Redesigned site. Need your opinion! ;)

[Gymjunkie]

From experience dark background with brighter lettering does not work with any health niche, unless you distinctly do it completely right, which is more of a hassle than it's worth. invert the colors. light on dark is hard to read either way.

How did you determine that? I've visited tons of dark sites, grunge type is very popular making it rougher.. I would agree that maybe Health sites as in disease, women's stuff etc are generally light... but this site is for guys

It's a very interesting insight tho, expand please, maybe I'm wrong..

 

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[FastNAwesome]

Maybe it's just me, been staring at the monitor all day, but those white letters on image were a bit of a pain to read. I do like the pic

 

[Likwid24]

Maybe it's just me, been staring at the monitor all day, but those white letters on image were a bit of a pain to read. I do like the pic

I agree with this. Did you ever read the book Ca$hvertising? If not then check it out. They give a lot of great info on studies that have been done about advertising. Some great studies on how people read, why they stay on a page or leave it, what catches their attention, specific colors to use, font type and size and much much more. It has helped me significantly. I know MJ loves the book too.

By the way, I signed up. Being a gym rat and health freak, I'll let you know what I think!

 

[Gymjunkie]

I agree with this. Did you ever read the book Ca$hvertising? If not then check it out. They give a lot of great info on studies that have been done about advertising. Some great studies on how people read, why they stay on a page or leave it, what catches their attention, specific colors to use, font type and size and much much more. It has helped me significantly. I know MJ loves the book too.

By the way, I signed up. Being a gym rat and health freak, I'll let you know what I think!

I really find it strange that its tough to read... must be my monitor cuz it looks fine, light font on dark background. Hmm...I need to see it on few more monitors. Maybe I just lower the brightness of the image on the background and that will bring out the text.. Thank you!

And thanx a mil for signing up, few more people signed up too so it's a nice bonus from this thread Only a week left till first newsletter!

Also rewrote the text, hope it's much better now. Made it way simplier...

 

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[livebig]

I agree with the rest of people that have commented on this. This just doesn't give the impression of health. It gives me the appearance of grungy and dirty.

Also, you don't give a real reason or incentive to get people to sign up. Let's break this down... because I don't want to appear that I'm just throwing off on your results thus far. That's not helpful for future improvement.

Need a few quick tricks to improve your workout results, add some muscle or lose a couple of pounds?

Who is the target market? Here you have three distinct groups within the "health" category. You have the recreational health market, the bodybuilding market, and the weight loss market. You CAN NOT target everyone. It's just wet noodle advertising and no one is inspired to subscribe to your tips email.

Weight Training Weekly is a weekly newsletter for guys that sends training tips written by a World-Class Trainer [...]

This is vague!! Who is this person? Do they have a name? It's great that they've been featured, but why the secrecy?

OK. Three tips to improve your landing page.

(#1) -- TARGET!!! There is no targeted group here. Pare down your market to something much more specific. Yoga Moms? Bodybuilders? Weight loss enthusiasts? If you do not choose, no one will sign up and your efforts are wasted.

(#2) -- Use a sticking point! Once you've completed #1, you must determine a source of pain that your targeted group deals with. Pour salt on the wound and then explain how you can solve their problem. YOU MUST BE SPECIFIC, SPECIFIC, SPECIFIC.

(#3) -- Offer something of significant value. Nutrition tips may not cut it. What do you think your market can not do without? What do they yearn for? Offer them something irresistible, and the signups will significantly increase.

If what the above isn't clear or you need further clarification, don't hesitate to send me a PM or post a response to this thread. Thanks!

Michael

 

[Gymjunkie]

I agree with the rest of people that have commented on this. This just doesn't give the impression of health. It gives me the appearance of grungy and dirty.

Also, you don't give a real reason or incentive to get people to sign up. Let's break this down... because I don't want to appear that I'm just throwing off on your results thus far. That's not helpful for future improvement.

Need a few quick tricks to improve your workout results, add some muscle or lose a couple of pounds?

Who is the target market? Here you have three distinct groups within the "health" category. You have the recreational health market, the bodybuilding market, and the weight loss market. You CAN NOT target everyone. It's just wet noodle advertising and no one is inspired to subscribe to your tips email.

Weight Training Weekly is a weekly newsletter for guys that sends training tips written by a World-Class Trainer [...]

This is vague!! Who is this person? Do they have a name? It's great that they've been featured, but why the secrecy?

OK. Three tips to improve your landing page.

(#1) -- TARGET!!! There is no targeted group here. Pare down your market to something much more specific. Yoga Moms? Bodybuilders? Weight loss enthusiasts? If you do not choose, no one will sign up and your efforts are wasted.

(#2) -- Use a sticking point! Once you've completed #1, you must determine a source of pain that your targeted group deals with. Pour salt on the wound and then explain how you can solve their problem. YOU MUST BE SPECIFIC, SPECIFIC, SPECIFIC.

(#3) -- Offer something of significant value. Nutrition tips may not cut it. What do you think your market can not do without? What do they yearn for? Offer them something irresistible, and the signups will significantly increase.

If what the above isn't clear or you need further clarification, don't hesitate to send me a PM or post a response to this thread. Thanks!

Michael

Great post!

The problem with targeting is I only target guys who are 16-45 years old, that's it. I'm casting a wide net. Sites like this, or should I say newsletters target more by location (Thrillist.com) or interest (Idealbite - going 'green', UrbanDaddy.com or Vitaljuice.com - fitness and beauty stuff for ladies, pretty much sister site to us). Their pitches seem very general to me.. here is a few:

Vital Juice:

Vital Juice is a free daily email that delivers the latest must read information about fitness, nutrition, beauty and wellness. Ready to be healthy?

Urban Daddy:

Urban Daddy is a free exclusive daily magazine devoted to keep you in the know!



I mean.. The whole point is to have simply to the point description of what it is. My research on similar sites show that... they do expand a bit on the About pages...Maybe I could improve my own pitch more but I don't want to go specifically into one niche.. My target market is big one, guys who are interested in weight training for whatever reason. If you got any tips on writing pitch for that, would love to hear it!

And this is not about Health it's about weight training. Different things that's why it's dark design.

Speed+ for post tho!

EDIT: I do think about removing the tidbit about world class trainer completely tho..

 

[livebig]

Ok, so I'm starting to understand a little more about your site, and this leads me to more questions for you to ponder. I'll ask the questions in the hope that if you haven't thought about these specifics already, it will help you to further refine your product.

→ How often is this newsletter going to be updated? Is there enough content to add frequent updates?

→ What is going to do to make your newsletter stand out from the pack? What is your specific competitive advantage of your site compared to blogs and fitness magazines? To make it simple, WHY SHOULD THEY BOTHER VISITING YOUR SITE? Are you an aggregator of sorts for various bodybuilding news or do you create unique content? What makes your content share worthy?

→ How can you create a built-in community? Are you intending to have forums or chat rooms?

→ What is your intended method of monetization? Ads? Affiliate promotions? Joint Ventures? Product Creation?

Something I forgot to mention in my previous message is the need for tailoring your landing page is to use emotionally charged language that connects with your target reader group. What codified language do they speak so that you can let them know that this site speaks their language. Every group has slang or certain words that have different meanings that you can use to connect subtly and quickly.

Sites like this, or should I say newsletters target more by location (Thrillist.com) or interest (Idealbite - going 'green', UrbanDaddy.com or Vitaljuice.com - fitness and beauty stuff for ladies, pretty much sister site to us). Their pitches seem very general to me.. here is a few:

Vital Juice:

Vital Juice is a free daily email that delivers the latest must read information about fitness, nutrition, beauty and wellness. Ready to be healthy?

Urban Daddy:

Urban Daddy is a free exclusive daily magazine devoted to keep you in the know!

I think you may be slightly missing the point of these taglines. They are there on a completed site to complement the content, not substitute. They don't exactly have to explain everything because the reader can scroll down to further content to better understand the website's purpose. You do not have that luxury because there is no content yet. Therefore, you must do a much more specific job of showing the visitor what will be there when the site goes live.

An EXAMPLE:

How to improve your dead lift 25 pounds in 7 days without pain or struggle.

Give the reader SPECIFIC benefits. Right now, I see nothing but some vaguish "promises" that aren't really even that because they aren't targeted to anyone. They don't connect with the reader. You are writing to "everyman".

I'm sorry. I don't mean to bust your chops over this and I'm only giving you some pointers because I feel that you have a great potential idea here. you just need to get CLEARER on exactly what this service will be and its exact need it's serving.

I mean.. The whole point is to have simply to the point description of what it is. My research on similar sites show that... they do expand a bit on the About pages...Maybe I could improve my own pitch more but I don't want to go specifically into one niche.. My target market is big one, guys who are interested in weight training for whatever reason. If you got any tips on writing pitch for that, would love to hear it!

I don't feel that general weight training is going to work well for you. First of all this is a VERY crowded market. What about if you targeted advanced bodybuilders who are working to get out of a plateau? This market isn't specific enough because everyone in this group doesn't have the same reasons for doing what they do.

Beginning bodybuilders have different needs than seasoned pro bodybuilders, would't you agree?

And this is not about Health it's about weight training. Different things that's why it's dark design.

Ok, I understand dark design because you're aiming for macho. Just make sure your design doesn't interfere with readability and scanability.

Like I said.... working to improve an idea is the only way to get where you want to go. The idea is like most ideas, a diamond in the rough. It needs a little polishing and away you go.


To your Success,

Michael

 

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[Gymjunkie]

1. Once a week we send a newsletter.

2. There are no newsletter like this except one direct competitor. Other sites have newsletters that send affiliate offers, upsells and some articles. This newsletter is a timesaver which aggregates best articles AND includes one or few original tips from our writer.

3. It's not really a community site or social network. Just email newsletter built to deliver info. We will absolutely encourage people to write to us and reply back to them but not build a forum or chat. Too distracting..

4. Ads, affiliate ads

5. Words like ''Improve your bench press'' is a code word, every guy wants that. Might have to change 'lose fat into get rid of those love handles or man-boobs'..

6. UrbanDaddy or DailyWorth do not have anything else on their main page just submit form, you can have more info if you want but have to press small link somewhere (same on my site). Other sites build up content as they go.. I will add a few articles but don't want to distract people too much from main call to action.

7. Bust a plateu is good example, I should include that. But since people can remember 3 things or 3 chunks of info at once I can't have too much things like that written. This is anecdotal evidence but the less details you give people to remember the more they remember.


Good stuff!

Ok, so I'm starting to understand a little more about your site, and this leads me to more questions for you to ponder. I'll ask the questions in the hope that if you haven't thought about these specifics already, it will help you to further refine your product.

→ How often is this newsletter going to be updated? Is there enough content to add frequent updates?

→ What is going to do to make your newsletter stand out from the pack? What is your specific competitive advantage of your site compared to blogs and fitness magazines? To make it simple, WHY SHOULD THEY BOTHER VISITING YOUR SITE? Are you an aggregator of sorts for various bodybuilding news or do you create unique content? What makes your content share worthy?

→ How can you create a built-in community? Are you intending to have forums or chat rooms?

→ What is your intended method of monetization? Ads? Affiliate promotions? Joint Ventures? Product Creation?

Something I forgot to mention in my previous message is the need for tailoring your landing page is to use emotionally charged language that connects with your target reader group. What codified language do they speak so that you can let them know that this site speaks their language. Every group has slang or certain words that have different meanings that you can use to connect subtly and quickly.



I think you may be slightly missing the point of these taglines. They are there on a completed site to complement the content, not substitute. They don't exactly have to explain everything because the reader can scroll down to further content to better understand the website's purpose. You do not have that luxury because there is no content yet. Therefore, you must do a much more specific job of showing the visitor what will be there when the site goes live.

An EXAMPLE:

How to improve your dead lift 25 pounds in 7 days without pain or struggle.

Give the reader SPECIFIC benefits. Right now, I see nothing but some vaguish "promises" that aren't really even that because they aren't targeted to anyone. They don't connect with the reader. You are writing to "everyman".

I'm sorry. I don't mean to bust your chops over this and I'm only giving you some pointers because I feel that you have a great potential idea here. you just need to get CLEARER on exactly what this service will be and its exact need it's serving.



I don't feel that general weight training is going to work well for you. First of all this is a VERY crowded market. What about if you targeted advanced bodybuilders who are working to get out of a plateau? This market isn't specific enough because everyone in this group doesn't have the same reasons for doing what they do.

Beginning bodybuilders have different needs than seasoned pro bodybuilders, would't you agree?



Ok, I understand dark design because you're aiming for macho. Just make sure your design doesn't interfere with readability and scanability.

Like I said.... working to improve an idea is the only way to get where you want to go. The idea is like most ideas, a diamond in the rough. It needs a little polishing and away you go.


To your Success,

Michael

 

[Gymjunkie]

Ok, added another update on this. Made the image in the background darker to ease the reading and made the pitch more exact. I'd say even offensive for some! Here it is:

''Need a few tips on how to get rid of those love handles or man-boobs ? Or
maybe you want to add 20lbs to your 90-pound weakling physique?

Every Monday Weight Training Weekly sends an email for guys with tips
about training and nutrition. We also include 3 great articles hand-picked
from around the Web so that you save time and don’t have to search for
them browsing yet another blog promising you ‘’big gunz FAST’’ and selling
another ‘’super-animal, muscle-blowing’’supplement that doesn’t work.

Leave your email address below and we will deliver no-BS information that
you can use right away in your workouts!''

I hope it will make some people laugh, some people angry and some people bit ashamed..

 

[jfub]

All in all, it looks much better than before. Glad to see progress!

 

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[livebig]

Definitely better! I wish you lots of luck. Let me know if I can be of any help.

Michael

 

[Gymjunkie]

Definitely better! I wish you lots of luck. Let me know if I can be of any help.

Michael

Big thanks Mike and others who challenged me to improve the site with their comments!

Still got a blog to add I guess but it's good to see people say site progresses.