Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Greetings, you all,

My company recently released our first website

www.sharemydeal.com

I know, it sounds like just another one of the too many affiliate marketing/hot deal sites. But we have a lot of unique features built-in from day one of the design phase. For example, we give cash backs to members shopping thru our site and we also reward members who refer others and deal hunters who find all the deals from internet per transaction, in anthor word, the reward is unlimited.

We believe in our model but I`d like to get some suggestions from you all that how we could drive more traffic to our site, especially in the early phase of our website campaign. Where we could use some improvement in our web site, etc. Basically any comments and suggestions are highly appreciated!

And for anyone interested to add a friendly link to our website from your site or blog, simply register an account and follow the instruction in the welcome letter to start earning referral bonus...

I don`t deal shop online that much, just a couple minutes before deciding a store most times. Occasionally I check techdeals.net so I`d like to point out (in comparison) how you will probably retain visitors much better if the deals were accessible to non-registered users. The incentive to register for your site is very low when there are many more that give me the same information without the formalities.

I don`t see many people registering on a new site when there are many others with more information. I would consider offering the deals (links) to the public and more features to the registered users. Then when you have a userbase consider making the switch, because at that point you`ll have a better database of deals to leverage for new users to register.

Lastly, I`m looking for categories, because most times I look for deals I don`t know what exactly I want, but I know what I don`t want. Without the categories you force me to know exactly what I want, and search.

PS- Link your logo to the homepage!



-------------------------

Colin Winter
Small Business Website Management and Marketing

Hey, Colin, thanks for your comments. the deals are indeed accessible to non registered user, you just won`t be able to get cash back, but you can still click `Thanks, I just want to shop` to go to the product page from the stores.

we probably should make that "take me to store" link bigger. and yeah thanks for the suggestion to link logo to home page.

Oh, you do have a link to go to the store... Make that link more clear like `Thanks, but just take me to the store`s deal`. Definitely make it bigger too. As soon as I saw the user login fields, I moved on.


-------------------------

Colin Winter
Small Business Website Management and Marketing

I looked for a "browse by category" and didn`t see anything. Maybe I missed it.

Thanks for the comments, Craig. I didn`t know that was a big deal, but since two of you both pointed out, we`ll add them for sure. Actually we already have something in place, in each deal we have those small links under the title, if you click the category name, it will bring up all the deals in that category.

From a GUI stand point, we are just not sure where to put those categories. Would you put a list of categories underneath the `tip of the day` side bar?

The other two suggestions are pretty simple to change and we have them taken care of already. (thanks, Colin!)

Depending on how many categories there are, I would use the empty space under the logo (two or three short rows possible there). If there are too many categories to fit there, then move the Hot Deals to Community buttons up into that empty space, and put the categories across the line where those buttons are. Maybe use two rows depending on the # of categories.

I would consider the current buttons with `hot deals` as the secondary menu, and the categories as the primary, which should go where the current buttons are located. New visitors care about content, not community. I think new visitors will be more interested in categories than `their account`, `all stores`, or `community. Then when they`re more familiar with the site, they will know to always go to those four buttons at the very top for those things.

Lastly, I see you updated the `Just take me to the store` text. Not to belittle the point, but I was implying to make just the link bigger so the user can scan over the intro text call to action (to join). If they like your content (deals) and keep coming back, they will eventually read the whole page and realize your offer`s reasons to join; otherwise you risk turning off all the busy/fast/`smart` users that immediately see `Login` and `Wait`, and internally decide you `just` want them to sign up. Instead offer the `continue on` link first, or at least the most clearly (be bigger text than the intro), and then offer to join secondly.



-------------------------

Colin Winter
Small Business Website Management and Marketing

Hey, Colin, we did enlarge the font 1.5 times but i guess that wasn`t bigger enough. I will adjust again.

As for the categories, we have about 15 of them. I don`t know about putting hot-deals as secondary menus, after all, i want to give the customer some deals at the first look our site to warm up the idea of buying something now. :)

But we will think about it.

I looked again, having no particular problem with the Go to Store button. However, when I clicked "More," I got the same thing as I was seeing in the short listing, using the Thomas train example.

The problem here is that unless people find your page because they`re looking for a specific item, it`s a confusing site. Suppose people land on your home page because they`re searching for deals or specials. They see a list of everything all at once, and that`s not helpful.

Even a grocery store has signs up above the aisles that break things into basic categories: breakfast, bread, coffee, salads, and that sort of thing. The way you have it, the first-time visitor shows up on a page that`s just a list.

I`m thinking it`d be a lot more friendly to welcome people, explain that this is a site for specials and deals, and to give them a couple of your hottest or latest deals. It`s the old "drill-down" concept. Then, via  a tab, you could take them to what you currently have as your home page, "Show All Deals."

Sorry I don`t think I was clear. I`m suggesting you make the `continue on` link bigger than the "WAIT! Log in or Sign Up to earn CASH BACK from stores" text. This way, the eye is drawn to the default action first, satisifying the majority of users.

Most people are not going to sign up, so why make your core service frustrating to the majority by displaying a `registered users only` type screen? Instead of reading `Login` and "Wait ..." and potentially leaving before reading any more, you need to provide the value (the deal connection) quick and easy so the visitor is satisfied and comes back to eventually sign up.

How would you like it if every magazine-type site put your kind of insertial before every article, and made the `continue-on` link just as subtle? You might also want to consider how DeviantArt.com does their signup promotion, by displaying it in-between every couple (7+) of page views instead of right before viewing every single image. All this would be more quantifiable if you do an A/B test, but that`ll be hard with a new site and low traffic.

Lastly you may want to consider playing with the text to see if something else works better like: "Did you want CASH BACK for using this deal? Then sign up or log in!" and have the continue-on link (still bigger) as "Just show me the store`s deal".

PS- I would try to display the Login form and the Sign Up form on the same page that we`re talking about (use two columns). You want to make it easy for them to sign up, so why put it on another page and with the link to that page at the very bottom?


-------------------------

Colin Winter
Small Business Website Management and Marketing