Home Page Critique

[Lexun]

I think "FREE" message, and bold highlighting needs to be toned down a bit. I've tried to recommend this site to a few different people, each of which were initially afraid to type in their email suspecting the site was a scam.

Even when I first stumbled upon it, I was a bit wary just because it resembles the kind of site that offers you a free membership, then tries to sell you on some guide to getting rich and gaining success for "Only 25% the normal price of $200! This proven success guide is yours for only $50!" ...then the guide ends up being a one page set of instructions on how to set up a site like that and sell the same guide to other people

Once you get the home page, the rest of the website rocks and looks great. But I think the fact its free only needs to be mentioned once or twice, and all the bright yellow highlighting needs to go. In my opinion it would look much more legitimate, professional, and less like an internet scam.

By the way, I'm referring to the home page you are currently linked to when you click a link from Jim Breen's website to listen to a complete lesson: http://www.japanesepod101.com/member/si ... ict.php?s=

The newer home page at http://www.japanesepod101.com/member/si ... esign2.php is better, though I would still suggest things like shrinking the font and making the header all one sentence, removing the caps from "free".

Lastly, the tour page: http://www.japanesepod101.com/learn-japanese.php
Its really a great and informative page, but the links in red text with yellow background to "Sign Up For a Free Lifetime Account" only need to appear once or twice, and perhaps not red and yellow.

I'm sorry to nitpick, I would just hate to see anyone not sign up or give the website a chance due to not trusting it. With all the scams out there, most people don't believe that anything is really free anymore. And if a website looks like its selling something but has free spammed all over the place, people may turn away right there. I'm so glad I didn't it just concerns me that I've already had to reassure two friends that it is indeed legitimate.

Thanks for reading,
ルーク

[QuackingShoe]

Pretty much. I first came here through a google search that took me directly to the Lessons page, which happens to look quite fine - like a professional podcasting website. If I'd arrived at either of the signup pages to begin with, I probably would have just ducked politely back out.

[Belton]

I agree too, except redesign2 isn't that great either. It looks very dated and snakeoily. sorry guys, too much text really, too much FREE and testimonials. Lightning Speed? You're coming off like a user car salesman. Tone it down a bit, let people figure out how great it is from your attention to interface and design details and from hearing the podcast.

Those landing pages aren't really professional looking. They don't even tie into the internal design which is reasonably good. (as long as the banners and pop-ups aren't seen, The first time I saw the banner as someone's sig file I thought it was spam...it got marked for filtering at any rate.)
I hate to compare but if you see Chinesepod as a peer in the same market, they have a much slicker and professional landing page. If ChinesePod did Japanese and I knew nothing about either site I'd probably be more drawn to ChinesePod.

Maybe because there doesn't seem to be competition in the Japanese podcast market they don't feel they have to.
Spend a little money on a good designer it ought to pay off in the end.

[Javizy]

I was thinking this before. If I was a prospective user who ended up at the welcome page, I'd be gone in a flash. It's terribly basic, very scam-looking like people have already said, and does its best to stop you from getting to the content without signing up. There wasn't such a page when I signed up, and I was won over straight away by listening to the lessons, which I could easily get to.

[AcidSky]

I can only agree but want to take it one step further:
please get rid of this landing page alltogether.

A few reasons:
1) it annoys me to no end have to click through it every singl %&$§ time I come to your page to see what new podcasts you have
2) as already mentioned, had I seen this page the first time coming to Jpod, I would just have left, luckily I landed on a lesson directly thanks to google
3) I also had to explain to some of my friends "just try gettin past the frickin landing page, it's no scam" - I somehow think they didn't bother in the end though
4) ask yourself: do you actually think ANYONE would spend $200 because of the landing page without having tried out the pod for a few days, possible listened to it for a few weeks? And, once he/she has tried it out - if not scared away by continued exposure to the landing site in the meantime - do you really consider us users so stupid as to not find the "buy subscription" button on the page (by gods... there are only 6-10 shown on every single page of jpod...)

just my 2 cents. If you don't believe us... I would recommend you to start a vote on why people joined jpod and how they consider your advertisement to be right now.

and until you get the results: delete the landing page completely.
thank you.

[QuackingShoe]

1) it annoys me to no end have to click through it every singl %&$§ time I come to your page to see what new podcasts you have

I've always typed www.japanesepod101.com/index.php directly into the URL bar, because in the beginning I never actually managed to figure out how (is there even a way?) to get past it without signing up. After I got an account, it was already habit, and it's still more convenient.

[Lexun]

Now that you mention it, getting rid of the landing page all together is probably the best idea so far. http://www.japanesepod101.com/index.php is an excellent home page on its own.

[Ulver_684]

By the way, I'm referring to the home page you are currently linked to when you click a link from Jim Breen's website to listen to a complete lesson: http://www.japanesepod101.com/member/si ... ict.php?s=

The newer home page at http://www.japanesepod101.com/member/si ... esign2.php is better, though I would still suggest things like shrinking the font and making the header all one sentence, removing the caps from "free".

Lastly, the tour page: http://www.japanesepod101.com/learn-japanese.php
Its really a great and informative page, but the links in red text with yellow background to "Sign Up For a Free Lifetime Account" only need to appear once or twice, and perhaps not red and yellow.

Lexun-san!

I think everything is fine the home page is great I just want JP101 to remove those green ads and pop ups that appear in the forum and lessons!

[Jessi]

As for the green ads, you shouldn't be seeing them if you're logged in, I think, so make sure you're logged in. If you are logged in and still seeing then, then let us know.

And the feedback about the home page has been passed on. Thanks!

[Javizy]

As for the green ads, you shouldn't be seeing them if you're logged in, I think, so make sure you're logged in. If you are logged in and still seeing then, then let us know.

I saw four of them as I scrolled down to reply I didn't moan because they're nowhere near as bad as that terrible "sticky" ad, but I certainly wouldn't complain if they disappeared for paid subscribers

[untmdsprt]

Now that you mention it, getting rid of the landing page all together is probably the best idea so far. http://www.japanesepod101.com/index.php is an excellent home page on its own.

I agree that this is a better page to start from. It gives the new user a chance to decide if they want to be a member of the community, and also listen to some of the different level podcasts. Most people want to try before they buy, and presenting them with a page that screams "buy first, then try" is going to turn a lot of people off.

[cwabbott]

Hello Javizy-san,

I saw four of them as I scrolled down to reply Wink I didn't moan because they're nowhere near as bad as that terrible "sticky" ad, but I certainly wouldn't complain if they disappeared for paid subscribers Smile

When you visited the forum and attempted to reply did you get the following message?

Please enter your username and password to log in.

If not, then can you share a little information about your web browser and operating system? The version and type should be sufficient (ie. FF 3 on Mac OSX, Internet Explorer 7 on Windows XP).

Also, are you using the "remember me" functionality, or do you login to the site each time you visit?

Thank you everyone for posting your suggestions and comments,

Charles

[QuackingShoe]

I'm FF3 on XP with remember me, and I always get the ads.

[Belton]

While logged into the forum I get the ads (or rather the grey boxes after they've been filtered)
You need to be logged into the site itself to avoid this unsubtle promotion.
For whatever reasons neither login in remembers 100% of the time for me.

[Javizy]

Yeah, I just logged into the site and the ads aren't displayed. I suppose that makes sense because it's the nonsubscribers who are supposed to see them, and now it seems the log into both at once now, so it's not such a problem.