I remember the v1, and this definitely looks a lot better. I have one suggestion though: the 3+3 main points on either side are the ones that people will probably read first, so users should be able to easily understand how the process works. I had to read a second time slowly of the left side before I really got it, especially the first two points (more especially the second point). Maybe something like Talk to Experts in this area (I don't know if they usually can be qualified as experts, or maybe another wording for people who know these things).

If you don't get what I am saying I could try to rephrase it somehow..

I agree.. Trying to put the whole process into 3 short steps is difficult though..

I think because people define (and dont define) themselves as different things like "expert", "seller", "provider", or "qualified information source".. then its like what even is a "qualified information source" - i guess it could be a book? a website? a person?

we just need an all including, short word, for this type of person.. that people can identity properly as the person providing insight to the market researchers/product managers.

Looks great. Any plans to provide a history of successful contracts for a specific area, to give potential users an idea of what the going market price is?

That's a very interesting idea - have to think about how we could pull that off. It definitely would be informative...but tough since there is going to be huge variance in who people are going to want to talk to.

I would add some listings on each side, maybe about 3 to 5 with a more link to see more. I want instant gratification, an extra click might send me away.

ditto...

Wow. Very nice changes since v1!

I STILL think you need to pare down the amount of text on your page. Underneath the two highlighted sections, the only text should be "How it Works".

The Provider Identity Authentication section was confusing to me. I'm sure it makes sense once you're signed up, but it's too much to have on the front page.

You guys are really going in the right direction though. Good work.

EDIT:

The two highlighted sections. You have three bullet points for each: use one.

On the left: "Talk to qualified information sources"

On the right: "Share your knowledge"

On the bottom: "How it works"

Seriously, I think if you can pare it down to that you'll have an incredibly clear message.

I remember the previous version. This is much better. It's good that you pushed the listing to a second page. The overall design could be better, but it's good enough.

Now, building a community is your biggest challenge. The age-old chicken and egg problem.

Glad you think it's better than v1 - anything in particular jump out that could be better with this design?

Too much gray, and too little white space. And the white space issue applies to the listing page as well.

But again, these little details are not what makes Web sites succeed or fail. Unfortunately, most of the feedback you get here will probably focus on the design because that's the easiest thing to comment on. If you want real feedback, talk to your customers. Even better, watch what they do or not do and study their behavior.

Thanks for clarifying. We're looking for design feedback here, as well as anything else we can get.

Agreed, better than v1. Just one more design bug: avoid gradients. Just avoid it. Gradients are bad. Its very hard to create pleasant gradients. apple.com pulls it off.and thats not encouraging, because you know who designs for them. Do you really want to throw that kinda money at design. Take the easier way out. Avoid gradients.

Other than that, we just have to use this thing to give more useful feedback beyond site design. Roll on with the beta.

If anyone doesn't remember how v1 looked - you can check it out here: http://www.knowledgebid.com/images/v1.gif

Looks much better than the previous version, but I wanted to ask:

What about those 16 <br> below the div container, why are they there?

fixed - i added them in when testing low anchor links on the faq and definition pages - (ie http://www.knowledgebid.com/definition#total_earned )

the animated gifs: make it transition instead of having it disappear and reappear. at first i thought it was your server being slow at loading images then i realize it's animated. have the first frame show an image instead of starting out blank.

icons: why are they alternating between b/w and color?

featured listing needs its own call-out box. it's featured content, make it look like it.

the how it works section can use some work as well. numbers perhaps?

animated gif - good call. i'll try to add in a frame of fade, and start it off with an image.

icons - we wanted the icons in color on the front page to stand out a little more - since they're key points for each side.. maybe it doesnt appear as that?

featured listings and how it works - we tried toning this down so people would focus on the main image.. might have to rethink that idea if its distracting.

thanks for the feedback.

hopefully we removed enough text for you guys...

Closer, but you still need to chop more out. This is what I think you need to shoot for:

http://wufoo.com/

great great