Homegrown's New Look - comments appreciated and rewarded
 

Homegrown has some cool niche sites and sweet new graphics coming out we feel great about but I would love to get some feedback just so I know I am not just deluding myself.

This is just one of our new tours.

Anyone that wants to comment on this tour, good, bad, or ugly, constructive criticism is appreciated and encouraged, I will be happy to give a pass to check out the member section too to thank you for the feedback. Hit up Dan at homegrownsupport d com if you are interested.

Anyone that wants a legit authentic user submitted age verified video gf type site that uses only exclusive content, nothing scraped should definitely take a look at Homegrown, you might be pleasantly surprised...

Great little lander to land tube traffic man!

Thanks, tests have been great so far - we continue to dial in tubes - went from 1/20000 to 1/1000 but still think we have room for improvement... :winkwink::thumbsup

the pics are a little too colorful for "homemade" - otherwise nice and clean :)

Very slick design Farrell. :thumbsup

Maybe I missed it on the tour page, but I didn't actually see any sample videos/trailers - all of the clips I tried to click on went straight to a join page.

I think it would convert better if you had at least a sample video so that people could get a sense of what they would be paying for, rather than only static images that link to a join page. The "See More Samples" section doesn't actually show any videos either. :2 cents:

The Members entrance page has overlapping text which could be cleaned up, although I am sure most people can figure it out anyway.

ADG

I would not have made all the media outlet logos like CNN, ABC, etc...the same blue. I would have kept their original color to jump out at you.

The first thing I notice is for an "amateur" page, I notice 6 well known female adult entertainers.

I suck at opinions ...

I like it.. wouldn't change a thing, congrats!!

:thumbsup:thumbsup

This ^^^

Also, slick design is one thing but the imagery itself looks too slick IMHO ... I think you're missing the amateur feel with that lander.

Images like these here on HGV proper http://single.homegrownvideo.com/ should work and convert well with that lander design

Unless you've tested one vs the other ... and know better already - try merging the two a little more :2 cents:

I like the new layout and big thumbs, but it looks like a lot of the girls on that tour look too pro and not like the girl next door type.

Looks good, the text at the top looks a little bunched together though.

I like the new tour, but.... and there's always a but....

Why not have the videos open up and play in a little box on the join page?

Nice job, homegrown. It is pretty slick. I feel like I am looking at a brazzers site though. You need at least a few video samples even if they are short clips.
Very colorful. Kinda slick colorful, but colorful is good.

It almost makes me think you need to have a name change or go back to a more homegrown, homemade look. The known pornstars on the front page do not help the case of 'homegrown'. The posed looks start to make it feel pretty fake. I would stick to something that speaks for the name or change the name...Not for the company but the site anyway....

RJ

I agree with both.

The design looks great.. and the pics are even eye catching.. They are justa little too polished for the product IMO:-)

I agree the media station logos should all be colored appropriately.
I would also like to see the flash, wmv, and qt logos colored.

The pictures look very professional, and I agree with the above, too professional.

When I was strictly a surfer I had no idea who or what AVN was, so that space could probably be used better. Look at the size of the AVN awards image, and then look at the size of the text mentioning you have over 6000 exclusive videos. I think it should be the other way around.

I think the "submit" button for the send us your tape should be colored differently to make it stand out and show the surfers that we really want amateur content and we really have pure amateur content.

In the content area I wouldn't mind seeing borders around the photos that were larger and were either colored white like making them look like photographs or thicker and some fun colors. Either way, there definitely should be more color to break up all that pink.

*Edit - Also, some social networking buttons would give it another nice amateur feel to it.

Hope that helps :)

Hey Far-L!
I do like how clean everything is laid out, the color scheme is nice too.
I think it's been said a couple times above, though. The girls in the pics don't look too amateur to me. I wouldn't be concerned about the saturation of color in the pics, though. When I think of homegrown, and amateur, I think there should be equal share given to the MILF and Cougars too.

My 2 cents yea! :)

These are excellent comments! Many thanks to everyone for the feedback.

A couple of things:

1. Completely agree about the mix of our true amateur and pro-amateur stuff, in fact I made the same point to the designer too - however, that was intentional because we are testing those images. Note - in the site we are clear about what is true am and what is pro-am; our audience likes both types of content so for us it is a matter of giving the customers what they want rather than favoring one over the other. Ultimately, we will offer a "pro-am" version, a "true am" one, and a mix of the two just so we can test, test, test.

2. There will be versions that have video samples for sure.

3. The media color point is good, will pass that along

4. The AVN award and 6000 video comment is also helpful, thanks

The funny thing is... if we put up a tour with all "true amateur" stuff then most people will be complaining about the quality being too low, the color being bad, and too much use of video frame grabs (true amateurs don't typically shoot accompanying still sets).

I will get one of those out to show y'all so you can see what I mean.

Anyway, this particular tour is killing it on tube site testing and even though I share many of these same criticisms, the numbers don't have an opinion - just a dollar figure - which at the end of the day is what we are going to base our actions on.

I like it. If conversions reflect it works, then it works!

Thanks! The milf/mature one will be ready in a day or two and I like it a lot since it features many faces you just won't find on any other site since it is mostly "one and done" Saturday night and a six pack style folks that just did it for a hoot and not because they want to be full time porn people. (I know we are both fans of that stuff... :winkwink:)

I'm actually going to try that tip :thumbsup

Great suggestion and a trick we have done on other landing pages but we would put that in "round two" since it just requires more time/energy/expense to get that sort of tour put together.

Keep in mind that this is also outperforming a tour that did have video samples from thumbs and a trial option whereas this is trial free, straight to join, no vid samples.

Counter-intuitive? Absolutely... but the numbers never lie.

The design is perfect. The videos dont look "homegrown" at all!

fuck me that is nice ... congrats, i believe ratios will be nice too!

I just want to echo what others have said...

I love the feel of the tour but the thumbs look a little too professional for it being an amateur site.

I'd stick to what you're known for and not edit the thumbs as much as you did.

Ok... but when I show you what real Homegrown amateurs looks like I don't want to hear anything like "she looks too amateur" or "her pussy is too hairy" or any of those sorts of things that we have had to endure over the years about our REAL amateur stuff.

Trust me, I do know and appreciate the difference.

You want shots that look more like this...

http://homegrownsubmittals.com/wp-co...6464442606.jpg

The people that know amateur will know as well. Those that don't get it are the ones you don't want to listen to.

With amateur I expect the good with the bad and ugly. It's supposed to be a mixed bag.

Thanks, I agree with that entirely. Sometimes you can get lucky and get the best of both worlds...

http://homegrownsubmittals.com/wp-co...ic4tyler02.jpg

The thing about us is we are super honest with our members about what is what, which is which. The feedback we get that makes all the difference for how we buy content is the quality of the interaction. If it is choosing between two gorgeous people that fuck like the are about as interested in each other as wet cardboard vs two average looking folks that are having the time of their lives we will go with the latter every time. Most everyone else just favors looks over action because that is what they believe sells.

But we care more about what RETAINS.

Keep in mind we are listening to fans that have been with us for literally decades, and they do know best!

Hey Far-L. I like the 'tube' look/feel of the tour but agree some should be clickable.
Ahhhh so many memories lol

what he said :thumbsup

We can test that too but my hunch is that will make less of a difference than what images we use to represent the type and volume of content we have...

Just a hunch though... :winkwink:

Also, since most of them are either black or white it isn't like they would necessarily jump out by virtue of color but I do get your point.

Here is one our hairy niche site tours that has a more amateur look and feel - still a combination of amateur and pro-am content though - keep in mind that we constantly test images - especially when it comes to places like tubes each will have its own preference profile so while hairy true amateur might do fantastic from one it is falling flat somewhere else unless it is the more glossy pro-am look predominantly.

Bingo. Hence my pointed reply. Nice job.

:thumbsup

Pleasure chatting with you, I'll let you know more once I've had a chance to look over the tours in more detail.

looks good, couple 'pros' in there.. think the surfer with know?

The header is too crowded imo and the navigation buttons blend in too much. I agree on the logos which should be their original colors. Overall I kind of like it but it needs some work.

Oh and I hate all caps texts. Doesn't make for proper reading.

Can you get me a pass so I can have some creatives made to test it? if yes send it to roald @t freeones.com please!

BTW check your joinpage settings for dutch its not making sense as the day amounts are not showing (€ 0 a day)

A/B test every tour and keep A/B testing them to make them better. Most of GFY would rip your site if they had the chance, so I wouldn't worry too much about what the majority of the people here say.

N.... never
S.... stop
T.... testing

Smart fans that really know and like true amateur and have been there, done that with fake amateurs will know... but let's face the sad truth of the matter...

Take "Bang Bus" for example, I know so many people that think that was real and not staged, and consider it to be "amateur" when it is shot by pros and features many if not mostly talent that will end up doing enough scenes to be "pro" oftentimes before their first BB so called amateur scene has even been up a week.

We know the difference. You know the difference. However, that is because this is our business to know.

For us, considering that we do stuff beyond just the true user submitted amateur thing we have to be up front and honest about it with our members and as I said before they are happy that we treat them with that respect.

When it comes to affiliates and tours though - the most important thing is that it sells, regardless of what it is or how it looks and the only way to determine what works best is to test until our eyes bleed and our pubic hair falls out.

Whoa, what?

You trying to say Bang Bus isn't real?

He is asking for feedback so i asume he is not worried about it at all

Oh and I agree, a/b test it.

What? Me worry?

http://www.leconcombre.com/concpost/...d_e_neuman.jpg

Since we are making a genuine effort to make affiliates happy, that is why I was asking for webmaster feedback. Since most are never going to believe it when you tell them "this has been tested and works over that regardless of what you think about the pictures, color of text, etc." it is handy for us to get affiliate perspectives.

A lot of times, seems to me people just go by a sort of knee jerk reaction to programs rather than really testing and determining what actually sells, then all too often are bummed to get burned once again.