Easy Web Content – Create and Manage Your Websites with Powerful Tools

3 thoughts on “Easy Web Content – Create and Manage Your Websites with Powerful Tools”

1. 1. Just from reviewing the home page, it looks like Easy Web Content offers web hosting and various site building tools. My first impression is mostly positive. Your logo is cute and suggests simplicity, and your selling points front and center are easy to identify. As I scrolled down, I thought the page was, perhaps, a little cluttered, but it didn’t turn me off that much.
    
   2. I decided to find out more about the tools you offer and whether you also host sites or not. I clicked on “Tools Just For You” in the navbar but was slightly overwhelmed with all the drop-down menu options. I then tried to select “What Is Easy Web Content?” right below the fold in hopes that it would provide more of an overview, but it wasn’t clickable. I returned to “Tools Just For You” and selected “Site Builder.” This brought me to the “Site Builder” page, which also initially looks a little overwhelming, but I was quickly able to discover by scrolling down that you do host sites for about $9 a month. I then scrolled down further to read about your site building tools, and I truly was overwhelmed. It was just so much to take in, everything from templates to multimedia to social media integration. So I definitely found what I was looking for, but in a way, I found too much of it if that’s possible.
    
   3. I really might be. My current web hosting service is pretty expensive. I need it right now for various reasons, but I could see switching to a different service in the future, especially one with such a full range of site building tools. I am wondering about overall costs, though. I can’t seem to find pricing information for the various tools.
    
   4. No need to use a search engine; I can compare you to the service I use right now, which is SiteBuildIt! (SBI). Now, SBI charges a few hundred dollars a year, and their site building tools are somewhat more basic than yours. If you want to add flashy graphics or multimedia presentations or whatnot, you need to have some coding experience if you’re using SBI. However, SBI’s strength is that it includes thorough, intensive training in e-commerce and a proven method for search engine optimization. I can’t emphasize enough how important those things are. So, yes, you’ll pay more with them, but you’ll also have a better chance of starting a successful site. And the fact of the matter is that I don’t know exactly how much you charge for your services, so it’s hard to compare your value to that of SBI. Basic hosting seems like it would be about $100 a year with Easy Web Content, but I wonder how much I’d end up paying after I got done adding some of the bells and whistles. SBI costs three times your basic price, but it offers so very, very much. Three times as much? Quite possibly.
    
   5. Ok, I’m just going to go through your main pages one by one because there’s so much here to look at:
    
   Home Page
   It starts out great. I like everything above the fold. It’s clear, it’s direct, it’s even cute. But then I scroll down, and it seems a little crowded. I suggest that you eliminate “Add Awesome Web Features to your Site or Blog.” It’s one element too many. By the time we get to the bottom, we know Easy Web Content provides site building tools. Let the user go a little deeper into the site to find out what they are. Also, the drop-down menu under “Tools Just For You” in the navbar is just too much. Consider eliminating all the individual add-ons in the menu and let visitors simply select “Add-ons” to be taken to the Website Add-ons page. Same goes for “Presentations.” You don’t need to further separate this into “Presentor” with a blurb of text. Just reduce this to “Presentations” and let them select that for the Presenter page.
    
   Site Builder
   This is where I find out that your service is not “free,” as advertised on the home page. It includes a free trial, which is not the same thing. I fear that users will feel misled when they realize this. Better to change your home page text to read, “Easy, Powerful, Professional. Just $8.25 a month.” And don’t underestimate the value of listing the exact rate as $8.25 rather than “just under $9.” Believe me, $8.25 sounds a lot less expensive than $9!
    
   Anyway, back to your Site Builder page. This seems overwhelmingly long. Is there anything that can be shortened or eliminated? I’m looking at the block of text above the video and thinking that can go. We already know that stuff. The video itself is enormous and probably not even appropriate on this page. At the very least, you could make it much smaller and allow it to enlarge when played. However, I think it might be better to move it entirely. How about creating a navbar tab specifically for the video and calling it “How to Get Started” or “Tutorial” or something like that? Below the video, we have another unnecessarily long block of copy. How about reducing this to one or two simple sentences introducing your “wide array of powerful tools so you can create the web site you envision, no matter your experience level”? Then make each of the tool icons clickable so that visitors can select the ones they’re interested in and watch as more information drops down or pops up. If you do that, you can get rid of most of the rest of the page, including all the info about templates, photos, widgets, and add-ons. Again, all that stuff could simply drop down or pop up from individual icons. That would leave just the info about SEO, cloud hosting, and support at the bottom of the page. I’d suggest reducing the size of the subheads and images that accompany this text to further reduce the length of the page.
    
   HTML Editor
   Again, this page is very long. You start with another lengthy how-to video. Could this also be moved to a “Tutorials” tab on the home page navbar? Another part of the reason this page is so long is because, again, the images are so big. Consider reducing the size of the images or, better yet, list the features of the HTML editor with icons, as you did on the Site Builder page, and let visitors click on each one for drop-down or pop-up info.
    
   Website Add-ons
   This page is shorter than your previous pages, and I like that. I like that I can click on icons I’m interested in and another page will open with the info I’m looking for. The individual pages for each add-on are okay, but they can also be a little longer than necessary. Consider relocating how-to videos for add-ons to a “Tutorials” section.
    
   Presenter
   The page starts out well, but I’m put off by the fact that I have to request an invite to see it in action. Can’t I see some features and images? Or at least a video?
    
   Examples
   I really like this example gallery. It functions better than testimonials ever could! I like that the examples open in another window, too, so I’m not left backarrowing to your site.
    
   Pricing
   The pricing charts aren’t all that clear. Although the pop-up bubbles help, I still don’t understand which features I get with which plan. I think you need a more comprehensive chart showing exactly which tools come with each plan and if there’s any way to add tools piecemeal. Also, I’m confused as to why this page lists your most basic plan as $10 a month when everywhere else on the web site it says your plan starts at $8.25 a month.
    
   Blog
   Currently seems to lack focus. Is it a forum for making announcements about your product? Is it articles to help members use your service more effectively? Is it news content related to web entrepreneurs? Hmmm…
    
   Bottom Line
   You seem to offer a powerful, feature-rich service for webmasters. In particular, your HTML Editor is, to my knowledge, entirely unique. I’ve never seen a service that would allow me to edit my web site and add all kinds of features to it without downloading any apps or switching my hosting to their server. This looks like an invaluable tool!
    
   However, there are some problems, both with presentation and pricing. The web site contains a lot of lengthy, redundant text with overly large images and videos that take up too much space. It also has a confusing pricing structure. It’s not at all clear which features are part of which package, and there are pricing inconsistencies throughout the site.
    
   Finally, there may be some issues with value. It seems to me that you’re looking to set up an “SBI Lite” kind of site, something that allows novice web entrepreneurs to do a lot of what SBI does for a smaller fee. However, when I start really digging into your pricing structure, I see that a really decent web site is going to cost $22 a month. That’s only about $25 less a year than what SBI charges, but SBI provides a lot more instruction and support. In addition, you don’t have a physical server; it’s cloud-based. So if Amazon goes down, as it has before, your customers are out of luck. So, bottom line, I think I would stick with SBI for hosting. Your HTML editor, on the other hand…I could see myself taking advantage of that. But why is it priced the same as full hosting? If I’m getting a little less, I should pay a little less, right?
    
    

2. 1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?

   Just by the Brand name alone,  I think that Easy Web Content is about simplifying or getting easy web content with assistance from software or website support services.

    Websites, add-ons and Presentations.

   Above”Add Awesome Web Features…” There are What? Who? and Why?. While I think high-quality and colorful pictures are good, I think that my eyes are a little confused because you have more colorful pictures in another section below. I just think there is too much going on. You should either have more info in an About Us section, or have the site features on another page. The colorful pictures are contrasting with the What, Who and Why pictures and my eyes don’t have a direct path to follow when on your homepage.

   Add Awesome Web Features to your Site or Blog
    
   2) Think of something you want to find on this website. Now try to find it. Did you find what you were looking for? Was anything confusing?

   I went to “Create and Maintain New Site.” It says it is the easiest way to build and publish new sites, and provides a button to start a free trial. My only question is: how much after trial ends. I don’t want to subscribe and pay. You should offer an ad-based free version so you can provide a lite version and still make ad revenue.
   3) Are you encouraged to (create a new account, subscribe, sign up for a free trial, etc.)? Can you tell us why (or why not)?

   I am not encouraged because I know that I am not interested in a paid service when the trial ends, so pointless to try the free trial. 
   4) Go to search engine of your choice and find one other company that offers a similar service. Compare the two companies. Which on do you prefer? Why?

   I wouldn’t know what to type in search engine. Make website easier? Easy Web Content? Is Curata.com a competitor? I think you should tell us who your competitor is rather than we guess. 
   5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.

   The website examples made with your service are very good for your brand and adds credibility.

   No credit card required is nice.

   I think your blog needs to be more useful to outsiders with general information rather than be heavy on the sales copy. People shouldn’t be reading it and thinking that it sounds like a sales pitch for your services.
    

3. 1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?

   As I am viewing your home page, it is a lot for me to take in at once. I think that you definitely are doing well at showing what it is you do, but i felt my eyes darting everywhere upon immediately viewing the home page. However once I had a few minutes to get my first impression, it seems that you are an honest, legitimate company that really does want to help people build and improve their websites and computer projects.

   I would suggest making your logo in the top left corner somewhat bigger, and also changing the blue rectangle somehow. I would like to see it cut it half so that it becomes just a blue strip of the “create websites, edit existing websites, add-ons for your website, presentations that shine.” And so that “Create awesome websites, add-ons, & presentations”, and your green try it for free button are not in the blue rectangle. I would make the green try it for free button bigger and maybe change it into a circle. But if anything definitely make the logo bigger! I keep forgetting that the name is Easy Web Content.

   2) Think of something you want to find on this website. Now try to find it. Did you find what you were looking for? Was anything confusing?

   I wanted to look at some of your layouts and designs so I clicked on EXAMPLE and started looking at your customers webpages. I did find what i was looking for. I was a little confused at first where to find the examples but that doesn’t concern me because it didn’t take me that long to realize, oh i can click on example! : ) Also, I do like the examples I see! If i ever needed to put up a website, I would feel confident that I’d be able to make it look exactly the way I wanted it to be by using Easy Web Content. 

   3) Are you encouraged to (create a new account, subscribe, sign up for a free trial, etc.)? Can you tell us why (or why not)?

   I don’t have any needs for website building, but if I actually did, I would totally sign up for a free trial with you. It looks like what you have to offer is of good quality.

   4) Go to search engine of your choice and find one other company that offers a similar service. Compare the two companies. Which on do you prefer? Why?

   I went to google and typed in “website builder” and clicked on the very first thing which was Intuit Websites. I immediately prefer Intuits home page. It is easier to read but I also am receiving what I want to know about it. Intuit will allow me a 30 day free trial with $7.99 per month as opposed to 7 day free trial and $8.25 per month. But i do not like that I’m not finding as many examples of their layouts like I could on your website. And it’s nice that I wouldn’t have to put down my credit card info with you for my free trial, unlike intuit. I am about equally encouraged to try both free trials and it would boil down to the quality of my service and web page.

   5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.

   For your pricing page I would put all options up at once instead of having to alternate between viewing the monthly and yearly pricing.
    

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