Could Paypal be putting off my customers?

[spidersites]

Hi
I run website
www imagemapeditor net
where I offer free image map editor and I sell the software that runs the site for money,
I have been getting interest in people buying as I know when they have clicked on a buy link. However when faced with a papal buy now button, they dont go any further.
Could paypal be putting off the customers? If so whats a good alternative?
Thanks

 

[fisicx]

Does anybody still use image maps? I thought they dissapeared with the ark along with image slicing.

Paypay may be causing the problems but the truly awful interface on your site may be the bigger issue.

 

[spidersites]

Does anybody still use image maps? I thought they dissapeared with the ark along with image slicing.

Paypay may be causing the problems but the truly awful interface on your site may be the bigger issue.

I get over 100 visitors a day. So yes people are still interested in image maps. Whats the alternative? - i can easily convert the code produced to something else.

I welcome any positive comments or ideas by which i can improve the site.

 

[purecreative]

There are other techniques besides image maps which may be useful which you could convert your code for.

I have made use of absolute positioned links for things like maps and overlays where image maps would have once been used.

 

[fisicx]

Good old HTML and CSS - floats and divs. Easy peasy, fully indexable and flexible. Images maps are invisible to the search engines, not usable or accessible and a pain in the bum to update.

Positioning is just as bad as it relies totally on the visitor having exactly the same browser/screen configuration as you.

If you would like a review of your site then sign up for full membership and you get access to the required forum.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

Hi
I run website
www imagemapeditor net
where I offer free image map editor and I sell the software that runs the site for money,
I have been getting interest in people buying as I know when they have clicked on a buy link. However when faced with a papal buy now button, they dont go any further.
Could paypal be putting off the customers? If so whats a good alternative?
Thanks

You mean on the 'buyeditor' page?

People aren't really clicking on a 'buy' link. They're just clicking on a page which shows more information about it. This page also happens to include the prices of what you're selling, which are probably putting people off a lot more than the Paypal buttons. If they don't think it's worth it, they won't buy it.

I also have no idea what you're selling. If you're offering a free image map, why are you selling the software? Are you selling it as a business opportunity? It doesn't explain this to the visitor.

Where are the visitors coming from? Do you have any direct visitors on the website looking to buy software like this? Or are the visitors to the 'buyeditor' page just made up of people who came for a free image map?

 

[spidersites]

Good old HTML and CSS - floats and divs. Easy peasy, fully indexable and flexible. Images maps are invisible to the search engines, not usable or accessible and a pain in the bum to update.

Positioning is just as bad as it relies totally on the visitor having exactly the same browser/screen configuration as you.

If you would like a review of your site then sign up for full membership and you get access to the required forum.

Do you mean overlapping an invisible divs over the image? - so when user clicks on divs they go though to link?

 

[ooh]

Does anybody still use image maps? I thought they dissapeared with the ark along with image slicing.

It's image slicing that's out; many HTTP requests is their problem -- much more efficient to have one large image than multiple smaller ones.

Could paypal be putting off the customers?

I think you need to step back a bit. Maybe it's not the method of charging that's the problem. Maybe it's the fact you're charging at all? Maybe no one has any intention of paying money for such a thing. Maybe nobody knows (or cares really?) what you're offering especially if it costs them money. I just don't think there's a market out there for an image mapping piece of software (could be wrong but that's my guess). If that's not what you're selling, or if what you're selling is super duper image mapping piece of software (which I suspect to be unlikely from the general look of your site at the moment) why not point out, preferably in a clear and imaginitive way thus communicating it loudly and memorably, what's so super duper about what you're offering.

Aren't there a million free image mapping software options out there, and weren't they out there ten years ago?

 

[purecreative]

I could understand absolute positioning causing problems with different monitor resolutions if you don't have any relative containers but this is easily solved by adding them - then the link or div you absolutely position is based upon the relative position of the container rather than the monitor.

There are lots of semantic indexable alternatives to using image maps, which you could look at converting your software to.

 

[spidersites]

You mean on the 'buyeditor' page?

People aren't really clicking on a 'buy' link. They're just clicking on a page which shows more information about it. This page also happens to include the prices of what you're selling, which are probably putting people off a lot more than the Paypal buttons. If they don't think it's worth it, they won't buy it.

I also have no idea what you're selling. If you're offering a free image map, why are you selling the software? Are you selling it as a business opportunity? It doesn't explain this to the visitor.

Where are the visitors coming from? Do you have any direct visitors on the website looking to buy software like this? Or are the visitors to the 'buyeditor' page just made up of people who came for a free image map?

I used to have links from the buyeitor page for people to buy. People knew the prices and were clicking on the buy link (at different pricing levels - even $500 mark). However they were then not clicking on the buy now button. So i moved all the buy now buttons to the buy page. People know what they are buying and the cost and were still showing an interest in buying. I can only assume that the paypal is putting then off. If I didnt think that people were interested in buying wouldnt have gone to the trouble of offering it for sale (i did market research on the site first).


If selling the code for the site so that other developers can get a head start, and I can customise code for them into whatever website they want.

In answer to your final question. The traffic comes from people who want to create an image map for free. However these customers have expressed an interest in buying the software.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

I used to have links from the buyeitor page for people to buy. People knew the prices and were clicking on the buy link (at different pricing levels - even $500 mark). However they were then not clicking on the buy now button. So i moved all the buy now buttons to the buy page. People know what they are buying and the cost and were still showing an interest in buying. I can only assume that the paypal is putting then off. If I didnt think that people were interested in buying wouldnt have gone to the trouble of offering it for sale (i did market research on the site first).

How many people were clicking on the buy links exactly? Don't just rely on this statistic alone to assume things. A lot of people will click the pages for more information and out of curiosity - nothing more.

If anything, the Paypal button will actually help you as you're offering a well known, secure and stable method of payment. If you had a standard checkout on a free site generated at 'UKfreepages', then I think everyone would run a mile.

In answer to your final question. The traffic comes from people who want to create an image map for free. However these customers have expressed an interest in buying the software.

How do you know they've expressed an interest? How do you know that a large percentage of thousands of visitors you eventually get through the site will express an interest in buying the software? Making a one-off free image map and buying the software to offer imagemaps to others are two very different fields.

To sell this at a decent rate, you need visitors heading directly to the buy page which have a sole purpose of buying software just like yours.

 

[spidersites]

To sell this at a decent rate, you need visitors heading directly to the buy page which have a sole purpose of buying software just like yours.

Your probably right: will look into this thanks

 

[fisicx]

Do you mean overlapping an invisible divs over the image? - so when user clicks on divs they go though to link?

No. I mean using logically structured pages when the divs float next to each other. The div then contains the image and link if required. Better still, an image and caption which the SE can then index.

Don't need mapping, don't need slices, don't need positioning. Just simple floats.

BTW, listen to Scott, he knows his stuff.