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Ask HN: How can I make this page convert better?

by humbyvaldes on 2/9/13, 2:47 AM with 13 comments

• by anigbrowl on 2/9/13, 3:35 AM

  OK, I spent 30 minutes with it. I didn't sign up, but only because I have no particular need to publish right now. It might be a good thing to have a freebie thing that only lets you do, say, 5 pages; but I appreciate that there's a risk some people will abuse that to suck down the results and re-upload them elsewhere. Maybe a 'try it for 30 days free' option?

  I would change up the front page a bit. Currently, the 4th element (the subheading in the caption to the picture under the headline) is what tells me I can edit-in-place. The animation is great, but I opened the page in another tab and then clicked over to it a moment later, by which time the animation had completeed. I didn't see what the big deal was until I read that. Instead, I'd make that the headline: This is your editor. Because the immediate editability is the big win. I loved the UX and how responsive it was.

  Minor caveats: some of the fonts don't render right in Chrome, but have the bottom of the letters (descenders etc.) chopped off. I'd really like some toolbar widget to turn on a grid for those times when I want to line things up or maintain a vertical symmetry.

  Last issue, the Learn More page. Visually and semantically, it's great - it makes a compelling argument and does so in a humorous fashion. But you don't tell me anything about what I'm publishing - is this flash? HTML+CSS? Something else? That information should be there so I understand whether I'm buying into your hosting walled garden, or renting a general-purpose tool that I can then deploy and further develop as I see fit.

  I also think you should put the $ cost up on the Learn More page and offer a link or argument for the price. I hate hate hate not seeing the price information until I get to the sign up screen, it always feels like a gyp. Wear your price on your sleeve; that establishes that your product has value from the outset, and doesn't confront me with an expensive surprise when I try to sign up. Invite me to put my hand in my wallet before signing up, otherwise I feel like there's a little bait-and-switch going on.

  Don't take these criticisms as bitter medicine - I think this is a fabulous offering, and that's why I've critiqued it in such detail.

• by nwh on 2/9/13, 4:26 AM

  First of all, I quite like it. There's a few things that came across to me as a little awkward though.

  • On a small screen [1], the edges of the page get a little smushed up. I'm also not sure if the "learn more" button is supposed to be transparent (it looks like it shouldn't be).

  • This window [2] felt like I could move it, but I found that I could not. It's by no means a problem usability wise, but it felt strange that it wasn't possible.

  • I sort of expected there to be a "preview" button in the title bar. I realise that it is a WYSIWYG editor, though I'm not sure how the page will look when it's fully published.

  • The two sign up buttons look out of place, typically a page like this has one big and loud call to action. The one in the top bar isn't centred vertically either, which looks a little strange.

  • The spelling of the buttons "Sign Up" and "Signup" should probably be made consistent too.

  It's all nit-picky stuff, but I hope some of it is useful to you.

  [1]: http://i.imgur.com/UhyOrdT.png

  [2]: http://i.imgur.com/EpG8Jkx.png

• by toddrew on 2/11/13, 6:55 AM

  I second the free trial with minimum functionality. Take a look at https://www.easel.io. It's somewhat similar (in browser design for bootstrap instead of blogs) and offers a limited trial of being able to create three different pages.

  By offering the trial and shrinking the signup form to an email address and password you have less friction, your visitors playing around with it, and you have their email address.

• by ravenp on 2/9/13, 3:18 AM

  That mouse came out of nowhere and scared me.

  I think conversion is based largely on who it is visiting your site. It's aimed at the nontechnical type of person, so getting traffic from somewhere like HN is going to kill your conversion rate. What are your traffic sources?

• by orangethirty on 2/9/13, 3:59 AM

  Your numbers are good. The landing page seems to be working well. Your payment form needs work. From experience it is one of the most crucial parts of your sales ladder.

• by sharemywin on 2/12/13, 2:32 PM

  I got a chrome ad. I would have just left the sight.