but effective for small-batch stuff.

I have looked into outsourcing the DVD duplication and have discovered from multiple sources that "retail-ready" production packages can be had for in the range of $3.20 to $3.50 per DVD in quantities of as little as 100, for duplication only, no fulfillment. I may go this route in the future, depending on the success of the venture.

Glenn

[atiff]

Thanks. I use a Pro-sumer version of an Panasonic 3CCD (forget the model as I am not at home) camera and Adobe Premeire Elements for non-linear editing.

Initially I will burn the first-run myself using my computer and print covers and directly on the DVD using an Epson printer specifically made to print directly on the printable surfaces of the DVD, which most of them will do. This is slow but effective for small-batch stuff.

I have looked into outsourcing the DVD duplication and have discovered from multiple sources that "retail-ready" production packages can be had for in the range of $3.20 to $3.50 per DVD in quantities of as little as 100, for duplication only, no fulfillment. I may go this route in the future, depending on the success of the venture.

Glenn
Great, thanks Glenn. I'll be sure to keep my eyes on the site as it does look rather interesting. However, one critique is the layout, not to be harsh or anything, but it does look a bit dull, although that shouldn't be considered a problem seeing that it can be fixed with little effort. Good luck again with your muse.

[GAtkins]

OK, Gang:

I have implemented many of the above suggested changes.

In addition, I am still working on the following:

1) Hired a graphic designer to create a logo.
2) Am currently working on making the content more specific in terms of what clients will receive.

Please keep the critiques and suggestions coming. You all have been very helpful.

Check it out

www.marketscholar.com

Glenn

[captaink]

Urghs...

Please get rid of the table borders.
You can enter some padding between cells another way. Try this:

<table border="0" cellpadding="5">

It will look much cleaner and nicer.

You might also want to use a sans-serif font for online pages.
serifs are the little curves at the end of letters. They help guide the eye in print material, but look awful on screen.

<body style="font-family:Verdana, Tahoma, sans-serif">

Regards,

::captaink::

[GAtkins]

Urghs...

Please get rid of the table borders.
You can enter some padding between cells another way. Try this:

<table border="0" cellpadding="5">

It will look much cleaner and nicer.

You might also want to use a sans-serif font for online pages.
serifs are the little curves at the end of letters. They help guide the eye in print material, but look awful on screen.

<body style="font-family:Verdana, Tahoma, sans-serif">

Regards,

::captaink::



Thanks again for the suggestions. I'll make those changes as soon as I can.

I would also like some suggestions on the content and if anyone thinks this can be a successful project.

I have been test marketing this on Google for about a week without much success.

Thanks.

Glenn

[Vacman]

GAtkins,

Forgive me as I don't have much time to post this response.

I'll be brief.

I like your site and your concept, and I admire your persistence and dedication.

When I first look at your site I don't understand exactly what I can get out of it.

People buy for selfish reasons, they are only motivated by what they are going to get out of the deal.

Because of that I think you need a good "headline" which would included a benefit.

For example "Learn how I was able to turn 200 dollars into 5,000 dollars in a year using my 20 years + as a..."

That’s probably not the best, but I'm just typin like a maniac right now :)

Basically what I'm getting at here is that if I don't immediately understand what I'm going to get out of your site RIGHT AWAY, I'm gone in a click of a second.

No offense, but the customer does not care about you, unless they understand how you are going to help them. And they want specifics.

Market information is very vague, how are you going to help me?

Money, education, market updates? Newsletter?

I don't know.

What's the benefit?

Once you distill the benefit down into it's basic refined element then slap that up top where the potential customer can see that RIGHT AWAY and have no question about what they will get when they invest in your product.

Hope this helps! :)

[Marcie]

^ I think that's great advice. Glenn, are you getting decent traffic, at least? Can you tell us what keywords you are using?

[GAtkins]

^ I think that's great advice. Glenn, are you getting decent traffic, at least? Can you tell us what keywords you are using?

No decent traffic at all. I have had 20 clicks on 62,894 impressions in the last 10 days or so. Below are the key words.

Glenn




asset allocation ** 0.40
asset allocation life cycle ** 0.62
asset management education ** 0.62
basics of stock market ** 1.00
bear stock market ** 0.62
beginner stock market investing ** 1.00
beginning investing ** 1.90
beginning investor ** 1.00
bond market history ** 0.62
cfa education ** 0.62
credential financial ** 0.62
credit risk ** 0.62
credit risk analysis ** 0.62
education finances ** 0.62
education financials ** 0.62
educational finance ** 0.62
educational finances ** 0.62
educational financial ** 0.62
educational investment ** 0.62
educational investor ** 0.62
educational investors ** 0.62
equity market history ** 1.00
excel monte carlo simulations ** 0.62
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financial advisor
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financial freedom ** 0.62
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financial independence ** 2.00
financial investment ** 0.62
financial learning ** 0.62
financial literacy ** 2.00
financial litercy ** 0.62
financial market ** 0.40
financial market data ** 1.00
financial market education ** 1.00
financial market history ** 1.00
financial market risk ** 1.00
financial market statistics ** 0.62
financial markets ** 0.62
financial planning ** 0.40
financial programs ** 0.62
financial risk ** 0.62
financial risk analysis ** 1.00
financial risk manager ** 0.62
financial seminar ** 0.62
financial seminars ** 0.62
financial skills ** 1.00
financial teachers ** 0.62
financial teaching ** 0.62
financial training ** 0.62
financial university ** 0.62
financing schools ** 0.62
historic stock market performance ** 0.62
historical market performance ** 1.00
historical market statistics ** 1.00
historical stock market ** 1.00
historical stock market performance ** 1.00
historical stock market statistics ** 0.62
how to invest ** 1.00
individual investor ** 1.00
industry market statistics ** 0.62
intelligent investor ** 0.62
invest in stock market ** 0.62
investing ** 0.62
investing advice ** 1.00
investing basics ** 2.00
investing education ** 2.00
investing for beginner ** 1.00
investing in stock ** 1.15
investing in stock market ** 1.36
investing in the stock market ** 4.45
investing market ** 0.62
investing stock
investing stock market
investing stocks
investment advice
investment adviser ** 0.62
investment advisor ** 0.62
investment advisors
investment basics ** 0.62
investment diversification ** 0.62
investment education ** 2.00
investment educator ** 0.62
investment guide ** 0.62
investment information ** 0.62
investment manager ** 0.40
investment managers
investment market ** 0.62
investment portfolios ** 0.62
investment research ** 1.00
investment risk ** 1.00
investment risk analysis ** 0.62
investment risk management ** 0.62
investment schools ** 0.62
investments ** 0.62
investor ** 0.40
investor education ** 2.00
investor information ** 0.62
investor performance ** 0.62
investor return ** 0.62
investor returns ** 0.62
investor schools ** 0.62
investors education ** 1.00
learn about stock market ** 1.00
learn about the stock market ** 1.00
learn how to invest ** 0.62
learn stock market ** 0.62
learn to invest ** 0.62
long term investor ** 0.62
long term stock ** 0.62
make money ** 0.62
managing financial risk ** 1.00
managing investment risk ** 0.62
market anomalies ** 0.40
market prediction stock
market research ** 1.00
market research stock
market risk ** 0.62
market risk analysis ** 1.00
market risk model ** 0.62
market risks ** 0.62
market strategies ** 0.62
market trends ** 0.40
marketing research ** 0.62
money education ** 1.00
money management ** 2.00
money manager ** 0.40
monte carlo ** 0.62
monte carlo analysis ** 0.62
monte carlo analysis software ** 0.62
monte carlo finance ** 0.40
monte carlo investment simulation ** 0.62
monte carlo method ** 0.62
monte carlo methods ** 0.62
monte carlo model ** 0.62
monte carlo pricing ** 1.00
monte carlo risk ** 0.62
monte carlo risk analysis ** 0.62
monte carlo risk assessment ** 0.62
monte carlo simulation ** 0.62
monte carlo simulation examples ** 0.62
monte carlo simulation excel ** 0.62
monte carlo simulation finance ** 0.62
monte carlo simulation in excel ** 0.62
monte carlo simulation introduction ** 0.62
monte carlo simulation methods ** 0.62
monte carlo simulation model ** 0.62
monte carlo simulation program ** 0.62
monte carlo simulation retirement ** 0.62
monte carlo simulation software ** 0.62
monte carlo simulation technique ** 0.62
monte carlo simulation tool ** 0.62
monte carlo simulation using excel ** 0.62
monte carlo simulations ** 0.62
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monte carlo study ** 0.62
online education ** 0.62
online stock education ** 3.05
performance attribution ** 0.62
personal finance ** 1.00
personal finance education ** 1.00
personal financial planning ** 1.00
retirement education ** 2.00
retirement investing ** 2.66
retirement investment ** 0.62
retirement planning ** 1.00
return on investment ** 0.40
return simulation ** 0.62
risk asset allocation ** 0.62
risk attribution ** 0.62
risk identification ** 0.62
risk management ** 0.62
risk manager ** 0.62
risk measurement ** 0.62
risk profile ** 0.62
risk profiling ** 0.62
risk questionnaire ** 1.00
risk reduction ** 0.62
risk reward ratio ** 0.62
risk tolerance questionnaire ** 0.62
schooling investment ** 0.62
schools financial ** 0.62
start investing ** 0.62
stock education ** 0.62
stock historical ** 0.62
stock investing ** 1.00
stock investing basics ** 1.00
stock investing course ** 2.25
stock investing education ** 1.00
stock investment ** 0.62
stock investment education ** 4.43
stock investment history ** 1.00
stock investments ** 3.25
stock market ** 0.40
stock market 101 ** 0.40
stock market advice ** 1.00
stock market advisor ** 1.00
stock market advisors
stock market analysis
stock market analysis software ** 0.62
stock market basic ** 0.62
stock market basics ** 1.00
stock market beginner ** 1.00
stock market book ** 1.00
stock market books ** 1.00
stock market chart
stock market charts
stock market class
stock market classes
stock market commentary ** 1.00
stock market course
stock market courses ** 1.00
stock market crash ** 1.00
stock market data ** 1.00
stock market education
stock market educational ** 1.00
stock market for beginners ** 1.00
stock market for dummies
stock market forecast ** 0.62
stock market forecasting ** 0.62
stock market forecasts ** 0.62
stock market graph
stock market graphs
stock market guide ** 1.00
stock market help ** 1.00
stock market historical ** 1.00
stock market histories ** 1.00
stock market history ** 1.50
stock market history charts ** 1.00
stock market history data ** 1.00
stock market how to ** 1.00
stock market info ** 0.62
stock market information ** 1.00
stock market invest ** 0.62
stock market investing ** 1.00
stock market investing 101 ** 1.00
stock market investing for dummies ** 1.00
stock market investing strategy ** 1.00
stock market investment
stock market investment advice ** 0.62
stock market investment research ** 0.40
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stock market investments ** 0.62
stock market investor ** 0.62
stock market investors ** 0.62
stock market learning ** 0.62
stock market lesson ** 1.00
stock market lessons ** 1.00
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stock market patterns ** 0.40
stock market plans ** 0.62
stock market prediction software ** 0.62
stock market price history ** 1.00
stock market program
stock market research ** 1.00
stock market result ** 0.62
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stock market risk ** 1.00
stock market risks ** 1.00
stock market schools ** 1.00
stock market seminar ** 1.00
stock market simulation ** 0.62
stock market software ** 0.62
stock market statistics ** 1.00
stock market strategies ** 1.00
stock market strategy ** 0.40
stock market summary ** 0.62
stock market teacher ** 1.00
stock market teaching ** 1.00
stock market tip ** 0.62
stock market tips ** 0.62
stock market tool ** 0.62
stock market tools ** 0.62
stock market tracking ** 0.62
stock market training ** 1.00
stock market trend ** 0.62
stock market trends ** 0.62
stock market tutorial ** 1.00
stock market tutorials ** 1.00
stock market understanding ** 1.00
stock market valuation ** 0.62
stock market value ** 0.62
stock markets history ** 1.00
stock performance ** 0.62
stock research
stock returns ** 0.62
stock trade education ** 0.62
stock trading education ** 0.62
stock volatility ** 0.62
successful retirement ** 1.00
successful strategies ** 0.62
successful strategy ** 0.62
the stock market ** 0.62
understanding the stock market ** 1.00
united states market ** 0.62
us stock market ** 0.62
us stock market statistics ** 0.62
value at risk ** 0.62
value at risk model ** 0.62
wealth ** 0.62
wealth creation ** 0.62
wealth education ** 1.00
what is monte carlo simulation ** 0.62
"making money" ** 0.62
[invest] ** 0.62

[Vacman]

GAtkins,

I'm gonna jump in here really quick again.

You're keywords are obviously creating impressions, as you've gotten over 62,000 of them.

You need to try and increase your clicks, or your click through rate (CTR).

That's not going to be done with your keywords specifically. (Although it can have some correlation)

What you probably need to do is to work on your ads that are displaying because it seems as though people are viewing your ads (impressions) but not clicking on them (CTR) because they are not finding them interesting enough.

You need something that is relevant to your market and that can grab their attention.

I have no idea what you are currently using for ads, but I'd try split testing a few different ideas.

Try something a little shocking, or compelling:

"Where Did My Finances Go?"
"Exponential Financial Growth"
"Renegade Financial Advisor"
"Frolic in Financial Freedom"

Again, these are probably bad examples, but you never know until you test.

You'll also need to come up with two lines below your ads headline, try to convey benefit to the potential customer. Remember, it's all about them.

Marketing = testing

You can guess all you want, but until you test, you'll never know.

Best of luck!

[Marcie]

Do you know how many of those impressions are from the content network? You're getting a ton I would bet just from the stock market keywords alone. I would be interested in knowing the CTR just from people searching...

[GAtkins]

Do you know how many of those impressions are from the content network? You're getting a ton I would bet just from the stock market keywords alone. I would be interested in knowing the CTR just from people searching...

Marcie,

Of 63,225 total impressions the breakdown is as follows:

Google+Search Network: 10,916 impressions and 15 clicks = CTR of .13%.

Content Network: 52,309 impressions and 5 clicks = CTR of .00%.

I just now changed the whole ad group up, so we'll see how it performs over the next few days.

Keep the suggestions coming guys and gals. They are most helpful. Thanks again.

Glenn

[GAtkins]

I went back and looked at all the key words that were getting significant impressions (primarily the ones with "monte carlo" in them) but that I deemed not directly related to the site and subtracted them from the totals. I also paused these keywords going forward.

This brings the total clicks to 10 on 3,405 impressions for a CTR of .29%.

Still seems quite low. I'll see how the new ads do.

Any more advice, particularly on content and potential success? I am working on the asthetics.

Glenn

[lykrah]

Hi Glenn,

I think the content could use some editing. I found some sentences that are awkward or had redundant words in them. A copywriter could also help you punch it up a bit to make it more exciting.

Just my .02.

[captaink]

You are also guilty of a common mistake:

You are NOT making it easy to buy your stuff.

Have a "buy the Market Scholar Material now" Paragraph (offset it with a border maybe) on every page:


<div style="border: 1px solid #FFCC00">
<b><a href="buypage.html">Buy the Market Scholar course now</a></b><br>
Only 79.95 including
<ul>
<li>Audio book</li>
<li>...</li>
</ul>


On the front page, link to the subpages in the text. When you are talking about the audio book, set a link, when you talk about the e-book, set a link....

Regards,
::captaink::