MY Design Diary with Domain Coaster

An Expired Domain Doesn’t Mean It’s Gone Bad, But It Has Already Excelled First

Project Background

"The Overpriced and Ordinary Market for SEO Domains"

SEO domains, or expired domains, are domains that were previously owned and were not renewed by their previous owners. These domains often come with a history, backlinks, and authority that can benefit new websites.

SEO domains or expired domains have advantages such as a strong backlink profile, existing authority, and the potential to enhance SEO rankings. They are highly sought after by digital marketing professionals and website owners looking to boost their online visibility.

One of the main challenges is that high-quality SEO domains or expired domains are often priced very steeply in the market. This makes them inaccessible to many individuals and small businesses.

 

 

Antony, as the owner of Domain Coaster, observed this phenomenon and recognized an opportunity to address this issue. He founded Domain Coaster with the goal of offering high-quality SEO or expired domains at more affordable prices, allowing businesses and individuals to effectively enhance their online presence.

As a result, Antony has asked me to assist him in creating an effective website and ecommerce platform as a conversion hub for their advertising audience.

 

Approach

"Pretending to Be the Aspiring Owner of SEO Domains Business"

Throughout all the Domain Coaster project phases, I positioned myself as a prospective buyer of SEO domains. The approach I employed was User-Centered Design, where my primary focus was on understanding and meeting the needs and preferences of potential users. From the early stages to the project’s conclusion, every decision and design element was based on a deep understanding of the experiences and expectations of prospective SEO domain buyers. This ensures that the Domain Coaster platform not only addresses the issue of high prices but also provides an intuitive, efficient, and satisfactory experience for users seeking affordable and high-quality domain solutions.

 

Discovery & Understanding

"People Struggle to Find High-Quality SEO Domains"

As an initial step in this project, Antony and I conducted a workshop to identify and understand all the problems to be addressed and Antony’s expectations for the Domain Coaster web project. Besides the main problem I explained in the project background section above, that SEO or expired domain prices are exceedingly high, which makes them unaffordable for many people, I also engaged in discussions and brainstorming sessions with Antony, placing myself in the shoes of someone searching for SEO domains.

 

 

From these discussions and brainstorming, I successfully gathered the problems Antony wants to address through the Domain Coaster website, as follows:

  1. Difficulty in Finding High-Quality SEO Domains:
    Customers have a hard time finding high-quality SEO domains due to high competition and limited availability. This complicates the process of selecting effective domains for their SEO strategies and consumes time.
  2. Overpriced High-Quality SEO Domains:
    The prices of high-quality SEO domains in the market are considered prohibitively expensive by customers. This hinders their ability to purchase domains within their budget, especially for small businesses and individuals with limited resources.
  3. Risks of Exposure to Spam and Low-Quality Domains:
    Customers are concerned about the risk of buying domains that may be exposed to spam or of low quality. This can harm their website’s reputation and performance, leading to reluctance in making purchases.
  4. Lack of Transparency and Reliability in the Purchase Process:
    Customers experience confusion regarding the domain purchase process due to insufficient information and transparency about the history and reliability of the domains they wish to buy.
  5. Delays and Inefficiencies in Domain Transfer:
    Customers become frustrated with the delays and inefficiencies in the domain ownership transfer process after purchase. This can disrupt their online plans and strategies that require the swift implementation of domains.
  6. Suboptimal Customer Support:
    Customers feel they do not receive adequate customer support when seeking assistance or information related to domain purchases. Limited access or slow responses can lead to frustration and confusion.
  7. Risks Associated with the History of Expired Domains:
    Customers are apprehensive about the risks associated with the past use of expired domains they are considering. Potential risks related to reputation or previous SEO performance can influence their purchasing decisions, increasing caution and confusion.

 

 

From these issues, there is a connection between the expensive SEO domains and Antony’s sales performance. When I put myself in the position of someone seeking high-quality yet excessively expensive SEO domains, I am less certain that it can provide a quick return on investment or ROI, leading me to opt for regular domains.

Moreover, from these discussions, I learned Antony’s desires and goals in establishing Domain Coaster:

  1. Providing High-Quality Domains:
    Offering high-quality expired domains with strong backlinks for improved SEO rankings.
  2. Affordable Pricing:
    Providing reasonable prices for expired domains, including premium SEO domains.
  3. Transparency and Reliability:
    Ensuring an easy, transparent, and reliable domain purchase process.
  4. Quick and Efficient Transfers:
    Completing domain registration transfers promptly after purchase.
  5. Risk Mitigation:
    Assisting customers in avoiding risks associated with the history of expired domains.
  6. Customer Support:
    Providing responsive and helpful customer support.

For the Net Promoter Score (NPS) Antony hopes to achieve through the Domain Coaster web project, he aims to become an effective conversion hub and improve their sales, which previously reached only 8%.

CHECK THE CASE STUDY

Branding

"Swift and Affordable Coaster Tickets for Digital Products"

I’ve created a brand style guide for Domain Coaster to ensure it reflects the desired branding message, emphasizing the values they wish to convey to their audience: being a reliable, professional, safe, and affordable provider of expired domains.

Providing Antony with documentation and guidelines on their brand style guide can assist him in developing and using it for other needs, including media creation for advertisements and more.

 

Produce Solution

"Providing Real Prospects and Making Domain Coaster Easy and Useful"

From my understanding of the problems and all of Antony’s expectations, I sought suitable solutions to implement on the Domain Coaster website and ecommerce platform. Through the approach I undertook, I gathered the following solution ideas:

  1. Creating clear information highlights and CTAs on the homepage.
  2. Adding real supporting data to influence the audience’s decision-making.
  3. Providing comprehensive understanding and information to the audience regarding the comparison between expired domains and fresh domains and the advantages of expired domains over fresh ones.
  4. Creating a dedicated domain inventory page to provide a seamless and easy experience for visitors to find the expired domains they want based on their preferences.
  5. Feature to inform when new SEO domains or expired domains will be added to the inventory.
  6. Discovering the audience’s buying habits for SEO domains, their preference parameters, enabling the use of this information as search filter criteria.
  7. Making the domain item table interactive with quick information that suits their needs.
  8. Simplifying the checkout process to domain delivery, making it straightforward, fast, and easy.
  9. Several other solution ideas that I haven’t mentioned in this diary study.

 

 

To ensure that all these ideas meet expectations, I designed these solutions into a site map and information architecture to create an intuitive framework and ensure that all ideas can be integrated effectively.

With the intent of creating the right wireframes and high-fidelity UI, I simultaneously worked on the information architecture, conducted UX writing, and filled in all the content while considering the rationale behind each decision. This approach allows for swift corrections if any content is deemed inadequate.

Designing Solution

"It's Time to Guide the Audience from Landing to Checkout"

With a well-defined information architecture, I created wireframe designs and wireflows. While crafting the initial wireframe, I identified alternative patterns, leading to the creation of three wireframe patterns and wireflows for presentation to Antony. I discussed with Antony, during which he also explained some patterns he had previously used that were less effective. Consequently, I decided to incorporate sections that had the potential for greater success and replaced patterns that were predicted to have a lesser impact.

 

 

Upon finalizing the wireframe patterns, I compiled a list of reusable components, which streamlined the UI design process. I developed a UI style guide and design system for Domain Coaster. Notably, I added interactivity to visual elements like illustrations by creating them as motion graphics.

Using all the materials and initial preferences, I created high-fidelity designs. I developed up to eight different concepts, varying in the use of visual elements and style. This diversity facilitates the testing process to identify the best outcome.

Testing & Iteration

"8 Different Interface to Achieve the Best Design"

I presented all the different views to Antony and conducted design testing, expert reviews, A/B testing, and usability testing. Through the testing process involving 10 respondents, it was concluded that the design of the fifth view was an excellent visualization of the solution ideas. Still, some minor details needed refinements, such as icon usage, illustrations, and section repositioning to ensure that the conveyed information is more easily consumable by the audience.

 

 

Following the iterations with attention to detail, I ensured that the website met user expectations and effectively communicated Domain Coaster’s business message. To deliver these results to Antony, I created a new design documentation and proceeded with the design handoff for development.

CHECK THE CASE STUDY

Results

"Truly Rapid Growth Aligned with Domain Coaster's Business"

After 6 months of launching the Domain Coaster e-commerce website, I received news from Antony that the design I created had exceeded his expectations, with notable successes including:

  1. A 26% increase in sales, compared to the previous 8%.
  2. A 38% increase in brand awareness, effectively promoting the values of affordability, reliability, security, and trustworthiness.
  3. Successful business expansion, reaching customers in over 80 countries worldwide.
  4. Efficiently processing more than 30 million domains.

 

 

By hearing Antony’s testimony, I am increasingly confident in my ability to help everyone achieve their business aspirations through digital solutions.

Contribution

"Some of the Deliverables I Provided for the Domain Coaster Project"

A/B testingArt designBrainstorming to define problemBrand style guidesDesign DocumentationDesign TestingExpert ReviewHand offHifi UI Design (Mockup)IllustrationIllustration and iconographyInfographic designInformation ArchitectureLofi PrototypingMotion designProblem statementPrototyping and Interaction designSite mapStakeholder Insights and DiscussionsUI Styleguide And Design systemsUsability testingVisual DesignWireframe & flowsWireframing
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