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Ask HN: Judge my Upcoming App's Landing Page

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Re: Ask HN: Judge my Upcoming App's Landing Page

#11

Post by losvedir »

Looks good. I'm not much of a designer myself, so I can't comment on that, but I'd highly recommend throwing optimizely (or some other A/B testing tool like that, visual website optimizer would work, too) on there from the start.

That way, you can find what messaging works best as early as possible. A 3rd party javascript A/B tester is phenomenal for the types of tests where it'll work, as you can easily tweak and see results without changing any of the underlying website code.

Also, I like the "treasure map" phrasing, makes it sound romantic and interesting! Maybe you can work that a little more thematically into the design? Rather than simple white box, it could be on a scroll, or maybe the background could be a bed of gold coins. Something like that. (Again, not a designer, so take those suggestions with a grain of salt...)

Re: Ask HN: Judge my Upcoming App's Landing Page

#12

Post by nitochi »

Hi, I think there is room for improvement. It is not clear to me exactly what the app does. At the beginning I thought it was an app to create real treasure hunts (like in a game). But now I think its a way to discover new places within an area? (Maybe I'm just stupid...but its the impression I got) Check this post out, it gives some ideas on how to increase your landing page conversions: http://t.co/ZMaDaL17

Is there a social element on the app? Can you share your tours? Share your logs? I think that people would like to know that!

What is a "gem"? Who are the people that decide whether a place is a gem or not? Are they restaurants? Sights? Strip clubs?

I also think the 100% free for a limited time is confusing. Is it going to be 50% free later? I would revise the wording there...

I would also improve the design a bit, and change the background. It would be super cool to have something like a "pirate map" representation of NYC or some popular location in the background.

Hopefully this helps, I wish you good luck with your app!

Re: Ask HN: Judge my Upcoming App's Landing Page

#13

Post by fleitz »

Moar links. Seriously, you've got some awesome click targets and no links.

  Logo / title -> Link to app store
  Titles for copy -> Link to app store
  Big awesome image of app on phone -> link to app store.
While you're at it sign up for the affliate program and get an extra 5% from Apple. Your copy highlights features not benefits.

Pick the best benefit of the app and highlight that.

For me I'd go with something like.

Impress them with a hidden gem. Wanderous helps you find great places, right next door.

(I actually have no idea what kinds of places wanderous will help me find, etc, I'm assuming it finds great restaurants or something)

Then go buy a hires stock photo of a great example of a place someone might discover on Wanderous along with two smiling people enjoying themselves, multiply the image by 20% black and put your text on top in white along with the image of the app.

The sign up should state that due to demand everyone will have to wait for an account and to reserve their spot they should put in their email, else they'll have to wait even longer to find great places.

Re: Ask HN: Judge my Upcoming App's Landing Page

#14

Post by awolf »

dreadsword wrote: post #9

You app looks like it might be really neat, but your landing page needs to explain it a bit more clearly - I'm still not sure if its a tour guide app, a location discovery thing, some kind of social meetup organizer, or what? When would I use it? What would I use it for? Why would I use it instead of any other alternative? Answer those in one or two sentences... "Wanderous turns trips into adventures by using your fr…

Thank you for this dreadsword. Based on your feedback as well as others I definitely need to do a better job explaining the concept.

>When would I use it? What would I use it for? Why would I use it instead of any other alternative? Answer those in one or two sentences...

Whenever you feel like exploring in a new city, or your own city, you can use Wanderous to create a walking or driving route between one or more points of interest. Wanderous's POIs have been created based on by social and photo sharing hotspots so the destinations are novel yet enjoyable.

Re: Ask HN: Judge my Upcoming App's Landing Page

#15

Post by awolf »

nitochi wrote: post #12

Hi, I think there is room for improvement. It is not clear to me exactly what the app does. At the beginning I thought it was an app to create real treasure hunts (like in a game). But now I think its a way to discover new places within an area? (Maybe I'm just stupid...but its the impression I got) Check this post out, it gives some ideas on how to increase your landing page conversions: http://t.co/ZMaDaL17 Is ther…

>>Maybe I'm just stupid...but its the impression I got

Absolutely not! It's my job to be clear and based on your comment and other, I'm obviously falling short.

>>What is a "gem"? Who are the people that decide whether a place is a gem or not?

The "little gem" thing is a figure of speech but I see now that it could be confusing in the context of pitching a brand new product.

Wanderous has defined 8,000+ Points of Interest algorithmically by analyzing social and photo sharing geotags to determine where the destinations worth visiting in our world. Users are encouraged to explore places they wouldn't go otherwise by creating walking or driving tours between one or more of these destinations.

Love the treasure map idea but it's a bit outside of my skill level/budget for right now.

Thanks for the comment!

Re: Ask HN: Judge my Upcoming App's Landing Page

#16

Post by diziet »

I think that your efforts are spent much better focusing on figuring out the marketing for your app within the app store itself. Sure, having an awesome looking web page is neat, but in terms of real traffic that it will bring (other than this one HN news spike) it isn't a good investment of your time. For example, a google search for "wanderousapp" or "wanderous app" does not bring up your domain, and neither does "wanderous". And you know what, that is okay for now. No one is really googling for your app name, and you can't really expect to get much web traffic on your landing page. Your itunes page for your app can be your web presence for now.

I'd recommend focusing on making a really good first screenshot that is representative of what your app does while piquing interest, and figure out a way to get as many blogs/news sources to cover your app release as possible. After that, figure out what kind of searches within the iTune store your app can actually rank for and target those specific keyword combinations. Good luck!

P.S.: Since you're in San Francisco, do you have the Planet Granite Rock Climbing Gym as one of your points of interest?

Re: Ask HN: Judge my Upcoming App's Landing Page

#17

Post by connortomas »

awolf wrote: post #14
dreadsword wrote: post #9

You app looks like it might be really neat, but your landing page needs to explain it a bit more clearly - I'm still not sure if its a tour guide app, a location discovery thing, some kind of social meetup organizer, or what? When would I use it? What would I use it for? Why would I use it instead of any other alternative? Answer those in one or two sentences... "Wanderous turns trips into adventures by using your fr…

Thank you for this dreadsword. Based on your feedback as well as others I definitely need to do a better job explaining the concept. >When would I use it? What would I use it for? Why would I use it instead of any other alternative? Answer those in one or two sentences... Whenever you feel like exploring in a new city, or your own city, you can use Wanderous to create a walking or driving route between one or more po…

Could it be worth including a few stories or "case studies"? For example, "John has just moved to Melbourne and he'd like to know what hidden gems exist on the way to his new job, so..." If you've already had beta testers, I'm sure a few have compelling stories about how the app has led them to hidden gems - if I can understand how the app has "changed their lives", I'd be compelled to give it a go.

Re: Ask HN: Judge my Upcoming App's Landing Page

#18

Post by awolf »

losvedir wrote: post #11

Looks good. I'm not much of a designer myself, so I can't comment on that, but I'd highly recommend throwing optimizely (or some other A/B testing tool like that, visual website optimizer would work, too) on there from the start. That way, you can find what messaging works best as early as possible. A 3rd party javascript A/B tester is phenomenal for the types of tests where it'll work, as you can easily tweak and se…

Good call on an A/B testing framework. I'll definitely investigate that.

Thanks, I'm glad the treasure map phrasing resonated. I'd love to make the page match that theme a bit more closely, but I unfortunately didn't come up with the treasure map concept for describing my app until after submitting it to the app store. I don't want the feel of the landing page to stray too much from the app's.

Re: Ask HN: Judge my Upcoming App's Landing Page

#19

Post by awolf »

fleitz wrote: post #13

Moar links. Seriously, you've got some awesome click targets and no links. Logo / title -> Link to app store Titles for copy -> Link to app store Big awesome image of app on phone -> link to app store. While you're at it sign up for the affliate program and get an extra 5% from Apple. Your copy highlights features not benefits. Pick the best benefit of the app and highlight that. For me I'd go with something like. Im…

Thanks Fleitz. I missed links on the Logo+title+screenshot. I'll definitely get them in there for when the app because available on the store.

The spots are not necessarily restaurant specific. The points of interest are closer to encompassing whole neighborhoods rather than a single restaurant. It's really just about where the hotspots are in a given location. Some are chosen due to a cluster or restaurants, but others may be chosen simply because its a scenic are where lots of photos are taken and shared. Your comment definitely shows me that I need to convey this somehow. Thanks again!

Re: Ask HN: Judge my Upcoming App's Landing Page

#20

Post by uptown »

If you don't want to put a lot of time into your app-marketing site, the easy solution is to just setup a blog using a Wordpress theme designed for that purpose. There's a bunch of free ones that do a good job of highlighting your app in a format thought-through by the theme's designer. They also give you the ability to use the built-in features like subscriptions, and other Wordpress-native plugins to engage your users without having to code it all yourself.

Here's a free one. There's a lot of others too. Just search for "Free App Wordpress Themes" to find some others:

http://www.appdesignvault.com/darstell-iphone-wordpress-them...

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