Forum Moderators: buckworks
I took a quick spin through, though we really don't do site reviews.TOS #22 [webmasterworld.com]
I would suggest getting on online signup, I just can't see people printing that coupon and sending it but maybe that's just me. Maybe you could offer an email version as a "try before you buy" type thing. Show them a watered down version and then they can get a better idea of what it's all about.
Not totally sure, but online sign up is the big one
imho
>Terms of Service
I havent read it either :o .....i read it once. Best line of thought to follow is that you dont need a URL to explain most things....because you can always make a good example for everyone to learn somethign from
.....
I checked out the site survey. Maybe you could add a few questions about age/sex/location/more useful info..........Sometimes people may not be willing to sign up..but they appreciate the site enough to help you out and fill in the survey.
If you got some demographics for who is doing what, then you could get a better idea of how to catch them in your net.
Its something I should do more....remember that my 3rd party banner server was keen to do the same thing to target their ads more effectively.
Like jatar_k said post a watered down version online.
[edited by: korkus2000 at 7:39 pm (utc) on June 26, 2002]
Also, if you are going to offer a sample, you should make sure it is usable. If someone likes the recipe, maybe they will want to subscribe.
Purchases invariably go up in number when online payment is available; but that's contingent on whether it's a marketable item. That can be gauged with time, once the ordering process is made as easy as possible.
You might also consider, in addition to taking payments on line, making the subscription available as downloadable content from a password protected area, with the password made available after payment.
Not nearly enough public side to persuade me to part with any $$ even if it were something I had a specific interest in. (e.g. webmastering - motorcycles - digital photography - politics - ethics - sex :-)
It being a site about food, I think there need to be mouth watering pictures all over it, of vegitables, fruit, humus etc .. and dishes..
There are many "public content models" (I don't know about this sector) where webmasters earn from banners and / or affiliate sales and let all their content go public that you may have to (I think must) be much more persuasive in the public area to close subscriptions.
My suggestion, give everyone or anyone one months free entry into the inner site.
Make sure they love it so they dont think twice about paying for it 4 weeks later.
You may have to think carefully about avoiding people just signing up for another free month and your missing it but I am sure there is a simple way round this.
If that fails consider a public Ad and Affiliate funded business model. At least that way you can also get search engine exposure.
Just a couple of ideas but hope they help.
one thing that definitely puts me off is that i would have to send a cheque to an anonymous person at an anonymous address (PO Box). would i ever see the magazines i paid for? what if i don't? it's a PO Box so there's zero chance of getting my money back if it turns out to be a scam. i think i'll give it a miss for now ...
As to the mention of the PO Box. I thought that the PO Box would be better as I didn't really want every Tom, Dick, and Harry to know my physical address and this seems like the best way to get around that.
At least..... in my defence..
Some of what I wrote still applies. :-)
fraudsters and scammers all over the world use PO Boxes so Tom, Dick and Harry can't trace them ... would you buy from a company if you couldn't trace them to get your money back if they failed to deliver?
how about renting a shared business mailing address? it looks more legitimate than a PO Box number and still hides your home address.
All right on the front page. Hit them right between the eyes. Subtlety is lost on the masses.
You might even take payments online via PayPal (or similar setup) or a real-time credit card processor to show you are a bonafied merchant. With a cart feature they could confirm the details of their order and you could tell them when to expect their first issue, thank them profusely, etc. It both personalizes the experience and legitimizes the experience, especially if these people have made other online pruchases. You could give them the option to send in a coupon by snail mail, as well. This way you're covering all the purchase bases.
If so inclined, you might also create a vegan BBS for your client base (members only), or top ten reasons I need vegetarian recipes. Being a ravenous carnivore, this might be of particular interest to people like me, who think a vegatarian recipe is just opening a bag of frozen vegetables and putting them in the microwave.
Things like this might also bring more traffic to your site, and help you in the SE's.
Newsletters bring people back, more interaction to a site brings people back, new pages being added gives people places to explore.
I hate it when magazines dont put their current cover/content on their homepage. I wanna see a newsletter thing that represents what it is. :)
So to get people to buy - free gift with purchasE?
No, It's.....
Your Content.
I just need more
sorry, i couldn't help it
Certainly ONE recipe is not too much to risk!
I won't subscribe to any publication if I did not know the quality of the content!
I'd also promote it via ezines by writing and distributing a few articles to established ezine publishers.
You might even consider archiving a few past issues as PDF's for free.
And, I'd expand the site to include a bookstore. I see a bunch of potential here.
Good luck!
It might be worth trying to strike up some kind of deal with a related merchant, such that a subscription was essentially free after the subscriber used the coupons for related merchandise that came with the subscription.
Also on the subject of website credibility, who do you know? Who knows you? Who reads your publication? Any comments, positive AND negative, from any NAMES? Elicit some reviews from people in respected positions within the field of food preparation. Restaurant owners, restaurant schools, famous hosts and hostesses, maybe some big, famous names, like Emeril Lagasse or Alton Brown. Did Martha Stewart share a recipe or comments in your publication?
In addition, I concur with some of the other remarks. You've initiated a website in order to employ a faster, global medium to market your product. Well, there are two sides to that medium. Instant gratification and... instant gratification. Fast, faster, fastest. Fast booting of your site pages. Immediate, online payment for subscription. Immediate access to paid for product. The ability to update and/or customize one's account, online. The ability to communicate with your business via email or telephone, not waiting days or weeks for a snail mail response.
Have you tried targeted marketing? How are you marketing your product? Then there are the statistics. You are getting 125 hits a week and have had one subscriber? Given you HAVEN'T taken advantage of all the potential of the online medium? In my book, that is actually pretty damn good! There are sites galore online that offer information on all these issues but again, it comes down to credibility. Who are the biggest and the best? I don't know, personally, At least, not yet. Maybe someone else can offer that information. But do some research. THAT, at least, is free and copious. I've been doing nothing else for weeks now, as I am preparing to revise both my sites PDQ here. A LOT of issues to take into account. Usability, credibility, w3c standards, ADA standards, yadda yadda. Gads!
Good luck:)
