6 ms·

Improved conversions by 25%. Thanks Hacker News!

51 points by phil_KartMe 17y ago

phil_KartMe 17y ago
feedback definitely welcome on this forum :)
- Bluem00 17y ago
  I'm also very slow... It's not immediately clear to me what a 'favorite' is.
  - phil_KartMe 17y ago
    interesting. i'll test phrases like "organize city guides, recipe boxes or gift lists" and "share links, pictures, maps and products". thanks!
  - pbhjpbhj 17y ago
    It's the IE word for a bookmark, which may or may not happen to mark a favourite link. Was it a conscious decision to limit the scope in marketing terms to groups of "favorite" items or do people in practise only add a very limited number of items to any group ("kart")?
- roundsquare 17y ago
  Hey. Service looks neat, I created an account and I'm trying it out. One thing, I tried to "Kart" this site: http://www.waveletsandsubbandcoding.org/Repository/VetterliKovacevic95_Manuscript.pdf http://www.waveletsandsubbandcoding.org/Repository/VetterliK... It couldn't auto generate a name, which makes sense. However, I didn't realize this and when I hit the kart this button, it came back and I didn't realize why. The message on top was too small and I didn't notice it. Not a big deal, but just something I ran across.
  - phil_KartMe 17y ago
    Thanks. Saw that autogeneration issue in our error logs, but didn't see the the message we sent too small and/or in the wrong place! will make feedback messages stand out more. thanks!
therealbob 17y ago
I must be slow. You're headline says "Try it in 30 seconds!" How? Are you implying that it will only take me 30 seconds to register? I was expecting a link in that headline that would take me to a demo page.
- phil_KartMe 17y ago
  Thanks for the comment. It's definitely not you. I was trying to imply that you can sign up and try KartMe really, really quickly. perhaps sub header should just focus on free. "Just click a button to organize favorites in lists. Start KartMe to try for free!" i need to start a/b testing asap!
pchivers 17y ago
The "Stop emailing yourself" headline looks funny to me. It had to look at it a second time because when I first loaded the page I thought it was an ad and subconsciously skipped it. I don't know why that is. I think maybe it's the font, coupled with the fact that it's on a white background.
- roundsquare 17y ago
  It got my attention. Maybe not for the right reason though... I saw it and the first thing that popped into my head was the "stop punching yourself" joke.
  - phil_KartMe 17y ago
    Yeah, that's what i was going for :)
drp 17y ago
Congatulations on the improvements. You're definitely headed down the right path, but I doubt the 25% conversion increase is significant with a $5 a day budget for testing unless you're getting large amounts of traffic and conversions from other sources. Once you get Google Website Optimizer up you'll see that it not only tells you the difference in conversion rates, but also how statistically significant the results are.
- phil_KartMe 17y ago
  True. Uniques to that page were a little under 100 visits a week. In addition to adsense, we tried some Facebook ads, blog posts, commenting on other blogs, and emails to get traffic.
  - workwells 17y ago
    Try a little simple SEO. It was true when I started creating websites in 1995, and it is true today. The page Title is the most important part of your page to search engines. Your <title>KartMe</title> doesn't help you at all. Keywords in a coherent phrase will treat you well. The Title is your friend. Oh, and use the meta description tag as well, while forgetting the meta keyword tag which Google ignores.
    - pbhjpbhj 17y ago
      Almost as important as SERPs positioning from title enhancement is that the title and description (if you keep within the character limits) are your eye-anchors in those same SERPS, you want something to immediately make you stand out and also identify your unique proposition (just standing out will get your lots of bounces). Plus a bonus for me is I now have an idea that I can generalise for my "lists" domain ... ;0)>
      - phil_KartMe 17y ago
        yes, i agree that meta description is very important. on pages we have of people's items, we're putting user comments in them. any other suggestions? also, what lists domain name do you own? some people don't love the name KartMe...
latortuga 17y ago
The headline "All your favorites in lists" doesn't make any sense to me. I read a little of the blog post and then clicked through to your homepage to see what your site was about and I didn't digest it until I had gone through all your bullets and thought about it for a bit. You're making it too hard to understand something simple: "Organize your bookmarks" Use a verb in your headline - why do I want to stay on your site? What is it I can do? You can organize your bookmarks/favorites/whatever word you have for it[1]. Once I know what your site is offering me now I want to stick around and see what your novel approach is - I'm going to leave if I can't figure it out right away. The current headline doesn't hook me and in fact just confused me. I almost didn't post this because your blog requires sign up to comment. Eliminate barriers! After typing this whole comment I saw your subheading under your logo - take it out of there and make it your headline! That's what you do! [1] - As a suggestion maybe show the word favorites for IE users and bookmarks for FF/Chrome users.
- phil_KartMe 17y ago
  thanks for explaining why starting the title with "all" is awkward!
paraschopra 17y ago
Great, let me know if you need more conversion optimization advice. I am into the business of churning out endless supply of conversion optimization tips :)

51 points by phil_KartMe 17y ago

phil_KartMe 17y ago

feedback definitely welcome on this forum :)

Bluem00 17y ago
I'm also very slow... It's not immediately clear to me what a 'favorite' is.
- phil_KartMe 17y ago
  interesting. i'll test phrases like "organize city guides, recipe boxes or gift lists" and "share links, pictures, maps and products". thanks!
- pbhjpbhj 17y ago
  It's the IE word for a bookmark, which may or may not happen to mark a favourite link. Was it a conscious decision to limit the scope in marketing terms to groups of "favorite" items or do people in practise only add a very limited number of items to any group ("kart")?
roundsquare 17y ago
Hey. Service looks neat, I created an account and I'm trying it out. One thing, I tried to "Kart" this site: http://www.waveletsandsubbandcoding.org/Repository/VetterliKovacevic95_Manuscript.pdf http://www.waveletsandsubbandcoding.org/Repository/VetterliK... It couldn't auto generate a name, which makes sense. However, I didn't realize this and when I hit the kart this button, it came back and I didn't realize why. The message on top was too small and I didn't notice it. Not a big deal, but just something I ran across.
- phil_KartMe 17y ago
  Thanks. Saw that autogeneration issue in our error logs, but didn't see the the message we sent too small and/or in the wrong place! will make feedback messages stand out more. thanks!

therealbob 17y ago

I must be slow. You're headline says "Try it in 30 seconds!" How? Are you implying that it will only take me 30 seconds to register? I was expecting a link in that headline that would take me to a demo page.

phil_KartMe 17y ago
Thanks for the comment. It's definitely not you. I was trying to imply that you can sign up and try KartMe really, really quickly. perhaps sub header should just focus on free. "Just click a button to organize favorites in lists. Start KartMe to try for free!" i need to start a/b testing asap!

pchivers 17y ago

The "Stop emailing yourself" headline looks funny to me. It had to look at it a second time because when I first loaded the page I thought it was an ad and subconsciously skipped it. I don't know why that is. I think maybe it's the font, coupled with the fact that it's on a white background.

roundsquare 17y ago
It got my attention. Maybe not for the right reason though... I saw it and the first thing that popped into my head was the "stop punching yourself" joke.
- phil_KartMe 17y ago
  Yeah, that's what i was going for :)

drp 17y ago

Congatulations on the improvements. You're definitely headed down the right path, but I doubt the 25% conversion increase is significant with a $5 a day budget for testing unless you're getting large amounts of traffic and conversions from other sources. Once you get Google Website Optimizer up you'll see that it not only tells you the difference in conversion rates, but also how statistically significant the results are.

phil_KartMe 17y ago
True. Uniques to that page were a little under 100 visits a week. In addition to adsense, we tried some Facebook ads, blog posts, commenting on other blogs, and emails to get traffic.
- workwells 17y ago
  Try a little simple SEO. It was true when I started creating websites in 1995, and it is true today. The page Title is the most important part of your page to search engines. Your <title>KartMe</title> doesn't help you at all. Keywords in a coherent phrase will treat you well. The Title is your friend. Oh, and use the meta description tag as well, while forgetting the meta keyword tag which Google ignores.
  - pbhjpbhj 17y ago
    Almost as important as SERPs positioning from title enhancement is that the title and description (if you keep within the character limits) are your eye-anchors in those same SERPS, you want something to immediately make you stand out and also identify your unique proposition (just standing out will get your lots of bounces). Plus a bonus for me is I now have an idea that I can generalise for my "lists" domain ... ;0)>
    - phil_KartMe 17y ago
      yes, i agree that meta description is very important. on pages we have of people's items, we're putting user comments in them. any other suggestions? also, what lists domain name do you own? some people don't love the name KartMe...

latortuga 17y ago

The headline "All your favorites in lists" doesn't make any sense to me. I read a little of the blog post and then clicked through to your homepage to see what your site was about and I didn't digest it until I had gone through all your bullets and thought about it for a bit. You're making it too hard to understand something simple: "Organize your bookmarks" Use a verb in your headline - why do I want to stay on your site? What is it I can do? You can organize your bookmarks/favorites/whatever word you have for it[1]. Once I know what your site is offering me now I want to stick around and see what your novel approach is - I'm going to leave if I can't figure it out right away. The current headline doesn't hook me and in fact just confused me. I almost didn't post this because your blog requires sign up to comment. Eliminate barriers! After typing this whole comment I saw your subheading under your logo - take it out of there and make it your headline! That's what you do! [1] - As a suggestion maybe show the word favorites for IE users and bookmarks for FF/Chrome users.

phil_KartMe 17y ago
thanks for explaining why starting the title with "all" is awkward!

paraschopra 17y ago

Great, let me know if you need more conversion optimization advice. I am into the business of churning out endless supply of conversion optimization tips :)