New Website

[Tony]

I don't want to be a debby downer, but that "Where should I send your free guide?" box right in the middle of the new landing page is quite off-putting for me, makes me feel like I'm visiting a get rich quick site or something. I don't think it would be a problem if it was on the "Start Here" page .. but the landing page is just a bit much for me.

One other thing, I wonder if it's possible to have how many comments are on a blog post on the main page, instead of clicking on the article and then checking. Sometimes there's interesting discussions in the comments, but clicking on the "Read More" each time to check if there are new comments is a (first-world) hassle.

Just my thoughts.

[N00bster]

My thoughts exactly on both points. Especially the box proposing to send the FREE guide is extremely misleading as to what the intentions of the site are. Also I'm not sure what value Ben is hoping to extract from getting visitors' email addresses. Ah, having them subscribe to site updates, but that should be mentioned explicitly on the box, NOT in an email asking you to "confirm your subscription". I did not subscribe to anything, I just thought I was going to get a guide!

Sorry but this kind of thing tend to make me angry. If this was my first visit on the site I would have dismissed it immediately. I'm glad I discovered it with the older version.

That box (as well as the banner) is also way too big, forcing visitors to scroll in order to see what's new on the site on a regular desktop PC.

One last thing I have noted, visiting the former blog at http://retirejapan.info/blog redirects to https://www.retirejapan.com/blog, which does not exist. Maybe all pages from the former blog should just redirect to https://www.retirejapan.com?

[N00bster]

Found another discrepancy: https://www.retirejapan.com/lectures-and-workshops/ says "If you would like to receive updates from Retire Japan, including new blog posts and announcements, please sign up to our mailing list below." There is no way to sign up on the page however. Too bad since the way this is asked is much more likely to have me sign up than the top page box!

[RetireJapan]

I don't want to be a debby downer, but that "Where should I send your free guide?" box right in the middle of the new landing page is quite off-putting for me, makes me feel like I'm visiting a get rich quick site or something. I don't think it would be a problem if it was on the "Start Here" page .. but the landing page is just a bit much for me.

One other thing, I wonder if it's possible to have how many comments are on a blog post on the main page, instead of clicking on the article and then checking. Sometimes there's interesting discussions in the comments, but clicking on the "Read More" each time to check if there are new comments is a (first-world) hassle.

Just my thoughts.

Thanks Tony! I'll see if we can get the comment number displayed.

[RetireJapan]

My thoughts exactly on both points. Especially the box proposing to send the FREE guide is extremely misleading as to what the intentions of the site are. Also I'm not sure what value Ben is hoping to extract from getting visitors' email addresses. Ah, having them subscribe to site updates, but that should be mentioned explicitly on the box, NOT in an email asking you to "confirm your subscription". I did not subscribe to anything, I just thought I was going to get a guide!

Sorry but this kind of thing tend to make me angry. If this was my first visit on the site I would have dismissed it immediately. I'm glad I discovered it with the older version.

That box (as well as the banner) is also way too big, forcing visitors to scroll in order to see what's new on the site on a regular desktop PC.

One last thing I have noted, visiting the former blog at http://retirejapan.info/blog redirects to https://www.retirejapan.com/blog, which does not exist. Maybe all pages from the former blog should just redirect to https://www.retirejapan.com?

Thanks N00bster!

Some great points. I'd like to get more people signed up to the email list because it will bring more people to the blog, and I think the more people are engaged with the site the better it becomes.

I'll see what I can do about that redirect. Thanks for the heads-up!

[MyTime]

One other thing, I wonder if it's possible to have how many comments are on a blog post on the main page, instead of clicking on the article and then checking.

Yeah--this is something I missed too. Some blogs have a kind of side bar with extracts from the most recent comments. Something like that would be pretty cool.

[captainspoke]

I don't want to be a debby downer, but that "Where should I send your free guide?" box right in the middle of the new landing page is quite off-putting for me, makes me feel like I'm visiting a get rich quick site or something. I don't think it would be a problem if it was on the "Start Here" page .. but the landing page is just a bit much for me.
...

I agreed then, when you posted this, I just didn't want to post like I was piling on at the same time.

It's like something stabbing my eyes.

[RetireJapan]

That is... a very vivid image

[RetireJapan]

One other thing, I wonder if it's possible to have how many comments are on a blog post on the main page, instead of clicking on the article and then checking. Sometimes there's interesting discussions in the comments, but clicking on the "Read More" each time to check if there are new comments is a (first-world) hassle.

Got this switched on today