Not pleased with my results and would GREATLY appreciate feedback about my review site/landing page

21 replies
I was afraid to do this at first, but after awhile, I figured, "whatever", I really need some feedback on my site. This is my first ever site for IM. I've been marketing my site since late April via article marketing.
  • I have 80 articles submitted, with all of them on EZA and most of them submitted on about five other article directories.
  • My keyword is "manifesting abundance" which generates 1,800 searches monthly.
  • I get an average of 13 visits per day to my site mostly through article sites.
  • I rank #4 on Yahoo! (I get almost no traffic from yahoo!), and #11 on google. I figure after one more consistent article marketing campaign, I'll be in google's "top ten" for my keyword.
The thing is, I only have made 2 sales so far. Since I've just finished another article writing campaign, I realize I need to take some time tweaking what I have, so I would GREATLY appreciate some feedback in what I need to improve about my website.

Here's my website: manifesting abundance

Oh, and don't worry, I'm in the process of brainstorming for what to write for a free report so I can add an opt-in form on my landing page to capture email addresses and finally build a list.

Thanks,

Ike
#feedback #greatly #page #pleased #results #review #site or landing
  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    Ike, I'm not being a smartass here, trust me. But you may be aiming for a market that seems to think that "manifesting abundance" means sitting in a darkened room thinking about and desiring what they want. Not buying products to do it.

    There may be searches for your term, but it's not a buying term.

    Besides, most people don't lie awake at night yearning for "abundance" - they yearn for fancy houses, nice cars, cool vacations, nice dinners out, nice clothes, great educations for their kids, charitable contributions big enough to get the endorphins flowing, and so on...

    If you're going to hitch your wagon to The Secret, do it outright instead of dancing around it like you do in your opening.

    On a pure design note, I'd think about ditching the light gray font in favor of a much darker charcoal gray or black. It's much easier to read when you get to be my age...
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    • Profile picture of the author ikelove
      Yea, I had no idea what a "buying keyword" was when I first started this, now I'm just learning the importance.

      If I were to change the targeted keywords for my site, how would I go about doing it? Would it mean that I would have to start from scratch?
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        Not necessarily.

        Do you have any success stories available? Not generic "I tried it and now I'm rich and happy" testimonials, but real success stories? Use them.

        Here's one place where a longer sales letter might do you some good. Spend time telling/showing how following the advice in your product can lead people to specific results - business success, better relationships, lower stress, whatever.

        Forgive the phrasing but, to my ear, "manifesting abundance" sounds too airy-fairy to deliver a solid benefit - one that people would pay to learn how to get.

        For more concrete suggestions, you might want to post your review request in the copywriting forum. There are some serious guns hanging out there, and many are willing to help if you are willing to listen.
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        • Profile picture of the author ikelove
          Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

          Not necessarily.

          Do you have any success stories available? Not generic "I tried it and now I'm rich and happy" testimonials, but real success stories? Use them.

          Here's one place where a longer sales letter might do you some good. Spend time telling/showing how following the advice in your product can lead people to specific results - business success, better relationships, lower stress, whatever.

          Forgive the phrasing but, to my ear, "manifesting abundance" sounds too airy-fairy to deliver a solid benefit - one that people would pay to learn how to get.

          For more concrete suggestions, you might want to post your review request in the copywriting forum. There are some serious guns hanging out there, and many are willing to help if you are willing to listen.

          Would a sales letter be effective when this is simply a review page? I thought my job was to pre-sell before I send them to the actually product where they will read an actual sales letter.

          Is your suggestion where an opt-in page could come in handy because I can always drive home the point of the product through email to my email list?
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          • Profile picture of the author janeiro82
            Hey first of all: you made more sales than me

            Hmm second: the design is really bad i think
            sry but i think u can improve it much more, i don't like the color, i think red would be much better even if u are'nt inventing the wheel with it

            maybe i would set up a wordpress blog und using the flexibility theme, u have to register and then u can download it, just a tip

            And maybe u could pick a better headline, i don't know if "learn" is a good term. Who wants to "learn" today? "Learning" is like "waiting". But everybody wants it NOW!

            ok just my few cents, hope i could help a little bit
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            • Profile picture of the author ikelove
              Originally Posted by janeiro82 View Post

              Hey first of all: you made more sales than me

              Hmm second: the design is really bad i think
              sry but i think u can improve it much more, i don't like the color, i think red would be much better even if u are'nt inventing the wheel with it

              maybe i would set up a wordpress blog und using the flexibility theme, u have to register and then u can download it, just a tip

              And maybe u could pick a better headline, i don't know if "learn" is a good term. Who wants to "learn" today? "Learning" is like "waiting". But everybody wants it NOW!

              ok just my few cents, hope i could help a little bit
              Hey, thanks man! I never thought about the fact that the majority of people are lazy and the word "learn" would send them screaming for the hills. Lesson learned.

              I will also take people's advice about the headline and changing the colour of the font.
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          • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
            Originally Posted by ikelove View Post

            Would a sales letter be effective when this is simply a review page? I thought my job was to pre-sell before I send them to the actually product where they will read an actual sales letter.

            Is your suggestion where an opt-in page could come in handy because I can always drive home the point of the product through email to my email list?
            Ike, there are reviews and reviews.

            Some are intended to simply convey information while shoring up the authority of the reviewer.

            Some are intended to move the reader to desire further information and possession.

            You want to produce the second kind. You want to pre-sell, in other words you want to instill desire in the reader. One of the best ways to do this is with personal stories - your own or others.

            The formula is pretty simple. Situation - applied solution - result.

            What I read for my first post read more like a timid sales letter. I think this is why people are assuming the product is yours.
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            • Profile picture of the author Kevin AKA Hubcap
              Ike


              Let me throw my hat into the mix.

              A visitor to your site reads the copy, likes what it says clicks through to the vendor's site, likes what it says, clicks the buy button and is taken to another site that looks nothing like the sales page and is told you can't buy the book individually but you can purchase the Mind Power Package which includes "Reality Creation Secrets".

              IMO there's a disconnect. I don't have the vendors numbers so I can't say whether the strategy is working or not but if prospects are coming to the site looking for a book let them buy it and use the Mind Power Package as an up-sell.

              Also, if the vendor is capturing their information he can market the Mind Power Package through e-mail promotion and speaking of capturing information... why are you not capturing names and e-mail addresses of visitors to your page?

              Offer a free report, video, audio.... something they'd be willing to give you their e-mail address for. Once you build your list you can market the "Reality Creation Secrets" book and other related products to it.

              Kevin
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        • Profile picture of the author charlesburke
          Hi Ike,

          I'd have to agree about the gray text. It seems to be a great favorite among some artsy web designers, but virtually no marketer will use it because it's harder to read.

          Also, the headline is pretty wordy. Instead of "Learn EVERY "Secret" You Need To Aid You In FINALLY Manifesting Abundance In Your Life!" try shortening and tightening it up to the punchiest words you can come up with. Look for high-energy words. Try to go wildly over the top. You can always soften it up a bit afterward if you need to - but usually that's not a danger.

          Here are a couple of examples off the top of my head. I'm sure you can do much better ones with a little thinking.
          * Revealed: the REAL Secret of Abundance - Change Your Life Now
          * How to Fill Your Life with Riches, Good Health & Love... at Last
          * Quit Waiting - Get the Abundance You Deserve - And Get It Now
          * Tired of Waiting for "The Secret" to Work? Attract Real Abundance Fast

          At least in the headline, you may want to avoid the word "learn." I've heard some copywriters warn that it may sound like work to some readers. Try "Discover" or "Revealed!" or "Fact:" and see how that works for you.

          And just about everybody here will eventually suggest split testing your headlines. If your host has a free script installer available, a split tester may already be available to you. If not, maybe check some script sites for something simple to install and easy to use. To find out more about split testing, do a quick search for the term here in the forum.

          Hope this helps - and you did the right thing asking for advice. Sometimes we need that outside perspective to help us break through to new thinking.

          Cheers from warm and smiling Thailand,
          Charles
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          • Profile picture of the author ikelove
            Originally Posted by charlesburke View Post

            Hi Ike,

            I'd have to agree about the gray text. It seems to be a great favorite among some artsy web designers, but virtually no marketer will use it because it's harder to read.

            Also, the headline is pretty wordy. Instead of "Learn EVERY "Secret" You Need To Aid You In FINALLY Manifesting Abundance In Your Life!" try shortening and tightening it up to the punchiest words you can come up with. Look for high-energy words. Try to go wildly over the top. You can always soften it up a bit afterward if you need to - but usually that's not a danger.

            Here are a couple of examples off the top of my head. I'm sure you can do much better ones with a little thinking.
            * Revealed: the REAL Secret of Abundance - Change Your Life Now
            * How to Fill Your Life with Riches, Good Health & Love... at Last
            * Quit Waiting - Get the Abundance You Deserve - And Get It Now
            * Tired of Waiting for "The Secret" to Work? Attract Real Abundance Fast

            At least in the headline, you may want to avoid the word "learn." I've heard some copywriters warn that it may sound like work to some readers. Try "Discover" or "Revealed!" or "Fact:" and see how that works for you.

            And just about everybody here will eventually suggest split testing your headlines. If your host has a free script installer available, a split tester may already be available to you. If not, maybe check some script sites for something simple to install and easy to use. To find out more about split testing, do a quick search for the term here in the forum.

            Hope this helps - and you did the right thing asking for advice. Sometimes we need that outside perspective to help us break through to new thinking.

            Cheers from warm and smiling Thailand,
            Charles
            Charles:

            I'd be smiling too if I were in Thailand right now!
            Thanks for the advice. As a new marketer, there are so many things that you don't know about or overlook.
            Split testing???? I think I've heard those words once or twice in reference to IM but I didn't know what they were talking about, I'll look it up. However, how would you know which headline is more effective over the other? Is there a way you can measure which one brings in more sales?
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  • Profile picture of the author Daniel Scott
    Your review page (on a quick inspection) seems to cut the mustard.

    The sales page you're sending people too is freakin' horrible, though.

    There may be other problems but even with targeted traffic I doubt that sales page could sell much.

    -Dan
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    • Profile picture of the author charlesburke
      Originally Posted by ikelove View Post

      Split testing???? I think I've heard those words once or twice in reference to IM but I didn't know what they were talking about, I'll look it up. However, how would you know which headline is more effective over the other? Is there a way you can measure which one brings in more sales?
      Actually, that's what split testing finds out for you. A simple little script rotates a couple of different pages - each identical except for one variable (like the headline) - and keeps track of which one gets better conversions. Pretty automatic once you set it up. The master marketers are absolute fanatics about testing. That's pretty much why they're masters.

      Originally Posted by ikelove View Post

      Hey, thanks man! I never thought about the fact that the majority of people are lazy and the word "learn" would send them screaming for the hills. Lesson learned.

      I will also take people's advice about the headline and changing the colour of the font.
      Yeah, if you keep in mind that most customers in the self-help market really want a magic pill, some words just represent a bad mis-match with their thinking and mindset. (And by the way, I write in the self-help market myself, so I'm not poking fun... it's just where their head is right now.)

      Regarding the page color scheme, font color and so forth, you might consider changing your web page to a scheme that is a slightly closer match to the product's site. The visitor gets a bit of a visual jar, going from your site to theirs.

      Some years back, a man put up a wonderful free "slide show" website called The Interview with God. He was getting fabulous traffic as half the people on the web forwarded his URL to all their friends. However, once visitors got all the way through the slide show and were sent to his sales page, they weren't buying. Near-zero conversion.

      A consultant suggested he change the color and style of his sales page to match the preceding slide show pages, and when he did, conversions went through the roof.

      You build up an expectation that is only partly mental. Another part of it involves the sensory experience, and it's important to keep that experience consistent for best results.

      Cheers,
      Charles
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      • Profile picture of the author ikelove
        Originally Posted by charlesburke View Post

        Actually, that's what split testing finds out for you. A simple little script rotates a couple of different pages - each identical except for one variable (like the headline) - and keeps track of which one gets better conversions. Pretty automatic once you set it up. The master marketers are absolute fanatics about testing. That's pretty much why they're masters.



        Yeah, if you keep in mind that most customers in the self-help market really want a magic pill, some words just represent a bad mis-match with their thinking and mindset. (And by the way, I write in the self-help market myself, so I'm not poking fun... it's just where their head is right now.)

        Regarding the page color scheme, font color and so forth, you might consider changing your web page to a scheme that is a slightly closer match to the product's site. The visitor gets a bit of a visual jar, going from your site to theirs.

        Some years back, a man put up a wonderful free "slide show" website called The Interview with God. He was getting fabulous traffic as half the people on the web forwarded his URL to all their friends. However, once visitors got all the way through the slide show and were sent to his sales page, they weren't buying. Near-zero conversion.

        A consultant suggested he change the color and style of his sales page to match the preceding slide show pages, and when he did, conversions went through the roof.

        You build up an expectation that is only partly mental. Another part of it involves the sensory experience, and it's important to keep that experience consistent for best results.

        Cheers,
        Charles
        Thanks again. I should actually have known better, because being a self-improvement junkie myself at one time, I know the mindset of many of the people, that's why I chose this niche.

        When you say change the colour scheme of my review page, would it be wise to change my background to a maroon colour? How would I adjust my page so as to match the sales page?
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        • Profile picture of the author charlesburke
          Originally Posted by ikelove View Post

          When you say change the colour scheme of my review page, would it be wise to change my background to a maroon colour? How would I adjust my page so as to match the sales page?
          No need to go overboard with a total cloning of the target site. Just move your tones a little closer so that when visitors click through they don't feel like they've jumped into an alternate reality.

          You could use just a bit darker, slightly warm background but not as dark as the target. And your text background could be just a bit buff colored - again, just enough to set a sensory trend. Then the text could be a dark brown or very dark red.

          That'd be enough to point everything in the right direction. Then, when the visitor clicks through, it's like they're stepping from warm water into a nice, steaming hot tub. They've been prepped for the experience and understand instantly - at the subliminal level - that things have just moved up a notch.

          If you're not quite sure how to select web colors, do a search for "web colors" and just play around with different combinations.

          By the way, which site builder or page editor are you using for your site?

          Cheers,
          Charles
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  • Profile picture of the author abednego
    ikelove: I agree with all the feedback that was given, but product creation has never been one of my strengths; so I'll refrain from the criticism for now. But I did want to commend you for creating your own product and setting everything up.

    How long did the design of the e-book and website take? not counting article writing etc
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    • Profile picture of the author ikelove
      Originally Posted by charlesburke View Post

      No need to go overboard with a total cloning of the target site. Just move your tones a little closer so that when visitors click through they don't feel like they've jumped into an alternate reality.

      You could use just a bit darker, slightly warm background but not as dark as the target. And your text background could be just a bit buff colored - again, just enough to set a sensory trend. Then the text could be a dark brown or very dark red.

      That'd be enough to point everything in the right direction. Then, when the visitor clicks through, it's like they're stepping from warm water into a nice, steaming hot tub. They've been prepped for the experience and understand instantly - at the subliminal level - that things have just moved up a notch.

      If you're not quite sure how to select web colors, do a search for "web colors" and just play around with different combinations.

      By the way, which site builder or page editor are you using for your site?

      Cheers,
      Charles
      Charles,
      Bear with me with all the questions I'm asking, because I have no prior marketing experience. That being said, you said that I may want to use a dark brown or dark red colour for my text. Now, I was under the impression from here that black was the best colour to use because it's the most readable. From what you're saying now, I'm under the impression that it doesn't matter what colour you use just as long as it is easy to read by everyone?

      As for the site builder, it came with an e-book I bought on IM. I just plugged in the template and followed the instructions. Apparently, the person who put it together does manage to make a very good living off of IM but I know that he doesn't use the template for ALL his sites.

      It was ideal because I know very, very little about web design.

      Originally Posted by abednego View Post

      ikelove: I agree with all the feedback that was given, but product creation has never been one of my strengths; so I'll refrain from the criticism for now. But I did want to commend you for creating your own product and setting everything up.

      How long did the design of the e-book and website take? not counting article writing etc
      Dude, you give me too much credit. It is an affiliate product and I'm an affiliate. I'm not quite ready to create my own product though right now I'm brainstorming on what type of killer free report to provide with my opt-in page.
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      • Profile picture of the author abednego
        Originally Posted by ikelove View Post

        Dude, you give me too much credit. It is an affiliate product and I'm an affiliate. I'm not quite ready to create my own product though right now I'm brainstorming on what type of killer free report to provide with my opt-in page.
        yikes. my bad - I followed the link, assuming it was also yours... and thought the affiliate page looked really odd to me. I didn't like it. I wouldn't even promote it...

        ... which was my biggest mistake starting out; promoting products that no one wants. Maybe I should write up a quick article here for other n00bs to read so they don't make the same mistake again.
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  • Profile picture of the author USGTMauthor
    Tough niche, the LOA has been out since the secret and you are competing with many established people in the niche. Personally, I think the LOA is bunk and the people in it are taking advantage of people. I have an ebook which espouses action which the LOA crowd went away from. There is also some backlash now that the sweatlodge incident happened and there is a ton of free stuff about it. So it may just be a hard niche to monetize. As far as the site, I will let the experts judge it.

    Good luck
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  • Profile picture of the author charlesburke
    Ike,

    You're right - black is the best color. I was just getting carried away. I looked at the affiliate page and the text against the tan background looked a bit brownish - my bad... I should have checked it before assuming anything.

    Really, you can do a lot of things with this template you're now using. I saved a copy of your page, including the style sheet file, then fiddled around with the colors just a bit in the style sheet. If you'd like to see what it looks like - just to give you some ideas - you can download the style file from here http://www.2-be.com/c/style-new.css

    Then,
    Step 1 - upload this "style-new.css" file to the same directory where your website is
    Step 2 - temporarily rename your original "style.css" to "style-orig.css" (so you don't lose your original)
    Step 3 - rename "style-new.css" to become "style.css" (this file contains the new colors)

    Now start up your browser, go to your page, and if it still looks the same as before, hit F5 to refresh the page.

    I didn't anything except change some colors, but it'll give you an idea how drastically you can shift the tone of a page with just a few simple alterations. And of course if you don't like these new colors you can play around and come up with others that appeal to you more.

    (By the way, the colors I changed in the style file were:
    * body - color (which is text color)
    * body - background-color
    * top - background-color
    * container - background-color
    * content - background color
    * content h1 - color (color of headline 1)
    * content h2 - color (color of headline 2)

    You can compare the values in your original style file with the new values. You'll probably see right away how to make the changes. Playing around with those for an afternoon can give you a world of ideas you can use in the future.

    I know this sounds like a foreign language right now, but it'll make more sense if you'll just spend some time messing around with it.

    Cheers,
    Charles
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    • Profile picture of the author charlesburke
      Oh, and by the way, there'll always be people ready to tell you that Such-n-Such a niche is worn out, saturated, too hard, no buyers, dead, and so forth. But if you walk into any book store and still see self-help or inspirational books, tapes and DVDs, you can safely ignore the doomsayers.

      Pulling for you...

      Cheers,
      Charles
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      • Profile picture of the author ikelove
        Originally Posted by charlesburke View Post

        Ike,

        You're right - black is the best color. I was just getting carried away. I looked at the affiliate page and the text against the tan background looked a bit brownish - my bad... I should have checked it before assuming anything.

        Really, you can do a lot of things with this template you're now using. I saved a copy of your page, including the style sheet file, then fiddled around with the colors just a bit in the style sheet. If you'd like to see what it looks like - just to give you some ideas - you can download the style file from here http://www.2-be.com/c/style-new.css

        Then,
        Step 1 - upload this "style-new.css" file to the same directory where your website is
        Step 2 - temporarily rename your original "style.css" to "style-orig.css" (so you don't lose your original)
        Step 3 - rename "style-new.css" to become "style.css" (this file contains the new colors)

        Now start up your browser, go to your page, and if it still looks the same as before, hit F5 to refresh the page.

        I didn't anything except change some colors, but it'll give you an idea how drastically you can shift the tone of a page with just a few simple alterations. And of course if you don't like these new colors you can play around and come up with others that appeal to you more.

        (By the way, the colors I changed in the style file were:
        * body - color (which is text color)
        * body - background-color
        * top - background-color
        * container - background-color
        * content - background color
        * content h1 - color (color of headline 1)
        * content h2 - color (color of headline 2)

        You can compare the values in your original style file with the new values. You'll probably see right away how to make the changes. Playing around with those for an afternoon can give you a world of ideas you can use in the future.

        I know this sounds like a foreign language right now, but it'll make more sense if you'll just spend some time messing around with it.

        Cheers,
        Charles
        I will most def check this out tomorrow when I wake up, Charles, you've been a great help, I was starting to feel depressed and overwhelmed at all I had to learn. Thanks for making this a little bit easier.

        Many blessings and good karma to you.


        Originally Posted by charlesburke View Post

        Oh, and by the way, there'll always be people ready to tell you that Such-n-Such a niche is worn out, saturated, too hard, no buyers, dead, and so forth. But if you walk into any book store and still see self-help or inspirational books, tapes and DVDs, you can safely ignore the doomsayers.

        Pulling for you...

        Cheers,
        Charles
        Thanks Charles, I really did just that and ignored what the person had to say. Like I said, I was once a self-improvement junkie and I still know that there are a very many people who are obsessed with all this.
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