Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

We now have a new very rough beta site for review. Please look at design and messaging and share any and all thoughts you might have. I have an interesting dilema. More than a few honest people have said I wouldn`t have purchased just by looking at your site~but after speaking with me for a few minutes, they would. I need to somehow make my message of positive reinforcement & positive discipline turning into positive results! My current site www.theappreciationstation.com & our beta site is

http://nhgconsulting.com/previews/tas/tas_preview_2.htm

Thanks in advance for your time and words, Diana

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Are you a parent or have friends that are parents? Tell them about The Appreciation Station... the most innovative system to help parents be the best they can be through positive discipline. When you notice what`s right as opposed to what`s wrong, you begin to see dramatic results in your household.

I like most of the changes.

I would use that crazy swirly font more sparingly.  It`s great for branding but it isn`t the the best for readability, especially when paired with little graphics.  Precisely "As seen on" and "See a video demonstration" are not the right font choice.  However I think it works well in the headline.

You don`t seem to have a secondary font other than in the `parenting` banner in the upper right.  How about using that bold font in other places?  Use it to highlight the video instead of the swirly one.

But to keep the brand consistent and fun, you can use a single swirly letter to start a headline or paragraph.  That would be a great use of that font!

Also, the page does not have one single complete view of your product.  The one with the girl fades away and is only the top section.  On the main product photo with all the stuff laid out, the top is cropped off.  It`s hard to tell what that box is, that it shaped like an old chest.  I think you need to show the entire photo (not covering the top with text)

That photo should also be bigger as it is the first visual on the site of what the Appreciation Station is.  It`s got a lot of detail in it and I think it warrants people being able to discern what they are looking at.

Overall, I really like the new look of it.

Thanks Steve, I agree with the over swirl. Great comments about the other fonts. I`m curious if the new messaging for you would make you more likely to purchase?

Diana

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Are you a parent or have friends that are parents? Tell them about The Appreciation Station... the most innovative system to help parents be the best they can be through positive discipline. When you notice what`s right as opposed to what`s wrong, you begin to see dramatic results in your household.

Beta? This is like pre-Alpha! 

Steve - we had already fixed some of that - I think Diana altered her link up top to give you the newer one. Thanks for the comments, I`m going to pass them along.

Cool, looking better each time!

Nice job, Nikole!

Change the master headline from:
Nothing changes that relationship. Parents are parents, kids are kids, and that remains constant throughout their lives.

Instead, make it something more like:
Also, because the headline is a graphic, it can`t be searched, and so the meta description should echo the same words so that SE results will match the "blurb" to what people see when they click to the site.

On Steve`s comment: You could use the swirl font as a "drop cap" to open up paragraphs that begin sections. Then use typical sub-headings for the sections themselves....or just drop the subheadings.

Down side is that SEO keeps an eye on H1 and H2 tags

Or:

The ONLY Kids reward system that strengthens the bond between parents and kids.

Sheeesh...I think I`ll use something like that on my own website.

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Melissa Yamello
Owner/Designer
Storybook Studio
www.storybookstudio.net

Kids` Craft Blast
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It`s actually not the ONLY reward system, and I think people will be "thrown out of the zone" with a question or skeptical "oh?". It`s important that you induce a sort of hypnotic trance in a reader, where you don`t pull in their intellect if you can help it. To put a "burp" in the road creates what appears to be disjointed, disconnected writing.

Another aspect of using dropcaps is that they`d be images. Every one of them opens an opportunity for Alt-Text keyword phrases.