# Why not market the site?



## Kacy.H

Hello, mkellogg.

Thanks for creating the site. WR language forums have created tons of value for us language learners. I bought online courses, I went to language schools, but I found I learn the most here and for free! Thanks for changing the way we learn languages!
I've noticed a number of things while using the site. I hope it helps.

*1. Sign Up*
When a guest comes to the forum through google recommendation, you don't even try to ask them to sign up. You just let them go!
Maybe add a pop-up box like this to increase sign ups 







*2. WR Supporters*
There are too many things competing for people's attention on a dictionary page.








You are asking people to click the adds, downloading the app in the app store, using search shortcuts and at the same time becoming a WR supporter. This makes it very hard for people to notice the WR supporter part, especially when those letters are so tiny tiny. I didn't notice 'WR supporter' until very recently. Perhaps, move it to a place where there are less distractions. Use bright colors and bigger fonts. 

Maybe, instead of asking people to pay 20 dollars a year, changing it to a monthly subscription service of 1.9 dollars a month. Give them a discount if they pay 6 or 12 months. Also, never never use round numbers.

Very important, I personally think you haven't given people an irresistible offer to ask them become supporters. Ads don't bother me at all because there are no ads in the forum. Maybe, you can run surveys through private messages to ask people what they want that you haven't given to them but can give to them through paid services.

*3. Dictionaries*
I really love the English synonyms and collocations features, but I only started using them very recently because I didn't know they exist. And people have habits. If they are used to using thesaurus.com to look for synonyms, it's hard to break that habit. You have to educate your users, tell them how amazing your dictionaries are. Maybe creating animated videos to show people how WR synonym and collocation dictionaries can help them improve their language skills. 

WR languages forums can change people's lives especially for those who can't afford a native speaker as their private tutor.  
Jay Abraham said, “If you truly believe that what you have is useful and valuable to your clients, then you have a moral obligation to try to serve them in every way possible.” So, please market WR hard.

All the best


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## S.V.

Oh, instead of red, it could be a soothing blue_~~~_


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## Kacy.H

You created this banner? It's cute!


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## S.V.

Haha, cute...   What translation would you like in Chinese? So we can make it two banner prototypes hah.


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## Kacy.H

I really don't know. I've never seen any good copywriting in Chinese.


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## elroy

Kacy.H said:


> I've never seen any good copywriting in Chinese.


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## Kacy.H

elroy said:


>


I'm an honest person.


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## mkellogg

Hi Kacy, thanks for the recommendations.  

WordReference already does fairly well for itself. Hundreds of millions of people visit the site every year.  We get very few visitors from China, but we do better in other parts of the world. I think the trick, as you say, is to do a better job of showing visitors all that the website has to offer in an uncluttered way.



Kacy.H said:


> paid services


We have some, but the main idea of WordReference is to have everything free for everybody to reach as many people as possible.


Kacy.H said:


> I really love the English synonyms and collocations features


Thanks. I am especially proud of our collocations.


Kacy.H said:


> please market WR hard


The problem of making everything free and relying on advertising for income is that paying for marketing (by buying ads) doesn't work so well. Spending $100 on ads doesn't normally get me $200 in revenue.  Whatever the case, we already have many millions of visitors that we can hope that they decide to stay.

I will definitely think about encouraging visitors to join the forums. Having more threads and participation is always good.

Mike


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## S.V.

Oh, I was also only thinking about a banner_ inside WR_, when I made it. Instead of a red pop-up. Too aggressive, haha.

Maybe right away, as soon as someone lands here, they should know "here are real answers by natives" "here you can ask natives!" Information along those lines in a banner. For people who might not know. If it seems a lot of our friends come from Google. 

The one I made is devoid of any information. I do wonder what would be the best way. It would be great if it didn't even look like an ad.

Saludos a todos, espero que estén bien


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## Peterdg

S.V. said:


> they should know "here are real answers by natives" "here you can ask natives!"


I don't count anymore?  

Better would be: "here are answers by people who (sometimes) know what they are talking about"  

As you may have guessed, I'm not the biggest fan of this kind of banners.


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## S.V.

Haha, Peter... Throughout my life, only a few people have helped me as much as you, sir.  Sincere smile. Sincere words.

I also believe you are right on this account. The main reason I even played with making a banner... I think it's a bit sad, when I see only a few people are logged on. I think it likely started around the time search engines added definitions at the top. And the time WR started being pushed off the first page.

But "traffic" is still good, so maybe a nudge can make a difference. Even if it was a simple change like in the image.





Though it's also a bit sad, how much of the internet revolves around hoping people click something once, before they leave.


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## elroy

Kacy.H said:


>


 I think "in just SECONDS" would be false advertising.


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## Kacy.H

elroy said:


> I think "in just SECONDS" would be false advertising.


Haha, indeed.



S.V. said:


> I think it's a bit sad, when I see only a few people are logged on.


I noticed this too. A ton of visitors, but not so many logged in.



S.V. said:


> I think it likely started around the time search engines added definitions at the top. And the time WR started being pushed off the first page.


What does this mean?



mkellogg said:


> I will definitely think about encouraging visitors to join the forums.


Hello, Mike. I'm really glad you read me thread. I just want to let you know one more thought. Have you noticed the threads Google recommends are almost always from a decade ago? I think this may be a big reason why visitors don't sign up. They just don't know whether or not the forum is still active. At least this is true for me. I've never signed up any language forum Google takes me to. Those posts are so old. God knows if there are still people there.   

*Sign up to Join 700 thousand ACTIVE users and have your questions answered by NATIVE speakers for free!*

Thanks for reading my post!


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## S.V.

Kacy.H said:


> What does this mean?


Ah, for example, when you search "stagnancy meaning" & Google or Bing give the definition at the top.


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