Abika.com Critique
of Abika.com Search
Engine Optimization
-----------------------------------
Obviously
a lot of work has been put into this and it is working very well. Your site has
lots of text content, which is rare for commercial businesses, but a smart way
to appear in more search engine results. I wouldn't change a thing. Look
and Feel
------------------ Excellent. Great use of different colored
boxes and simple icons, means that I am choosing to look around the page and see
all the services you offer. The tone is just right - professional yet friendly.
In that vein, you could consider featuring a face or name, to make it even friendlier
(however that would mean creating an 'about me' page, and the customer would be
seeking a very honest and believable background story, focusing on helping folk). Success
Stories
-------------------- Some of your opposition have them. If you
have testimonials from happy clients, put them there for potential customers.
This is an easy way to increase sales. Using copyrighted material
---------------------------------- I
found some instances of your site using articles which were written by others,
without any acknowledgment of such. Not only is this a breach of copyright, it
can sometimes affect your search engine ranking (if the same copy appears in too
many other places). http://www.abika.com/Reports/FindPhoneNumbers.htm
http://www.abika.com/help/reverseemailsearch.htm (very dated, useless info)
http://www.abika.com/Reports/traceemails.htm Tracing emails
------------------ "We
will help you find the source of emails or Instant Messages. By tracing backward
using email trace and Instant Message tracking techniques, we’ll find out
where the messages came from. In most cases, simply uncloaking the individual
is enough to bring your problems to swift and successful resolutions." I
am unsure exactly what information your service will provide. It could just be
a physical location based on a reverse IP lookup. It implies you can provide the
name and details of the sender, for any email, even if they used web-based services
like Hotmail. In this instance, and in general, a sample report would enable
me to make an informed decision on whether to pay for your service or not. How
recent is the info?
----------------------------- As someone who uses
similar services to Abika, I am very aware of how important it is that details
are as current as possible. Often, when searching for someone, their contact details
from a year ago are already known, and the customer requires current data. I
could find no mention or guarantee of how current the data is, although your 30-day
guarantee does imply a refund for out-dated info. To be fair, I'm only aware of
one business in this field which does specify the age of the data. But I can imagine
a scenario where someone is searching for their dead-beat husband, pay the fee,
and receive their own address, which is where he lived a year or two ago. Price
List
----------- I couldn't find one. Many potential clients will be
put off by having to fill out details before seeing the fee. I understand that
there are positive psychological aspects to this, but they might be outweighed
by the negatives. I recommend that, for just one of the services you provide,
experiment by having the price listed on the initial page of details. Try it for
a few months an see if you convert more sales or less. Or try including
a link to a price list in your help section. I am disinclined to do business with
anyone who is not upfront with their prices. Banner Ads
-------------- I
saw one on this page:
http://www.abika.com/help/Termsofuse.htm Third-party
advertisements on sites like yours create an unprofessional impression. | 
