Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

This website is about 5 months old.

Please review the SMALL BUSINESS ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE ONLY.

If you were in the market for accounting software would you download the 30-day free trial? Why yes? Why no? All suggestions would be most appreciated

 

www.RealEasybooks.com

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Ed Lichtman, RealEasyBooks.com ... accounting software for the busy entrepreneur 925-280-7769

The copywriting on the front page is decent but not mind-catching. It`s all about what your business does, and only slightly focused on what you offer. Sit down for a few hours and think about what your company really offers.

Think about what a grocery store "offers" ... and what a grocery store "does". A grocery store "offers" decent prices, fresh food, good service. A grocery store "does" purchasing, strategy, management, banking, etc. Customers don`t care about that side of the equation. They only care about the "offer" side of the equation.

Off the top of my head.

"The easier way to manage accounting..." This is generic. It`s been said by so many businesses that people likely won`t pay attention. You need something mind-catching. Even provactive. Let`s think about something inappropriate but unforgettable. "Spend more time having sex and less time balancing the books." That`s an extreme example of what you "offer". Dudley Moore was in a movie where he played a somewhat hapless advertising executive. His mind-catching phrase for a Jaguar advertisement was "For men who want to have sex with beautiful women they hardly know." That`s mind-catching. I`m certainly not suggesting that you use inappropriate language for the context, but you get the idea.

The product names themselves are also generic. "Small Business Accounting Software" is a product category. Not a great name for a product. People quickly forget the generic. You need a coined name ... something catchy and memorable.

Also:

"RealEasyBooks: our mottos." [I don`t understand the point of this. It`s all about you, not about the problem you solve or need you meet.]

"Accounting software is easy. In RealEasyBooks the software does the accounting. You only enter the transactions." [I don`t understand why you say this? Is this important? Isn`t it self-evident?]

"Most transactions are repetitive. You enter repetitive transactions with one key or by just typing the $ amount." [I don`t understand why you say this? Is this a feature? This doesn`t make me want to download.]

Again. Your site copywriting is very focused on what you do. It`s not focused on what you offer. What do you offer? Accounting software is a hyper-crowded market space so you really need to differentiate yourself. Catchy language, interesting and memorable brand names, etc. go a long way to helping differentiate. Yes, the product must deliver as well.

On the plus side, a single visit to your site definitely communicates the purpose of your organization. The existing copywriting is definitely jargon-free. Good!  What is your goal? To drive downloads? If so, you need seriously tight copywriting that gets the attention of the visitor and inspires action. To see numerous examples of good copywriting check out the websites in this directory.

http://www.techcrunch.com/company-index

I also just posted a short snippet on copywriting.

http://www.startupnation.com/pages/community/forum_posts.asp ?TID=2997&PN=1

Personally, I think the website has no focus on what the benefits of your software. You need to focus on all the benefits and how easy the software is. Plus, you need to get your product in as many hands as possible. You should consider putting an expiration date on the software, so that people can try it for free, so they cannot do with out it. After the expiration date, the software locks up, and then gives a person a reason to purchase the product. You could set it up to where people pay for upgrades every year.

Hi there - I had a problem with the text on the home page - top right corner was all overlapping and jumbled...just a progrmaming problem I think . Overall, I must be really honest and say that I think you need a landing page that has less content on it - something that explains exactly what is being offered....just saying welcome to xyz product. it can help you save money, simplify processes, etc .  CLick here to find out more and download a free trial...then go to the more wordy (and necessary) site.....good luck!

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Margaret Manning Editor and Founder Ex In The City Empowering Women to Move from EX to EXtraordinary! www.exinthecity.com info@exinthecity.com

Comments on the home page...

First, at the top right, "SBA is the real easy Small Business Accounting software for entrepreneurs that want to manage..." should be "entrepreneurs WHO want to manage"... I see this error so often that it really irks me. Grammar errors like this will also get to others. "Real easy" is not good grammar, either... either use "really", or find another way to say it. Good grammar is essential on sales pages.

Grammar nitpicking aside, as a user I would be wanting to know "what`s in it for me?" Why would I want to spend money on this product when everyone uses Quickbooks or a similar product? Some thoughts:

Losing valuable time trying to figure out accounting, when you should be running your business? No need to figure out bookkeeping or the software--the software is quick to learn and easy to use so even a novice can understand and use it easily, right out of the box. Very small learning curve because the software does it all.

Now you can go to your kids` soccer games or spend time with your spouse, because you`re not stuck at your desk trying to figure out accounting. With our software, keeping track of your business is easy--just enter in what was paid to you, what you paid, and how much you sold, and you`re done... no more wasted hours trying to figure out how to use software that only an accountant can understand... now you have time for the things you want to do, like running your business and having plenty of time to spend time with the family.

Question: Does it export to a spreadsheet or other format that I can take to my accountant? Quickbooks is so widely used that every accountant has the software, how do I get this to my accountant in digital format at year-end? If the software makes this easy, the user needs to know it.

Stories from actual users, who tell of a problem the software solved for them, are golden. Collect any that you can and make sure they get onto the website. These longer testimonials can do wonders for you.

All of it comes down to....what are the benefits to the user? Yes, they will want to know all the things it does before they buy, but to get their attention  you need to fulfill a need the user might not even realize they have.

The classic example is the well-known, old-time ad : "They laughed when I sat down at the piano, but when I started to play.." (Read about this ad here). The story is what draws people in... a story of a "problem" solved due to the product being advertised.

Right now there is just too little on the home page to get my attention. The About page is the kind of thing that should be on the home page, in less details perhaps, but the copy there is far better than on the current home page. Try and use some different images as well, not the same guy each time... more than half of all new businesses are female-owned these days, you need to appeal to the female audience as well as people of various ethnic groups, so a variety of people in the pictures, happily working on the computer (they must be using your product!), is going to send a better message.

And lastly, you need to drive traffic to your site to get things moving. Word of mouth is a huge help. Get your software listed on sites like price grabber and cnet--see if you can`t get it reviewed by PC Magazine or some such--but get the home page rewritten before you pursue these kinds of things so you don`t lose folks coming to your site to see what you have to offer.

Those are just some quick thoughts for now...

Regarding your trial form on the website:

To get valid information out of your trial you may want to subscribe to doing some type of send a confirmation e-mail or the download link to their e-mail. I can see it being real easy to get a database full of invalid information. Sure there are sites like mytrashmail.com out there, but at least this helps up the integrity of the customer data that you are pulling in. It adds a bit to the logistics of getting the software, but most people are used to getting those types of things if you explain it upfront how the process for trail software works.

The information on the about page does not belong on the front page. The only information that belongs on the front page is a ten word heading, some pictures of the product, and a few sentences to reinforce the heading.

Thank you all for your valuable feedback. I have implemented many of your suggestions.

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Ed Lichtman, RealEasyBooks.com ... accounting software for the busy entrepreneur 925-280-7769

Ed - quick note, on this page:

http://www.realeasybooks.com/small-business-accounting-softw are.htm

this text is repeated:

* Within minutes (not days) you can handle the accounting


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chuck fuller

Thank you Chuck - I owe you big

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Ed Lichtman, RealEasyBooks.com ... accounting software for the busy entrepreneur 925-280-7769