Suggestions for improvement on website

18 replies
Hi everyone

I am in the process of split-testing and improving this website.

The site is basically about growing your own food and is targetted towards beginners that know nothing about gardening, just wanting to eat higher quality food.

I have worked with updating the content on the page but is not getting a little "blind" on what can be done to improve the landing page further. Conversion has ranged from 1-9% as I have split-tested. The past few days it has been stable at around 2%.

I wanted to ask if anyone could share with me their experiences of what could be improved, and if there is any good books and other resources worth checking out. I know there are few "right answers" when it comes to split-testing but I would very much like to investigate if there are a few commonalities between sites that work that I can integrate in this site.

Looking forward to your replies.
#improvement #landing page optimization #suggestions #website
  • Profile picture of the author Greedy
    Video testimonials always improve conversions.

    I would recommend that, as soon as possible.
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgold
      Hi,
      I'm very much "at sea" as to how I can promote and get internet traffic to this site of a new product of mine.
      I read your blog site with interest and wondered what suggestions you'd make and what results I could expect. I'll be happy to incentivise you with a sample of the product for you to "become a believer like all off my existing customers in return for constructive advise and critique. I've spent a fortune on media advertising with very poor ROI and want to get into a JV or profit participation deal of some kind with someone who'll get results on the internet!
      Paul G.
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  • Profile picture of the author SEOtraveler
    Hi there!
    The page is very informative. Please consider your pictures, some of them should be in the center of the page and some of them are a bit distorted.
    To my mind ticks work better with statements in comparison with questions.
    By the way, check out this article about landing pages. Somebody has posted it here, but anyway in case you haven't read it yet.
    Well, I cannot say that I am a complete pro in landings, but to me there is too much information provided. Although it is very useful, I doubt anybody would read all the text at once. Even scrolling takes a lot of time.
    But anyway great job! Keep working on it.
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  • Profile picture of the author khooster1
    Nice niche.
    My concern is the price. $47 might be expensive for a ebook these days.
    Is there anything you can do to improve the value? Instruction video?
    Or a lower offer price? OTO at later stage?

    You might want to include a opt-in page.
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  • Profile picture of the author MonitorScout
    It is not always about good looks. You might need to do a little bit of analysis. Check if you are able to provide the information that your audience is looking for. You must have some targeted keywords, be sure that are you providing the information up to the mark comparing to the keywords that you are using to drive traffic to your site.

    This is the extremely important factors if you can figure it out then you don't have to look back.
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  • Profile picture of the author Edk
    The header has the right feel in my estimation.

    On the headline, I would reverse the parts of the sentence so the word Hydroponics doesn't hit the prospective customer 1st thing. My own first thought is 'what's that?'

    I know, I know, the website tells about that but I don't want to right away cause the person to question.

    By the way I've known for many years what Hydroponics is but the unfamiliarity hit me straight away.

    A bit further down the line you might enlarge the font-size of the bullet-point text and see if it makes a difference.

    I love the idea of growing your own and all that though. Good luck with it
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  • Profile picture of the author talfighel
    Bjarne,

    The site looks very professional I have to add. Graphics look amazing and you did a good job.

    The only thing that you can test is the sales copy to increase conversions. Why not hire some professional copy writers and see if that helps you in anyway. That is what I would do.

    You can go ahead and ask a warrior here in the forum to write a new sales copy for you. Get someone who looks like they have experience. Usually you can see if they have a lot of customers who have posted positive things about their service:

    Wanted - Members Looking To Hire You
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  • Profile picture of the author Chri5123
    Originally Posted by Bjarne Viken View Post

    Hi everyone

    I am in the process of split-testing and improving this website.

    The site is basically about growing your own food and is targetted towards beginners that know nothing about gardening, just wanting to eat higher quality food.

    I have worked with updating the content on the page but is not getting a little "blind" on what can be done to improve the landing page further. Conversion has ranged from 1-9% as I have split-tested. The past few days it has been stable at around 2%.

    I wanted to ask if anyone could share with me their experiences of what could be improved, and if there is any good books and other resources worth checking out. I know there are few "right answers" when it comes to split-testing but I would very much like to investigate if there are a few commonalities between sites that work that I can integrate in this site.

    Looking forward to your replies.
    I think the site graphically looks really good.

    Couple of things that stuck out at me, admittedly after a quick glance are:

    The Headline - try and get something stronger there

    The Monster Vegetables - move the story so it is at the start if the page.

    The part about your journey, frustration and results should be up at the top.

    Identify the problem - or in sales copy resonate with the same problems the niche are having.

    Why should they listen to you? - This part will be your story.

    Then results - As you already have on the page you can then show them your results.

    Special offer and over deliver which it looks like you are doing with all of the bonuses.

    Just some ideas for you - but I like the look of the site!
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  • Profile picture of the author Bjarne Viken
    Thanks everyone.

    A lot of positive feedback. Did not expect that. A few general points:

    1. @EDK Thanks for your insights. Long copy. I tried testing a shorter copy with less information and it did not sell. Personally I think the other copy looked better, but that is marketing for you. In regard to not mentioning hydroponics in the headline I tested that with adwords, and the clickthrough rate for "growing indoors" was quite simply not high enough. I ended up with "hydroponic for beginners" which tells me that the prospective customer already knows what hydroponics is. Sidenote; when I started I was looking at adwords as a sales opportunity, now I see it more as a marketing research tool. So efficient, particularly with conversion tracking.

    2. @talfighel. Thanks for suggesting copychanges. I was actually looking for a second copy-writing perspective so that is welcome.

    3. @Chri5123. Thanks for those specific ideas. I will have to go over your post a few times to brainstorm variations there. Just in regard to headline. I pick headlines based on the ads with the highest click-through rate. Not sure if that is a good way of doing it, but it works for me.

    4. @khooster1. Thanks for pointing out price. According to what I have tested on Adwords the price is accepted by the market. I am even testing a higher price on Adwords that actually has a higher clickthrough rate. The market likes that the book is sold with 12 months support. Also the supply agreement might also be popular.

    5. @MonitorScout. Thanks for pointing out analysis. I have learned a lot looking at the keywords that are converting. I seem to go through a process of expansion and retraction. Expand with adding keywords then detract when they are not performing. I have about 80 keywords in the campaign now, however only about 10 have generated sales so far. This might be the Paretto principle playing out again.

    6. @Greedy. Thanks for pointing out video testimonials. That might be next on the list, however in my case I am very particular that they have to be genuine. And for a plant growing product that is sadly a little time consuming. The testimonial I got for the support was 6 months in the making.

    Thanks again for your input, this gives me a lot to work on.
    Signature

    Bjarne Viken
    Conversion Strategist

    Skype: bjarne.viken | bjarne@scaleup.com.au | LinkedIn: http://au.linkedin.com/in/bjarneviken | http://www.scaleup.com.au | Free consultation: http://calendly.com/bjarne-viken

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    • Profile picture of the author Chri5123
      Originally Posted by Bjarne Viken View Post

      Thanks everyone.

      A lot of positive feedback. Did not expect that. A few general points:

      1. @EDK Thanks for your insights. Long copy. I tried testing a shorter copy with less information and it did not sell. Personally I think the other copy looked better, but that is marketing for you. In regard to not mentioning hydroponics in the headline I tested that with adwords, and the clickthrough rate for "growing indoors" was quite simply not high enough. I ended up with "hydroponic for beginners" which tells me that the prospective customer already knows what hydroponics is. Sidenote; when I started I was looking at adwords as a sales opportunity, now I see it more as a marketing research tool. So efficient, particularly with conversion tracking.

      2. @talfighel. Thanks for suggesting copychanges. I was actually looking for a second copy-writing perspective so that is welcome.

      3. @Chri5123. Thanks for those specific ideas. I will have to go over your post a few times to brainstorm variations there. Just in regard to headline. I pick headlines based on the ads with the highest click-through rate. Not sure if that is a good way of doing it, but it works for me.

      4. @khooster1. Thanks for pointing out price. According to what I have tested on Adwords the price is accepted by the market. I am even testing a higher price on Adwords that actually has a higher clickthrough rate. The market likes that the book is sold with 12 months support. Also the supply agreement might also be popular.

      5. @MonitorScout. Thanks for pointing out analysis. I have learned a lot looking at the keywords that are converting. I seem to go through a process of expansion and retraction. Expand with adding keywords then detract when they are not performing. I have about 80 keywords in the campaign now, however only about 10 have generated sales so far. This might be the Paretto principle playing out again.

      6. @Greedy. Thanks for pointing out video testimonials. That might be next on the list, however in my case I am very particular that they have to be genuine. And for a plant growing product that is sadly a little time consuming. The testimonial I got for the support was 6 months in the making.

      Thanks again for your input, this gives me a lot to work on.
      If you have picked the headline from the ads that get the highest click-rate it might be good to leave it - that is quite a good tactic.

      Remember though that they have landed on the sales page and it is the first thing they will read.

      If you check on your stats and see people are staying on the site then it might be worth leaving but if you notice a lot leaving within 5-10 seconds you could split test a few.
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  • Profile picture of the author Joan Altz
    TURN OFF AUTOPLAY of the video....

    That's my BEST ADVICE to you. Why? Because MILLIONS of internet users still DO NOT have high speed internet and WILL NOT wait for a video to auto-load.

    Test that and see if it helps.
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    • Profile picture of the author Edk
      Thanks for the sidenote, friend. Using Adwords as marketing research tool, great tip about which one needs reminding; cheers.
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    • Profile picture of the author InfiniteInc
      Originally Posted by Joan Altz View Post

      TURN OFF AUTOPLAY of the video....

      That's my BEST ADVICE to you. Why? Because MILLIONS of internet users still DO NOT have high speed internet and WILL NOT wait for a video to auto-load.

      Test that and see if it helps.
      Definitely this, and depending on the niche auto-playing videos can scare some people off, it may not be worth it depending on how the gardening niche reacts but it's definitely worth a split test
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      • Profile picture of the author Bjarne Viken
        Hi everyone

        Thanks for the suggestion of turning off the autoplay function. The feedback I got from a copywriter is that most people hate it, but it still increases conversion to put it on auto. I am not sure why that is, and it should be split-tested as you suggest.

        On the topic of split-testing, is there a particular order or sequence of doing it that is recommended? I am reading through various recommendations on how to do it and I am a little frustrated that the common answer to what works best for most landing pages is "it depends" when I know that experienced split-testers can take common lessons an apply it to other niches.
        Signature

        Bjarne Viken
        Conversion Strategist

        Skype: bjarne.viken | bjarne@scaleup.com.au | LinkedIn: http://au.linkedin.com/in/bjarneviken | http://www.scaleup.com.au | Free consultation: http://calendly.com/bjarne-viken

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        • Profile picture of the author Edk
          In terms of sequence of testing, I'd work from the top down.

          I love the header and hope you wouldn't have to change that but if you tested it against some other design and found it performed inferiorly you'd be obliged to change it of course. (I once saw a quite unaesthetic looking header do very badly against a pretty one. Such is life.)

          Maybe you've tested the header already. Next should be 'As Seen on ...' I'd say.
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  • Profile picture of the author Weedy92
    Better Nav.
    Video testimonial.
    STRONG call to action on every page (missing on the blog).
    #1: Better logo, appear more professional.. Something that captures the eye.
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    • Profile picture of the author butters
      Just a quick glance, not going to in-depth...

      - There are different fonts used on the page, I am a fan of continuity when it comes to text, may be something worth looking at.

      - Header loads really chunkily, needs to be a smaller file size.

      - Pixelated images

      - Spacing needs corrections, one example I saw was this line "It might surprise you, but plants actually don't soil to grow. All they need are nutrients, some sunlight and water.
      And it is so easy!" (Lots of spacing errors)

      - Wording heading like "to make sure of your success" should be something like "To make sure you succeed". A lot of grammatical errors in there which needs changing.

      Thats just a few things I have seen on a quick glance.
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      • Profile picture of the author Bjarne Viken
        Lots of interesting feedback there:

        @EDK. Thanks for the simple suggestion regarding testing. For some reason going top down has not popped up in any of the split-testing books I have read.

        @Weedy92. Agree with your points. In regard to the logo however I am a little split. I tried a different logo and it did not work that well. The current version is hard to use for branding purposes, however it might fit the hobby feel that the members are in.

        @Butters. Interesting what you are able to pick up at a quick glance. Curious of what you would see on a second glance. I agree with your points and think in particular the fonts can be simplified to no more than 3 variations. The top bit of the copy can also be improved both in regard to the content and the look of it.
        Signature

        Bjarne Viken
        Conversion Strategist

        Skype: bjarne.viken | bjarne@scaleup.com.au | LinkedIn: http://au.linkedin.com/in/bjarneviken | http://www.scaleup.com.au | Free consultation: http://calendly.com/bjarne-viken

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