Web Hosting Talk : Advertising Forums : Community Reviews : Web Site Reviews : Feedback needed

[BlueZebra]

I'm the web developer for a web hosting company, I would like some feedback on our redesigned web-site.

Please take a look and be very critical, I need as much feedback as possible.

The website address is: http://www.bluezebrahosting.com

Thank you in advance for your help and time.

[Chicken]

My only comment (quick as I have to go soon), is that it looks busy. There seems to be little direction given as to where you want to fucus the viewer's attention. You kinda scan the whole ting at one instead of being lead from one place to another.

[BlueZebra]

Thank you, that's what I was looking for, I didn't know if it was just me or what... Please keep sending reviews though... anyone have any suggestions as to how you would go about directing their attention to the 9.99/mo picture (the big one)

Animation maybe?
What would get your attention, what would get you to click there or signup?

Thanks for the review, and keep em' coming.

[Chicken]

Wel, you've done some interesting things there. I think the use of the dotted line is a bit overused. This is what was leading me all over the place I think. It just needs some organization.

You put a whole lotta info on that main page:

The $9.99 plan is fully explained twice, and a big mention of the price in the middle. This along with the other plan fully described (2 out of 3 plans), the full details of your uptime guarantee (plus all about the NOC, etc.), testimonials...

If you cut the first page right before the 99% Uptime section, it would still be a *bit* busy, but overall I think it would work better. You could still have the testimonials at the bottom, but I think you are including almost everything on one page. It is packed in.

If you expect the $9.99 package to be the main focus, it should be on the left (switched with the domains for $25 block). Think of importance and eyeflow.

Hope that helps... ohhh, and I spoke to Carl for a bit via Human Click and he seems very nice. I hope someone tries BlueZebra out since it seems like a very good operation.

[BlueZebra]

Thank you for taking the time to look through the site.

I will cut back on the dotted line, and leave it at the top instead of all the headings.

Moving the main 9.99 image to the left is a great idea, thank you. I will also cut out the NOC info and put it on a seperate page and move the plans into a.?.?.? Popup Window maybe? or I'll condense them and put them on the first page

Thank you, for taking the time to talk with one of our sales reps (Carl) we appriciate that a lot, it's very helpful. And thank you for the positive review of our site and services, speaking of which. How does it look like we compare to the "Big Hosts" that are on here a lot? Pretty competitive or need some work? Let me know please and thank you

[etLux]

On the 'Net, the less text a visitor needs to wade through, the better. I might therefore suggest a bit of copy clean-up. For instance, a very quick pass over the opening text might yield:

"We specialize in UNIX/Linux Web hosting. Find a home for your web site on our high-performance servers, and establish your Internet presence with your own unique domain name -- or seamlessly transfer your current domain in under 12 hours. An intelligent and cost-effective alternative to hosting your site internally, our unique environment provides high-performance servers, high-bandwidth connectivity that grows with your needs, pre-installed software, guaranteed reliability, and around-the-clock support -- at a fraction of the cost of doing it yourself. Pay annually and we waive the setup fee!"

Consistently honing text makes it quicker and easier for the visitor to absorb your material; and has the dual benefit of moving more of your content higher onto the page, where visitors are more likely to see and read it.

[BlueZebra]

Alrighty, that sounds like a good idea, I'll take care of that monday. From just looking at the first page, does it look like I've included all the vital information (even after I slice and dice everything) that a possible customer needs to make a descision of whether or not to signup?

[Bogdan]

IMHO "Unmetered Data Transfer" will scare off most of the people.

[BlueZebra]

Yeh, that's what I've heard, but we actually do offer what we consider to be unlimited transfer, we don't punish, limit, or otherwise put locks or anything on our sites bandwidth. We understand most people won't ever use the amount we offer. With an OC-3 and 7 DS-3s we can offer a lot

Do you believe giving an actual number would be better?
If so what

We can offer as much as we want, that's why it's unmetered but how much is "tempting" or enough to get people to signup?

10gig? 50gig?

[etLux]

Anyone who's run a professional operation takes one look at terms like "unmetered traffic" or "unlimited traffic" and says, "Next candidate for a host, please."

Bandwidth costs money. Somehow a host has to pay for it. I know it, and the host knows it.

Unless you're prepared to stand by that agreement and host my site that takes 500G/month in bandwidth, you're committing fraud if you make such allegations in your advertising.

[BlueZebra]

Good point, we've never run into an issue with bandwidth or for-see an issue, therefor we didn't limit the bandwidth.

With that said, Can I open up the floor for recommendations of how much bandwidth to offer? What's the most common limit, what is that "magic" number that get's people to buy?

[BC]

Chris,

With your plans, I think around 3-6 GIGs for both plans should be quite appropriate.

Got your e-mail - I'll review your site in the next 24 hours

[BlueZebra]

Great, thank you for your response, that will be very helpful and I will update our plans monday

I posted this already in another thread but, what's the addy to your site? You are realeasing it today right?

[etLux]

Few sites run more than one or two G/month. The vast majority run far less than that. Hosts depend on just this to balance the books against sites that *do* take more traffic.

Realistically, the host has to watch the bottom line on traffic costs -- not just to remain merely viable, but profitable -- and make the decision on how much bandwidth can be incorporated within each monthly server fee based on the numbers.

From the other end of the wire, offering between five and ten G/month is definitely a comfort zone... with one proviso: you must likewise clearly specify a (reasonable!) price for bandwidth usage exceeding the stated monthly quota.

[BlueZebra]

Will Do

I do know about the price of bandwidth, so I won't need your help on that one. Thanks though. Well I guess it's about time to draw this one to a close, thanks for all your help today, any more comments about the site are welcome.