Well, if there is one thing that AO needs marketing wise is a better website, it's outdated compared to many MMO websites.
I mean, grey? could it be more dull than that? the original was sand color (2001-2002), which matched the desert theme which the game had for many years, then somehow we went green in 2003 and in the middle of 2007 grey.
The game has a LOT of color overall, from the RK deserts to the lush SL forests.
My opinion is either go back to the original sand theme (take a look at the original AO retail box from 2001 Funcom) or use a Shadowlands based theme which would be more colorful and attractive visually.
The classic AO logo has been butchered in the current format, upper left corner you can't even tell its the logo if you are new to the site.
Ok, so let's take it from the top,
The "Anarchy Online" text image takes too much space, you're wasting valuable space, I'd recommend moving it up about an inch. Next thing is the flash header, it obviously advertises Lost Eden (a mech in an empty space shooting at letter is also not very exciting), so what happens to SL/AI advertising? wouldn't you want ALL your expansions to be displayed?
I would think a new flash should be added, starting with the Classic AO/NW froob combo stating new players can start their experience in AO for FREE and then hook them up with a fadeout into the Shadowlands (show Pande mobs, you want to show some badass looking monsters), then back to RK with aliens invading and players engaging them. Also the PREMIUM CONTENT should be features because even thought FC came up with a great way of adding income through paid points, the UTTER lack of marketing at the AO website makes it look almost nonexistent.
You want people to purchase PP? Make them aware of everything they can get! promote! promote! promote! every dollar counts towards development right? The Premium Content Page itself has ONLY TEXT... where are the images of the goods you're trying to sell? No self respecting merchandiser would try to sell ANYTHING without showing it to the prospect buyer, EVER!
Showing images of things players can purchase with Paid Points like Phasefront bikes/hoverboards, Jobe Luxury Apartment,etc in the header would be attractive and may encourage newcomers and returning players to check them out.
Ok, I'm getting a bit off track here, back to the design.
"Play for Free", "Account" and "ARK" tabs could be moved right under the Flash header, that would save more room to work with.
The banners on the right side should be moved down and INTO the center layout, thus the Flash header can be stretched out to display more (thus better advertising).
Now I will take on the front page content.
I don't see how showing outdated game news would benefit the site, nor why would anyone go through 7 pages of old news. How about UPDATING it to match Community Corner/Update Notes/Server Notices forum threads with links to those threads? Visitors should be aware of the latest news about Anarchy Online, period.
Reduce the "News" space so it takes only 50% of the current space it's using. By removing the "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next » Last ›" line the news section can be moved up a bit. It should only display the latest 10 entries, Bottom entry should have an "Archive" so people can then access all previous news entries.
At this time, if the changes I suggest are made, you have about 60% of space free on the right side, not including the movement of the 2 banners.
The search feature above the "Latest Screens" is useless where it is, I would move it into the left side navigational panel.
Now, how can ONE SCREENSHOT that is at least a year old be the "Latest Screenshot"? Where are the LoX screenshots? how about the sneak peek of the orbital apartments that Means shared with us? For god's sake, is anyone in marketing even visiting the site? if so, someone needs to get kicked in the head or just REPLACED.
The most practical thing would be to add another Flash plugin and place all the current screenshots from the Media section, previews of each ss can be shown and with a click a pop-up with a full size image be displayed. Right now that would be only 24 images, there should be at least 100, categorize by expansion/booster pack.
Underneath, another Flash plugin so that the Land Control Status can be easily switched between Atlantean/Rimor/DNW manually through small buttons, not doing the switch automatically as it is now. Also including a "view full size" providing a much larger image (at least x4 times the current size) to show how LARGE the RK playfields are.
The Timeline panel has the latest entry as "Jun 18 29482" in other words, June 18 2008... almost a year and there is NOTHING new in the timeline? the main storyline made ZERO changes? How about UPDATING it?
When clicking on each Timeline entry, it's a little bit of text (too abbreviated), no images either. Not very informative, or creative. It's not hard to add 1-3 small/cropped images based from in-game screenshots.
Ok, now on to the front page banners.
The "Play for free" banner, should be removed. The new Flash header with the "Play for Free tab underneath should cover that aspect of the game. I see a AoC banner... do I see an AO banner at the AoC website? No.
Funcom was wise enough to partner with Bigstage to promote AoC, so why not do the same with AO?
AO images for people to add their faces to, looks like fun. If you want to cross promote, shouldn't it be a 2-way street? get AoC players who never played AO to try and, and AO players to check out AoC. They are two different genres of MMO. Please consider this idea and add an AO/Bigstage banner at the AoC website.
Below the current AoC banner, there could be 2 rotating banners promoting AO fansites. Fansites themselves can provide the banners if provided the correct pixel requirements. This will show visitors that FC supports the player-based fansites and that there is a large and active community out there.
Alrighty then, now on to the left navigational Panel.
Headlines... 3 links players well know, and new players would know as soon as they go to the official forums. I'd remove that section since the news articles will link to the threads within those forum categories.
"The Game" could be better organized and somewhat updated, maybe like this:
The Game
- FAQ (how to install the client, creating an account, creating forums account, etc)
- Features (renamed from the original "Gameplay" name)
- Expansions
(Expansions Sub-Menu)
+ Shadowlands
+ Alien Invasion
+ Lost Eden
- Booster Packs
(Booster Packs Sub-Menu)
+ Notum Wars
+ Legacy of the Xan
- Premium Content
- Coming Soon
The FAQ would help new players install and start the game fairly quick without having to search the official forums on how to do basic things. The Features section should state that the basic game is FREE TO PLAY with the Notum Wars Booster Pack included as a BONUS.
The part "Anarchy Online (AO) is a science fiction themed massive multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG). The first three expansion packs, Notum Wars, Shadowlands and Alien Invasion, have received high praise and won 20 international awards." should be re-written, maybe "Anarchy Online (AO) is a science fiction themed massive multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) that has received high praise and won many international awards, Editor's Choice awards and high ratings over the years."
Mentioning each and every one of them wouldn't hurt either, I'm sure SOMEONE in FC must have a list of all the awards/ratings the game has earned since 2001, right?
The expansions and booster packs sections should have more than a single image (maybe 3-4) and more critical information, for example the Shadowlands section should CLEARLY show that players could sign up for just $5 a month to have the Classic AO, Notum Wars Booster Pack and the Shadowlands Expansion all for that low monthly price.
Also we know that expansions/booster packs have won awards, why not display that in each appropriate section, again.... HELLO FC MARKETING!! WAKE UP!!!
For those who will tell me NW is an expansion, I've played this game since beta 2001 and I can bet you any amount of money, it's a booster pack. The FC Press Releases said so, the advertising at the time of NW release said so in 2002, so there.
The NW section should state that it comes FREE with the basic game which is also FREE. Remove the statement "Ground-based fighting vehicles add new and exciting possibilities." because unless you don't play the game... those vehicles are NEVER used in PvP. Don't make a selling point of something which is of NO USE.
In the AI section, remove the following:
Experience a brand new beginner area (been around a while and doesn't require AI to be in that area)
Decorate cities with extra fixtures (never made it to launch, was never added after launch, false advertisement)
Access revised tradeskill interface and item search tool (TS window is part of basic game, AI not required).
Add one line:
Have access to Global Market Search terminals in all mayor towns to look up items in player shops.
LE section, remove the line "Unleash the fury of the heavens." it sounds like a promo line for WoW.... maybe something like "Control the skies above Rubi-Ka before your enemy does, there is no middle ground here".
The new LoX section obviously should have a nice hook description and features list.
Each section (as I mentioned with SL) should have a description of subscription fees and information with a direct link to "My Account" that opens a new browser to https://register.funcom.com/account/ so new & returning players can sign up ore rejoin as fast as possible.
I already mentioned the Premium Content page, so let's move onto the Coming Soon section.
Currently it displays "17.10 Preview". Now I think this more than proves the point that the website is not in good hands right now. We're in 18.0.4 and that "preview" is from last year, and I'm fairly sure that any veteran player that has gone to that section hoping for some news about the new rendering engine instead has laughed his head off at that page.
However perhaps the Raid Instances information can be copied over to the Shadowlands (upcoming Pande Instance), AI (APF instances) and of course LoX sections.
It's 4AM, and I've been analyzing the site for 2hrs, I will post more later today, I'm not done, not by a long shot.