Copyblogger is an excellent site that looks at copywriting skills for online ventures. Recently, they featured a makeover for a site called Hire a Helper. The makeover was limited to the landing page only, and it featured some good suggestions. The funny thing is that the makeovers were not from the perspective of someone wanting to actually use the site. 

Here is what Copyblogger missed:

Look at all open requests: When I go to a site like this I want to get a feel for how busy it is. I'm not going to waste my time with a site that isn't attracting service providers.  Look at Rent a Coder and you'll see what I mean on the right hand side. When I get into a site like this I can instantly see I won't be wasting my time. 

Hire a Helper confusion photoConfusing subtopics: Look at the menu bar on Hire a Helper and you will see Learn More and Learning Center. What's the difference? From the words used I have no idea. It turns out Learn More is additional details about the process for hiring someone, while Learning Center is collection of Hints and Tips.

Contact hours: It's fantastic there is a phone number listed, but there are no contact hours. Can I call at night? Early in the morning? The hours of contact need to be stated to avoid frustration when people do call.

Wrong focus: The idea of the page is to entice people to use the service. Why is half the page spent on trying to recruit new helpers? If I am a customer looking for someone to hire I could care less. A simple link for recruitment would work; you could then dedicate the recruitment space to more information for your customers.

Why are you different: There are a ton of sites like this on the internet, but I still have no idea how Hire a Helper is different from the rest. A bit of explanation would go far to helping customers decide.  

The Hire a Helper is a great idea, but it's hard to move national customers into a local frame of mind.  

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