My new product www.keywordfunnel.com

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#1

I have just launched my new product for Adwords advertisers:
http://www.keywordfunnel.com
It is a commercial quality version of a rag-tag collection of tools I created for my own use.

I wanted to get it out there ASAP, so I could start getting feedback. So I have tried to follow my own advice and resist the foul urge to do too much gold-plating. Consequently the website is fairly minimalist at present. The software itself is well tested and robust though.

I would be very interested in any feedback.
-Do you understand what it does?
-Does it address a real pain point for you?
-Does the video + website look ok?
-Does the software download and install ok?
-Any issues/problems?

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I'm looking for your feedback
#2

Hey Andy,

Here’s my mind dump. No sugar coating for you, I’m afraid.

  • Website and video seem to generally work

  • Video is too long, and boring as all heck. It sits on one image for a long time. You speak clearly and slowly, that’s good. But move the tutorial bits of it to another video.

  • “start your free trial” made me think SaaS. “Download your free trial” instead?

  • DMG folder is a bit too small to see everything without scrolling, on my MBP. See image.

  • I’m currently using a sketchy Internet connection and having trouble with seeing all the video. Why are you self-hosting this? YouTube or Wistia is much better for hosting videos.

  • The app UI seems like it was created by a programmer. I think there is a lot of room for selective disclosure, smart presets, etc.

  • No, it doesn’t address a pain point for me - at this stage. I don’t use AdWords.

  • On a retina MBP running Mavericks, the text in the app appears unsharp. It doesn’t look good. You might be able to fix this simply by adding this to the app’s Info.plist:

    <key>NSHighResolutionCapable</key>
    <string>true</string>

Hope this helps…and btw: congrats on getting a new product out there!

#3

It wasn’t clear from the first minute on site. I couldn’t figure out if it is an analogue to LongTail, or something else.

After watching the video (without sound, btw – this is how I watch videos) I realized this is a tool for generating a long-tail list of keywords. Right? If so, you should place this statement somewhere on top. I feel the video takes too large a portion of the top of the screen.

I’m not selling anything online (yet?) so I cannot tell if solves a real pain (though it looks so). Did not download for that reason, too.

#4

Ever since @ian and @andrey mentioned your tool on their podcast ive been looking foward to seeing what it actually is.

I saw your video last week after you mailed out the teaser and I thought the product was great if you use adwords a lot. So I think you should do very well!

As you said you got the website out quick and probably already thought of the following. But just in case heres my two pennies.

  1. Open with a more compelling headline.

I really like the idea of buying cheaper adwords but with better ctr (and conversions presumably) and in a fraction of the time - albeit lower impressions.

Although the product helps you scale your adwords quickly, i find the idea of discovering these cheaper keywords more compelling. Thats just me though.

  1. Move the video down or to the side

Give more space for introductory copy. I think an explanatory paragraph is needed. Who, what, why etc.

  1. Replace the current video for a shorter quick tour
    One for AB Test but a 7 minute video might make people think “cant be bothered” and leave. I think the current video is best suited for a “Features” page.

  2. Replace the videos screenshot. Currently the video, unplayed, displays “Keyword Funnel”. That’s a lot of real estate being used up. Why not replace it with a more useful copy like “how keyword funnel doubles your …”. that way you get more clicks and copy that shows a benefit.

  3. This is for the future - it seems you need to educate the visitors a little bit about why longtail adwords are so good (cheaper and higher conversion rate). Instead of trying to do it all in one session through copy or a video, how about a multi part email course on “unlocking your lucrative long tail”? That way you can extend the relationship and they may come back to buy.

#5

None expected. ;0)

Website and video seem to generally work
Video is too long, and boring as all heck. It sits on one image for a long time. You speak clearly and slowly, that’s good. But move the tutorial bits of it to another video.

That feedback is coming through very clearly from various places. I knew the video was too long, but I just wanted to get something out there.

“start your free trial” made me think SaaS. “Download your free trial” instead?

OK.

DMG folder is a bit too small to see everything without scrolling, on my MBP. See image.

It seems to vary depending on the machine. not sure why. I’ll put it on the list to investigate.

I’m currently using a sketchy Internet connection and having trouble with seeing all the video. Why are you self-hosting this? YouTube or Wistia is much better for hosting videos.

I will probably switch it to my screencast.com account.

The app UI seems like it was created by a programmer. I think there is a lot of room for selective disclosure, smart presets, etc.

I wanted to get something out there, rather than spend months polishing it.

On a retina MBP running Mavericks, the text in the app appears unsharp. It doesn’t look good. You might be able to fix this simply by adding this to the app’s Info.plist:
<key>NSHighResolutionCapable</key><string>true</string>

It is an issue with Qt 4. Making the change you sugget causes weird button sizing issues. I can fix it by moving to Qt 5. Perhaps for the next release.

Hope this helps…

Yes! Thank you.

and btw: congrats on getting a new product out there!

Thanks. It is pretty exhausting, especially when you have another product.

#6

‘LongTail’. Is that a another product?

After watching the video (without sound, btw – this is how I watch videos) I realized this is a tool for generating a long-tail list of keywords. Right?

Yes.

If so, you should place this statement somewhere on top.

Yes, the text needs to be clearer.

I feel the video takes too large a portion of the top of the screen.

I agree.

I’m not selling anything online (yet?) so I cannot tell if solves a real pain (though it looks so). Did not download for that reason, too.

Thanks for the feedback!

#7

That all makes sense.

  1. Replace the videos screenshot. Currently the video, unplayed, displays “Keyword Funnel”. That’s a lot of real estate being used up. Why not replace it with a more useful copy like “how keyword funnel doubles your …”. that way you get more clicks and copy that shows a benefit.

I agree. But I don’t think I can make any honest claims about doubling anything, yet. Hopefully I can think of some compelling copy without making up numbers.

  1. This is for the future - it seems you need to educate the visitors a little bit about why longtail adwords are so good (cheaper and higher conversion rate). Instead of trying to do it all in one session through copy or a video, how about a multi part email course on “unlocking your lucrative long tail”? That way you can extend the relationship and they may come back to buy.

An email course or PDF is something I am considering.

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

#8

I had a quick look and realized that I am not part of the target market: no Linux version.

#9

I could port it to Linux. But I can’t imagine it would be worth my while financially.

#10

Yeah, I would not imagine so unless it gets really big. Why not a SaaS setup, out of curiosity?

#11

Partly becuase I could develop much faster as a desktop product. But also I couldn’t really see any advantage to it being web based.

  • They would need to log in every time.
  • There can be thousands of phrases, why move that backwards and forwards if you don’t need to?
  • The auto calculation of groups is quite processor intensive. Why not do that on the local machine?

For more on this see:

1 Like
#12

I have reworked the home page based on the helpful feedback I received here and elsewhere:

http://www.keywordfunnel.com/index.html (don’t forget to refresh)

There is still plenty more work to on the site. Hopefully it is an improvement though. What do think?

#13

Ouch, the name is HitTail, of course.

#14

Much, much better. It’s clear what you are selling now. I havent seen the video because Im at work, so cant comment on that.

Only one tiny suggestion- the site could be made a bit more slick. That might be as simple as buying a good Bootstrap theme. But I’m not a designer, so take my advice with a pinch of salt.

#15

I know about http://www.hittail.com . It also targets long tail keywords, but for SEO. It is a very different product. Output from hittail would probably be a useful input into Keyword Funnel.

#16

I see. Wasn’t clear immediately, too.

May be then you should consider to cross-promote KF to HitTail users and other way around? Integrate them somehow? HitTail is an established product with a sizable user base, which you may take advantage of.

#17

Possibly. But as Keyword Funnel is so new, there is a lot less in it for the owner of hittail (Rob Walling).

#18

Actually … there is a Long Tail product which I thought your were refering to: http://www.longtailpro.com/
@Andy how your product compare to LongTailPro and Market Samurai? (http://www.noblesamurai.com/)

#19

Watching the LongTailPro video, it looks very different in approach.

Keyword Funnel doesn’t have a built in database. You paste in potential keywords from from various sources e.g. analytics, adwords search reports, webmaster tools, the built in keyword multiplier etc and it helps you filter and group the keywords and then upload them straight into AdWords. LongTailPro could be used as a source of keywords for Keyword Funnel.

Keyword Funnel is also much cheaper!

I could find out anything much about Market Samurai without signing up (ick).

#20

Hi @Andy
I am a SEO newbie and that is why I think I still do not understand your product’s positioning relative to other solutions in the field (Long Tail Pro, HitTail, etc). I downloaded Keyword Funnel to understand it better and maybe help you more (if I can).

I am trying to use it and have some questions on how does it work. I don’t want to share this here… What is the best way to reach you and discuss the usage of KeywordFunnel? E-mail? My email is fredguth (at) fredguth (dot) com.

Another thing… I listened to you in the bootrapped.fm podcast and discovered that you have an operations research background. I had a consulting software company in this area (not an operations research guy myself, though). We tried many times, but never succeeded in developing a product as you did.

I was wondering… in your second product, why didn’t you looked for another optimisation problem? (or maybe I am wrong and keyword funnel is an optmisation problem and I didn’t notice).

About Market Samurai, you can see it in action in one of Pat Flynn’s videos: http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/webinar-replay-100623/