Feedback please?

[AlisonMSmith]

Hi all:

I'm trying to get feedback on my new site and I'm not having much luck. Hoping some of you can share yor expertise. Here's the thread. Perhaps you can respond there?

Your help is much appreciated.

[creativejuicestudio]

The url doesn't work for me?

Angela

[AlisonMSmith]

Sorry, I don't know why the forum adds the garbage. Fixed now.

[tigerconceptsmarketing]

Hello Allison,

I think that you have a great premise on which to grow an offline consulting business. Here is my take on what you offer:

#1 - Explain more in depth how your service is going to help the customer. This seems to be missing and really doesn't give anyone an impulse to buy your service. Are you just setting up the blog or are you going to provide a limited amount of SEO along with setup.

#2 - You are charging for things that people can do on their own for free. Show them how you are actually providing them with the convenience of having someone else do it for them.

#3 - Does everyone get the same template? Maybe have variations of templates to choose from. What about custom templates?

#4 - Are you going to perform keyword research to ensure that their blog is successful on the internet, before they select the domain name?

#5 - The plugins that you are offering should include more SEO friendly plugins.

Hopes this helps, sure there a lot of people out there that need to have someone put a wordpress blog together for them. If you can show them the value in using your service then you are on the right track.

Donna

[AlisonMSmith]

Seriously, this forum ticks me off. I just spent 30 minutes responding and then it logged me out and the response was lost.

Sorry I can't redo what I wrote. But I sincerely thank you for your response and help.

Originally Posted by tigerconceptsmarketing

Are you just setting up the blog or are you going to provide a limited amount of SEO along with setup.

I am buying the domain, providing the hosting, installing WP, providing and installing a premium theme, installing a mess of plugins, setting up an email address, providing a tutorial startup book, and linking back to the site.

Here's my problem, to me it seems what I'm offering is obvious -- given the front page and the "Read More Details" page. So I need to figure out where what *I* see -- as the person who wrote the copy -- disconnects from what you (and others) see.

What do I need to make what I wrote above clear on the site?

#2 - You are charging for things that people can do on their own for free. Show them how you are actually providing them with the convenience of having someone else do it for them.

Someone else brought this up, but the truth is, you can't get it free. Domains cost money, hosting costs money, and the theme itself costs $87. That's nearly $200 even if you don't include the labor.

Someone suggested I include some kind of cost breakdown. What do you think?

OTOH, I do say this on the home page:

"All this is set up for you in less than 1 week after you choose an available domain. No programming, no FTPing, no coding required. You tell us what you want. We set it up. When it’s ready, we send you the username and password and you start blogging!"

Does that address your suggestion about showing the service being provided? Or is there something missing? (The Details page says more.)

#3 - Does everyone get the same template? Maybe have variations of templates to choose from. What about custom templates?

Everyone gets the Thesis theme. How can I make that more clear? I do plan to create a dummy blog that SHOWS exactly what their site will look like. Will that address the issue?

#4 - Are you going to perform keyword research to ensure that their blog is successful on the internet, before they select the domain name?

Short answer, "no." Long answer, "No, and even if I did it wouldn't 'ensure' success." Of course, depending on how you define success.

#5 - The plugins that you are offering should include more SEO friendly plugins.

Thesis is SEO-friendly in a way that makes "All in One SEO Pack" and other such plugins obsolete. Are there some plugins that you think would need to be included even with Thesis?

I do mention these SEO capabilities but perhaps that needs to be stressed more?

Thank you for your input and help. It is much appreciated.

[tigerconceptsmarketing]

Someone else brought this up, but the truth is, you can't get it free. Domains cost money, hosting costs money, and the theme itself costs $87. That's nearly $200 even if you don't include the labor.

Someone suggested I include some kind of cost breakdown. What do you think?

I really didn't mean free. But relatively inexpensive. I believe here that you are targeting complete newbies who have no idea on how to set up a blog by any means. In that case may showcasing the savings aspect.

OTOH, I do say this on the home page:

"All this is set up for you in less than 1 week after you choose an available domain. No programming, no FTPing, no coding required. You tell us what you want. We set it up. When it’s ready, we send you the username and password and you start blogging!"

Does that address your suggestion about showing the service being provided? Or is there something missing? (The Details page says more.)

Yes. Maybe move up to the top.

Everyone gets the Thesis theme. How can I make that more clear? I do plan to create a dummy blog that SHOWS exactly what their site will look like. Will that address the issue?

I am not familiar with the Thesis theme. Are you allowed to customize the theme at all? And if so are you offering customizing along with the set up?

Thesis is SEO-friendly in a way that makes "All in One SEO Pack" and other such plugins obsolete. Are there some plugins that you think would need to be included even with Thesis?

So there is a way to add the meta tags, descriptions, and keywords so that the search engines can pick up the site? If that is the case, then that should be all that is needed.

[AlisonMSmith]

Originally Posted by tigerconceptsmarketing

I am not familiar with the Thesis theme. Are you allowed to customize the theme at all? And if so are you offering customizing along with the set up?

Yes, the theme is easily customized and it can be updated without losing the customization. But, no, I'm not customizing the theme. I don't say that I'm customizing it, so I'm unsure why anyone would think that is being offered. Is there some copy that leads you to believe I'm offering customization?

Let me run with this for a second. I'm getting feedback on this in a few forums and in each one I've had one person ask similar questions. But it kind of baffles me, so maybe you can help me because it seems that there must be something prompting the questions (unless you happen to be posting elsewhere!) and I can't for the life of me figure out what.

I have a list of the services I offer. To me, it seems specific and clear. But then I get asked if I offer X -- something that isn't in the list.

To me that's like me selling someone a shirt and getting a response that says, "OK, you have a shirt. Do boots come with that?" And I'm thinking, "Well, if boots came with it, the ad probably would have mentioned it." And the implication seems to be, "Well, if boots don't come with the shirt, you should have said so." ???

Beautiful blue, long-sleeved silk blouse. No boots included.

...

WordPress blog with Thesis theme. No customization of blog or comment monitoring or logo creation included. And no boots, either.

Help me figure out why I'm being asked if I offer stuff that isn't listed in the offer!

So there is a way to add the meta tags, descriptions, and keywords so that the search engines can pick up the site? If that is the case, then that should be all that is needed.

Yes. That's all built into the theme. Personally, I never bother with meta keywords, but it's easy for anyone who wants to.

[Susie N]

I'm looking at this through the eyes of a couple of my clients who might be interested in something like this. They are extremely inexperienced and didn't even know what Wordpress is or what it's capable of until I developed their website with it. I think if they happened upon your site, they would assume they could have the website customized to their liking - even if you don't say that you offer it. It's just something they would assume. If you're offering all those services, it equals full web design services in their mind. Chances are, if they are totally inexperienced, they won't have a clue how to customize it. So, they'll need to hire someone else to do that part, and if they need to hire someone else for the design, why not just use that other person for the whole thing?

Have you considered partnering with a designer (or a few) that could provide the customizations? I have several ideas on how that could work....

Edit to add: Maybe a way to clear the confusion is to specifically say something about how what you are offering is a "base package" only. You are offering Wordpress and the Thesis theme in their default form only.

[AlisonMSmith]

Susie, thank you. That helps me understand better what those people are seeing. I will work on some clarification.

While I have thought a bit about this, I haven't spent a lot of time on it. I'd want someone with expertise in Thesis, WrodPress, CSS, PHP. I can do a lot of customization myself, but I'm no good at graphics, so maybe someone with actually artistic ability.

I'll think on that. If you have some ideas, throw them out!

[AlisonMSmith]

BTW, did you see above where I said, "I do plan to create a dummy blog that SHOWS exactly what their site will look like."

Do you think that will address the issue?