Know-How Exchange : Website Critique

Have you split tested the home page? That would help you hone things down quickly (if you have sufficient traffic). For example, you could test the colors, the images, the copy, the placement of graphics, etc.

My gut feeling is that you need to improve the trust quotient of the website. First, tell me how you make money. You're paying me for my laptop - do you resell it? Do you resell the components? Make your contact information more obvious to further build trust.

Second, your homepage is a bit cluttered, and doesn't draw quite properly with Firefox (for example, the 100% satisfaction image is drawn over the word "return", and privacy secured box has no image).

Third, you're using a lot of clip art. A good web designer can clean this up for you.

Dear Cang84,

Well, good for you for asking for advice and then taking action ON that advice. I didn't see your original post, but here are a few thoughts on what you've got now.

The strap line below your domain name header is practically illegible. Change the colour to add more contrast and increase the type size so that people can read it..

The images of the pile of cash, the piggy bank, and the lap top don't really connect—in terms of an instant positioning statement there's no immediate "Do this and you get this result".

Consider putting together a short video that explains what you do, how you do it, and how your process works.

The area at the top of ANY website is the first thing people see when they land on the site and as far as most visitors are concerned this area needs to TELEGRAPH the benefits they'll gain from doing business with you. So, consider putting your "This is what can do for you" message here and also consider sharpening up your logo because at the moment, it lacks strength.

Before people will do business with you you need to get people to know you, like what you're offering, and trust you.

Your main headline reads "SELL YOUR USED LAPTOP AND GE TOP CASH!" This is just sloppy. It instantly raises a red flag and will have your site visitors wondering what they GE for selling their laptop through you.

It's errors like this that drive visitors (and potential customers) from one site and on to another. It takes several visits for a looker to turn into a potential customer but it only takes a second or two to turn people off.

For anyone online, their competition is only a click away.

Your main horizontal menu bar has nine options. Try cutting this dow to seven: the iphone option may not be necessary and could be folded into your main page.

As far as testimonials are concerned, don't make people dig for them, put them up front and USE them. They create vital social proof that increases your credibility.

On the subject of testimonials your "testimonials" page refers to "reviews". A review isn't a testimonial as such, and your 4.79 stars out of five? On what grading level and from what source?
The more authority status you can connect this to the better because again, it increases your credibility.

On your "About us" page you tell us "Established on February 2008, we've grew up 450% in the first year."

You've grew? I don't think so.

You then go on to tell us "100% positive feedback back us up.
Be a part of a new recycling comunity."

100 percent positive feedback? Really? Then you don't need any help from anyone. This tells me your service is perfect. The bad news is that there is no business on Earth that has a 100 percent record of positive feedback.

By telling people you have a 100 percent record you DON'T build yourself up, you slot yourself into the "sounds too good to be true" niche, where if it sounds too good to be true is IS too good to be true. This is something the FTC might want to have a little chat with you about.

You'll do much to reduce your bounce rate by tidying up the typos and grammatical errors on your site.

Your membership of RatePoint tells people you've been a member since 2009. It's great that you're a member but how many of your customers will know what RatePoint is and how much confidence will that information create? I'm asking this because less than a year's membership may not be enough to put you where you want to be? The other thing is that most people don't care how long you've been doing what you do, all they want to know about is what's in it for them?

If you're advocating recycling and "being green" you may need to explain why your main office is 123 miles from your processing centre:

https://www.mapquest.com/maps?1a=450+N+Arlington+Ave&1z=89503&2a=5073+Buffw...

It's a small point, but to certain people, it might be a big deal.
How often do you ship to your processing centre? How are laptops recycled? How do you process chemicals? Where do the bits and pieces go? And so on.

You may not like all of these points, but they're observations that are intended to help you. The major problems on your site are positioning, clearer notions of "what's in it for me" for your customers, and tidying up your spelling and grammar.

Fix these things and your bounce rate ought to go down.

I hope this helps. Good luck to you.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA