Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hi,

I`ve been reading through many of the critiques here and everyone has given very good and useful information that I hope to get on my site. The main problem I`ve run into is my service / site does and provides so much so it`s very difficult to scale it down while being in fear of hiding the golden nuggets.

OnMyCity.biz is my site and I welcome all comments and suggestions.

Thanks    

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http://CraigBuilder.com
Build a Professional Website in Minutes

You are right - there`s a lot of info that you really can`t cut. 

I like the site and I may participate in it soon.

My first observations:
You really need a button near the "Join Now" that takes you to an "About" page.  Borrow heavily from the first blog - that`s how I stumbled onto a good description of your service.

Also on the "Join Now" page, I was confused about the two levels of user, free and premium.  I see listings but no explanation why I am seeing the slide show.  Unless it`s significant, drop the slide show.

I couldn`t find anywhere that described what the list of features were and why I would want them.  For instance, why do I need a shopping cart?

Last - I would not promote the service as an alternative to anything - especially a Chamber of Commerce.  If anything it is a supplemental service. 

In order to prime the pump, have you considered offering a charter membership (read "discount" into that) to the businesses signing up in the first year?

Just an idea.

Steve


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Steve Mann
Internet Videographer
MannMade Digital Video
My Email

Thanks so much for the comments I really appreciate them. Let me answer your questions.

The slideshow is showing that with a premium account you can actually upload your actual business card but with the free account you just get a plain white basic listing card.

About the Join Now... from the sites i`ve been to they always have you click join then explain what you are joining. I`m trying to keep the clicks down to sign up but will look into that.

List of features, maybe place a link to a features page?

Well when I say alternative I mean in my experience their are many businesses that just don`t have the time to go to meetings all the time and I`m trying to word-play that their are other options, you don`t have to just join the chamber.. But I do see your point it does supplement the Chamber as another form of networking and getting the word out.

As for the discount. At first we were just giving the free listing away without the ability to have your own profile, blog etc. But we decided to give that away free as well. So maybe we should note that it`s part of the premium for those that sign up first or something?


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http://CraigBuilder.com
Build a Professional Website in Minutes

"The slideshow is showing that with a premium account you can actually upload your actual business card"

That I had to ask should have told you that I didn`t get it.  Another way of looking at it is that if you have to explain it, then your website didn`t make it clear.

Either way, the rapidly changing slideshow is quite distracting.

Your table of benefits says that the free account gets the business card and the premium doesn`t.




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Steve Mann
Internet Videographer
MannMade Digital Video
My Email

Ok. I will get rid of the animation. Also you said that the premium doesn`t show that you can upload your own card but it does. So maybe that is not clear?

Do you think I should show the free card vs the paid card?

Should I place a link on each feature with a hover description or one big page of all the features?


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http://CraigBuilder.com
Build a Professional Website in Minutes

How about this: having a sort of main introductory and informative page as the home page, something like SuN uses. Consider the massive amount of information on this site, which is still growing all the time. Do you just jump right in?

Think back to how you got involved with Startup Nation, what your first steps were, and how you moved through the site. Then you joined. What was your pathway---your mental process?

You`ve got lots of stuff on your site, but there doesn`t seem to be an "executive overview." Nor is there a good index, where someone can get a "feel" for the site when they first  arrive.

Another way to think of it is as an airport. Those are perhaps the most complex organizational and logistics structures around. Do you just walk into any door and somehow do something? What`s the process? What do you see first, when you approach an airport in your car? Signs....right?

There`s an immediate, and very high-level breakout: Arrivals & Departures.

I think you can probably get away with about 5, but no more, basic concepts on the landing page. What would they be? If I were to ask you in a bar, one night, "Tell me 5 things your business can do for me," what would you list?

Thanks Craig, I get what your saying... My research into web 2.0 sites led me to believe that you need to keep it simple and allow them to sign up and offer a free option which I have done.

5 things my business can do for you.

1. Increase your visibility locally and in the search engines
2. Make your content searchable and shareable
3. Give you tools to network online
4. Enable your customers to interact and communicate with your more effectivley
5. Give you the ability to promote yourself

Now those are the 5 concepts but we have many tools that accomplish those so not sure if that is what you mean.


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http://CraigBuilder.com
Build a Professional Website in Minutes

Yes, but do a better job of telling the viewer what they are looking at.


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Steve Mann
Internet Videographer
MannMade Digital Video
My Email

Ok I`m looking at my statistics and 75% is staying 0-30 seconds :( That tells me my home page is not enticing enough... Suggestions?

Do I lose the big graphic and place less content or change what the graphic says?

You asked me to look at startupnation and the reason I joined is because I found interest groups that intersted me. My network is new so I don`t have the content yet so I`m trying to sell by features or by what they can do?




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http://CraigBuilder.com
Build a Professional Website in Minutes

In the above post of listing 5 things, I understood that! :-) How come you don`t have a nice, clean home page that lists those 5 things? Then you could have a lead-in to an article about each of those, where you show 1-2 paragraphs, then a "Learn more..." link to the rest of the article.

Along the edge, your navigation bar would also have those 5 things. Then each button would take the visitor to those specific pages.