Obviously, you didn't design the page with this purpose. We're betting that, given your business model, you chose the white text on the black background because it seemed "edgy." And you're right... In certain circumstances, white text on a black background can be an attractive, eye-catching design option. However, for it to work, you must typically be presenting a limited amount of text in a small space rather than a long salesletter as you're doing here.

Since the numerous pictures of people participating in various adventure sports combined with your slick logo set the tone for your message, the black background really isn't necessary. So our recommendation would be to switch to black text on a white background with red headlines that complement your existing color scheme. And switch from the use of all capital letters to both upper and lower case.

These changes will dramatically improve the readability of your sales message... and should therefore result in increased sales!

Placement of Your Newsletter Subscription Offer To Get Back Your Visitors:

We're always telling people that they need to feature their newsletter subscription offer within the first fold of their web sites, so we were pleased to see that you' must take this important step. To make sure you capture the names and e-mail addresses of visitors to your site, it's really important that your newsletter subscription offer be immediately visible, without any need for visitors to scroll down the page.

However, with that said, we would actually recommend removing this offer from the top, cent

And this is where the 10 Second Test comes in. Studies have shown that the average Web surfer arriving at a new site for the first time takes 10 seconds to evaluate whether or not the site will meet their particular needs. If the site offers an immediate benefit, they stay. If no benefit is offered, they leave.

If we will visit your site what reason – what benefit – were we given to stay and explore the site further? Will help me?

Well, the first thing that caught our eye when we entered the site was the title "jewels Gift Store." That’s great. The title is simple but descriptive so, assuming we’re looking for jewels gifts, we know we’re in the right place. As well, the title appears at the very top of the page. Another good design choice that site owners often miss, choosing to put distracting spinning gadgets or banners where a descriptive title should be.

One second down, nine to go….

The second thing that grabbed our attention was the floating stars when you move your mouse. We’re sorry to tell you this because we know you’re probably pretty attached to them, but this is a BIG no-no for a commerce site like yours. The stars are very distracting. Remember that you have precious few seconds to get your message across to your visitor before they click away from your web site.

You don’t want visitors pausing to watch stars floating around their screen and forgetting the reason they clicked to your site in the first place – you want to be grabbing their attention with benefits that speak to their immediate needs. So with that in mind, we would highly recommend that you remove the stars.

Three seconds down, seven to go…

The third attention-grabber is your sub-heading, "jewels Gifts, jewels Shower Gifts, Birth Announcements and More!" Like the title, your subheading is also very simple, descriptive, and to the point – good for search engine optimization. However, what it needs to include is a benefit.

Your title makes it clear that you sell jewels gifts. Now your subheading needs to offer visitors a clear, obvious benefit. What sets your website apart from all of the other jewels gift sites? How are we going to benefit from purchasing our jewels gift through your site as opposed to the others?

Five seconds down, five to go…

Once we’d read your subheading, the next thing to draw our eyes was the bright colors and movement of the three banners that appear on the top right-hand side of the page. This is a problem because banners are basically an invitation to leave your web site.

We’ve been at your site less than 10 seconds and you’re already showing us the door out? That’s not very hospitable of you… (We’re kidding, of course.)

Add Quality Content On Your Website

Keep your visitors to read quality information on your website. What I love is creating new ideas, new projects, putting them together. Writing a sales letter gets me up in the morning. I love to write. The internet is about writing, it’s about reading so that’s fun, it drives me crazy... I love it. It happens to be the key to making millions on the internet so that’s exciting.

What I love most is seeing hundreds of people reading my page on my web site at the same time. They are reading what I have to say...so that is finally reaching my biggest dream and to be able to make a difference in peoples’ lives is great. Each day I receive hundreds of emails- you know every other guru says that but it’s true! It’s not like I thought it would be, it’s very exciting.

You know, the internet is kind of boring, but people are alive and people are warm- the internet is cold... people want so much. I have seen so many people that want so much success and they are willing to do everything they can so that’s fun. It’s fun to be able to be with people like me.

You must have a clean web site!

You need to have a white page with black text. I see so many sites with spinning gifs and so many flashy pictures. It only distracts your attention. You’re not going to sell because your website has thousands of dollars-worth of design...no ...you’re going to sell because the sales letter only says that you feel, felt and discovered the solution.

You absolutely need to capture the email addresses of all you visitors, or most of them, because the real money is on the "back-end" - other products that you are going to sell afterwards. I always say that I don’t want a first sale of $100 or $200 from a buyer. What I prefer is their email address, that’s worth a lot of money, a lot of money! I would prefer people give me their email address than giving me $100, I’m serious!

You’re looking at a long-term relationship with your customers?

Yes of course. The other reason is that when people come to your site for the first time, maybe they don’t have time to read everything. Maybe they don’t have time to decide now, maybe it’s not the right time for them to buy. So you follow up... you know it takes about seven follow ups to have a maximum result-when you follow up, they can start to know you.

It’s as though they visited your site seven times.

So you need to write or buy great follow up letters that have punch, that express emotion. You do this using autoresponders.

Add emotions in your headlines Added a more compelling subheading that emphasizes your biggest benefits including (1) that you offer a great selection of gifts (hundreds), (2) that your gifts are unique, (3) that most are easily personalized (We’re guessing most jewel gift sites don’t offer this!), and (4) that most gifts are shipped free of charge.

All of these benefits are present in your existing homepage… they’re just scattered throughout it. Summarize them into one compelling subheading, and you’ll instantly have your visitor’s attention!

Increasing the Load Time of Your Homepage

Slow-loading pages like this frustrate visitors and drive them away from your site, so we'd recommend dealing with this issue right away. Particularly given that it's a quick fix! NetMechanic.com offers a great free graphic optimizer called GIFBot that will quickly and easily decrease the file size of your images.

White Text on a Black Background:

The second thing we noticed about your homepage is that the glaring white text on the black background is quite difficult to read. Particularly when all of the text is written in capital letters.

Obviously, you didn't design the page with this purpose. We're betting that, given your business model, you chose the white text on the black background because it seemed "edgy." And you're right... In certain circumstances, white text on a black background can be an attractive, eye-catching design option. However, for it to work, you must typically be presenting a limited amount of text in a small space rather than a long salesletter as you're doing here.

Since the numerous pictures of people participating in various adventure sports combined with your slick logo set the tone for your message, the black background really isn't necessary. So our recommendation would be to switch to black text on a white background with red headlines that complement your existing color scheme. And switch from the use of all capital letters to both upper and lower case.

These changes will dramatically improve the readability of your sales message... and should therefore result in increased sales!

Placement of Your Newsletter Subscription Offer To Get Back Your Visitors:

We're always telling people that they need to feature their newsletter subscription offer within the first fold of their web sites, so we were pleased to see that you' must take this important step. To make sure you capture the names and e-mail addresses of visitors to your site, it's really important that your newsletter subscription offer be immediately visible, without any need for visitors to scroll down the page.

However, with that said, we would actually recommend removing this offer from the top, cente

Three seconds down, seven to go…

The third attention-grabber is your sub-heading, "jewels Gifts, jewels Shower Gifts, Birth Announcements and More!" Like the title, your subheading is also very simple, descriptive, and to the point – good for search engine optimization. However, what it needs to include is a benefit.

Your title makes it clear that you sell jewels gifts. Now your subheading needs to offer visitors a clear, obvious benefit. What sets your website apart from all of the other jewels gift sites? How are we going to benefit from purchasing our jewels gift through your site as opposed to the others?

Five seconds down, five to go…

Once we’d read your subheading, the next thing to draw our eyes was the bright colors and movement of the three banners that appear on the top right-hand side of the page. This is a problem because banners are basically an invitation to leave your web site.

We’ve been at your site less than 10 seconds and you’re already showing us the door out? That’s not very hospitable of you… (We’re kidding, of course.)

Add Quality Content On Your Website

Keep your visitors to read quality information on your website. What I love is creating new ideas, new projects, putting them together. Writing a sales letter gets me up in the morning. I love to write. The internet is about writing, it’s about reading so that’s fun, it drives me crazy... I love it. It happens to be the key to making millions on the internet so that’s exciting.

What I love most is seeing hundreds of people reading my page on my web site at the same time. They are reading what I have to say...so that is finally reaching my biggest dream and to be able to make a difference in peoples’ lives is great. Each day I receive hundreds of emails- you know every other guru says that but it’s true! It’s not like I thought it would be, it’s very exciting.

You know, the internet is kind of boring, but people are alive and people are warm- the internet is cold... people want so much. I have seen so many people that want so much success and they are willing to do everything they can so that’s fun. It’s fun to be able to be with people like me.

You must have a clean web site!

You need to have a white page with black text. I see so many sites with spinning gifs and so many flashy pictures. It only distracts your attention. You’re not going to sell because your website has thousands of dollars-worth of design...no ...you’re going to sell because the sales letter only says that you feel, felt and discovered the solution.

You absolutely need to capture the email addresses of all you visitors, or most of them, because the real money is on the "back-end" - other products that you are going to sell afterwards. I always say that I don’t want a first sale of $100 or $200 from a buyer. What I prefer is their email address, that’s worth a lot of money, a lot of money! I would prefer people give me their email address than giving me $100, I’m serious!

You’re looking at a long-term relationship with your customers?

Yes of course. The other reason is that when people come to your site for the first time, maybe they don’t have time to read everything. Maybe they don’t have time to decide now, maybe it’s not the right time for them to buy. So you follow up... you know it takes about seven follow ups to have a maximum result-when you follow up, they can start to know you.

It’s as though they visited your site seven times.

So you need to write or buy great follow up letters that have punch, that express emotion. You do this using autoresponders.

Add emotions in your headlines Added a more compelling subheading that emphasizes your biggest benefits including (1) that you offer a great selection of gifts (hundreds), (2) that your gifts are unique, (3) that most are easily personalized (We’re guessing most jewel gift sites don’t offer this!), and (4) that most gifts are shipped free of charge.

All of these benefits are present in your existing homepage… they’re just scattered throughout it. Summarize them into one compelling subheading, and you’ll instantly have your visitor’s attention!

Increasing the Load Time of Your Homepage

Slow-loading pages like this frustrate visitors and drive them away from your site, so we'd recommend dealing with this issue right away. Particularly given that it's a quick fix! NetMechanic.com offers a great free graphic optimizer called GIFBot that will quickly and easily decrease the file size of your images.

White Text on a Black Background:

The second thing we noticed about your homepage is that the glaring white text on the black background is quite difficult to read. Particularly when all of the text is written in capital letters.

Obviously, you didn't design the page with this purpose. We're betting that, given your business model, you chose the white text on the black background because it seemed "edgy." And you're right... In certain circumstances, white text on a black background can be an attractive, eye-catching design option. However, for it to work, you must typically be presenting a limited amount of text in a small space rather than a long salesletter as you're doing here.

Since the numerous pictures of people participating in various adventure sports combined with your slick logo set the tone for your message, the black background really isn't necessary. So our recommendation would be to switch to black text on a white background with red headlines that complement your existing color scheme. And switch from the use of all capital letters to both upper and lower case.

These changes will dramatically improve the readability of your sales message... and should therefore result in increased sales!

Placement of Your Newsletter Subscription Offer To Get Back Your Visitors:

We're always telling people that they need to feature their newsletter subscription offer within the first fold of their web sites, so we were pleased to see that you' must take this important step. To make sure you capture the names and e-mail addresses of visitors to your site, it's really important that your newsletter subscription offer be immediately visible, without any need for visitors to scroll down the page.

However, with that said, we would actually recommend removing this offer from the top, cent

What I love most is seeing hundreds of people reading my page on my web site at the same time. They are reading what I have to say...so that is finally reaching my biggest dream and to be able to make a difference in peoples’ lives is great. Each day I receive hundreds of emails- you know every other guru says that but it’s true! It’s not like I thought it would be, it’s very exciting.

You know, the internet is kind of boring, but people are alive and people are warm- the internet is cold... people want so much. I have seen so many people that want so much success and they are willing to do everything they can so that’s fun. It’s fun to be able to be with people like me.

You must have a clean web site!

You need to have a white page with black text. I see so many sites with spinning gifs and so many flashy pictures. It only distracts your attention. You’re not going to sell because your website has thousands of dollars-worth of design...no ...you’re going to sell because the sales letter only says that you feel, felt and discovered the solution.

You absolutely need to capture the email addresses of all you visitors, or most of them, because the real money is on the "back-end" - other products that you are going to sell afterwards. I always say that I don’t want a first sale of $100 or $200 from a buyer. What I prefer is their email address, that’s worth a lot of money, a lot of money! I would prefer people give me their email address than giving me $100, I’m serious!

You’re looking at a long-term relationship with your customers?

Yes of course. The other reason is that when people come to your site for the first time, maybe they don’t have time to read everything. Maybe they don’t have time to decide now, maybe it’s not the right time for them to buy. So you follow up... you know it takes about seven follow ups to have a maximum result-when you follow up, they can start to know you.

It’s as though they visited your site seven times.

So you need to write or buy great follow up letters that have punch, that express emotion. You do this using autoresponders.

Add emotions in your headlines Added a more compelling subheading that emphasizes your biggest benefits including (1) that you offer a great selection of gifts (hundreds), (2) that your gifts are unique, (3) that most are easily personalized (We’re guessing most jewel gift sites don’t offer this!), and (4) that most gifts are shipped free of charge.

All of these benefits are present in your existing homepage… they’re just scattered throughout it. Summarize them into one compelling subheading, and you’ll instantly have your visitor’s attention!

Increasing the Load Time of Your Homepage

Slow-loading pages like this frustrate visitors and drive them away from your site, so we'd recommend dealing with this issue right away. Particularly given that it's a quick fix! NetMechanic.com offers a great free graphic optimizer called GIFBot that will quickly and easily decrease the file size of your images.

White Text on a Black Background:

The second thing we noticed about your homepage is that the glaring white text on the black background is quite difficult to read. Particularly when all of the text is written in capital letters.

Obviously, you didn't design the page with this purpose. We're betting that, given your business model, you chose the white text on the black background because it seemed "edgy." And you're right... In certain circumstances, white text on a black background can be an attractive, eye-catching design option. However, for it to work, you must typically be presenting a limited amount of text in a small space rather than a long salesletter as you're doing here.

Since the numerous pictures of people participating in various adventure sports combined with your slick logo set the tone for your message, the black background really isn't necessary. So our recommendation would be to switch to black text on a white background with red headlines that complement your existing color scheme. And switch from the use of all capital letters to both upper and lower case.

These changes will dramatically improve the readability of your sales message... and should therefore result in increased sales!

Placement of Your Newsletter Subscription Offer To Get Back Your Visitors:

We're always telling people that they need to feature their newsletter subscription offer within the first fold of their web sites, so we were pleased to see that you' must take this important step. To make sure you capture the names and e-mail addresses of visitors to your site, it's really important that your newsletter subscription offer be immediately visible, without any need for visitors to scroll down the page.

However, with that said, we would actually recommend removing this offer from the top, cent

It’s as though they visited your site seven times.

So you need to write or buy great follow up letters that have punch, that express emotion. You do this using autoresponders.

Add emotions in your headlines Added a more compelling subheading that emphasizes your biggest benefits including (1) that you offer a great selection of gifts (hundreds), (2) that your gifts are unique, (3) that most are easily personalized (We’re guessing most jewel gift sites don’t offer this!), and (4) that most gifts are shipped free of charge.

All of these benefits are present in your existing homepage… they’re just scattered throughout it. Summarize them into one compelling subheading, and you’ll instantly have your visitor’s attention!

Increasing the Load Time of Your Homepage

Slow-loading pages like this frustrate visitors and drive them away from your site, so we'd recommend dealing with this issue right away. Particularly given that it's a quick fix! NetMechanic.com offers a great free graphic optimizer called GIFBot that will quickly and easily decrease the file size of your images.

White Text on a Black Background:

The second thing we noticed about your homepage is that the glaring white text on the black background is quite difficult to read. Particularly when all of the text is written in capital letters.

Obviously, you didn't design the page with this purpose. We're betting that, given your business model, you chose the white text on the black background because it seemed "edgy." And you're right... In certain circumstances, white text on a black background can be an attractive, eye-catching design option. However, for it to work, you must typically be presenting a limited amount of text in a small space rather than a long salesletter as you're doing here.

Since the numerous pictures of people participating in various adventure sports combined with your slick logo set the tone for your message, the black background really isn't necessary. So our recommendation would be to switch to black text on a white background with red headlines that complement your existing color scheme. And switch from the use of all capital letters to both upper and lower case.

These changes will dramatically improve the readability of your sales message... and should therefore result in increased sales!

Placement of Your Newsletter Subscription Offer To Get Back Your Visitors:

We're always telling people that they need to feature their newsletter subscription offer within the first fold of their web sites, so we were pleased to see that you' must take this important step. To make sure you capture the names and e-mail addresses of visitors to your site, it's really important that your newsletter subscription offer be immediately visible, without any need for visitors to scroll down the page.

However, with that said, we would actually recommend removing this offer from the top, cent

Obviously, you didn't design the page with this purpose. We're betting that, given your business model, you chose the white text on the black background because it seemed "edgy." And you're right... In certain circumstances, white text on a black background can be an attractive, eye-catching design option. However, for it to work, you must typically be presenting a limited amount of text in a small space rather than a long salesletter as you're doing here.

Since the numerous pictures of people participating in various adventure sports combined with your slick logo set the tone for your message, the black background really isn't necessary. So our recommendation would be to switch to black text on a white background with red headlines that complement your existing color scheme. And switch from the use of all capital letters to both upper and lower case.

These changes will dramatically improve the readability of your sales message... and should therefore result in increased sales!

Placement of Your Newsletter Subscription Offer To Get Back Your Visitors:

We're always telling people that they need to feature their newsletter subscription offer within the first fold of their web sites, so we were pleased to see that you' must take this important step. To make sure you capture the names and e-mail addresses of visitors to your site, it's really important that your newsletter subscription offer be immediately visible, without any need for visitors to scroll down the page.

However, with that said, we would actually recommend removing this offer from the top, center of your homepage. You see, your newsletter subscription offer currently dominates the most valuable real estate of your entire web site... the area where your headline should be featured.

While it's important that your newsletter subscription offer appear within the first fold of your homepage, it should be featured secondary to your key offer, which should be introduced in your headline!

One way you might consider resolving this issue is by replacing your current "gift voucher" pop-up window with an exit pop-up that offers visitors a subscription to your newsletter. You'll probably get a much greater response to a pop-up that offers a FREE subscription to your newsletter than to a "gift voucher" offer.

Plus, once you've captured the names and e-mail addresses of visitors, it's easy to send them suggestions and offers regarding your "gift vouchers."

The Salescopy on Your Homepage:

The key purpose of your site is to sell your $35 membership. Given that this is an intangible product that your visitors will need quite a bit of information about before they're ready to buy (unlike more common impulse purchases like books and CDs), you're going to need powerful salescopy that accomplishes seven important tasks:

Guides potential visitors step-by-step through the sales process.

Provides a detailed explanation of exactly what your membership is.

Offers a detailed description of the benefits members will experience once they join.

Establishes your credibility with information about who you are and why you're qualified to offer this membership.

Gives testimonials of satisfied club members to prove that (a) you're a real club, not some scam, and (b) other people have successfully done business with you.

Removes all risk of doing business with you by offering a strong guarantee.

Asks visitors to become a member after overcoming their biggest objections.

Navigation Menu

Stage two will involve a more extensive reworking of the navigation of your site. Add a vertical menu and seek to establish simple consistency throughout your site – make it easy to get them.

You need to add new events schedules each month for each region you cater to... Plus, you need to maintain an activities page for each separate region.

Given that you're not using this site to keep your members up-to-date on the latest events, you could easily:

Reduce the work involved in maintaining your site

Ensure that it's always up-to-date so you look professional and credible

And dramatically increase the sales you're closing

... by making a few swift alterations to your site navigation.

The site navigation changes from page to page. And this is a big no-no. A standard, unchanging navigation menu should always appear in the same place on every page of your site so that visitors can easily move from page to page without having to "search" for instructions.

As well, the layout of your pages should not change dramatically from page to page. For example, your frames should not shift location from one page to the next, nor should your navigation menu disappear entirely when visitors leave your homepage.

And most importantly, each page linked off your navigation menu should not open as a full-screen pop-up window -- this makes it impossible for visitors to use the "back" button in their browsers (the "back" arrows you've added to your pages don't work as a result of this either) and people are forced to actually close the window they're viewing to return to the previous page.

Right now, visitors who want to return to your homepage must click on your "product" logo. Unfortunately, most people will never figure this out. (We did by accident...) Your homepage should always be designated by a standard "Home" button. As for the content of your homepage, we'd recommend replacing your current salescopy with the revised salescopy we've suggested.

Not only will this simplified version of your site reduce your workload because it will be easier to maintain, the streamlined sales process will close dramatically more sales, guaranteed!