Today I critique the first of many websites submitted by Kikabink News’ subscribers for review: http://www.rovon.info

As mentioned in Monday’s issue of Kikabink News, I’ll use the “7W Formula” as the basis for the review, addressing each of the 7 Ws of “Who”, “What”, “Why”, “How”, “Where”, “When” and “How”. See Monday’s newsletter for an explanation of these.

Also, time (and length) constraints mean this is just my initial impression of the home page of the site, rather than a detailed, comprehensive analysis of the entire website or underlying business.

1. Who

The target seems to be people looking for deals on eBay items… BUT the headline at the top of the page (which turns out to be a banner ad) is confusing, since it asks “who else wants their own website like this one encoded with Google Adsense, Clickbank and eBay IDs”. So, is the website directed at people wanting to buy on eBay… or people wanting to set up their own version of this kind of site? Or both? Aiming at someone who falls into both categories is likely to be problematic when it comes to directing them to do something. Plus, I’d be surprised if there was a significant number of prospects who qualify as “both”.

2. What

I see eBay listings and a list of categories on the left-hand side of the page which, together, suggest that the “what” is for visitors to start browsing for eBay items they’re interested in. But I am distracted by the banner ad at the top of the page, the Adsense ads beneath the banner, and the articles on the right hand side. It’s not clear what I should be doing – browsing through the listings, clicking on an Adsense ad in order to be taken away from the site, or clicking on an article to read. Or… maybe it doesn’t matter? Of course, the “what” could be for the visitor to choose what appeals to them most… but the more choices, the more difficult the decision, and the less likely a visitor is to do anything at all.

3. Why

Why should someone do anything on this webpage? Honestly, I can’t see any major benefit. While the headline in the upper left hand corner says “Spot the best deals here” there is NO indication that I am saving any money by shopping via this website. There is no clear reason why I should spend any more time on this site rather than, say, eBay.com itself.

4. How

The “how” is apparent by the use of blue, underlined links. They say “click me”. Only problem is… I’m not sure what to click on.

5. Where

Again, it’s clear where to take action – it’s where the blue, underlined links are located. There are plenty of these above the fold, so I don’t need to go hunting for them. But, as indicated above, I don’t know what or which to click on first.

6. When

The “when” seems to be “now”… but I’m not sure. The site doesn’t want me to read through reams of information before acting… or does it? Here’s where I am distracted by the banner ad, the Adsense ads and those articles. Am I supposed to click on those ads or read the articles before I start shopping?

7. Wow

Unfortunately, there’s no “wow”. Maybe I’m not the typical web visitor, but that banner ad tells me that this site is based on a script that probably hasn’t been modified much for the purposes of this website. Indeed, clicking on the banner reveals an ad for a script that may be used to generate a site set up with… you guessed it, Google Adsense, Clickbank and eBay Ids, and articles.

Now, this idea could well work… but not by having all these components together on the same page. Because a visitor is given no clear direction about what to do, or why or when to do it, there is a high chance that having the banner ad, Adsense ads, eBay items and articles all on the same page competing with each other cancels out each other’s potential effectiveness.

More importantly it’s not clear what, if any, benefit exists for someone who arrives on the page. As a potential customer I just can’t see “what’s in it for me”.

Okay, now for a BIG QUALIFICATION. This site could still work to generate income if, for example, it receives legacy traffic. In other words, if it’s based on an expired domain name and receives ongoing type-it-in or search engine traffic, it may well be one of those sites you can earn a little money from and set and forget.

But because of the lack of “wow” and “why” factors and the lack of clarity over “what” visitors are supposed to do, I can’t see the site earning substantial income over the long term.

To the site owner:

My suggestion is to think about what you really want this site to achieve and, based on that, what special value you can offer visitors to entice them to do what you want them to do. Also, look at your web stats and find out what most people are already doing when they come to the site. That may indicate which direction to take.

There is potential here but I think you need to go beyond wrapping a website around “Dave’s Cool Little Website” script and think about how that script can (if it should) fit into the value proposition you wish to present to your web visitors.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 7:26 am and is filed under Conversion, Kikabink Lab. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.