Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hello SUNers!

This is my first website critique request on SUN. I`ve had my site up for about 6 months, but have been unable to get it off the ground. I need serious help figuring out why.

www.intermz.com

Intermz.com is a free online reference for learning anything, fast. It allows you to look up topics of interest in terms of knowledge you might already have so that you can cut the overlap and integrate any new information quickly. I`ve used this concept to learn (and teach others) to great effect and wanted to share the method with everyone using a smooth interface. I hope to receive some marginal income from text ads that are based on the topics of peoples` interest, but that is a secondary concern at the moment.

My primary goal is to attract users who will contribute content, which will, in turn, attract users to reference the content (and perhaps click on ads). This concent is created and maintained by users based on a Wikipedia model. I have tried a press release, linking on Facebook, and maintaining communication with a small (50ish) mailing list, but to little avail.

Initial feedback from friends/family/colleagues on the concept and execution has been very positive but users have not committed to submiting content.

I spent three months coding and designing the site from scratch myself. I designed it to illustrate the idea of overlaying one topic of interest over another to reveal the cross-section of the two. This idea is conveyed by the concept of "gelz" (see site for example).

I would love your feedback on the concept, the concept`s execution, and how I might be able to attract more users to the site and encourage them to contribute.

Thank you very much!

I will be responding to others` website critique requests shortly!



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|Ted Pin
|www.intermz.com - Learn everything you want, fast.
|www.intermz.com/blog

I don`t think you are getting the concept across clearly.  The site is really wordy and you seem to say the same thing over and over in different ways.  What your copy doesn`t do is say how it works in a VERY quick way.  You need to do that.  In fact, I didn`t get it at all until I started watching the video.  But the video is much too long.  I only got through about a minute of it until I got tired of it.

Thank you CampSteve. I will sharpen the pitch and emphasize how quickly it can work.

If I can streamline the pitch, do you think the concept itself has enough attraction?



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|Ted Pin
|www.intermz.com - Learn everything you want, fast.
|www.intermz.com/blog

I`m not talking about "quickly" the site works, I`m talking about how quick you need to make your point.  You`re taking way too long to pitch the concept and explain the benefit.

CampSteve,

I streamlined the pitch on the front page www.intermz.com. Do you think it is more effective now?

I appreciate your direct feedback. It`s what I need.

I am working on a graphic to help illustrate the concept. Will notify when I get that up.

Thanks!



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|Ted Pin
|www.intermz.com - Learn everything you want, fast.
|www.intermz.com/blog

What`s a "gelz"?


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Steve Mann
Internet Videographer
MannMade Digital Video
My Email

A gel is some topic you already have knowledge of. That gel is what is applied to a topic of interest to make it more understandable.

For example, if I want to learn about architecture (my topic of interest), and I know about writing music, writing music would be my gel.

"Gelz" is just the plural of gel.

The definition for a gel is included in the site`s FAQ, but I suppose you are saying I should make it more prominent?

Thanks a lot!


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|Ted Pin
|www.intermz.com - Learn everything you want, fast.
|www.intermz.com/blog

Precisely. 




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Steve Mann
Internet Videographer
MannMade Digital Video
My Email

Duly noted. Thanks!


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|Ted Pin
|www.intermz.com - Learn everything you want, fast.
|www.intermz.com/blog