Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hi Fellow members,

My website has been converted into an e-commerce site.

Your frank critique about the content, design and effectiveness of the site will be sincerely appreciated:

http://www.backvitalizer.com

 

I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Sincerely

 

Pat

 

 

 

Hi Pat :-)
Your site is a bit confusing. As someone on another current thread said, and it`s a nice turn of phrase, "there`s no place for the eye to rest." The point is that there`s no central focal point for the site pages.

I`m wondering on the title, on the main blue bar of the home page. Is your company name, (perspectis:) ? If so, I`m curious why the misspelling, lowercase, parentheses, and colon. Otherwise, if it`s an error, it`s an important one to fix.

Additionally, I`d like to see the pictures of the back vitalizer on the left, separated a bit better, and with a way to see them larger. The reason being that in western culture, what`s on the left is more visually important than on the rights, since we read left-to-right.

If you want to have a column of examples on the right, that would look great. But have the actual product in the center, with a click-to-enlarge, and the facts related to the item right there.

For the moment it`s just a bit too confusing, or "jumbled," and my attention skittered all over the place. :-) Especially with all the different colors. Try to stick with maybe a more harmonious color scheme. The blue you`ve chosen for your main content matches what typically is the blue for hyperlinks. Or, in Word, for corrected text in a revision. Same with the red, usually an error in a revision.

I want to give a huge Thank-You to Graff, Craig and StartUpNation.

Within a few hours after I posted my message, I had received a call from Graff at GoTruckStop.com and an email response from Craig pointing out the shortcomings of my site. They are shocking, however all to the point, practical and helpful.

Even more surprisingly, I may have found a new distributor in Graff for Back Vitalizer. I am amazed to see how power StartUpNation.com is. And I am sincerely grateful to the kind support from my fellow StartUpNation members.

Thanks to Graff. Thanks to Craig. Thanks to StartUpNation.

Pat

  

Good luck, Pat, and may you become a bazillionaire. :-D

Hi Pat,

Craig has provided you with some excellent advise to start working on first. As a potential customer of your product, I was confused and really didn`t know where to go.

I work from home sitting at my desk and have recently gotten some relief from low back pain (i had no idea my body could hurt like that and I searched high and low for a solution).

At glance, your web site didn`t do a great job of telling me why I needed your product. It didn`t answer the most important question and that is "What`s In It For Me?"

It`s harder trying to sell a `preventive maintenance` type product, but it`s far easier to sell that product to that same person who is now in extreme pain. Your headline aks the question "Think Sitting Is Go To You?" The average person could care less because they`re not in pain right now. The person who is in pain could see that headline and probably think that your product isn`t for them because they didn`t connect the back pain with "sitting".

You have a few seconds to tell the prospect "What`s In It For Me" and that headline should snatch them by the eyeballs and bring them into the first paragraph. The job of the first paragraph is to get your attention even more so that it`ll get them to read the rest of your content in an effort to navigate them through the site.

Here is a good formula to make your pitch better on your site:

Step 1: Make Sure Your Headline Grabs Their Attention. The purpose of the headline is get your potential prospects` attention and bring them into the rest of the ad. Think of your headline as the "Ad for the Ad Itself".

Step 2: Use the Intial Paragraph to Draw Them Into the Rest of the Copy. This paragraph has to be so strong that it makes them want to continue reading. It`s here that you provide the prospect with a few major benefits they can expect to get if they read through.

Step 3: Explain to the Prospect Why They Should Listen to You. It`s here where you establish yourself as the expert. You`ve got to answer the questions that are now lurking around in their minds...questions such as who you are and why they should trust you. Don`t take up a lot of space talking about yourself here, but provide them proof that you are the expert and that you can help them. Proof can be provide through testimonials/success stories, provide articles that were printed, if you`re an author, mention the book (or put the cover on the site, list awards or press release clippings of you in the media, etc...).

Step 4 - State THEIR Problem...Agitate THEIR Problem...and Provide a Solution for THEIR problem. By making them aware of their problem again, and `provoking` them a little about their problem, that`ll reinforce they fact that they indeed have a problem and that you could possibly be the guy (or lady) that can fix the problem. In their minds, you`re now on "their side". It`s here that you present the solution to the problem.

Step 5 - Use Bullets to Let Them Know How They`ll Benefit (don`t use features, but use benefits). Drop a load of benefits - explain how they`ll benefit from your product or service. Present the end results they can expect to receive if they use your product or service.

Step 6 - Provide Them Proof. At this point they`re interested and now its time to show them other people who`ve used your products. Pull out the tesimonials with photographs, first and last name and city and state (most satisfied customers won`t have a problem with this if you ask them). Get audio and video testimonials if you can. The more believable the testimonial, the more easier to sell the product/service.

Step 7 - State Your Offer and Make It One They Can`t Refuse. Make the offer so good they`d almost be a FOOL not to order. Include a bonus that they perceive as a "high value" (make the bonus offer so good that some people would want to order only to get the free bonuses). Offer FREE shipping if feasible, extend support after the sale and more than anything...Make a strong guarantee. If you`re not willing to assume the risk with a strong guarantee, then why should the customer assume the risk of buying from you.

Step 8 - Tell Them How to Order. Tell them to buy and show them how to buy. Accept all forms of payment...everybody doesn`t use paypal, so if your only payment is paypal, then you`re missing out. Others may want to pay by check, and they should have that opportunity. Others may want to fax in their orders (I do receive those on ocassion).

And there you have it...this is a small condensed list, nonetheless, it`s something to go off.

I hope this helps, let me know if you require anything more.

Cartess

Dear Cartess,

Thank you for detialed and insightful advice which is exactly what a person like me need. I will do my home work to have your advices and those from Graff and Craig implemented. Once that is done, I will come back for your further critique and advice. And certainly, in the meanwhile, if something come across your mind about my site, I will be thrilled to hear the add-ons from you.

I am sorry to hear that you have back pain issue. I will be more than happy to help you in any way we can, if you would let me know a bit more about it. Please feel free to give me a call. And we will go from there.

Your critique and advice are sincerely appreciated. I look forward to hearing from you more.

Best regards,

Pat

Hi Pat :-)
Isn`t this interesting? Here you have a forum chat regarding your Web site, where Cartess (who always has excellent suggestions, btw) has looked at that Web site and also can speak with you.

What`s the FIRST thing you`ve done, here? You`ve asked, "Give me a little more information." Secondly, based on that, you`ve said "I`d like to try to help."

This is exactly how your Web site should work without your direct, realt-time intervention. So: One thing you might consider developing for your site would be a check list people could click, then, based on your experience, you could offer particular suggestions as to how your product could help.

It would be a sort of interactive FAQ, where you`re not getting into online patient treatment, but using the broad categories of complaints to demonstrate how your product works with them.

Craig...now you`re a genius with that statement above --- and with that "sort of interactive FAQ", they would have to leave their name and e-mail address to receive the "follow-up report"....which would be a good excuse to follow back up with them... (I hope i said this in a way that made sense )

Almost like a glorified `free report` answering the most commonly asked questions -- this helps establish credibility in the minds of your prospect. They`re not necessarily being sold anything, rather you`re trying to help them solve their problem (without necessarily giving them the full answer).

I hope that made sense --- sometimes this stuff gets jumbled in my head and i can`t explain it.

Cartess

Made sense to me, and that`s exactly what I was thinking of. I remember, I think, that you or someone on a thread where you were active, was discussing the idea of a "giveaway" report....something like that. I also have your name and "direct mail" forever linked in my head. :-)

Knowing several chiropractors, I know that although there are specific manipulations to each problem, those problems do fall into general categories. Where it comes to equipment, those broad categories have a lot of crossover in terms of symptoms.

So this "interactive FAQ" or report would easily fit into a type of boilerplate template with a finite and not very large group of reponses. For example, we could categorize survey responses to: lower back, mid back, upper back and shoulders, neck and head, legs and feet, arms and wrists.

The way the product would solve these general problems would be the boilerplate responses. The programming would calculate which category was the best fit, based on which checkboxes were chosen.

I`d though an automated response would be fine, but hadn`t at all thought of the secondary aspect that someone would have to register an email name to GET that response. And of course that would tie in with your potential customer database. A Very Fine Synergy. :-D

Dear Craig and Cartless,

You are both true genius. And your discussion is the utmost demenstration of the amazing power of team work or brain storming. The discussion between you two made Craig`s original idea crisp and clear to me. I believe that the idea of categorized response and the email registration can be combined, and that a targeted report sent to a registered email may make it even more special to the potential customer, if it is technically possible, and I certainly hope so. 

I will work on this brilliant concept and have it implemented ASAP. It does look like that my website needs a big over haul.

Once again, your brilliant thoughts are sincerely appreciated from the bottom of my heart.

I look forward to staying in touch with you and hearing from you more.

Have a wonderful Memorial Weekend.

Pat