Do Your Worst! Tell me how to improve!

[sabian1982]

Tweet

Ok, still very new to the whole AM thingy - this will be my first site done off my own research etc.

Blu Ray Disc Player - Players, Recorders, Media and Software

Would love to hear your thoughts and ideas on what needs improving and/or changing.

Here is my list of improvements that i'll be making this weekend however it would be good to hear your thoughts especially in regards to 'call to action'.

• Write a good, detailed about page for some longer tailed terms
• Change the 4 advert boxes (top right) to link to 4 specific affiliates that provide blu-ray players
• Add further 'call to action' links at the bottom of each post (as i've done with the most recent post) so as to encourage click throughs
• Add some more product images to existing posts
• Mask any affiliate links

Cheers

[Dynamoo]

I think the three things you need are: pictures, pictures and pictures.

Yeah, I know all these things look vaguely similar, but in my view a product image makes the story.

I guess your approach here is to try and be honest about the product rather than to pre-sell it, which makes it look like a content site. That's OK, but understand that content sites will not make as much revenue per visitor as a sales site.. but usually content sites are better at attracting the visitors in the first place!

[wilsonf1]

in 1024x768 you cant see a single DVD player when you first get to the site

we always design sites to cater for that browser size and you need to make an impact as soon as some one hits your site

sex it up a little with some pictures like the guy before me said and you're on your way!

[sabian1982]

Thanks both, as mentioned im going to add more pictures to the actual posts - i'll also look at pulling together something a little more creative for the header section.

In terms of sales vs content i'll look at adding a dedicated page that compares or lists the different players in a way that is a bit more 'shoppy'.

[MattSweet]

From a user point of view, I'd suggest you move the navigation element above the ads.

It is currently below the fold and there is no immediate way to navigate the site other than the search bar. Maybe you can add a navbar to the top of the site where the Home and RSS links are.

Another suggestion that may not be as important - reduce the height of the header. The content is pushed quite far down the page. Also, as the content on it is the same on every page, it becomes a bit of a waste of prime space once read. Maybe halve the height of it and spread the text across the whole width of the page.

I quite like it though so good luck with it. Once you've finalised the design, keeping it updated will be the key!

[Andrew Starr]

The parapraph on the home page which starts with "Having battled it out with HD-DVD..." is also on every other page. I would have this on the home page only (or maybe a seperate page about the battle between bluray and HD-DVD).

also the H1 tag is the same on every page. This really should be unique to each page and should be relevent to the content on each page, so for example on each product page the H1 tag should contain the name of the product

I would also make the call to action stand out a bit more, green or blue text usually works better than black, or even a button with 'Buy Now' or something similar

[sabian1982]

I think the header is coming across as the biggest issue at the moment.

What i'll try and do i think is try and use some php to echo/print the content from the database; that way i can have something unique to each page for the h1 title and the description of the page (within theory). If anyone has any suggestions on how to achieve this, im all ears!

[Harriers9]

Get some tags done and use larger product photo's.

Take a look at my sig to see the impact difference and how much easier it is for a user to search using the tag cloud.

Google love tags too

[sabian1982]

I've got a tag cloud however i'll look at adding more tags to more of the current posts. Definately images are a problem at the moment so i'll look at getting at least one full width image of the product in question for each and every post.

Perhaps a rating plugin might be a good idea as well - then people can comment and rate at the same time!

[accelerator]

I suggest adding informative content as follows:

- Why buy a Blu Ray player?

- Top 10 features to look for in a Blu Ray player

- Top 5 of the best value Blu Ray players out there

- Top 5 of the cheapest Blu Ray players available online

- Top 5 of the high end, money no object Blu Ray Players :drool

- Top 5 films to watch on Blu Ray

- Top 5 current bestsellers of Blu Ray films

- Typical setup diagrams with Scart lead setups etc, links of to TV cables sites

- Setup gallery, pictures of people's Blu Ray setups


To make the sale, you will need Blu Ray player price comparison functionality.

Rgds

[kolli-tosg]

From a purely cosmetic point of view – blu-ray logo?

As has been mentioned you can’t see any product images in 1024x768, so unless you read the text you/visitors can’t see that you are on a blu-ray related site.

[shopztar]

The problem is that you used a free web page design. I can't put my finger on exactly what but something about free web page designs always look generic. Maybe you should try investing in having a page designed for you. You're head is in the right place

[sabian1982]

The problem is that you used a free web page design. I can't put my finger on exactly what but something about free web page designs always look generic. Maybe you should try investing in having a page designed for you. You're head is in the right place

From what i've seen having read a few similar threads on this forum its still possible to generate some sales on such a site (although granted there are still tweaks that need to be made - busy weekend!). If and when the comissions come i'll then design something myself, until then i don't see the point in wasting my time in the event this niche or way im approaching the niche in terms of content, doesn't convert!