Not sure if this goes here or somewhere else, but I thought I'd share the results of an experiment I just completed regarding my site. Ever wonder if the design of your website affects sales? I didn’t until an author friend visiting mine commented about her own experience with that very topic. To that end, I constructed a new layout that altered the structure, button selection, what went where, and eliminated a bunch of stuff. I recorded data for six months and compared the results to stats I had maintained on the old design. Did I notice an improvement? You bet, and here’s a summary:
- Primarily I reduced clutter, how much was on each page, eliminate certain buttons, deleted a few pages and added a new one (awards).
- Across six months, the number of deep hits (visitors stay > 1 min) increased 65% per week, on average.
- During the same period the rate of visits to my buy page (where books are available) increased 110%.
- The rate buy page visits translated to actual sales increased from 25% to 60%
Yeah, I call that significant and well worth the effort. Note that a complete refurbishing is not a trivia matter. I designed and built both websites myself and would estimate that the last one took two weeks and about 60 labour hours, but I consider it well worth the effort.
My point? Have some friends you trust, that will be gut honest (not wives, lovers, mothers, etc) evaluate your website. Ask for their opinions, and listen to what they say. Some author buds/budettes are great too. You might be surprised at the result, if you can get people to bleed on your baby, yeah, you know, like the blood squad that critics your scripts.
[FONT="]Details of what I did and the benefit are at Davisstories.com. Click yellow button near the upper left corner ("So you what to write a novel"), scroll down the left and read the article entitled “Does website design affect sells.” Heads up: the article was prepared for newbies in a workshop. It starts with basic stuff so don’t complain about its length (g)[/FONT]
- Primarily I reduced clutter, how much was on each page, eliminate certain buttons, deleted a few pages and added a new one (awards).
- Across six months, the number of deep hits (visitors stay > 1 min) increased 65% per week, on average.
- During the same period the rate of visits to my buy page (where books are available) increased 110%.
- The rate buy page visits translated to actual sales increased from 25% to 60%
Yeah, I call that significant and well worth the effort. Note that a complete refurbishing is not a trivia matter. I designed and built both websites myself and would estimate that the last one took two weeks and about 60 labour hours, but I consider it well worth the effort.
My point? Have some friends you trust, that will be gut honest (not wives, lovers, mothers, etc) evaluate your website. Ask for their opinions, and listen to what they say. Some author buds/budettes are great too. You might be surprised at the result, if you can get people to bleed on your baby, yeah, you know, like the blood squad that critics your scripts.
[FONT="]Details of what I did and the benefit are at Davisstories.com. Click yellow button near the upper left corner ("So you what to write a novel"), scroll down the left and read the article entitled “Does website design affect sells.” Heads up: the article was prepared for newbies in a workshop. It starts with basic stuff so don’t complain about its length (g)[/FONT]
