6 ms·

Ask HN: Need advice on my Start-up

14 points by captaincrunch 16y ago

Before I start playing with Adwords, I wanted to get some advice on my start-up. I am selling DVD's to people who's TV screens (LCD/Plasma) have suffered burn-in or stuck Pixels. I made it to fix the burn-in on my own screen, and it worked pretty good. The site is: http://www.fixburnin.com/ My questions are: does it look to spamy? What could I improve on my conversion rate off the bat?

Travis 16y ago
Just a quick review -- I like the funky look of it. Reminds me of how-to sites from the late 90s, before spam overrode everything. The one thing that bugged me was the $29.95 crossed out, with $9.95 written in. Whenever I see a discount that isn't "special" to me (due to a code, or a link clicked, etc.) I think, "this person is trying to anchor the price higher" and it feels a little underhanded. Also, it's not clear from the beginning that you're selling a product. I'd make it clear that the only way to fix burned in pixels is by using your product.
briancary 16y ago
You could definitely increase conversion rate by making the overall design better. Perhaps try out something like http://www.yola.com http://www.yola.com In a startup like yours, its pretty easy to spend all your time working on the product and skimping on the marketing web page. While your layout/design isn't bad, it can certainly be improved by 120%. Save yourself some time and offload that to someone else who is a better designer. Just my friendly opinion.
jeffepp 16y ago
Your site looks pretty old-school. You could definitely improve your conversion rate by even paying someone on elance a few hundred bucks to customize some template. That being said, your product sounds pretty useful. I have never heard of this type of DVD (although I have never looked for one) but I assume you could do better with an updated look. You could also consider a shopify storefront. Good luck!
ezrider4428 16y ago
The site looks super spammy. To improve your conversion rate you should have more information on your site. use a different payment provider (paypal is the choice of spammers. non-spammers too but mostly spammers) try shopify. add some analytics from mixpanel to see where people are dropping off. You should also increase the price of your product, i mean you are offering to fix my screwed up plasma tv, i've never seen that i would pay $30 for something like that. If you feel bad about charging that then throw in a wicked movie for people to watch after they fix there tv.
jacquesm 16y ago
What a neat little product idea. Your biggest worry will be SEO savvy tricksters that will order one of your DVDs and start selling copies, as well as ripped copies showing up as torrents. You'll be siding with the mpaa soon ;)
faust1 16y ago
i am not sure if the demand exists for such a product/service. anyways if it really has a purpose. anyways your web site looks fine. i would just advise you to change the order button area ...

14 points by captaincrunch 16y ago

Travis 16y ago

Just a quick review -- I like the funky look of it. Reminds me of how-to sites from the late 90s, before spam overrode everything. The one thing that bugged me was the $29.95 crossed out, with $9.95 written in. Whenever I see a discount that isn't "special" to me (due to a code, or a link clicked, etc.) I think, "this person is trying to anchor the price higher" and it feels a little underhanded. Also, it's not clear from the beginning that you're selling a product. I'd make it clear that the only way to fix burned in pixels is by using your product.

briancary 16y ago

You could definitely increase conversion rate by making the overall design better. Perhaps try out something like http://www.yola.com http://www.yola.com In a startup like yours, its pretty easy to spend all your time working on the product and skimping on the marketing web page. While your layout/design isn't bad, it can certainly be improved by 120%. Save yourself some time and offload that to someone else who is a better designer. Just my friendly opinion.

jeffepp 16y ago

Your site looks pretty old-school. You could definitely improve your conversion rate by even paying someone on elance a few hundred bucks to customize some template. That being said, your product sounds pretty useful. I have never heard of this type of DVD (although I have never looked for one) but I assume you could do better with an updated look. You could also consider a shopify storefront. Good luck!

ezrider4428 16y ago

The site looks super spammy. To improve your conversion rate you should have more information on your site. use a different payment provider (paypal is the choice of spammers. non-spammers too but mostly spammers) try shopify. add some analytics from mixpanel to see where people are dropping off. You should also increase the price of your product, i mean you are offering to fix my screwed up plasma tv, i've never seen that i would pay $30 for something like that. If you feel bad about charging that then throw in a wicked movie for people to watch after they fix there tv.

jacquesm 16y ago

What a neat little product idea. Your biggest worry will be SEO savvy tricksters that will order one of your DVDs and start selling copies, as well as ripped copies showing up as torrents. You'll be siding with the mpaa soon ;)

faust1 16y ago

i am not sure if the demand exists for such a product/service. anyways if it really has a purpose. anyways your web site looks fine. i would just advise you to change the order button area ...