Question

Topic: Website Critique

Does Adsvalue Add Value?

Posted by AdsValueBob on 7/2/2007 at 2:16 PM ET 125 Points
(I want to tell you a few things but not so much as to bias your responses.) Our new website is adsvalue.com, and initially serves the Phoenix AZ metro area. A few features like the blogs and the MySpace Survey Generator are nearing completion in the next couple weeks or sooner. The purpose of the site is to break the mold of paid search - namely provide inexpensive ($19.95/month, no contract) robust online business profiles (more features available to use than any other search listing - see Ad Packages page) with no lead costs (read unlimited leads, no click fraud, no special numbers, etc.), cycling listings (read no paid listing placement - all listings randomly cycle to page one.) and offer cost-effective variants of main-stream ad and web services. My questions are:

1. What was your impression of what the site would be before you looked at it (what did the AdsValue name infer)?

2. If you were a business / advertiser, did the site offer services and a Business Profile (see the Sample Business profile - link on Home page) that could add value to your advertising? Expand on any highlights / lowlights.

3. As a consumer, how would you feel about approaching and using this site. Expand on any highlights / lowlights.

4. Any other design / functionality / content comments would be appreciated.

We sincerely thank you for your assistance. Sometimes we get so close to a project, we can't see the forest for the trees.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Inbox_Interactive on 7/2/2007 at 2:47 PM Member
    1. I thought that I'd be seeing a site that sells advertising that "adds value" to my business.

    2. I am not convinced that people will pay $20 a month for this service. One the one hand, it could fall into the category of "so cheap we don't know care if it works or not." On the other hand, there's really no way to gauge that this will actually be seen by anyone.

    3. It looks as if this is the actual site that consumers are supposed to use. Correct? Is this also the same site where businesses are supposed to go? I don't know if they can be on the same page. I'd think you'd have one site for the consumers with an "Advertise" link that would be only for businesses.

    4. I think the site looks nice, but it's all over the place as far as my eyes go. I really can not get a feel for where I am supposed to look. Also, I think the ads at the top are rotating way too fast.

    If I am missing something, please let me know.
  • Posted by AdsValueBob on 7/2/2007 at 3:20 PM Author
    Thank you for your feedback.

    Comment 2: Within their My Account page, a business can see all the hits their site is getting by date / time and IP, and if it is from a logged-in AdsValue user, they also get the email address.

    Comment 3: Originally the design started that way, however we're trying to treat busiesses as consumers and potentially consumers (in their daytime job) as businesses. Trying to push the envelope of when a business visits the site for an update, they look at it also as a consumer. If a consumer looks at the site, they will also see services for their business or useful for the company they work for. I know - we're walking a thin line.

    Comment 4: I can slow the speed of the cycling. If you click on a number, it will hold the ad at that number.

    Thanks again,
    Bob
  • Posted by Inbox_Interactive on 7/2/2007 at 3:25 PM Member
    I'm just going to assume that the fact that you give a user's email address to an advertiser is buried in the Privacy Policy, but I am not sure that gets you off the hook...

    If I were to click and ad and then get an email from the advertiser, I think I'd find out how that came to be and then make sure I never visited the offending site again.

    I'm also not sure I think the strategy of treating businesses as consumers--and vice versa--is sound.

    I look forward to other comments from the forum.
  • Posted by jpoyer on 7/3/2007 at 12:12 PM Accepted
    I must say I have to agree with the posts thus far. I think you have a really good idea - the foundation of it is good, but I do think the items mentioned above really need to be addressed before you can succeed with this. Also, I found that I reacted quite strongly when I looked at your site. ... I think I almost recoiled because it was so ...addddddy. Not what I expected. I think it would be worth you going back a few steps to figure out how to separate the business and consumer stuff -- because trying to be all things to all people just makes you a confusing plate of spaghetti.

    Regarding your questions:

    1. To me, it looks like one of those sites that you get to when you type in the wrong URL by one letter, just a bunch of irrelevant links that wasn't what I expected or needed - and whoosh - I'm gone. Except this is more involved. More stuff thrown at me. Your credibility here is an issue, and I didn't get past the rush of stuff to even really see your name.

    2. As a business owner, I would not pay $20 /month for this, unless you can prove to me that your traffic is so immense that it would be worth it for me. Even then, the credibility thing is a huge issue.

    3. As a consumer? I see no value at this time. Your Blogs and MySpace Generator better be really, really, really, really, really groundbreaking and exciting to get past the muck ... then I might consider it, but I'm about 99.9% sure I would not.

    4. Fast rotating ads - need a major slow down; you have to scroll to read what the site is about (wouldn't do it if not for critique-ing). Search the market? Search the market for what? Why would I use this? Are you a search engine? What's going on? How does this work? Why do I want to spend time on your site to try to figure it out?

    Ok, so there's the rough stuff. Like I said above, I really do think you have a good idea here. You just have to figure out a way to package it in a credible way not only for people to understand what's going on, but also to really add value as you say you do. ...

    Not always easy to have someone slam your awesome idea, sorry for the delivery, but I do hope this helps. ...

    You have your work cut out for you, but I do think it is possible. The foundation of the idea is solid.

    Best Regards,

    Jennifer
    XPRT Creative
  • Posted by AdsValueBob on 7/6/2007 at 9:09 PM Author
    Thank you all for your feedback. I've made some changes already and working on others.

    1. Deleted the email address from the hit tracking.

    2. Header viewing speed changed from 3 seconds to 8 seconds.

    3. Removed some content from the Home page

    4. Other smaller items and and more refinements in-work.

    Thanks again;

    Bob
    [URL deleted by staff]
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