usability problem,converting only 1 a day

[deepsand]

A man walks into the doctor's office, complaining of a particular pain.

The doctor proceeds to begin an examination, whereupon the would be patient protests, insisting that all he requires is a prescription for penicillin, despite the fact that it's yet to be determined that his is a condition that both requires an antibiotic and is responsive to penicillin.

Since you're insistent on having penicillin, using this site's Search function, with the query string 301 redirect, will yield more than an ample amount of information.

[teamonfuego]

A man walks into the doctor's office, complaining of a particular pain.

The doctor proceeds to begin an examination, whereupon the would be patient protests, insisting that all he requires is a prescription for penicillin, despite the fact that it's yet to be determined that his is a condition that both requires an antibiotic and is responsive to penicillin.

Since you're insistent on having penicillin, using this site's Search function, with the query string 301 redirect, will yield more than an ample amount of information.

Jeez..........

[Dubbya]

A man walks into the doctor's office, complaining of a particular pain.

The doctor proceeds to begin an examination, whereupon the would be patient protests, insisting that all he requires is a prescription for penicillin, despite the fact that it's yet to be determined that his is a condition that both requires an antibiotic and is responsive to penicillin.

Since you're insistent on having penicillin, using this site's Search function, with the query string 301 redirect, will yield more than an ample amount of information.

Lolz... Deepsand, I tip my hat to you sir!

Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day....

[deepsand]

It's good to know that at least one other understood and appreciated the points being addressed.

[cw1865]

I understand what you're saying too, Deepsand, but I think you're still being a little rough on teamonfuego. He was initially posting here to discuss a low conversion rate. Obviously he has a perception, formed in one way or another, that his competitor is enjoying a higher conversion rate. I would suggest that he is not privy, or even legally entitled, to have access to that very specific information. So, I understand what you're saying, ie. 'You're worried about your conversion rate, but how do you know that your competitor actually enjoys a higher conversion rate?'

Fair enough, but in a market where decisions need to be made based on imperfect information; action still needs to be taken. Perhaps Teamonfuego is wrong, perhaps the competitor's conversion rate truly is no better, making this inquiry pointless, but at the end of the day, Teamonfuego deals in this industry on a daily basis and is in the best position to make that determination.

[deepsand]

Note that the opening statement says that that the current state of affairs is 8 years old.

For the OP to ask for advice, then suddenly jump to his own conclusion, declining to even recognize requests for additional information, is both unwarranted and rude.

How likely is it that one should know of a "problem" for 8 years, not know the solution, ask for help, and, when asked for additional details re. such problem, suddenly have an epiphany that reveals the solution?

Furthermore, having decided on a course of action, now asking a frequently repeated question, one that is easily answered with a but small effort on the part of the OP, is a bit over the top.

IMO, the OP is guessing about both the severity and/or nature of the "problem" and its "solution."

[Dcrux]

For the OP to ask for advice, then suddenly jump to his own conclusion, declining to even recognize requests for additional information, is both unwarranted and rude.

And this is why no user test. Users might interfere with preconceptions. You can dismiss someone else's advice. It is exponentially harder when you invest time and effort and do the user test -- even when it shows the exact same thing.

It's not all about dealing with a technical problem on a site. Very often the site is merely the symptom of a problem that isn't being dealt with.

Getting into the habit of finding the answer (through a dedication to user testing) is a huge mental shift from getting the answer from the "back of the book." Yes, you can just ask and someone who's done a similar test can just tell you the answer, and you go off and do what they tell you.

It's rarely that simple. There's always a "well you sold pilfer grommets and I sell boxcar prongs" argument until YOU do The Exact Same User Test everyone and their brother did a thousand times before. When you aren't doing the user test, it's rarely about finding the answer easier through other means.

[mjtaylor]

It's good to know that at least one other understood and appreciated the points being addressed.

I am afraid no one addressed the points of the OP, actually. He asked about redirects and people jumped in with great suggestions, advice on the conversion problem. It was easy to get the wrong impression because the post title referred to the problem - lack of conversion. His post, however, was all about the solution - redirecting to a new domain.

So while we were trying to fix his site, he was trying to bring the topic back to his question.

[Webnauts]

I am afraid no one addressed the points of the OP, actually. He asked about redirects and people jumped in with great suggestions, advice on the conversion problem. It was easy to get the wrong impression because the post title referred to the problem - lack of conversion. His post, however, was all about the solution - redirecting to a new domain.

So while we were trying to fix his site, he was trying to bring the topic back to his question.

MJ thanks for your PM about this thread. Looks like many members here do not want to help and behave very rude.

I have a lot of questions and I already see some issues, but I do not have the time to post all that here.

Therefore I guess I can find an hour to give him a hand over the phone if he wants. How about that?

[mjtaylor]

Looks like many members here do not want to help ...

To be fair, I think they were overeager to help, so much that they weren't really paying attention to the question. And, yes, it got out of hand. *And* I think it stemmed from the confusion over the topic. The title was misleading.

The actual topic is advice on redirects. The members were addressing the problem stated in the title; the OP was asking about the solution he settled on before he wrote the thread.

Therefore I guess I can find an hour to give him a hand over the phone if he wants. How about that?

That's wonderful! I had hoped you would do exactly that! You are so generous with your time!