I did the OST survey when I first joined, but since then I have had a few ideas that I think would really improve the site, both in function and financially.
1. - First and Foremost - MOST IMPORTANT - You need to Advertise what the site content IS on some main page. (and by that I mean a list of all Joomla/Drupal/WordPress video and tutorial content)- If I am new to the site and am considering joining, I need to be able to see what the site has to offer me if I am going to consider paying you for it. It was only because you offered RT member the free christmas offer that I came here. - I wasn't sold on your homepage content, and I'm not sure I would've been on that alone. To put it simply the stuff I now consider myself paying for with this site is not whats listed on the homepage. - I'm mostly about extensions now.
The target demographic for this site is users new to joomla, drupal and wordpress, or users with basic knowledge of joomla, drupal and wordpress who want an easier way to save time and learn more and are willing to pay for it.
This is where your money comes from.
My demographic is the second category.
Currently if I am considering joining, I'm going to click the watch videos button to see what site content exists, but if I rely on the info on that page I might assume that the site only contains content relating to Joomla core and not all the other info and tutorials for extensions this site has to offer.
2. Once you get past learning the basic functionality of Joomla etc, Extensions really are the big issue. All of us spend hours and hours testing and playing with different extensions, whats needed is a 'recommend an extension' service or a 'recommended extensions' listings - 'best in category' etc - and not just what the JED says, test them and write video tutorials for the best, and when another extension comes along that outdoes what the last 'best' did - list it instead.
3. I personally would change the way you have you menu items set up, so that instead of watch videos, videos in the site, ask us questions - you have Joomla, WordPress, Drupal as root menu items main pages that do give a full description of site content, videos and 'ask questions' options on that main page.

Where did I read somewhere that theres an option to display individual forums on seperate pages... maybe phpbb or something somewhere.

You need to get everything right in the first instance. Think of orienteering as a method of helping you get where you're trying to go. You need to make sure you get it right in the first instance. If you travel just a few degrees off course you're going to end up a huge distance away from the destination you actually tried to get to.

Just Ideas...
That's all I can think of for now.
Oh yeah, - Maybe a Top 20 Essential Tutorials for Newbies area/module on each main page... (including as first the 2 listings - Joomla Core Tutorials and Firebug Tutorial) as well as a 'Latest Tutorials' module/area, 'Best Extensions' module/area and 'Request an Extension' module/area and 'Ask Questions' module/ area 'OST Team" module and 'Latest Joomla Questions'. Thats how I'd set it up.

Do I still get a chance at a hat and t-shirt?? lol

Also theres a glitch when I get a email notification for a reply to my forum post. Even though it takes me to the forum and I am signed in I cant reply to the post without going to my account/my questions and load that page again before the 'reply' option comes up. This happens in IE but not sure other browsers. (I'm caught in long term habit of using IE for browsing but use FF for web development). This glitch is annoying me.

My 2 cents...

-Scott

Thanks Scott,

Those are really good suggestions. I agree with all of them. We'll get them to Steve and see what happens. This was a very thoughtful and helpful feedback. We really appreciate what went into this analysis.

Cheers,
Ed

Hi Scott,

Thanks for the great feedback!

1) If I understand you correctly, we already do that on our sales landing page. Take a look: www.ostraining.com/online Is that what you were looking for?

2) That's being planned :)

3) That's definitely a great alternative to the way that we have the menu items now. We debated doing it that way when we did our redesign, but in the end we decided to go with the way that we have it now. We do quite a bit of user-testing each time we make changes and we've had great feedback on our current menu items.

So key questions, is there something particular that you don't like about our current menu items? Is the site hard to navigate? If so, in what way?

4) Those are all great ideas and things that are being planned. However, as you'd likely guess, they would take a while to develop and that's the main reason why we don't have those features yet.

5) I don't believe we've ever had any hats, but I'm sure we could get you a chance at a t-shirt :)

6) That's just the way Joomla 1.5 works (it's improved in 2.5), however we're looking at installing a plugin based on your feedback :)

Kind regards,
Nick

re #5 Here's a really easy chance :)

See the following topic:
www.ostraining.com/support-forum/cooler/...-large-sizes/#p43888

Kind regards,
Nick

Hey Scott

Thanks indeed. Sure thing on the t-shirt too! Email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with your size and address and we'll send one over.

Hi Everyone,
Geez I'm almost sorry I mentioned it.
I dont think I've had this many replies in one go.
I want to make it clear that I'm not complaining about anything - I know everybody puts a lot of time and energy into their creations and I don't want anyone getting all defensive on me.
Even the thing I was complaining about seems to be working now - the reply button existing/working when I click an email notification to come to my forum post.

You guys have the right to run your own business however you want, and I have the right to either choose to use or not use your services. Simple as that. I'm not complaining.

Sorry if it seems I'm slow to reply at times, OST hours of operation are like 11pm -7am here where I am in Australia, and sometimes I cant stay up that late. -Which also brings me to the t-shirt - Many Thanks for the offer Nick and Steve, but I'll pass on the XL drupal shirt. Not being ungrateful but - I'm closer to a smaller size than a large, so XL would be like wearing a dress and I'm a Joomla person, never had anything to do with Drupal and finally I wouldn't have you send one to Australia (I'd be prepared to pay some postage) if it wasn't one that I'd definately wear. When theres a small or medium sized OST shirt I'll be keen.

Nick - I couldn't even find that page - I tried everything looking for it - well I looked for about 5mins or so.
Even if I had've found it, it only shows me that you teach basic joomla core -theres nothing to tell me about all the hidden treasure tutorials the site contains regarding extensions that I can find. You're selling yourself short in my opinion - You'd get more people joining if it were more obvious what other quality content the site has to offer. Your targeting the newbies, but missing out on the ones who might have basic knowledge and want to build on this.

Thanks Ed for the vote of confidence.

I could probably offer more ideas and go into depth with the reasoning behind those ideas, but I don't want to seem in any way like I'm complaining about the current offering - because I'm not. I'm satisfied with what I'm paying for.

Nick Quote>>So key questions, is there something particular that you don't like about our current menu items? Is the site hard to navigate? If so, in what way?<<

I don't want you getting mad if I say... yes (where's the damn embarressed icon when you need it)- I'm all for simplicity - I want to click 1 joomla button and have all my options laid out clear as day before me. I want it all there smacking me in the face. I don't even want to have to think about navigation. Ever... if that helps.

Its not only about paying customers either - The people that wont pay can still be useful getting your name around too. Coupon Codes and monthly blog videos or what have you.

Maybe offer free customise your facebook and twitter fanpage tutorials to get people to your homepage in the first instance. This covers Joomla/Drupal and WordPress sites.

-Scott

Thanks Scott

Here are the key takeaways that I'll try and think about as CEO here:
Hopefully that will be fixed with the new video system we're rolling out this week, starting with Joomla 2.5 templates. People can now browse all our course pages as guests and see what we have (they just can't watch the videos).

We've thinking about this before. We've 100s of Joomla tutorials on the blog, but haven't really yet come up with a great way to organize them usefully.

Often 'best in category' is a difficult decision to make. Take e-commerce for example: I could make a strong case that 5 or 6 different extensions are 'best in category', depending on your needs. There's often no one right answer.

What we are starting is a lot of smaller mini-courses focused on extensions. K2 and Security for your Joomla Site are next.

That definitely is something we'd consider. I'm a little hesitant to split our site into several little mini-communities, rather than one large one, but it might be easier for visitors as you.

Yes, that's definitely something we're aware of. We're mainly a US based company at the moment. Although one moderator Mark does great work often covering UK / European hours, we don't have anyone for our customers running on Australian / NZ time of whom there are quite a lot. As we grow, that will be a priority.

Hi Steve,
Thanks for your reply.
Looking forward to the new video system coming soon.
I'm not sure I'd be giving out the written tutorials for free though, but thats just me.
Well in a case like this I'd like you to make an article that outlines my options and why the best extension may depend on the situation.
Ultimately - I want to tap into you guys expertise so things can save me time.

I look forward to the K2 and security issues tutorials.

I do kind of understand your concerns about splitting the community up.
My idea would be to keep them them all the same, if you did - like this.
File Attached - Well tried but it wont let me upload files -
- Click Here -

Thanks for not taking my feedback the wrong way.
Like I said previously - I'm not complaining about anything, and I am satisfied with the tutorials and support I recieve here.

I had a heap of captions to add to that image - I didn't get it totally finished but you get the idea.
I gotta get back to studying something now that I've had a bludge with this.

-Scott

Thanks Scott

Sorry, I don't think the image attached. Could you email me the image to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or upload it again?

For the 'best in category' idea, do you have an example where we could start? E-commerce perhaps? We could take a run at that this week.

Hey Steve,
Image sent - 'Best in Category' I dunno to be honest - I suppose I would have said CCK's (this is about where I'm at + I want to learn how to customise facebook and twitter soon. Mostly everything else I want right now is already here I just have to spend the time going through it all) - you're already doing K2 which will be great. - and I guess I didn't necessarily just mean extensions, plug-ins too I suppose. Not necessarily the big functionality, You know, commenting systems, etc - I guess its not for me to say - it all depends on what you guys get asked for the most what you should do, because ideally you want to set up your tutorials in a way that builds up site content but saves you answering the same q's over and over again.
- Scott

Thanks Scott

Yes, it's not an easy question and we've pondering it for a while now. Thanks for all the great ideas you've sent our way.

No worries Steve,
I was kind of bored, but now its back to the more important stuff.
I've got my own little niche to takeover...
- Scott