Abby Winters is run by some smart people. They’ve worked out it’s easier to sell adult entertainment if you preserve the illusion the performers work for fun and not money. At this years AVN they got more attention with women in white panties making out than most companies did coordinating lines of fans desperate to meet a bored porn-star. They have a story (everything’s shot by women) which plays to the semi-true assumption most guys on porn sets are creeps.
That said, their new site design is fantastically horrible.
I’ve designed big adult websites myself and what Abby Winters have put in place hasn’t been state-of-the-art for almost a decade. Here’s why:
5. Good design is about how it works, not how it looks
When talking about design it’s easy to get distracted by colors, rounded corners, typefaces and buttons. A web design is working when it’s transparent. I.e. you notice it less than the material it’s tying to promote.
When you look at a webpage and your first impression is its color and the second is ‘which of this stuff is clickable and what’s just decoration?’ there’s something seriously wrong.
4. ‘Free Tour’ is a pointless cliche
Everyone knows ‘Free Tour’ is a mealy-mouthed way of saying ‘sales pitch’ and it’s not going to prompt contented grunting from anyone visiting your site. The prospect of going on a ‘tour’ which consists of five pages of old photos covered in ‘Join Now’ links besides breathless exhortations to open your wallet is not alluring. Think like a user and stop it. Now.
3. No-one cares about adult industry awards
However proud you are of the industry awards you’ve received, anything less than an Oscar (including a Palm d’Or) means nothing to most users. If you want to show people you’re legitimate quote good reviews from blogs and websites people can visit. Most people have no knowledge of the Australian Adult Industry awards and are wise enough not to care.
2. Static pages only work once
In 2008 when blogs and database driven sites are less exotic than Hilary Clinton’s family tree, Abby Winters is running static pages to greet visitors. Why? Once you’ve seen and rejected them there’s no reason to return. With no RSS feed delivering new content it’s not even worth bookmarking the page.
1. Show, don’t tell
Making a site devoted to selling content is a lot harder than just showing people what you’re trying to sell and letting them decide to buy it. When you have an affiliate program which gives away masses of freebies to anyone who can be bothered to fill in a form there’s really no reason to hold back. Where’s the beef Abby? (and I know you don’t shoot guys).