Ravi, Not I understand what you meant by USP. OK, here's my thinking:
1. Food is integral to your health. Your body's pretty good at taking care of itself, IF it has the raw materials it needs. The raw materials are found in food. 2. Herbs (and spices) are food. Much of what the body needs can be found in herbs. 3. Healthy eating is important, I'd even say essential. But it's hard to target specifics with an overall diet. Herbs make it easy to get specific nutrients, and to target specific problems. 4. Tea is the best way to take herbs internally (I plan to go into the pros and cons in the upcoming FAQ). Topically, one can use teas, creams, lotions, poultices, baths, soaps, etc. I plan on adding all of these to my site, but for now I'm limiting my focus. 5. Herbs, when taken for one's health, should be given the same respect as medicines. Know what you're taking, why, and how much you should take. Be aware of any unpleasant side effects, if an herb is not recommended for a disease or condition you have, and if there are any interactions with medication you're on. Work with a doctor. 6. Green Fire Herbs wants it's customers to make educated decisions, decisions that would improve their health, and in the words of the medical oath, do no harm. So we'll be focusing on education as well as on selling. We'll be providing information of common herbs found in the home, knowing that might lose us sales, but hoping that will increase the trust factor (of source, we'll also be selling organic versions of these same herbs). We'll also be providing information on common foods that can help with specific problems. 7. We'll be offering blends that take contra-indications into account, offering safe blends for everyone. For example, there's a feverfew free blend on the Allergy tea page. 8. We will be keeping up with the research being done with herbs, passing that information on and integrating it into our tea blends. 9. We only use herbs that have been responsibly harvested whether farmed or wild crafted. Most of what we sell is organically grown (and certified as such). So the answer to why you should buy from me is trust. You don't have to be an expert to trust my products, or my recommended blends. I'm going to focus on determining what does actually work, and not on selling something that doesn't. I don't want you to waste your money, I want you to see real benefits from the products you buy from me. If you can get some benefit from something you already have at home, I'll tell you about it. I'll keep you as informed as I can. What do you think? Diane -----Original Message----- From: Ravi Jayagopal [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2003 8:47 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [wdvltalk] Re: Missing USP - Re: Site Check Please Hi Scott, Sorry for the cryptic message :-) By USP, I meant "Unique Selling Proposition". I mean, I know of thousands of sites where teas and herbal stuff sells. But why should I buy from you? That's the #1 question every commercial site has to answer before they worry too much about colors and fonts. Great marketing copy, a highly usable site - not necessarily the best looking - can sell even a crappy product (for the first time - I'm not even going into chargebacks and complaints, and bad pr). Just the fact that you CAN sell the average quality product if you know how to "TALK" to your visitors, and if you can give them a strong reason why they are better off buying from YOU than anybody else. Just my $0.02 Regards, Ravi PS: Please feel free to email me comments about the copy and design of my web site below: http://WebmasterInABox.net At 08:34 AM 6/26/03 -0700, you wrote: >Although I don't know what a USP is (encryption of some sort?), I was >going to mention much of what Ravi layed out. Also, my personal >preferences for fonts is quite different -- I like a lot more contrast. >The centered paragraphs clutter up the page (in my eyes). > >Finally, adding another color might give it a more "well thought out" look >(okay, I watch too much HGTV) -- something to match your new logo and draw >your eyes to what you're emphasizing. > >Cool site overall -- I'll bookmark it for future reference since I enjoy >reading about herbs. > >Scott > >Ravi Jayagopal wrote: > >>Hi Diane, >> >>These are my observations: >> >>1. It's a new site - so its OK for now. Eventually, you'll need more copy >>on the home page. >> >>2. The buttons to the left are a tad too ...er.. huge for my liking :-) >> >>3. The colors are pretty nice. >> >>4. The logo is ugly. Can't really make out what the heck it is. Had to >>strain my eyes. >>Get a better picture, or dump this one. Doesn't really add any value to >>your site. >> >>5. Better not give out naked email links on your site. You're setting >>yourself for spam bots and several thousands of spam mails over the next >>few years. On one of my domains, I got so much that I had to eventually >>shut down my mail servers! >> >>6. You need a strong USP, if you want to make money from this site. >> >>I know you may get to it eventually, but you've got to work on it right >>from the beginning. USP's cannot be an afterthought. >> >>7. I use ClickBank.com and 2Checkout.com to accept payments on my site. >>Clickbank even has it's own affiliate program - works good for me - >>because I now have hundreds of affiliates promoting my site. >> >>That's about it I guess. >> >>Good luck! >> >>Regards, >> >>Ravi >>Founder & Software Architect >>http://WebmasterInABox.net >> >> >> >>At 10:06 AM 6/26/03 -0400, you wrote: >> >>>This site is still very much in the works. The shopping cart is not yet >>>done (as I'm waiting now three business days for the USP support response >>>that was promised the next business day), and I'm only accepting PayPal as >>>payment for the moment (any other ideas would be welcome, though I'll need >>>to see some activity with this site before I can justify a merchant >>>account). But I would like some feedback on the design, navigation, >>>concept, etc. The menu along the top will be expanded, and the menus down >>>the side will reflect which section of the site you're in. >>>OK, here goes: www.GreenFireHerbs.com >>>Be gentle, but be honest! >>>Diane >>> >>> >>>____ • The WDVL Discussion List from WDVL.COM • ____ >>>To Join wdvltalk, Send An Email To: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >>>Send Your Posts To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>>To change subscription settings to the wdvltalk digest version: >>>http://wdvl.internet.com/WDVL/Forum/#sub >>> >>>________________ http://www.wdvl.com _______________________ >>> >>>You are currently subscribed to wdvltalk as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>>To unsubscribe send a blank email to %%email.unsub%% >> >> >> >>____ • The WDVL Discussion List from WDVL.COM • ____ >>To Join wdvltalk, Send An Email To: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >>Send Your Posts To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>To change subscription settings to the wdvltalk digest version: >>http://wdvl.internet.com/WDVL/Forum/#sub >> >>________________ http://www.wdvl.com _______________________ >> >>You are currently subscribed to wdvltalk as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>To unsubscribe send a blank email to %%email.unsub%% > > > > >____ • The WDVL Discussion List from WDVL.COM • ____ >To Join wdvltalk, Send An Email To: >mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Send Your Posts To: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >To change subscription settings to the wdvltalk digest version: > http://wdvl.internet.com/WDVL/Forum/#sub > >________________ http://www.wdvl.com _______________________ > >You are currently subscribed to wdvltalk as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To unsubscribe send a blank email to %%email.unsub%% > ____ • The WDVL Discussion List from WDVL.COM • ____ To Join wdvltalk, Send An Email To: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Send Your Posts To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change subscription settings to the wdvltalk digest version: http://wdvl.internet.com/WDVL/Forum/#sub ________________ http://www.wdvl.com _______________________ You are currently subscribed to wdvltalk as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to %%email.unsub%% ____ • The WDVL Discussion List from WDVL.COM • ____ To Join wdvltalk, Send An Email To: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Send Your Posts To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change subscription settings to the wdvltalk digest version: http://wdvl.internet.com/WDVL/Forum/#sub ________________ http://www.wdvl.com _______________________ You are currently subscribed to wdvltalk as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
