Very interesting story, it's nice to see someone targeting an interesting niche like this and talking about it.
However, Clint, have you worked a lot on your signup page? For example the 'Get Started Today!' CTA button ( btn-activatenow_b.png ) has text that looks like it is not aliased. The list of features right above it is a bit hard to notice. The testimonials that are linked as 60x52 pictures aren't obvious that they can be clicked on or that they contain testimonials. Also the logo ( http://faso.com/static/images/logo3.png 0 has different background color than the header (#000 vs #333) so it stands out. The top right 'Sign Up!' ( http://faso.com/static/images/btn-signup-head.png ) has a bad font so the 'i' letter is rendered bad, and it also does not have transparent corners (again #000 vs #333) and so the corners stand out.
I know I'm nitpicking a bit, but I think a website meant for artists should get these things right :)
Thanks, I do need to learn more about button design.
We A/B test that hero section and selling features didn't perform well so we downplayed them. We've had a lot more signups with other ideas more prominent (Like "Sharing Art Enriches Life"). Believe it or not, the current page is the improved one. I never posted on HN before because I knew I get grilled over how bad our old design was. Maybe I'll get it to "good" status soon......
Edit - I see now the button you refer to. My designer had a nice one that was done properly but it had different text. I made this one to A/B test the current wording, and amazingly it outperformed the original by a wide margin. However, you are correct, we need to see if making the text on that button "correct" (with the current wording) improves things even further.
In the "Why professionals should use..." section, the names (i.e — A.G. Blankenship, Artist) should link to the relevant galleries.
Also, you might want to work on better layout for http://faso.com/artist-websites/ and showcasing galleries to drive traffic to your clients (perhaps directly to their art).
It would be great if you could create a feed that presents a random set of images for those people who want beautiful backgrounds for their desktops. An app that presents random art and takes you to the page to buy it with one click would be nice.
Well done so far. Looks like you have a nice mature product. Keep taking it easy - much better to take your time and make the right feature than to hurry and make several poor ones.
However, Clint, have you worked a lot on your signup page? For example the 'Get Started Today!' CTA button ( btn-activatenow_b.png ) has text that looks like it is not aliased. The list of features right above it is a bit hard to notice. The testimonials that are linked as 60x52 pictures aren't obvious that they can be clicked on or that they contain testimonials. Also the logo ( http://faso.com/static/images/logo3.png 0 has different background color than the header (#000 vs #333) so it stands out. The top right 'Sign Up!' ( http://faso.com/static/images/btn-signup-head.png ) has a bad font so the 'i' letter is rendered bad, and it also does not have transparent corners (again #000 vs #333) and so the corners stand out.
I know I'm nitpicking a bit, but I think a website meant for artists should get these things right :)