Increasing Homepage Conversion

[Xavier]

Game homepage is like a business card or an ad in the newspaper of a product someone is looking for. What would you do to maximize conversion rate (number of new registered users / number of unique new visits)?

1. What works and what doesn't?
2. Kickass descriptions?
3. More in-game screenshots?
4. Playable demo without registration?
5. Does the homepage look and feel matter at all?

Feel free to share your past experience and new ideas.

[Harkins]

Google Analytics has a decent A/B tester you can use to figure out what will work for your game.

[Chris]

I would say a gorgeous picture and SEO friendly text.
Oh yes, and don't forget the login box for already registered players. Some games, even big ones, forget this

[Xavier]

Harkins I know how to track homepage performance but it wasn't what I asked for.

Thanks Chris! I noticed that the login box on the homepage is convenient for returning player and a big in-the-face registration button also plays a role. I don't see a point in SEO text, maybe you can elaborate on this a little. What keywords? Does SEO make any difference for PBBG titles?

I asked around and found out that many players decide from a look of the homepage if they'll play it or not. Preferably it should have attractive logo or graphics, in-game screenshots and short yet descriptive snippet focused more on the gameplay than on the theme.

Any other brainstormers wanna share their ideas?

[jannesiera]

I think you summed it up. Login box, in the face registration button, clean and decent layout, screenshots and good description about what the game really is.

Besides these things it can depend on the game / genre / company how the homepage looks.

I don't agree with Chris' simplicity, but that's because I wouldn't play the games he makes. It works for him because you know what sort of game you get (kinda old fashioned text without a lot of graphics etc). That doesn't make me register, but I'm not the one who he wants to be registered, since I wouldn't play it.

Basically the homepage should give a little bit the feeling as if you are already in the game. So you know what to expect. If you have a simple game, have a simple homepage. If you have a very complicated game with a lot of graphics, have a complicated homepage with a lot of graphics.

You don't want people to register and find out that the game isn't what they expected at all.

[Chris]

I don't agree with Chris' simplicity, but that's because I wouldn't play the games he makes. It works for him because you know what sort of game you get (kinda old fashioned text without a lot of graphics etc). That doesn't make me register, but I'm not the one who he wants to be registered, since I wouldn't play it.

I agree, you can listen to my theories, but do not follow my example. My homepages sux

I asked around and found out that many players decide from a look of the homepage if they'll play it or not.

Confirmed.
Note there are also some/many players who will play regardless of the homepage and there is always a certain (rather small) percentage of players who prefer very unusual/ugly/surprising things (in one of my games I have players asking to NOT put gfx because they play from office )

Purposes of homepage:
- make the old players login
- make new players register
- let you appear high on search engines (SEO)
- let people contact you for business purposes
- a place to put all these link exchanges, votebuttons, etc (optional)

Typical rules:
- the banner should be compatible with homepage (no feeling of disconnection)
- the game don't have to be compatible with homepage (and usually it is not, since people frequently have budget for homepage gfx only )


For SEO details search the forum, I don't think it is specific to homepage, just general SEO rules.

[jannesiera]

- the game don't have to be compatible with homepage (and usually it is not, since people frequently have budget for homepage gfx only )

In my opinion this is not the way to go. It feels like they are lying to their audience, and it would be sad if this was common practise. They could spend their money for better things than homepage gfx, that's no excuse.

The game should be compatible with the homepage.

[Nox]

Well... I think the players that do decide according to the homepage are players that didn't heard much about your game.
If their friends play, if they hear (from trustworthy sources) that it's good, that I think they will join regardless ... but that's not a reason not to care about homepage

I also think homepage should at least in some measure resemble the game...so the player gets the feeling of the way.

I'd go for all what Xavier said in his first post... in ratio according to game. I wouldn't do texts really kickass, I think people don't like "ad" texts anyways, I'd have 1 text to let the player feel the atmosphere and story and 1 for the description, at least in some measure honest, what the are the good things in the game.
Maybe screenshots are not that needed if you allow the demo account.


Eemm...just hit me -> look at the software games' homepages, most of them try a lot to radiate the feeling of the game. Say Blizzard games for instance, say Diablo 3, but in generaly, most of them. Often using advantages of flash to give even more fealing, even though I'm not a fan of fully flashed sites, in their cases are used well (not fully to note; except for the menu, imho bad idea).

[Xavier]

Thank you all for your replies.

I agree with Nox here. Players that are new to your game are those who will judge it by its cover. Returning players and friends of already active gamers usually don't give a damn. They know the game is good and they'll stick around.

That's a good point (jannesiera) about having a homepage that somehow resembles the rest of your game look and feel. So no player feels tricked when after registering on very well prepared homepage they see a crappy game interface.

What do you think about preparing some tutorials, perhaps with pictures so new players don't feel lost and on their own. I also think that a homepage should somehow indicate that the game is active and that developers care for it and implement patches from time to time.

One more idea. Some people play from work. Do you think that offering them a no-gfx interface option that looks more on the desktop like an open document than like a regular game would do the trick and attract more of them?

[Nox]

Tutorials for sure, though I'm not sure they're necessary so much'n'immediately so they have to be on homepage (link of course why not)
I'd also separate tutorial into more parts, for example - quick guide (as simple and short as possible), advanced guide, tips and links, statistics and data (like units stats etc.), but that's probably for separate topic

Ad "no-gfx"
Well...there's option just to disable displaying images (and generaly webpage should be readable with disabled images), although some people might not know that or how,
depends on your game

Other thing I've been thinking about is mobile version of the game - smaller size, smaller images etc. ... I'm not sure how to include into MVC and combined with different languages though ...getting complicated (I'm still getting to know this, combined with OOP). Especially if we would want it to be more condense, that would probably require changes in model, which is probably not a good idea

[Chris]

It all sounds high and mighty, but it is not realistic. I inquired a profesional artists that had a very good picture I liked, he quoted me $1500 per ONE picture On average a decent frontpage layout costs $500. How many of you have budget to spend this level of money to layout the whole game?

Usual options:
- make homepage and game compatible, which means both sux (loss new players)
- make homepage excellent and the game much uglier (some players feel cheated)
- make both homepage and game excellent and then make a huge amount of paid options to offset the initial cost (the player who paid more wins)
Yes, there are possibilities to break from this vicious cycle, but you need to be lucky. If you have another option available to you, I'm jealous

One more idea. Some people play from work. Do you think that offering them a no-gfx interface option that looks more on the desktop like an open document than like a regular game would do the trick and attract more of them?

Sounds not bad, but I don't think it is worth the development time. Maybe if you combine it with mobile version...

[Xavier]

One more idea. Some people play from work. Do you think that offering them a no-gfx interface option that looks more on the desktop like an open document than like a regular game would do the trick and attract more of them?

Sounds not bad, but I don't think it is worth the development time. Maybe if you combine it with mobile version...

As far as I know this solution will require one new column in the db and one additional css file. But of course it's just a bonus not a core requirement.

I'm also curious what did you mean by this: "there are possibilities to break from this vicious cycle, but you need to be lucky". What possibilities have you got in mind?

[jannesiera]

It all sounds high and mighty, but it is not realistic. I inquired a profesional artists that had a very good picture I liked, he quoted me $1500 per ONE picture On average a decent frontpage layout costs $500. How many of you have budget to spend this level of money to layout the whole game?

Well, some quote more than others. I'm pretty sure you can get really decent pictures for a lot less. It can indeed turn out costly, but this one is over the top.

Usual options:
- make homepage and game compatible, which means both sux (loss new players)
- make homepage excellent and the game much uglier (some players feel cheated)
- make both homepage and game excellent and then make a huge amount of paid options to offset the initial cost (the player who paid more wins)
Yes, there are possibilities to break from this vicious cycle, but you need to be lucky. If you have another option available to you, I'm jealous

My version:
- make homepage and game compatible, which means only people who actually want to play your game register
- make homepage excellent and the game much uglier (some players feel cheated + people register but don't play your game = loss for everyone)
- make both homepage and game excellent and then make a huge amount of paid options to offset the initial cost (the player who paid more wins)
- fourth option: make a low cost game with a decent layout (you can do a lot with css!) which doesn't have to be crappy but also doesn't have to be perfect (yet). Build a low but stable revenue and keep improving your game over time. In the end you will be able to afford an awesome and compatible layout if your game deserves it. Balance is the key, luck can come in handy.

Well, something like this. My point is that you're a little bit negative, with some effort you can already make very pretty things. (creating my own blog layout right now, so I know what I'm talking about)

[shoespeak]

I have been interested in the idea of making the homepage immediately part of the game. New players would be taken directly to a sort of "Join the fight!" rah and "Click here to do this" crash tutorial. Returning players would be given game updates, personal news, new form/chat without having to log in. I would not cram much SEO, but maybe familiar keywords or acronyms.

Try to give new people seeing your game for the first time an honest impression of your game. You want to build up trust right away, which means the graphics and general look should match the rest of the game. (Players may not get over the initial disappointment of a nice graphic.OR maybe they would.)

They don't necessarily want or need to be taken immediately into a detailed description of the game setting. Instead, show them what is currently going on in the game world. What are people/agents doing right now? What is the big forum event that everyone is talking about?  Yes, I'm sure you have a great history of the game world and story you want to cram down my throat, but I will get to the details when I am good and ready!

[Chris]

Well, I assumed the whole purpose of homepage is to attaract those who are attracted by cute gfx and never heard about your game, if you have players who don't care or were referred by friends then it does not matter, just put some decent homepage and everything will be fine.

I'm also curious what did you mean by this: "there are possibilities to break from this vicious cycle, but you need to be lucky". What possibilities have you got in mind?

- you might be born with excellent artistic skills yourself
- you might find cheap artist (bear in mind that if you consider $5 per picture cheap and you have 100 items and 100 monsters in the game you need $1000)
- you might marry rich

[jannesiera]

- you might marry rich

Lol xD