Blog/Vlog could use your critique!!

[HerpMogul]

Hello all,
My friend has a blog that he spends a lot of time and money on. He talks about it endlessly and I finally decided to look.
What I can say is he has a genuine passion. And willing to do whatever to make it work. I told him his site needs work but can me made awesome. This started as a FB page. He threw a wix page together. His passion is in the content, but I'd love to help him get his brand and blog growing

NOFREEPASSES.COM

Will you all please rate this blog and give us some realistic feedback. I would love to do the same for anyone here if you are interested..

Whats missing?
What would you change?
How could we get you to tell a friend to check out the site?
What can we do to get you to come back?

Thanks
Mitch

P.s. I would love to talk, Skype or chat with any other bloggers here. I am very interested in this.

 

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[Dwight Schrute]

What would you change?What can we do to get you to come back?

That video...

Get rid of that annoying video on the homepage, or at least leave me a choice to view it or not, like there
http://www.themillionairefastlane.com/

What's this site about?
You have all the answers to help people overcome their obstacles?

 

[DrkSide]

I spent ~20 seconds on the site(probably more than the average user. I have no idea what it is. I saw a video that didn't get my attention. And....I left.

 

[Deleted20833]

It's not specialized enough for me...It says it will bring me information
about how to accomplish my goal..but how do I know it's for my type
of goal

I would tell him to make more niche specific

 

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[Dwight Schrute]

It's not specialized enough for me...It says it will bring me information
about how to accomplish my goal..but how do I know it's for my type
of goal

I would tell him to make more niche specific

Exactly.

What if my goal is to be the first guy to take a dump on Mars, without a spacesuit?

 

[HerpMogul]

What I suggest

That video...

Get rid of that annoying video on the homepage, or at least leave me a choice to view it or not, like there
http://www.themillionairefastlane.com/

What's this site about?
You have all the answers to help people overcome their obstacles?

Thanks I appreciate your feedback. And the format of the video has been spoken about before in critiques and definitely worth looking over again especially if not grabbing any attention.

Thanks again

 

[HerpMogul]

I spent ~20 seconds on the site(probably more than the average user. I have no idea what it is. I saw a video that didn't get my attention. And....I left.

Thank you for your honest criticism. It helps!!!

 

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[HerpMogul]

It's not specialized enough for me...It says it will bring me information
about how to accomplish my goal..but how do I know it's for my type
of goal

I would tell him to make more niche specific

@HugoMoreno. Yes. Thanks man! That's actually what we are tangling with at the moment.

My friend and founder is a media guy. He has lots of technical equipment (cameras, video production equip. etc)and values the networking aspects of being in the field capturing events as well as editing and creating the "art" behind the projects/episodes.

He wants the site to be a way to display his original content( video, editing, audio etc) but more than just another" event blog" if that's even a thing.. He want's to show a behind the scenes look at the Person, Business, Lifestyle and focus on how it was all possible and the tribulations they overcame.

This project is his baby and will be there regardless.

He is pretty content with it but honest I can't help but want to help him out. I am intrigued by blogging and since I don't have a specific "angle" of my own at the moment I figured this is perfect match.

Anyway, Thanks everyone for the honest feedback it's great to even hear replies!

We will work on it more as it is a work in progress( now that I'm aboard). But hopefully we can work together and help him display his videos and interviews in a more professional way. I am open to more replies and suggestions.

 

[Mattie]

On the first page I see a pic of the city and I would say nice picture. But what am I doing here, but looking at a picture. And then I would leave.

Then is says no free pass. "Okay" that's nice. No free pass to what?

And then about: We share barriers. Okay I get it, life has barriers. Still what am I doing here?

And there's a bunch of video's and looks like maybe it's music, or some kind of reporter. So what am I still doing here. And so many video's and I don't know what I'm really doing here or what this site is about, why waste my time listening to the video's.

So basically I kept getting that impression. What am I doing here?

 

[Kevin Peter]

Sorry. I dont understand the purpose of your site at a glance and I don't like to read the content in that font. I bounced off.

 

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[Formless]

Problems

- Lack of clear purpose within the first 3 seconds.
- Font is tiring
- The way you help someone reach a specific goal(s) is not clearly communicated.

He needs to give me a reason to stay. People without sales/copywriting experience often misunderstand what a 'reason to stay/buy' is.

If you were selling shovels, the lay-approach would be to talk about how razor-sharp and rock-solid the shovel is. (Nobody cares. This is what most people do. Nobody buys a shovel because they like shovels.)

The better approach would be to talk about the fact that you can dig a hole faster. (Makes sense, but that's not really a sweet promise)

An even better approach would be to talk about how nice a small garden can look with planted flowers. (Ok, now our hole has a purpose.)

Then you could talk about how impressed everyone will be with you and the tweaks you made to your garden. (Oh, people now give me respect, awesome!)

We could go on. And if I was actually writing copy for shovels, I'd put a lot more time into choosing my words... but you see how we took something basic (shovels) and turned it into respect & admiration from your peers and loved ones?

That's what people want.

In the context of your friend's website. You have to make it CLEAR how by staying there, I get to a destination that I want to get to.

I will send you a PM. I can help your friend clarify everything and give him a way to approach this.

 

[HerpMogul]

On the first page I see a pic of the city and I would say nice picture. But what am I doing here, but looking at a picture. And then I would leave.

Then is says no free pass. "Okay" that's nice. No free pass to what?

And then about: We share barriers. Okay I get it, life has barriers. Still what am I doing here?

And there's a bunch of video's and looks like maybe it's music, or some kind of reporter. So what am I still doing here. And so many video's and I don't know what I'm really doing here or what this site is about, why waste my time listening to the video's.

So basically I kept getting that impression. What am I doing here?

@Mattie Thanks man. I appreciate that literal break down of why you didn't know what's going on. Your honesty helps.

Any tips? I am trying to find him a theme that supports a more vlog styled page which this is I believe.

 

[HerpMogul]

Sorry. I dont understand the purpose of your site at a glance and I don't like to read the content in that font. I bounced off.

Thanks @Kevin Peter, don't be sorry man. I really think I can help him with this and I appreciate these tips. If I get enough interest I will make a progress post.
Please add any tips

 

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[HerpMogul]

@Formless Thank you so much. Those were actionable steps for sure. I appreciate the time you took to break it down. I would love to pm about this. I could probably communicate a little better that way.

 

[Dwight Schrute]

Problems

- Lack of clear purpose within the first 3 seconds.
- Font is tiring
- The way you help someone reach a specific goal(s) is not clearly communicated.

He needs to give me a reason to stay. People without sales/copywriting experience often misunderstand what a 'reason to stay/buy' is.

If you were selling shovels, the lay-approach would be to talk about how razor-sharp and rock-solid the shovel is. (Nobody cares. This is what most people do. Nobody buys a shovel because they like shovels.)

The better approach would be to talk about the fact that you can dig a hole faster. (Makes sense, but that's not really a sweet promise)

An even better approach would be to talk about how nice a small garden can look with planted flowers. (Ok, now our hole has a purpose.)

Then you could talk about how impressed everyone will be with you and the tweaks you made to your garden. (Oh, people now give me respect, awesome!)

We could go on. And if I was actually writing copy for shovels, I'd put a lot more time into choosing my words... but you see how we took something basic (shovels) and turned it into respect & admiration from your peers and loved ones?

That's what people want.

In the context of your friend's website. You have to make it CLEAR how by staying there, I get to a destination that I want to get to.

I will send you a PM. I can help your friend clarify everything and give him a way to approach this.

Incredibly useful post. Like MJ says in his book, "Talk about benefits, not features"
Repped.

 

[Mattie]

Well what is the goal of the website? What is the niche? I got different things. Barriers? Free content? And if free content? What kind of content? Niche again? Is it a music site? Reporting and journalism on a specific niche? What do you want me to learn from the site? How to be the greatest reporter? Greatest Musician?

The picture takes up the whole page when you go to the website. So all I see is a pic of the city. And what does the pic have to do with the site and what is symbolizing? For example: If I'm selling apples, I want a photograph of apple pie, apples in a basket, a person eating an apple. A bunch of people excited about eating an apple products.

What can apples do for your body, brain, emotions, feelings, life, success, business, relationships, finances? Again what is the goal of the site? How does it apply to my life? What can apples do for me? Why should I eat apples? Why should I care about putting apples in my diet?

What kind of barriers are out there? How do I break through those barriers?

Impatience, failure, dealing with critics, reviews, haters in the music world. What kind of etiquette do I need to be a successful musician? What kind of things should I say or not say in the public? How much should I reveal about my private life? How do come up with an awesome name for my band? What are the legal things I need to know?

How do I play an instrument? How do I market myself? How do I brand myself? What worked for other successful people that might work for me? Instead of using that particular gallery, use one that moves and allows one to select which video instead of overwhelming the page. Try different galleries and see which one works the best, but draws your focus to one at a time.

Is it best to use video's or a radio or podcast? Like Coast to Coast uses both video and radio. You might look at shows like that, that are successful for a long time and see how they market, do their websites, and what they've done over the years that have been effective over a long period of time. Somewhere they've changed pictures, made improvements, and you can do some research. Read their reviews. What is your competition doing in your niche. What do their websites look like, what is their content, layout, and how many followers and reviews do you see on the internet across social media and forums.

 

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[HerpMogul]

More actionable nuggets here thank you @Mattie. I will reply in detail to those questions.