How can I improve my lil ol' site?

[edo]

Put a redesign of my best man speech e-book site live today. Be interested to hear what you all think and how I could improve the site.

www.bestmanspeeches.co.uk

Ed

[grnidone]

Personal question:  are you color blind?  What's with 5 shades of gray?

Though, I will say, the orange button really pops with all the gray.

[buckworks]

I'd say that using lots of grey tones is appropriate for the niche. Grooms and groomsmen are often dressed entirely in black, white or shades of grey.

[ergophobe]

Funny! Ed asked me for feedback already and I thought it looked great. Of course, I'm colorblind.

But it is a formal occasion, the site is for men (8% colorblind) and most men just want to puke when we see the typical bridal site.

[Rupert]

I think the look is almost perfect  

The middle section with white writing on dark background I find difficult to read, but then I am probably not going to be asked to do any more Best Mans speeches, or at least I hope not.

(been best Man for one mate twice, and I have advised him not to get married again....  not that he listens to me, so I might be back Ed.)

The content worries me...  It is surely the easiest speech you can ever be asked to do?  Does nobody tell these Guys? 

[hungrygoose]

Hummm

Ok im looking for best man speeches, find your site... oh its selling me something **clicks back**  << do you get a lot of bounces??

"Best Man Speech Course, 7 Day Plan" << This isn't telling me anything and is off putting imo.  I think you need to draw people in more and be more salesy.  Appeal to their ego, tell them this will be the best best man speech ever, how to make people laugh and cry, how to make children as well as granny laugh, tips for reducing nerves, joke and story ideas.  I know you have this info in the 3 boxes but I think it needs to be clearer because personally I can't be bothered to read those 3 boxes

[edo]

Thanks for all the feeback everyone. Much appreciated.

@grnidone: Yes, I'm colour-blind (which is why I was happy to see Jason's *comment written in supportive green!)

@buckworks: Yes, the grey's are appropriate I think. A bottle of Bollinger to you for having good taste. Am going to add in a few more colours though.

@ergophobe: Us colour-blinds must stick together. Especially when puking up on brides.

@Rupert: It probably is the easiest speech you can do in some ways - the audience is always on your side - but then again I think it's one of the hardest speeches as you're speaking in front of your family and friends and are expected to be funny.

@hungrygoose: I don't get enough hits to get bounces ;-) Agree it has to be more salesy - am just slicking back my hair and shouting at the mirror "You're a tiger! Grrrr!" (ref Gareth Cheeseman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEv3q-ViieQ)

@JasonD: JasonD > Edo = babies

[bill]

I didn't really mind all the greys either. It's simple enough to read, but as mentioned before the site screams "I'm selling you something"  rather than helping you write a speech. I get the feeling the people searching this topic may be tired of getting sold to on the rest of the sites.

[Gurtie]

The single best thing to sell your course is that vid of you giving the speech. Stick that front and centre, by the time people have watched that they'll be happy to spend a few quid to find out how to give a great speech.  If you can get hold of a video of a good speech by someone who's 'done the course' rather than the standard testimonials, I'd also suggest slapping that up there too to 'prove' it works for other people.

If possible I suspect a video testimonial taken at a wedding from some hot girls saying how great [insert name here]'s speech was woulc also help sales.

Having never given a best mans speech I can't vouch for this but my gut feel is there are two kinds;

The ones who agonise over every word will probably happily read the site in their quest for getting it right but are too wary to part with cash when they can't actually see the results. Course takers speech testimonial geared to this market.

The ones who left it to the last minute and now actually only have 7 days (or perhaps 7 hours) are not inclined to spend the first hour of it reading the text. Their attention span is probably about 2 minutes if you can actually get their attention up front. Hot girl video testimonial geared to this market.

Your speech video solves both problems.  No sales crap at the beginning, title it 'see the speech I made using my method' and stick a click through to a sales page at the end.

Best sense check that with someone from the target audience

[Gurtie]

sorry - also just noticed - its a 7 day course but actually on days 6 and 7 you're delivering stuff that they probably need to write it - I'd personally rearrange the modules so that How to Deliver and How to Practise are the final days. Then people will feel that in 7 days they'll be equipped to stand up and give the speech, not that in 7 days they'll be able to start writing the speech

[Elaine]

I'd change the 7 Days to something like - 7 Easy Steps - more time friendly, especially for those who are looking last minute!!  and defo have a video in prime position.