TxP.com home page

Destry · 2008-09-16 14:05:03

Something was telling me you were being too nice, Bloke, so I dug around and though I couldn’t find anything from the horses mouth, I did find this friendly bit of text from here under the “Body Text” section…

…it’s going to be a long time before there is anything more important on your webpage than the actual words in your body text. It’s easy to get caught up in metrics like “keyword density” when writing copy for your page, but the best advice I can give is just to write naturally. Do your keyword research beforehand, decide what your subject is going to be and then forget about your keyword targets and just write about your subject. You’ll find that doing this will automatically seed your keywords thoughout the piece without sounding forced and you’ll become a much better writer as a result.

I stand corrected on what has weight, though he does say headers are important too. Still, I think were OK with a short, concise pitch and let the rest of the copy carry the SEO load.

Last edited by Destry (2008-09-16 14:06:31)

Bloke · 2008-09-16 14:42:30

Excellent article, well found. I agree with your header/copy analysis.

The article certainly sums up what I believe are the key factors in SE placement. Although I’ve not perfected my copy yet, similar principles have thus far done (#1) me (#9) no (#5) harm (#28) in placement terms, even given the limited audience my site attracts (i.e. other weirdos!)

Good to see that our very own net-carver is the top hit for txp plugins; well done, sir, you’re a true champion for the cause! [though when the core site updates are over and the dust settles, I’d like to think Textpattern Resources — or whatever it will be called — gives him a run for his money :-) Either way, TXP wins so it’s all good]

Last edited by Bloke (2008-09-16 14:43:18)

maniqui · 2008-09-16 16:14:04

But remember that it’s also said that homepages aren’t too relevant, seo-valuable for positioning (as least, compared to inner pages). Yeah, I should have to look where I’ve read this, but it stands pretty clear most homepages don’t have as valuable content as the inner page. And search engines already know this. Homepage content is usually “poor”: it’s not fixed, it changes frequently (on most sites), it doesn’t have a permanent link.
As an analogy: in a gold mine, the gold is not on the surface, but on the depth of the mountain.

Probably, in SEO terms and for SEO purposes, the most valuable thing on a homepage is not the content (the copy) itself but the links to inner (deeper, really findable) content. Probably, search crawlers look for inner links on homepage more than indexing the homepage content itself.
But then, the mantra is: “write/design/develop for your visitors, not for robots”. So, for the homepage, a good, balanced copy with proper linking will probably satisfy search engines.

maniqui · 2008-09-16 16:31:48

I’m more concerned about the main audience for the homepage content, because Destry and zero have been dialoging about it (and I’ve talked about it on some of my latest previous post, but being that I talk too much in a very baroque style it may have been difficult to understand me).

It will prabably be hard to come with a phrase (being it a descriptive, or factoids, or catch-phrase, blurb, whatever) that fits/aims the three main audiences: webdesigners, developers, and end-users (usually, our clients).

The elevator pitch should be something generic, that could catch anyone looking for an open source CMS solution.
I liked the one suggested by Destry.

————————
Textpattern is a versatile, elegant and easy-to-use content management system. It is the catalyst between imagination and reality in web publishing. If sites done right with maximum efficiency is your cup of tea, Textpattern is for you. Ah, and it’s open source.
————————

But let’s not stop in that little chunk of content that just says the very basics about Textpattern (but at the same time, hopefully, it’s attractive for all audience).
The visitor already read it, and keeps scrolling down on the home page.

There come the three boxes:

Features
Showcase
Support

They are ok, they also say the basics, and almost the same that every other open source CMS circa 2008 could offer to them: a list of features, a list of well done web-standards websites, and a forum/FAQs/docs/ecosystem.

Again, we are in year 2008, audience is smarter, (markets are getting smarter): so, they are expecting to find some basic features/ecosystem around an open source project/CMS solution. Visitors are potential Textpattern users who are evaluating CMSs out there.
So, aren’t we losing some homepage real state on things that visitors already expect to find? (things that also are linked on the main navigation on top).

My suggestion is: a new row of three boxes, directly aimed to the three main audiences:

For the end-user
For the web designer
For the developer

Each box could have a mini-elevator pitch for its aimed audience and a basic list of features which will attract each audience.

Example:

the For the end-user box will talk about Textile, the languages, just write, how easy is to publish/edit content, image/file management, built-in search, multi-authors, import content from other CMS, clean URLs, SEO, etc.
the For the web designer box will talk about: txp tags, the empty canvas, the clean/valid HTML/CSS, the separation of content and presentation, the 2-minutes installation process, the plugins, etc.
the For the developer box will talk about: the plug-in ecosystem, the extendability of TxP code, jQuery, the dev list, etc.

This new three boxes could replace the current ones (as I already said the don’t seem to add nothing that isn’t already expected by visitors) or be added as a new line of boxes (above or below, I would prefer above).

Destry wrote:

Speaking as a dedicated user of Txp since summer 2004, I almost never go to the .com website except to visit the FAQs from time-to-time, and the occasional download (when I’m not using SVN). Even the weblog is off my radar for lack of compelling info (no offense meant, but my time is limited these days and my RSS runneth over, though I do have the RSS live-bookmarked). So IMHO, we do not need weblog scratch and forum blather polluting the home page. I’m sure most other heavy users don’t loiter on the home page either. The home page, rather, should be crafted with new people in mind, and with obvious links to the routine stuff if they want it.

What I said above, it’s related to this statement. We don’t want weblogs/forum posts cluttering the homepage, but we may also not want to waste homepage real-state space on almost-obvious things.

I’ll say it again, I like the black/white images, but love Blokes idea of something a bit more Sin City, where the images use hints of yellow, gold, sepia, or whatever here and there. Not too much, just hints. That would really be sharp as far as imagery goes.

I like this idea too. A black and white copy/design with content emphasized using gold/yellow/sepia colors.

I think the “Reasons not to try” Txp is fun idea, but I personally would not use it here; it’s a bit too campy, and being too campy seems (to me) contrary to what this whole redesign is all about — looking more serious to the rest of the world. (Don’t take the word “serious” too literally, but I think you know what I’m trying to say.)

Yeah, this could be on an inner page, directly linked from the home page. And I would link both: the “Reasons to try” (serious), and the “Reasons not to try” (fun).

Last edited by maniqui (2008-09-16 16:33:37)

zero · 2008-09-16 17:08:42

I’ve rearranged Reason to Try here. What do you think?

Bloke · 2008-09-16 18:09:56

zero wrote:

I’ve rearranged Reason to Try. What do you think?

Nice separation into the target audiences. Good stuff.

btw, with permission and a suitable showcase site, should we add Neko’s testimonial to the “Designers say…” rotation list:

“someone on a newsgroup mentioned TXP. I said “WTF? Never heard of it”, I came here, installed it, worked ever since and loved every minute of it.”

IMO, that kinda sums up how I think a fair few people might find TXP (I certainly did it that way). And it might give the impression to first-time visitors that “even though I’ve not heard of it, neither had this guy and now he loves it. Maybe it is for me…”

Yes? No?

zero · 2008-09-16 18:23:09

Sounds good to me, Stef. Also rotating lists that just show 2, 3, 4 or 5 items could be used for Reasons to try, reasons not to try and whatever other content goes on the front page. (Perhaps the elevator pitch is overdoing it, but perhaps not?) I think there should be a push button rather than depending on page refresh for those who want to see more. It can have the advantage of all items showing in source but not overloading the visitor.

Now I rearranged Reasons to Try into audiences, I see some changes will need making to the items but I think it helps with the focus and comes across stronger. Personally, I’d miss out the mini-elevator pitch for each audience, Julián, but that’s me and might depend on exact wording of items listed. Oh, in case you’re wondering, I’m thinking Reasons should be on front page, not inside.

maniqui · 2008-09-16 18:53:21

My only argument against the “Reasons to try” is precisely that heading, I mean, the wording.
The “try” sounds like “try the demo, then buy”. But I may be totally wrong, because I don’t speak english natively.

I will insist on (re)moving the “Features”, “Showcase” and “Support” box from homepage, as they are taking too much space from things (basic features, example of original websites done properly, and a support ecosystem) that should be “granted” for any open source CMS project in year 2008.

I know, I’m repeating myself: I would prefer that space taken by original content directed to each particular audience. Then, below, the real quotes of TxP users. Then, below, yes, the other three boxes which everyone expects.

zero · 2008-09-16 19:07:55

I think Reasons to Try is fine so long as people know they are not going to have to buy anything, so ‘free and open source’ should be prominent if using that heading. I agree about removing Features, Showcase and Support. Targeting those audiences using rotation (preferably jQuery?) also allows us an alternative way to write all those features. So we can say similar things but in different ways on the home page and on the Features page, thus doubling findability.

BTW, I hope you’re subscribed to the namespace but in case you’re not, I’ve made some comments on the SEO page about differentiating TXP by using keywords of ‘Content Publishing’ and ‘Web Publishing’. I thought it might make Textpattern stand out more if we pushed it. What do you think?

Bloke · 2008-09-16 19:13:45

maniqui wrote:

The “try” sounds like “try the demo, then buy”.

Good point. Is “Reasons to use” / “Reasons to use it” any better?

“Features”, “Showcase” and “Support”… should be “granted” for any open source CMS project in year 2008.

True to an extent. It’s probably like saying software is ‘user friendly’ or that a graphics package allows you to resize an image and save it. If there’s space to put these sort of things lower down or ‘below the fold’, maybe that’s where they should be.

But by the same token, new users who don’t know what a CMS is (are there any?) and are just fed up with writing sites by hand (like how I stumbled upon TXP) might desire to know the basics like it’s an open source project, has a friendly community, allows you to manage your site structure and content with ease, blah blah.

That’s my whole ethos behind having a randomly selected list of 4 or 5 ‘things’ in boxes on a page at each refresh (I also like the ‘button’ idea to get at more, zero, even if it takes you to a page where there’s the full list with each explained / backed up with a single sentence). There’s a good chance that at least one of them in a varying-difficulty-level list will ‘click’ with either a new user or someone who wishes to switch from WP, for example. We can leave it to chance / chaos theory to decide which ones get shown, e.g:

* Defaults to the tab where you Just Write
* Organise and style your site content in sections
* Tag-based syntax: no programming necessary
* Comment preview eliminates almost all spam

                                   Find out more...

If that randomly-chosen list was presented, it might appeal to content authors, developers, and designers enough that each will pick up on at least one item and be intrigued enough to find out more. Hopefully.

EDIT: zero beat me to it… and more concisely, dang :-)

EDIT2: ‘Content publishing’ and ‘web publishing’: I like ‘em!

Last edited by Bloke (2008-09-16 19:21:21)

zero · 2008-09-16 19:37:55

I think listing things under different audiences is better than completely random because, for example, Defaults to the tab where you Just Write might put a developer off but is just right for a publisher. So this is why I’m liking Julián’s suggestion – the audiences can be better targetted with 3 sections. There can still be randomness but within that section.

I was also thinking the rotation or hide/show or drop-down should be kept on front page. Something cool for Publishers like the TXP Network Links on the forum, and other cool ways for devs/designers, demonstrates jQuery nicely and saves the visitor moving away before s/he is ready.

And I think new users will always be appearing so it won’t do any harm using a tool tip for CMS or using ‘content management system’ and ‘content publishing software’ etc all on the same page.

Bloke · 2008-09-16 19:42:36

Gotcha. All good.

Bloke · 2008-09-16 20:23:11

Another good home page with the right mix of flow, noob info and a snippet of advanced stuff for people who know what one of these things does and just wants to try it already.

What it is: one sentence
Why it stands out: two paragraphs + ‘find out more’, ‘screenshots’, & ‘download’ buttons
Two supporting reasons why it’s good, plus some dev info

So it seems we’re on the right track with the elevator pitch, reasons to give it a go, download button and testimonials/showcase/screenshots. Just gotta fit the pieces with Matthew’s design!

zero · 2008-09-16 21:47:36

Nice find, Stef. It keeps it simple and very easy to follow. We wouldn’t go far wrong following that example.

wrt targeting audiences, I’ve copied the existing Features page and rearranged it to make a temporary Features by Audience page to work on for use on home page. I haven’t changed any features or added any Reasons to Try and it’s interesting to see how little developers have been targeted so far. Some in the designers bit could also be used in the dev bit if worded differently. The features pages are basically the features listed on the txp.com home page plus a few I’ve added. I found some that seem to refer to all audiences rather than any one in particular. If a dev-type person (Stef?) will change some existing features into dev-targeted ones and add some more for devs, plus we rewrite for other audiences too, then we might be able to zoom in on the best all-round txp features as well as produce a pretty convincing set of Reasons to love Textpattern.

Last edited by zero (2008-09-16 21:48:30)

Bloke · 2008-09-16 22:10:13

zero wrote:

If a dev-type person (Stef?) will change some existing features into dev-targeted ones and add some more for devs

Done ; first draft at least. Any more, anyone?

Textpattern CMS

Textpattern CMS support forum

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Re: TxP.com home page

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Re: TxP.com home page

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Re: TxP.com home page

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