That was the E-Year that was

[Bloodstone Press]

We have sub categories if people want to only see d20 fantasy or paper miniatures (and they see the covers just like on the homepage).

See. I knew it!

 

[Dana_Jorgensen]

This was mentioned twice on this thread (see above post as well) so I have to comment.

Subdividing sites is NOT a good idea. It only fragments the customer base. Just cause you make a new site for d20 rpgs or paper miniatures doesn’t mean people will go there. It takes a lot of time and money to get customers to go to the new domain. Not to mention getting the new site highly ranked on search engines.

RPGMall.com is a perfect example of this. James started this site to sell the POD stuff from rpgnow.com. It only gets a fraction of the traffic of rpgnow.com or rpgshop.com.

Also, this requires people to have multiple logins, unless you share a database, but then you still have issues with session variables when using multiple domains. There’s technical ways around some of these items, it’s not like these sites makes in tons of cash to waste this ideas that won’t really help sales.

In fact, James and I have discussed the opposite; combing his 3 shops into one site so people can buy all the gaming products they want in one spot. Believe it or not, a fair % of the customers who visit rpgshop.com don’t visit rpgnow.com (and vice versa). So combining them would result in more customers to sell PDFs too.

Splitting the site up will only shrink the customer base and result in fewer sales. Customers want more options, not less. We have sub categories if people want to only see d20 fantasy or paper miniatures (and they see the covers just like on the homepage).

Look at amazon.com. Do you see them splitting their various products in sub domains or sites? Nope. It’s all under one domain with one account.

Keep the ideas coming, but this one makes no sense.

The entire problem with RPGnow is the effort to establish front-end driven sales with the splash page. When you hit your example of amazon.com, you don't see thumbnails of the covers of the latest 12 books/cds/electronic device/whatever released. You see only what a brief ad leading to the new releases section, a listing for a major sale, and everything else amounts to a series of RPGnow's Product MOTDs. Even when you get into the latest release section, everything is broken down into lists according to category.

As for combining sites, that is going to make the problems with the existing design even worse. There are a lot of same day releases every month, to the extent that some of the new items on a given day can easily be expected to scroll off the front page before all the new items for that day are activated for sale.

 

[d20Dwarf]

As for combining sites, that is going to make the problems with the existing design even worse.

This is a problem that's affecting all sales on James's sites, I think. Namely, the site looks like a database programmer's idea of Web design. It's just a bunch of lists, with headings that are lost in a sea of text and product thumbnails. It's incredibly hard to navigate, has incomprehensible IA, links that don't make sense....more often than not I end up at a place I don't want to be because of a confusing link placement or information overload. I've always felt this way, and it's one reason I don't use the site much. I've seen some improvements, like the placement of Comments, but it's still atrocious from a user's perspective.

 

[d20Dwarf]

The way you guys are bitching (which sounds EXACTLY like the bitching of print publishers about the "d20 company glut", by the way), you'd think sales are pretty far off the numbers you guys were getting 6 months ago.

So how about it...cough up the numbers so we can compare to the other thread.

 

[maransreth]

I do know that there was talk about a print review magazine for all d20 products, but it was shelved due to costs, etc.

I think a pdf magazine of pdf products would be a great idea! BUT who would run the magazine (publisher, site or independant individual), would it be pay or free, how often would it be available? These would probably have to be ironed out before it could be considered.

Personally I don't think it would work as well as would be expected after a period of time. Why? Lack of time or other more pressing concerns. When a new idea is proposed, a number of people will jump on the bandwagon and claim that they have time. Reviews would be done on time, etc but over time the reviewers would be pressed for time (as happens now on a number of review websites) and find that their review piles are growing.

Don't get me wrong, I think it would be a great idea and hope it would do well, but I think a number of items need to be ironed out beforehand and then a large number of reviewers are needed to ensure that reviews are done on time.

Also publishers might need to release the pdf to the magazine staff BEFORE it went on sale at RPGnow to ensure that when the review was released, people would read it when it was still new and fresh to the community.

Just a few random thoughts.

Duane

 

[malladin]

The way you guys are bitching (which sounds EXACTLY like the bitching of print publishers about the "d20 company glut", by the way), you'd think sales are pretty far off the numbers you guys were getting 6 months ago.

So how about it...cough up the numbers so we can compare to the other thread.

Okay Will, here's some numbers for you. I thought I'd already postsed this, but it seems to have disappeared.

Let's have a look at two very similar products from the Malladin's Gate catalogue. Forgotten Heroes: Paladin was released on 23-Sep-2002, Forgotten Heroes: Sorcerer was released on 21-Jun-2003. Whilst both have a similar content and similar reviews (ENWorld ave: Pal=4.33, Sor=4.50; RPGNow Ave: Pal=4.71, Sor=4.33) they have very different sales for the first two months.

In the first 10 days the sales are similar: Pal=54, Sor=50.

However, over 2 calendar months the differences are staggering: Pal=124, Sor=80. Thats 2/3 the sales for Sorcerer.

It's also worthwile pointing out here that Sorcerers, according to arecent D20Zinerack poll, are more than twice as popular as Paladins (3.35% vs 7.66%) and that the presentation on FH Sorcerer is much better than Paladin, which has absolutely no artwork, not even a front cover! Also, as Paladin was our first product, we did absolutely no marketing for it, whereas for sorcerer we posted messages and press releases, sent out review copies and all sorts of other free advertising.

Cheerio,

Ben

 

[d20Dwarf]

There should be no expectation that RPG Now be responsible for selling your products (in the form of great product placement, i.e. front page listing, or any other). If you are in the business of selling rpg products, then it's time to get down to business and figure out how to sell your own products. There's an interesting parallel discussion taking place on an industry forum right now. It essentially boils down to the fact that unless you have the next big thing, it's ultimately the manufacturer's responsibility to ensure that their product gets in the hands of the consumer.

Y'all are lucky that you don't have to deal with the 3-tier system that print products do...you can essentially go straight to the consumer without a middleman. So then it's just a matter of figuring out how to reach your target audience, and relying on James to put you on the front page of RPG Now is *not* a good marketing plan.

 

[malladin]

...relying on James to put you on the front page of RPG Now is *not* a good marketing plan.

But it once was .

But seriously, this is why we are now discussing this issue.

Cheerio,

Ben

 

[malladin]

There should be no expectation that RPG Now be responsible for selling your products (in the form of great product placement, i.e. front page listing, or any other).

Is not the front page of RPGNow the equivalent of the shelf at your FLGS? Most stores highlight the newest releases in some way.

I can't get hold of Dragon over here in Blighty, so all my shopping is done based on what I find on the shelves of my GS (not friendly and not very local, either).

Cheerio,

Ben

 

[d20Dwarf]

Is not the front page of RPGNow the equivalent of the shelf at your FLGS? Most stores highlight the newest releases in some way.

I can't get hold of Dragon over here in Blighty, so all my shopping is done based on what I find on the shelves of my GS (not friendly and not very local, either).

Cheerio,

Ben

Yeah, new releases at my FLGS get New shelf time for a week. Seems you guys are getting longer, even at the reduced rate.

Also, there is no game company in existence that relies on shelf placement at stores as a marketing campaign.