Comments on: Stop the presses – we’ve got a new website!

By: Atomiton

Atomiton — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:44:41 +0000

A Banner on the page, up on the right with an invitation to join the Beta program. “JOIN OUR BETA PROGRAM!” A nice 150 x 80px rounded box image. Or, depending on your site and audience, something like what StackOverflow does: http://stackoverflow.com/ for first time visitors. Optionally, the “NEW!” badge, like what Google does. If your site has a lot of white space and you are careful with the colors, even something relatively small is noticed long enough to advertise, but not large enough to annoy.

By: Els Aerts

Els Aerts — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 10:44:39 +0000

@Pieter: You can ask for feedback via a mail to your customers or subscribers and on your site, as long as you keep it modest.

By: Pieter

Pieter — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 07:13:04 +0000

How would you handle the launch of a beta site where you would like to get users feedback? Would you go for an email announcement with ‘we want your feedback’ or is that a bad idea as well?
I do want to be careful, but at the same time – I value user feedback very highly…

By: Els Aerts

Els Aerts — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:27:02 +0000

@Toby: You’re absolutely right. There’s nothing wrong with telling people about changes or new features on your site that might interest them. Just don’t act like you’re Moses coming down the mountain with the stone tablets.

By: Toby

Toby — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 05:28:26 +0000

Mmm, humple pie.

I think viewers of community sites, like some forums, family sites, etc like to hear about changes to the site, though not that powerfully (a post in a forum would do). New features on service sites with frequently visiting users are good to hear about as well, though again not so powerfully. Subtly.

By: Els Aerts

Els Aerts — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:50:23 +0000

@Mark: All examples are from 2009. Sad but true.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:18:41 +0000

Please tell me those are old examples… I can’t believe anybody would still do that.