I'm pretty satisfied with my Hacker Newsletter page (http://www.hackernewsletter.com) and run A/B tests on it all the time, but would love to get some help & feedback on the actual email itself (last issue here - http://bit.ly/mKaMq2). It needs updating, but haven't figured out where to start yet.
For anyone thats interested, I decided to donate time to Open Home Pro. Here's a quick outline of what I looked at:
- Quick logo design and colour palette to establish a more credible brand
- Added related illustration to help sell the idea
- Moved the call to action up and made it more visible (download button)
- Restructured the content so the user understands why the app could be use before diving into more detail with the video
Is this a job-listing site, or a resume/reputation site? Choose one and stick with it. Give me actual social proof (FB's Facepile or just generic testimonials by industry) on the front page. Don't use the words "get social proof" on the front page: nobody knows what that means. Move the Register button to the right. Give me a time estimate on how long the process takes. Reassure me there isn't any writing involved. Reel me in with promises of what your app does for me (show the process!), not descriptions of how it does them. Give me a reason to expect positive ROI. The animated screencaps are too small to read or make sense of - fix them or annotate them. Give users a portable widget or badge (digg button, like button) to embed elsewhere and lead people to your site. Visit howaboutwe.com, steal liberally.
I would really appreciate some design time on skinnyo.com, the look I would like to go for would be a warm and friendly web app - not a feeling you currently get...
Why are you donating your time? By the looks of things, you're quite talented and can charge quite a bit. Unless money isn't your motivation, which is entirely plausible.
The freelance design business is great right now, sometimes I get work on interesting projects, but rarely in the startup world. Thats probably the most interesting space to be doing UX right now hence the post.