Hi
It's getting to be legend.... the Monday review on Tuesday... Winston, this one's for you.
MONDAY REVIEW: Winston's Site
I read
Peter's review of your site before I dived in. He made a good point, which I'm mentioning for the benefit of people reading along...
It's always a tough guess on where to start between Linda's forum and here but I think here is a good start as Linda might have to send people here first if the website they are trying to make a profit with isn't technically sound.
That's very true. Sometimes a website is struggling because of technical aspects of the design. Other times, a website can be designed well, but just not getting a response. What Peter does and what I do are like two halves of a whole...
On to your site.
You've got a great business concept. We live in am era where there's just as much time poverty as financial poverty. I read a statistic (somewhere?) that said if you look at the entire world population, 50% of us don't have enough food or money -- and the other 50% don't have enough time. How very sad, really.
For the 50% that don't have enough time - YOU allow them to save some of it. Instead of spending hours and hours signing Christmas cards - I can upload my handwriting and type the message online - and let your company send all the cards for me... in MY writing, yet. And -- I can include a photo with every card without having to go order and pay to have oodles of photos made. How cool is that?
What else do people who never have enough time do? We forget to mail a birthday card in time. Or a Mother's Day card. And then we feel like crap, so we have to choose between sending a "virtual" card and feeling like a flake... or we have to send a belated card and admit we forgot. Both of those options suck. Your reminder service prevents that... so no one that's pressed for time has to feel bad for forgetting to send a card.
BUT -- and here's the huge issue -- because your service will appeal to people who are always short on time, you need to get the point across FAST. Open the main window.... and you have 10 SECONDS. Start counting... 10, 9, 8.... when you hit one, they're gone.
I think that's where you're struggling.
May I show you something? Open these;
1) Your current main page: http://ezgreetingcards.ca
2) And (it's just an image): http://www.lindacaroll.com/adland/winston2.gif
NOTE: I actually like a smaller font - like on your main page - but I just copied this text (as an image snap) from
your "personal" page. It wouldn't be quite so "long" in a smaller font.
ALSO NOTE: I took "FULL TRAINING on how to use the system" out of the features list. That would turn most people off in a heartbeat. "as easy as clicking your mouse" and "full training needed" are contradictory. Heh. It's all psychology.... or like Mom said "it's not just what you say, it's how you say it..."
Two things to keep in mind are
1) Keep it simple. Your ideal customers are short on time
2) Create flow. Walk them through by the hand. Your target market is short on time and won't stop to figure it out.
Tell them what you sell. Then give two choices. Business? Or personal?
From there, lead them to the next step. "Try it free"
Make the "try it free" link (which should be at the bottom of the business/personl pages) should go right to another form similar to your contact form. Make it simple, too. At the top, just put text that says "request a free trial" and then name/email and "do you have any questions?" fields. Nice and simple.
In the same light, I think your navigation (top and bottom) should list;
Home | Business Greetings | Personal Cards | Free Trial | Fundraising | Contact
If there's not room where you currently have them listed (at the top) them move them to under your logo. That way the top navigation and bottom could remain the same.
Once you make those few modification, then you just need to promote. With the Christmas season right around the corner, a really fun way to get your url out there would be to write some articles. Some ideas off the top of my head are things like "the very first christmas cards" -- "the history of greeting cards" -- "the year the post office banned christmas cards" -- the first Santa Card, etc. Hit Google and type in "christmas card trivia" and "christmas trivia" and "christmas history" and things like that. You'll get tons of food for thought.
The articles don't have to be long. Just a fun read. Post them to article databases and include a very teasing sig file. Try things like...
Hate licking stamps? We'll send your Christmas cards for you. Your message, in your writing. Free trial at:
http://ezgreetingcards.ca
or
You upload the message and photo, we'll lick the stamps. http://ezgreetingcards.ca
Experiment to see what gets results.
And what about some PR? Like a press release with a title
"Let Us Send A Card To Santa For You... We're Closer to the North Pole."
Then go into a brief bit that whether you want to send a card to Santa or a card and photo to Gramma, you'll lick the stamps and send the card to save people time. etc.
I think your site could use two faces. One for Oct - Dec, where you move some holiday images and ideas up front... and one for the rest of the year, where all occassions (birthdays, anniversaries, etc) are up front. You could also do a bit of an article and media blitz for Mother's and Father's Day to remind all those delinquent kids out there to SEND A CARD. lol.
You could take all the same strategies and apply them to the business audience, too. For example, one article could be about an interesting statistic. Did you know that the #1 reason people "take their business elsewhere" is the perception that 'the company doesn't care about my business anymore' -- a small issue that maybe a holiday greeting card or happy new year's card could solve.
With each promotion concept you come up with, put it on your site. Use a column on the right side with titles like "Send a card to Santa" etc., to coordinate with promotion campaigns.
All in all, you have a great business concept. I think if you first simplify it to walk time pressed people right through in three steps or less.... and then sit back and have some fun with how to promote it (ie; santa letters, delinquent kids) etc., you could do very well indeed.
In your industry, the keys to success will be getting the message across quickly because your target audience is people that have too much on their plate already.... and creative promotion to catch their attention.
: )
Linda
P.S. I think including a price range would also be a good idea. For example,
"Send 36 cards, with photo & postage stamps, for as low as $xx" or even
"We'll remind you of the occasion and send a card (with photo and postage) for only $xx"
Whether you list the price of "one" or "many," people don't have to wonder what the price is. When people don't know what the price will be, they often hesitate to ask in case it's too high.
Most people make an unspoken assumption that "high" prices aren't posted and one has to ask for them.