I've developed this site for new managers who aren't getting the support or training they might need (small organisation, lack of funds etc). It's meant to be a source of expertise information and support for someone who may be struggling, and it focuses mainly on the 'people' aspects of management. I have come to the stage when it needs a new boost, and possibly a redesign.
Feedback from individuals has been good so far, and the newsletter keeps attracting subscribers. The free pages which are fairly comprehensive get viewed - and I have a lot of free members who can access the membership pages. When I started charging for membership, the subscriptions slowed down drastically.
I'm aware of Mindtools and Businessballs as competitors. This site is free of advertisements and the style is different and aimed at the British/European market. It is also more down-to-earth and realistic than some sites or books.
At the moment it's designed for individuals. I would like, longer term, to be able to work with HR/learning managers to tailor it for their organisation. At an earlier stage I wrote "Managing More with Less" for the same kind of reason when I moved from working in a management training institution to working for myself.
The origin of the course was my wish to share what I'd learned as a management trainer/consultant when I gave up fulltime freelance work and moved more into working online in various ways.
Ideas, comments, feedback welcome.
3 Responses
Love the site
Hi
I went to the site and think its a wonderful idea for small AND large organisations. I really hope you manage to successfully relaunch it. You asked for some feedback …
I found the list of options on the left hand side a bit too daunting – perhaps limit it to 6 or 7?
My main comment is that I don’t see a ‘hook’ in the opening page – why should I, as a new manager, be interested in the site? An example of what I mean (taken from the book ‘the first 90 days’) would be:
Your initial actions will have a disproportionate impact on your ultimate success, since early impressions powerfully enlarge or restrict the scope for action.
Hope my comments help.
thanks for the useful comments
This is very helpful. It’s something I kind of knew, but hadn’t really focussed on.
This will get me going – thanks!
Great site
Hi Joanna,
I really like the look of the site, very clean, as you say, free from adverts etc.
I agree with previous post too.
If you are thinking of a re-design and one of your objectives is to sell more subscriptions, maybe you could highlight the benefits of becoming a member. At the moment this is number 5 on your list and it might get a bit lost? A little bit of re-design might help with this.
As you offer so much free information (I can envisage someone who likes the website reading a topic over their morning coffee?) it might be useful to offer a "learning plan"? And this learning plan would of course then progress to the more advanced benefits of membership. So the content you offer for free could be Step 1 in their learning process and then as they progress, they could buy membership? This is just an idea that came to mind – an answer to: There is so much free information here, why and when should I buy membership?
If you want further thoughts, do contact me through trainingzone.
All the best
Pilar Orti