Muse website feedback

[jc_]

I've gotten a first-draft homespun version of my muse up and live on the web, but haven't yet started the trial period with PPC advertising. First, I was hoping that some of the people on this site could provide any initial feedback on design, look/feel, wording, content, etc, as well as general feedback.

Also, I've had some font size problems across browsers (font looks tiny in Safari), and am not sure what to do about that.

www.sounds-delicious.com

Thanks so much! It is very appreciated!

Jen

[cartoonfan1983]

Jen,

I Really like this idea. Your site looks well done, especially for just starting on it. I Love the colors and the layout. I think it's a good price as well. Great job!

[wildsoul]

Great start! Looks good. The FAQ is really well done. Great biz name for your product.

Looking forward to your testing results on the viability of your idea overall, but your site does look good, clear, and credible.

[turk]

Hi,
What a great idea.
Site design however can use some help.

I don't know your technical background on web development, but this will be right in line with 4hr. work week principles:

Sitepoint (http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/) is like Elance for the web world.

You can get design work done cheap (er)
What else you can do there is ask for feedback just like you're doing here. These guys/gals will do the same thing we're doing here, but for design/colors/links etc.etc.

Be warned! they can be ruthless. The very first web site I designed years and years ago I spent close to a year building it (early web years.) I thought people were going to love it as I did. The comments were so "honest" I almost cried. It was a definite blow to my ego, but served me well for years to come.

After all it's not what you or I think about your creating where we might have emotional vested interest, but what the visitor will think/feel about your site.

You may want to have a sample on your site to find out how many visitors will download it. That's always a good indicator

[lykrah]

Jen,

What a great idea and nice-looking website. Everything seems thought-through and looks professional. The only comment I have is about the two photos on the front. The top left photo has a pink hue and the bottom right makes the fruits look "flat." I would Photoshop those a bit or get new photos done that look more professional.

Wish I'd thought of this myself. :)

[jc_]

Thanks for all of the replies so far. They are very helpful! sitepoint.com looks like an excellent resource.

Also, I came across this link that might be helpful to people out there if you're trying to design your own site -- it's a review of the three most popular blogging softwares (wish I'd seen this before!)
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/blog-software-smackdown-review

Jen

[coollikeme]

I think you need a business phone number, in or contact information. To make you more accessible, most people like to talk to someone if they have an issue or a question.

[final_id]

What "most people like" might not be what "makes the most money."

Eye on the prize. A phone number where people can talk to YOU? ANY TIME? EEeeeeek ...

[coollikeme]

On your site. How can you expect them to trust you. If there is a problem people want to talk to someone. Just set hours when they can call like 10 am to 3pm or a time that suits you, and if you get a lot of calls. Then outsource or hire someone, if you are getting a lot of calls. That is a good thing, because then you get a chance to satisfy your customer, And In the end that leads to more money. The prize is take care of the customer and they will take care of you.

[final_id]

That's old-think, "take care of the customer and they will take care of you." I think Tim's book is pretty clear that sometimes a customer isn't worth the trouble he costs you. Part of the premise of this book is to leave old-think behind. There are certainly times that having a customer-service phone number displayed prominently will inspire some confidence. But there are also times when paying for an 800 number and staffing it is counter-productive, and you might actually want to reject the five $5 sales you could get in a week by paying $400 a week to run that customer-service office. You have to think more clearly than, just to spout the old aphorisms about doing business "right," and start to realize that the old "right" might be the new "wrong," or at least the new "unprofitable" or "hide-bound" or "traditional but slow" or even "bloody minded."

There's a phase when giving out a personal phone number is a good idea. Tim's clear on it. Are you in that phase? Are you clear on it?

[jc_]

this is something I have wondered about, and both viewpoints seem valid to me

what I think I'm going to do is get an inexpensive prepaid cell phone and list that number. my guess of what will happen is that I won't get many calls (if any), but having the # there will inspire some confidence that there is a real person at the other end of the website/product, which for my muse idea is somewhat important--I emphasize that it is made by 'real people' for 'real people', so I suppose there should probably be a 'real person' to answer any questions.

thanks again for all of the feedback so far

-jen

[final_id]

Don't forget to write down all questions and answers in order to incorporate into an online FAQ.

[phil]

Cool site idea!

One small thing: I'd make the font size much larger

I'd also make the navigation CSS styled text rather than images.
Something like this: http://css.maxdesign.com.au/listamatic/horizontal10.htm
And there's more to start with here: http://css.maxdesign.com.au/listamatic/

You could get an 800 number, have a professional voice prompt and extensions (press 1 for sales, press 2 for billing), and "sorry we are closed now, please call back between..."

Then it could forward to your home and cell phone at the same time.

Check out gotvmail for this: http://www.gotvmail.com/

I see a big future for Sounds Delicious. It could be more than just audio lessons, you could eventually supplement it with video lessons, cooking articles with great photos, or maybe even a community message board for readers to share ideas.

[final_id]

There are ways to make your website have a font-size which the users can easily increase or decrease. (In fact, most browsers do this anyway, though few people use that option.) Just like there are ways to have it translated easily into Finnish or Khmer by a simple click from the user. Talk to your web designer.

[clear_identity]

Colors are just plain brilliant. Did you design the whole website yourself ? If yes can you please list out your resources of software, template websites or any other resource that might be helpful for someone who is just starting to make a website for his muse.

Thanks.

[websiteadvice.com]

What "most people like" might not be what "makes the most money."

Eye on the prize. A phone number where people can talk to YOU? ANY TIME? EEeeeeek ...


Brilliantly said. One of my clients asked me "Whats the most beautiful site you've ever seen?"

I said... "A Pile of money"

LOL.

[jc_]

Thanks phil for the CSS links-- I wanted to do that with the menu but didn't know how

Thanks for the compliment clear_identity. I used Dreamweaver and Photoshop to create the site. I created a single template with the banner and the navigation (also specifying colors, etc), then created another template from this with the colored side bars.

However, instead of designing it from scratch yourself, you might consider using a blogging engine (Wordpress, MovableType, etc). Or you can just start straight away with a Yahoo Merchant Account (http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/ecommerce/index.php? ) which can help you design a site. If you host with yahoo they have the two blogging engines I mentioned above built-in. Also, they offer a plugin for dreamweaver if you decide to go that route. In my case, if I do decide to go forward after PPC testing, I'm going to have to figure out how to plumb all of the 'guts' (shopping cart, purchase info etc) or more likely, hire someone to do it for me. I wish I had just started out with it in place and made the site more complete rather than creating a 'mockup'.

[Sabine]

I love your site. The colors and the design draw me in. Also, the recipes look yummy! Good luck. I think this could do really well.

[freetime]

Just a thought, if you're providing recipes then you might want to provide a photo of a dazzling prepared meal in addition to the veggies. Then you'll have something to get people salivating. After all it's the result that you're selling using your unique approach.

Best of luck!

[coollikeme]

Your customers. Yes, (final ID) sometimes you will get a bad customer, then you fire that customer. Even in Tim's book he gives out his phone number for emergencies. Taking care of your customer is old and new thinking. You don't need an 800 number service. All you need is a cell phone, P.O. Box, and a computer. If you outsource your work it will make your life easier. The bottom line is you need to take care of your customer.

[monak]

As many have stated before me, the colors and design of the website are stunning, my compliments to the webmaster ;) I think you need to add some more visual flair on the About page, like the photos you have of produce on the front page. I think there's too much text and not enough imagery. Maybe use the free photo gallery web resource mentioned in Tim's book? Or, how about a photo of yourself hard at "work" :D and move the paragraph about yourself and your company to the top of the page.

[Bippy]

I'm another one who thinks the site looks great. Just a thought, you might be able to do some gurella marketing on YouTube- a couple of five minute shorts about a certain cooking technique or something to help drive traffic to your site, or clarify something that might be tricky AND drive traffic to your site.

I hope that helps, it looks like you're on the right track!

[buddha377]

So I really like the site design, but you know that. I was drawn to idea initially, but eventually wondered if people wouldn't prefer to SEE food being made, rather than just hear it. Then again, there are lots of places to see it made on TV and web, so maybe an audio tutorial will work great. Then again if people can already see it, why listen to it. For instance, I've been cooking for a long time and if I find a cookbook with no pictures, I won't by it. Cooking is so visual. Maybe you can augment it with a few pictures per dish, like one of the ingredients, one of few stages of cooking and one of the finished product.

How are your sales so far?

Buddha

[jc_]

Thanks again to everyone for all of the feedback! It's given me a lot of ideas on how the site could be improved, and things I'd like to incorporate in the future. I think that including more pictures is a good idea, and I LOVE the idea about YouTube.

re: lessons being audio-only, the premise is that you would listen while you are cooking, and that it is hands-on, real-time instruction. If I were to add video, I think it would defeat the purpose, as a person must keep their eyes on the screen rather than on the task at hand -- cooking. Also, I think this is what differentiates my product from other how-to guides and lessons.

But, it seems that visual learning is most people's preferred method, and I'd like to do something to reconcile that-- perhaps I could have technique videos for certain tasks (particularly tasks that might be tricky and relate to the current lesson), but keep the lesson itself as audio-only

I have not yet started the PPC testing, so cannot comment on sales. I've been held up on getting a media sample on the site, but hope to get testing going this week to see if this is a feasible idea....

jen

[sfa]

Jennifer:
Great business concept.
As your membership increases do not forget the opportunity to sell specific ingredient and product placement ads in your delivered product.

[deanypop]

Reading through the purchase options, I wasn't quite confused, but I had to re-read a few things... And any need to re-read usually leads to a lost sale.

Anything you can do to rephrase all occurrences of "bi-monthly" would be great. Unfortunately, it means either twice a month, or once every other month depending on context. Something like "4 Month plan: Get 2 great lessons a month (8 total)" or even "8 Lesson Plan: 2 great lessons a month for 4 months!"

The latter, to me, is a little more powerful, in that you're putting the quantity/volume up front, so when people see the TOTAL LESSONS and the PRICE, they mentally work out that it's not a bad deal.

Speaking of which, you should tear out all references to the per-lesson pricing. People will "get" that buying more lessons equals lower cost/lesson just looking at the price/number of lessons... But spelling it out too clearly may put you in an odd situation where they simply can't afford the volume discount, but also don't want to pay a significant premium for a smaller batch.

Of course, as the orders roll in, you'll get a better idea of what/where to play with the order page the most... But those just caught my eyes as "ouch" kinda things. After all, you're essentially talking about digital data here, so people are going to be a little more wary of significant pricing jumps, since the cost of manufacture is basically the same across the board.

For clarity's sake, if it's a subscription it should renew, and you need to be clearer about that on the order page... And if it's a one time purchase of something that will arrive bi-monthly, that's not... exactly... what I call a subscription. Anyway, as a consumer, I want to know if I'm free and clear once you have my $138, or if I'm gonna have to remember to cancel your weaselly butt after my first week's tiramisu goes all flopsy.

Lastly, I'd consider maybe "forcing" the CD-media option to come with some additional extras, and boosting the price a bit. Maybe some utensils that don't usually wind up in the average kitchen, that really add to one's cooking versatility... Or, something. I just have to think that steering folks towards the mp3 is the way to go. And the "old mcguffins" who want a physical product won't be deterred by a slight premium (they're already paying it everywhere else), especially if they get a nice something-something thrown in the box.

But, yeah, really really good idea. really good. gonna have to go pace the halls forcing myself not to hit the buy button. ;)