A client wants a higher PR and of course, more paying customers. His PR is now 4. He is a ticket broker for concerts, shows and sports events at www.soldoutornottickets.com. I advised him that he needs to remove celebrity photos of stars like Britney Spears and Shania Twain since they have no current appearances scheduled. I also think the text is UGLY and should be changed to Verdana or Arial in a smaller and bolder font. Overall, I think the homepage is unattractive. He thinks appearance does not count and thinks the homepage looks more than good as it is now. He also feels it is not important to remove celebrities in question and that type of updating is not important. I would very much appreciate input on any aspect of this website. Cordially,
In my opinion (for whatever that's worth) I think it's a good concept, just not executed effectively. The site as a whole on first impression looks very cookie cutter and not very inviting. It does not have much 'pizzazz'. The poor attempt at the fade on the top black bar is one of the giveaways that this is not a "professional" site. Please keep in mind that the company may be the best at what it does, but the website does not portray that image. Another problem is the horizontal scroll bar at 800x600. My resolution is much higher than that, but still, nearly 50% of those on the internet still have their resolutions set that low. I like the concept of the photos of the Celebes on the home page because it offers instant recognition of the level of events that the site can get tickets for. The photos, however, being just small square thumbnails, are not flattering and catchy. If the Celebes were photoshopped into an attractive collage, it would be much more effective. This is not the best example, but it's something I found quickly: http://www.branson-missouri.com/. If you look at the strip along the top, this is one way to collage them together. Here's a better example: http://www.baldknobbers.com/home.php. It doesn't need to be so big and obnoxious, but you get the idea. These sort of layouts are more appealing. The more comfortable a person is with a site, the greater the likelihood that the visitor may become a customer. Another thing I noticed, the navigation moves the right on the inside pages. I like this arrangement and I think it works well for this site. If the home page must stay as it is, try to at least convince your client to move the navigation to the right so it's not so distracting. I'm sure you're having a hard time convincing your client that the site needs a overhaul, but chasing after visitors without an effective conversion enticement on the site will do little good. Many will come, many will leave. It's better to have fewer visitors with a high conversion rate than a site that has millions of visitors and no-one buying. Good luck. Convincing someone they've got a dud when they think they've got the big bang is a difficult and tricky exercise.
Move the sites javascript down to the bottom. Go to this site to see what a search engine sees: http://www.delorie.com/web/ses.cgi? You want pertinent content to show up first; and I would also add more content/text to the first page. The pics of people who are not happening right now is more of a personal decision- could be construed as false advertisement, thus causing potential customers to lose trust. ======= He thinks appearance does not count and thinks the homepage looks more than good as it is now. He also feels it is not important to remove celebrities in question and that type of updating is not important. I would very much appreciate input on any aspect of this website. ======== And; personally, I don't see anything wrong with the way the page looks. I like simple as opposed to beauty I guess. But; updating is very important. Whether it's content; whatever, it's important. I'm living proof.
Well, a redesign won't get him higher PR, although it may get him more conversions. Maybe if he understands what PR is, and what it ISN'T, as well as an explanation of receiving traffic, and receiving traffic that converts is in order.
I purchase tickets frequently from brokers and this site would scare me. I've run into some sketchy organizations and based on first appearances this place would scare me. I generally try to find brokers locally so that I can physically review the tickets before paying but when I use a national broker they better look professional. Also, I think the Britney picture is false advertising, I actually find out about concerts by looking for tickets sometimes and this would confuse me.
Hi All: Thanks for your honest input. This gives me some other professional opinions I can bring to the table. Cordially,
One thing I don't like about the site isn't the design, but the domain name.. It's ugly (!), real hard to type in, and I would guess that not many would bother to type in that one again if they haven't bookmarked the site. So he may actually loose returning customers because of that domain name... My opinion is that the domain name is also a part of a sites design, and a good name gives the site a professional feeling. So he should get a new shorter (and easier to remember) domain IMO. Just my $.02
Ok, ok I can see what your client wants to do. If you follow up on that path and change the overall site to support the theme, it could generate more traffic (when the PR get higher) and potensially lead to more quality traffic. I understand the need for some adjustments to the design, but to get the overall ideas to match the reality should be the main priority. If the frontpage and site structure is kept like it is today then it will do the opposite of what I guess is the intended idea. This is my opinion anyway. Thank you for sharing.
Again, I appreciate your input. An important point I foolishly omitted: We are paid commission based upon tickets sold thru this site. No tickets sold - no pay. In addition, he has another site which he advertises thru PPC at Google. This site makes him a LOT of money but we do not share in it. This site, IMO, looks great - www.ticketsmyway.com. He has a webmaster working on this website full time and thinks this person is so great that he has made him a 30% partner!!! Even though they all share in www.soldoutornottickets.com, work on this site is done grudgingly. Further thoughts, please. Cordially,
iam sorry Ms. T. but could u please explain for me what is PR and ow could i see it for a certain website? thanx
I agree that the site is not very attractive, even to the point of not looking 100% professional. I would think twice about doing business on this site. The other site (TicketsMyWAy) looks much better, although I don't like the "glow" on the header link graphics. I also agree the "special events" pictures should be removed when there are not tickets for that event. It doesn't make sense to allow the user to click on something that can't give them any useful information. In short appearance does count in my book when the site does not look professional.