Out of Ideas

Hi Jon,

I'm offering my evaluation from a copy writers view and from a design view:

1- There is no visual focal point on site entry---You would be well server by either strong headline or better still an autoplay video above the fold

2- The pop over is visually dull. I have not compelling reason to read it

Your main issue is directing attention to the areas you want focus on.

Here is my suggestion:

choose 1 of your products, have it featured at top center, with its video playing in a thumb nail.

then have the other choices listed below.

Hope this helps

I would dump the gray sliding popup thing, as it turns me off. I would also move the menu at the top right down and across the main header. I had a hard time finding what I do from the home page.

Also, "Information about Cuban Music, Culture, Dance" doesn't grab my attention. Off the top of my head I'd go more with something like Experience Cuba or more captivating in general.. again, just my thoughts.

Hi Jon,
I agree with the previous suggestions to lose the sliding popover/lightbox whatever, but for a different reason; it takes too much time to complete. Also, it starts immediately on page load. Way too soon. People have no reason to opt in yet.

Your opt-in should be on every page. Also, 5% is pretty un-compelling. Give people a bigger one-time discount (25%?) or a free CD/DVD for the cost of shipping. Whatever you can afford without giving away the store, but calculate what a new sign-up is worth to you. How much money do you make from them over a year's time? Also, you give absolutely no reason WHY someone would want to receive your newsletter.

Your navigation is odd. All of the products are listed on the home page (not clearly delineated as to what they are). Why have the Products link? That page looks very amateurish. If you want to keep the existing structure, I'd eliminate it entirely, as well as the category pages it links to.

You have a user login on every page but the home page. If there is something to log into, why don't you have that option on the very first page? If I'm not going to have access to members-only information, what's my motivation to become a member?

The links on your Ethnomusicology page are weird. They look more like keywords than links to other pages on your site. You need to at least tell people that they're links to pages on your site.

In general, your links don't follow a set pattern. This leads to confusion and frustration. Also, I guarantee you have visitors who are missing a LOT of the information on your site. At first glance, it looks like your site is only 3 pages.

Decide what language you are going to use. If you want to use both English and Spanish, create duplicate sites, and provide links from one to the other.

Your home page does need some copy on it. It's really very utilitarian. You could really do much better if you put a personal tone to it. Welcome people to the site. Tell them who you are - you wrote the book about... That makes you an expert. When an expert recommends a product, it sells better. It will improve sales across the board.

You could also benefit from some typical sales copy. How about testimonial? Has anyone written to tell you how much they loved something they bought from your site?

I think you're looking at an overhaul of the site, but you'd really see a boost in sales, and probably traffic, if you did it.

Hope that helps.