5 ms·

You're advertising an ability to make an ebook beautiful through formatting and styling, yet this is your Website: http://liberwriter.com/ http://liberwriter.co

by k33n 15y ago

You're advertising an ability to make an ebook beautiful through formatting and styling, yet this is your Website: http://liberwriter.com/ http://liberwriter.com/ I'd work on that if I were you.

davidw 15y ago
It looks good to me - simple, direct and easy to navigate. Our customers are looking for quality formatting at good prices, not lots of rounded corners and other gewgaws. By and large, they have zero overlap with the HN crowd and could care less about the latest trendy design fads. Also, remember that Kindle formatting is very very plain.
- larrys 15y ago
  It probably would make sense to get something from http://themeforest.net/ http://themeforest.net/ or similar and jazz it up a bit. I don't disagree with what you are saying but you will most likely do more sales that way. If you end up doing this make sure to write about it. Here's an example (not saying to use this one): http://themeforest.net/theme_previews/286942-cheerapp-premium-app-html-template?index=4 http://themeforest.net/theme_previews/286942-cheerapp-premiu...
  - petercooper 15y ago
    While your suggestions are good, the idea that a visually better designed site will convert better is a universal one. I've seen more than my fair share of tests where the cruder site wins.
  - davidw 15y ago
    I've looked through themeforest in the past - the prices are great if I found something that would be an improvement, but I never found anything I liked. A lot of our customers are older and not great with computers, so clarity and simplicity are things that I place a high emphasis on - and something people have commented on as well - they appreciate that it's all right there in front of them in fonts that are easy to read. Not to say it couldn't be a lot better, but it's something that I feel more like iterating on at the moment, rather than throwing it away and starting from something someone else did that I may have trouble changing. I do appreciate the constructive comment though; a lot of 'design' threads seem to be a bit on the sniffy side, which is unhelpful: I know I'm not a professional designer, and don't try and play one on the internet. I'm doing the best I can given the circumstances, and am not unhappy with the results so far, in terms of what our customers are telling us.
    - larrys 15y ago
      "A lot of our customers are older and not great with computers" Understand. The hand holding crowd. We have those as well so I know what you mean. I think you need to incorporate this statement that you make elsewhere: "Word manuscript, we make it look good on the Kindle" in a prominent place under your banner on the homepage such as: "We make your word manuscript look good on the Kindle!" or "Liberwriter makes your word manuscript look good on the Kindle!" It needs to be right on your home page since it's the easiest way to understand at a glance and reinforce what you are doing. (See logo design below). Also, the stuff on this page: http://www.liberwriter.com/kindle_book_cover_images http://www.liberwriter.com/kindle_book_cover_images Needs to be more prominent visual and mentioned on the home page. I think it's the key to what you are selling and it represents what every writer really wants (and is the key to vanity publishing in general like what a diamond ring means to a woman the physical representation of something). Lastly, I would work some of the quotes from "testimonials" into the home page as well. For example this: "contacting Kindle Support and they finally recommended Liber Writer" can become this: "Recommended by Amazon Kindle Support!" (in proximity to your logo at the top). In fact, browsing your testimonials I see plenty of things that belong on your home page (which is good so take advantage of anything you can put there.) You can use http://99designs.com http://99designs.com or http://www.logotournament http://www.logotournament to create a new banner at the top. With the resulting photoshop files you can change and tweak the tag line when needed. At the very least a new banner incorporating a tagline would be a very easy change to make. If you make any of these changes let me know so I can take a look. Good luck.
- k33n 15y ago
  Trust me, it's not good. It's not a matter of adding "rounding corners and other gewgaws" (which you already have on your site, I might add). It's about knowing what you're doing or hiring someone who does.
  - csomar 15y ago
    Seriously. Have you done any A/B testing. Do you have any stats from his traffic and conversion rates. Did you read his clients minds? A good website is not a "nice" one. A good website is a one that does the best conversion and satisfy the customer. P.S: I used to think that way until I saw my dad browse the Internet. He was looking for solar panels and hit a Chinese website. The website was 95 like, and my dad said "This guys look great". He only cared about the pictures, prices and specification. He copy/paste their email and contacted them.
Samuel_Michon 15y ago
Also, the Call To Action is a bit small.
- davidw 15y ago
  You think? It should definitely mention pricing more prominently, I suppose, because I get people who write to ask about pricing... It'd be harder to make that button much larger, brighter, or more central though.
  - Samuel_Michon 15y ago
    It was an attempt at humor. The CTA button is humongous.

by k33n 15y ago

You're advertising an ability to make an ebook beautiful through formatting and styling, yet this is your Website: http://liberwriter.com/ http://liberwriter.com/ I'd work on that if I were you.

davidw 15y ago

It looks good to me - simple, direct and easy to navigate. Our customers are looking for quality formatting at good prices, not lots of rounded corners and other gewgaws. By and large, they have zero overlap with the HN crowd and could care less about the latest trendy design fads. Also, remember that Kindle formatting is very very plain.

larrys 15y ago
It probably would make sense to get something from http://themeforest.net/ http://themeforest.net/ or similar and jazz it up a bit. I don't disagree with what you are saying but you will most likely do more sales that way. If you end up doing this make sure to write about it. Here's an example (not saying to use this one): http://themeforest.net/theme_previews/286942-cheerapp-premium-app-html-template?index=4 http://themeforest.net/theme_previews/286942-cheerapp-premiu...
- petercooper 15y ago
  While your suggestions are good, the idea that a visually better designed site will convert better is a universal one. I've seen more than my fair share of tests where the cruder site wins.
- davidw 15y ago
  I've looked through themeforest in the past - the prices are great if I found something that would be an improvement, but I never found anything I liked. A lot of our customers are older and not great with computers, so clarity and simplicity are things that I place a high emphasis on - and something people have commented on as well - they appreciate that it's all right there in front of them in fonts that are easy to read. Not to say it couldn't be a lot better, but it's something that I feel more like iterating on at the moment, rather than throwing it away and starting from something someone else did that I may have trouble changing. I do appreciate the constructive comment though; a lot of 'design' threads seem to be a bit on the sniffy side, which is unhelpful: I know I'm not a professional designer, and don't try and play one on the internet. I'm doing the best I can given the circumstances, and am not unhappy with the results so far, in terms of what our customers are telling us.
  - larrys 15y ago
    "A lot of our customers are older and not great with computers" Understand. The hand holding crowd. We have those as well so I know what you mean. I think you need to incorporate this statement that you make elsewhere: "Word manuscript, we make it look good on the Kindle" in a prominent place under your banner on the homepage such as: "We make your word manuscript look good on the Kindle!" or "Liberwriter makes your word manuscript look good on the Kindle!" It needs to be right on your home page since it's the easiest way to understand at a glance and reinforce what you are doing. (See logo design below). Also, the stuff on this page: http://www.liberwriter.com/kindle_book_cover_images http://www.liberwriter.com/kindle_book_cover_images Needs to be more prominent visual and mentioned on the home page. I think it's the key to what you are selling and it represents what every writer really wants (and is the key to vanity publishing in general like what a diamond ring means to a woman the physical representation of something). Lastly, I would work some of the quotes from "testimonials" into the home page as well. For example this: "contacting Kindle Support and they finally recommended Liber Writer" can become this: "Recommended by Amazon Kindle Support!" (in proximity to your logo at the top). In fact, browsing your testimonials I see plenty of things that belong on your home page (which is good so take advantage of anything you can put there.) You can use http://99designs.com http://99designs.com or http://www.logotournament http://www.logotournament to create a new banner at the top. With the resulting photoshop files you can change and tweak the tag line when needed. At the very least a new banner incorporating a tagline would be a very easy change to make. If you make any of these changes let me know so I can take a look. Good luck.
k33n 15y ago
Trust me, it's not good. It's not a matter of adding "rounding corners and other gewgaws" (which you already have on your site, I might add). It's about knowing what you're doing or hiring someone who does.
- csomar 15y ago
  Seriously. Have you done any A/B testing. Do you have any stats from his traffic and conversion rates. Did you read his clients minds? A good website is not a "nice" one. A good website is a one that does the best conversion and satisfy the customer. P.S: I used to think that way until I saw my dad browse the Internet. He was looking for solar panels and hit a Chinese website. The website was 95 like, and my dad said "This guys look great". He only cared about the pictures, prices and specification. He copy/paste their email and contacted them.

Samuel_Michon 15y ago

Also, the Call To Action is a bit small.

davidw 15y ago
You think? It should definitely mention pricing more prominently, I suppose, because I get people who write to ask about pricing... It'd be harder to make that button much larger, brighter, or more central though.
- Samuel_Michon 15y ago
  It was an attempt at humor. The CTA button is humongous.