I've posted a five-question web site makeover quiz here and would love your feedback on it:

www.yudkin.com/websitequiz.htm

I would like the questions and answers to be challenging, illuminating and entertaining, but not impossible. Have I succeeded? And do I need to say more explicitly than I do that the answers to the quiz questions are elaborated on in the CDs? Or do I need to explain the answers more on this page for any reason?

Thank you in advance for your feedback. If you get all the answers right, feel free to let me know (and congratulations!). If you disagree with any of the answers, please let me know that, too.

Marcia Yudkin

Marcia,

I wasn't sure whether you were marketing to site owners or site developers. At the beginning of the copy it sounds like site owners, but later on it sounds like site developers. Each may derive different benefits from this product. My guess is that site owners would need longer copy because you might have to go into more detail about why they even need to do this in the first place. Site developers, on the other hand, probably have more knowledge and require less explanation (although that is not guaranteed - I've met 3 out of 3 web designers who either don't know what an ezine is, or what an autoresponder is!).

I also think you could make more of the specific benefits and results of making over a site. You've got some great stats from your own site - increased traffic, increased conversions, visitors staying longer etc. If you're selling to site developers, then the hook might be along the lines of getting better results for their clients which means that they get a better reputation which means they can win more work and charge more ..... -> easier life, more money etc.

I love the assessment. What I'm not sure about though is this sentence:
On the one hand, you could argue that you are deliberately challenging people to question their own abilities, and that this might be enough to spur them into action and taking the test. On the other hand, you could argue that people like taking tests to find out how clever they are and how much they DO know. So I wonder if leaving out the word "don't" would be better?

Jane
PS I got all the answers right

Jane,

That's great that you got all the questions right - and still liked the quiz.

I think you're right that it's better without the "don't." I will sleep on it and decide tomorrow.

I'll tweak the rest of the copy later when I have a chance to think about how it should flow or not flow with some other related pages at my site - right now I'm focused on trying to make sure the quiz works.

Thank you,

Marcia Yudkin

Hi Marcia,

I too got all the answers right, but at first I didn't realize that the "View the answers to the quiz" blue text was a link (maybe it should be underlined) - I read through, didn't find your answers, then came back to the link.

The first question is open to argument (though I chose the right answer), IMHO there isn't a real right or wrong answer for that one - they are simple strategy considerations, and a couple of the other 3 answers for that question can be very valid responses depending on the type of site produced.

I think you are onto something here with the interaction - you might consider making the navigator give their email to get the answers (and receive, say, a free report that explains in depth your answers, and how you came to know them, with stats, studies, etc.). This is what I would do anyway. You'd probably get a pretty high sign-up rate! Not to mention a foot in the door...

Here's another powerful idea (geeze, I should do this ):

You could even consider making it a longer quiz (say 25 questions), use clickable buttons for the answers, then have them click a button at the end to get their personalized results and free report (to which they would have to give you their email address). For each score level, you could give a brief title...

25 = Super Marketer (if you aren't already making a fortune, you should be)
24 = ....

1 = Yikes! Call me immediately for help!

Would require some good programming, but it could be fun, and give you a good list to work with... my 2 cents. It would certainly be unique!

I hope this helps,

Tim

Tim, Marcia,

You can do that exact thing with this product:
http://shmyl.com/wjgison

Yes, that is an affiliate link, but if you think it's a useful product then would it be ok if I earned a couple of dollars for introducing you to it?

It does everything that Tim suggests and you also get to avoid the programming side of things.

Jane

Jane,

Is there a way for you to edit out your answers to the questions in the previous post? You just violated a cardinal rule of reviewing - don't reveal the "ending" for people who haven't seen the movie or read the book or taken the quiz yet!

Thanks,
Marcia Yudkin

Jane,

Thanks! Great tip.

I'd be happy to use your link if I need to do such a thing.

I think a fun, interactive quiz can be really powerful, and obviously Marcia knows this. I'm glad she indirectly reminded me of this, it can work with almost any topic.

Tim

I hope Jane won't be mad at me for this, but a lot of the products offered for money are available for free on this script site:

http://php.resourceindex.com/

Inputting data, then outputting it to an email and comparing the results is an easy task which is available for free, just as many other scripts (for split testing, autoresponders, all kinds of popup-techniques, etc)

Just a minute of googling gives you all the technology you need to do whatever you wish with your website. As long as it's open-source, it's perfectly legal and ok to use.

My 2 cents

Marcia,

Oops - sorry! Fixed now ....

Erik,

No, not mad at all - I'm always interested in other options.

Shortly after I found the quiz product I also found a lot of free scripts as well. What I seem to recall, however, is that the free scripts were not as flexible, and didn't give instant feedback to the user. The thing about an interactive quiz is not to get the answers emailed to you, but to give the user instant feedback. I think that is the appeal of it - people like to interact and test themselves. That particular product is able to provide a response to the user dependent on their score, which can be used as a marketing tool e.g. you didn't score very highly, so you need some help (from me!). Also, you can set it up so that they have to give you their email address, so that you can do further follow up with them.

I'm not mad keen on paying a monthly subscription either (if I could get it free), but I have to ask myself if it's worth my time to write all the html myself, and not have the flexibility that this service offers.

Thanks for the url - I'll go and check it out now to see if there's anything of interest.

Jane