Extreme Website Makeover: Rob Van Dam

No one is more eligible for an extreme website makeover than the King of Extreme, my long-time friend from the wrestling business and former WWE champion Rob Van Dam. Rob is taking a much-needed break from wrestling to concentrate on acting, and to promote his newest venture, RVDTV - an internet-only reality program that follows Rob and his friends from wrestling, films, music, and MMA. Here is Rob's current homepage, a work-in-progress design:

The design is graphically stunning. It suits Rob's image perfectly and is visually appealing. The video previews load quickly, and the celebrity photo gallery on the homepage is an excellent touch. So far so good. But what about usability? Are there changes that may improve Rob's conversion rate (defined as visitors becoming members)?

Site Goal: I'm going to define the goal of the site as twofold:

1. Convert visitors to RVDTV subscribers, and
2. Entice visitors to keep coming back to learn more about Rob's future projects.

Before You Continue...
Whether you're a professional web designer, or just a professional web surfer, please post your thoughts on Rob's website design in the comments section. And just so you're not too influenced by my opinions, you may wish to visit Rob's site and jot down some notes before you read my thoughts. Disclaimer: I am not the site designer and have no financial stake in this project. I'm just helping out a friend.

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Ready? Let's start with the home page...

Width
My first impression is that the homepage is a massive 1280 width. I’ve got dual monitors at work, both set at 1024 x 768. A tremendous amount of the design gets cut off, particularly the "Join Now" button in the lower right-hand corner. Even Rob's great photo in the header get's nearly completely cut off. In an only somewhat-scientific review of several client sites, I find that nearly 60% of users have resolution set to 1024 x 768 or less. While I’m not adamant that the width needs to be reduced, I do think it’s imperative that the right-hand 250 pixels or so be reserved for very low priority items. Simply put, anything important shouldn’t be on the far right.

Menu Options
There are too many menu items (ten tabs), and I simply don’t know where to click. The first tab that needs to go is “Home”. Even the most novice user knows to click the banner in the upper left-hand corner to return home. Next, I'd drop “News” because “Blog” covers news. What is on the “News” page now should be combined onto the “Previews” page. I’d drop “RVDTV” altogether for two reasons: 1) The destination doesn’t match my expectations, and 2) the Login link should be at the top (more on that later). I’d also drop the “MySpace” tab and simply include that elsewhere – probably as a right-hand banner element. Finally, I’d drop “Behind RVDTV”. I don’t know what it’s supposed to be, but it’s most likely not important enough to warrant a tab, and instead could be linked off “Previews” or elsewhere. That leaves us with the following menu items:

• Previews
• Profile
• Galleries
• Blog
• Shop
• FAQ*
• Contact**

With fewer tabs, you can make them all bigger.

*FAQ
A "Frequently Asked Questions" tab is the perfect place to write answers to all the questions you are asked. Like "What is RVDTV?", "How can I get an autographed picture?", "Are you training for the UFC", and all of the other questions people are going to ask when you put up the Contact page.

**Contact
You must have a “Contact” tab, and it has to be the far-right tab. Even if you don’t want to be bothered, there is some Director, Producer, or Casting Agent that you’re going to want to hear from. In lieu of posting your email address, add a simple contact form. Besides missing out on potential acting gigs, prospective RVDTV subscribers are going to want to know they can contact someone if there is a problem. Personally, there is no way I’m giving money to any site that doesn’t have clearly labeled contact info. Would you? This is also the page to reference MySpace, YouTube, and other profile sites. But don’t tell people to contact you through your MySpace page. Not everyone is on MySpace, and those that aren’t don’t want to join just to drop you an email.

Login
The login area on the homepage takes up too much valuable real estate. I’d suggest pulling “Login” and “Join” up into the header area, where users are conditioned to look. Typically you’ll find “login” links in the upper right-hand corner. Considering the screen width, I might instead center those two options, but still at the top (see Amazon.com).

Mailing List
This is a must. You have got to have a mailing list. You can’t depend on MySpace or RSS feeds from your blog to keep in contact with your fans. Instead, offer a FREE episode of RVDTV to everyone who joins the mailing list. Make that a BIG offer on the website. Each of those email address you gather are a potential subscriber. As you describe the videos each week, they’re more likely to eventually join. Anyone on your mailing list is also likely to someday buy a DVD, book, or another one of your projects.

Episode List
I’m going to assume that these will eventually link to episode descriptions. Otherwise, they’re taking up a lot of valuable space. In the meantime, I’d just link them to the Previews page.

“Now Playing”
I’m not a fan of use of “Now Playing” on the homepage and throughout the site. That implies a description of the video preview currently playing on the page. Instead I’d use a label along the lines of “This Week”, which compliments your “Next Week” header.

Join Now Button
Move the “Join Now” button on the homepage underneath the video preview. It gets lost over in the right-hand corner. Break convention with the “Join Now” button and make it look different from the rest of the layout. Use bold red text. Make it look less like a banner ad and more like a button. Since you’re accepting PayPal, incorporate the credit card logos. People are trained to look for credit card logos on ecommerce sites. Make it easy for them to know where to click.

Now let's take a look at the "Join" page...

Buy?
I didn’t notice the “BUY” links at first. They need to look more like buttons. And I'm not sure "Buy" is the right term to use. "Subscribe" or "Join" might be a better fit. Again, add credit card logos to the home page and join page. Studies show this really does help increase conversion rates. Again, add the credit card logos from the PayPal website.

Options
Instead of using $1.99, $9.99, etc as headers, I’d give the options more clear-cut titles. Examples:

• Test Drive
• Monthly Access
• Yearly Access – Your Best Value!

Free Episode
If no one is choosing the $1.99 option, I’d drop it completely. Instead, offer a FREE video if they sign up on your mailing list. That way you can email them regularly. Eventually they will join.

Deep breath...

This should be enough advice to keep Rob's designer busy for a while. Plus, I'm sure that you will post comments on issues I didn't even notice. So what do you think? Post your comments below and check back for updates!

UFC vs. WWE: Top 20 Pro Wrestlers Turned MMA Fighters

Brock Lesnar is hardly the first pro wrestler to break into MMA. But you wouldn’t know that from watching the UFC vs. WWE buildup in the UFC 81 commercials. Brock isn’t even the first WWE Superstar to try MMA. UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock leads that pack which includes Sylvester Terkay, Giant Silva, Ludvig Borga, Sean 'O Haire, and Bart Gunn.

So who are the top pro wrestlers turned MMA fighters? And where does Brock Lesnar fit in the all-time list? Here's my take:

Top 20 Pro Wrestlers Turned MMA Fighters*
(Source: LarryWeaver.com)

1. Kazushi "The Gracie Hunter" Sakuraba (UWFI) 23 - 10 - 1
2. Dan "The Beast" Severn (NWA) 81 - 15 - 7
3. Ken "The World's Most Dangerous Man" Shamrock (WWE) 26 - 12 - 2
4. Don "The Predator" Frye (New Japan) 17 - 6 - 1
5. Kazuyuki Fujita (New Japan) 14 - 6 - 0
6. Kiyoshi Tamura (UWFI) 27 - 12 - 0
7. Volk Han (Rings) 19 - 6 - 0
8. Brock Lesnar "The Next Big Thing" (WWE) 1 - 0 - 0
9. Bob "The Beast" Sapp (WCW) 9 - 2 - 1
10. Justin McCully (UPW/New Japan) 8 - 3 - 2
11. Sylvester "The Predator" Terkay (WWE) 3 - 1 - 0
12. Ron "H2O" Waterman (OVW) 15 - 5 - 2
13. Dos Caras Jr. (AAA) 6 - 4 - 0
14. Tokimitsu "Kendo Kashin" Ishizawa (New Japan) 1 - 4 - 1
15. Paulo Cesar "Giant" Silva (WWE) 2 - 6 - 0
16. Tony Halme aka "Ludvig Borga" (WWE) 1 - 2 - 0
17. Sean 'O Haire (WCW) 1 - 2 - 0
18. Mike "Bart Gunn" Plotcheck aka "Mike Barton" (WWE) 1 - 1 - 0
19. Craig "The Pitbull" Pittman (WCW) 1 - 1 - 0
20. El Canek (CMLL) 1 - 0 - 0

Honorable Mention: Yoshihiro Takayama (All Japan) 0 - 4 - 0; Tom "KGB" Howard (AAA) 0 - 6 - 0; Anthony "Pitt Bull #2" Durante (ECW) 0 - 2 - 0; Bam Bam Bigelow (WWE) 0 - 1 - 0; Taka Michinoku (WWE) 0 - 1 - 0 ; Jushin "Thunder" Liger (New Japan/WCW) 0 - 1 - 0; Michiyoshi Ohara (New Japan) 0 - 2 - 0; "Lightning Foot" Jerry Flynn (WCW) 0 - 1 - 0

Note: (Parentheses) denotes wrestling organization when they gained most fame.

*Eligibility Rules:

• The athlete must have had their first professional wrestling match prior to their first professional mixed martial arts match.
• Professional wrestling is defined as having “worked” (predetermined) finishes.
• Professional MMA is defined as a paid MMA match (not amateur or exhibition). For clarity, the fighter must have their record listed on Sherdog.com (listed above as win - loss - draw).
• Top 20 takes into account an entire MMA career as well as potential for future MMA success.

Not eligible for this list are Josh Barnett, Tank Abbott, and Daniel Puder. They all had success in both pro wrestling and MMA, but all had their professional MMA debut before their pro wrestling debut.

To be very clear, I don’t expect to get this list right the first time. I encourage your intelligent, articulate input below in the comments section.

Update: Here are some additional candidates for the list:

• Akira Maeda 10 - 5 - 0
• Nobuhiko Takada 2 - 6 - 2
• Masakatsu Funaki 38 - 12 - 1
• Naoya Ogawa 7 - 2 - 0
• Wataru Sakata 6 - 11 - 0
• Serjbudee "Blue Wolf" Dolgorsuren 1 - 0 - 0
• Jadamba Narantungalag 1 - 2 - 0
• Kensuke Sasaki 2 - 0 - 0
• Genki "Neo-Samurai" Sudo 15 - 5 - 1
• Yoji "Mr. 200%" Anjo 0 - 5 - 1
• Geza Kalman 4 - 7 - 0

I guess the point is that there are nearly 50 professional wrestlers who competed in MMA. Many of those competed in both the WWE and the UFC. All of this makes a quote from the Feb. 2 edition of the Washington Post some troublesome: Lesnar "is the first professional wrestler to make the leap to the UFC." That's an unforgivable error in the age of Google. If you don't already, question everything you read.

References:
http://www.sherdog.com
http://www.wrestlingobserver.com
http://www.mmafighting.com/faq/prowrestling.html

How to Break into Pro Wrestling

To break into professional wrestling, you need to network with industry insiders, gain a solid knowledge of backstage politics, hope for a little luck, and grow an incredibly thick skin. Here's my story...

Make Friends in the Business

My first "insider" contact in professional wrestling was the Rev. Billy C. Wirtz. I had watched the flamboyant 6'4" manger on Championship Wrestling from Florida during my sophomore year at UNC. It turns out that he lived in Raleigh, NC and was a professional touring comedian/musician. I met him after a show at the Skylight Exchange in Chapel Hill, and he couldn't have been nicer. He turned me on to the insider wrestling newsletter, The Wrestling Observer by Dave Meltzer.

The Observer pretty much taught me everything I needed to know about the professional wrestling business. Through my research, I learned about an upcoming South Atlantic Pro Wrestling (SAPW) show promoted by Greg Price. SAPW was the remnants of a promotion started by George Scott, John Ringley and Mike Lamberth called NAWA. The trio hoped to recapture the glory years of Mid-Atlantic Pro Wrestling. "Number 1" Paul Jones and Frank Dusek eventually took over and rechristened the promotion SAPW. I attended the Denton, NC card in January of 1992, met Greg, and asked if I could mail him some ideas for wrestling storylines.

I went back home and typed up a very detailed storyline involving a face turn by The Russian Bear Ivan Koloff. The Berlin wall had just fallen, and it seemed like a good time to freshen up Uncle Ivan's character. Ivan would bring out a handwritten letter from his mother imploring him to end his hatred of Americans, and to embrace the very country that had brought him so much success. Of course, the entire angle was just a ruse to set up Ivan and his nephew as "The Hardliners" - the last of a dying breed of communist sympathizers.

As luck would have it, SAPW just lost its booker - the volatile Ragin Bull Manny Fernandez. Greg liked my ideas and asked me to write for the TV shows. Just like that, I was the booker for a nationally-broadcast wrestling promotion at the age of 21.

Learn from the Past While Looking Forward

Greg let me decide who wrestled and why. The television show was beyond stale, and I implemented a lot of changes - many of which were not well-received. They included:

• Having Chief Wahoo McDaniel lose a retirement match where he could no longer wrestle on television. The Chief was getting old and his matches were a TV snore-fest. But he was still a good ticket seller and recognizable name. My idea was that he could still appear on TV, but people would have to attend the house shows to see the Chief exact his revenge.
• Having our champion, The German Stormtrooper Helmut Hesler, win matches cleanly. I borrowed a lot of ideas from All Japan Pro Wrestling, and this one did not go well with the boys. I wanted the heels to win their matches cleanly, and only cheat on occasion. To me, building up a strong champion made it more impactful when he eventually lost. By the way, the long-term plan was for the belt to eventually go to a young Rob Van Dam.
• Incorporating "shoot" (real) segments into the program. On one occasion, I had wrestler Roughouse Graham interrupt an interview with RVD and Bob Caudle saying he was sick of how he was being treated in SAPW. He dropped some insider names and walked off the set as we cut to black. This was not an "Internet" angle designed to cater to hardcore fans (we had neither the Internet nor hardcore fans). This was simply a way to break up the monotony of a one-hour wrestling show and hopefully get fans talking. It did just that.
• Having "jobbers" (the guys who always lose) win matches. We had some pretty good job guys, and again the idea was to create an "anything can happen" television show.

I also did other "controversial" things at the time including babyface vs. babyface matches with lighter-weight wrestlers to let the workers showcase their abilities outside the confines of a traditional good guy vs. bad guy context. Many of my ideas eventually came to light in ECW and WWE.

In fact, the famous RVD vs. Sabu "respect" series in ECW was exactly like a very detailed storyline I had written for RVD in SAPW that never aired. Coincidence? Probably. I also wrote a very detailed character sketch for "The Drifter" to be portrayed by Bryan Clark (Nightstalker, Adam Bomb, Kronik). He was to be a mysterious tweener (neither a good guy nor a bad guy) designed to appeal to disenfranchised youth. Similarities to this character were later popularized by Raven, and to a lesser extent, Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Perhaps the biggest change I brought to SAPW was actually writing out scripts for the shows. I'm not sure if I was the first wrestling script writer in the business, but no one there had ever seen or heard of one. It just hadn't been done before. To protect me from the boys (they did not like the idea of written scripts), Greg posted the scripts on the walls and claimed ownership.

Sample Wrestling Script:

Alas, my proposed Rob Van Dam vs. Vince Torelli (aka "The World's Most Dangerous Man" Ken Shamrock) feud never took place.

After eight glorious television shows, SAPW was on its last leg and Greg was ready to jump ship. He lined up an investor in Augusta, GA to start a new promotion and talked me into going along. Believe it or not, I dropped out of the prestigious Masters of Accounting program at UNC to move to Augusta to produce a new wrestling show. I was offered $25,000 a year and carte blanche to mold the show as I saw fit. How could I say no?

Know When to Walk Away

Things in Augusta never quite panned out like they were supposed to. I was getting paid, but it didn't take long to see that the money for the TV show and training facility wasn't coming. With the writing on the wall, I gave notice to Greg and returned to Chapel Hill to pursue a career in comedy.

I grew up a lot in a very short amount of time. I made a life-long friend in future WWE champ Rob Van Dam. I have a lot of good stories that involve Rob, and they certainly deserve their own post later on. I also have fond memories of watching movies the likes of which I had never seen before (or since) with "Father" James Mitchell, dodging strange overtures from the Iron Sheik, dining with Junkyard Dog, and acting as a very unlikely bodyguard for Bambi at seedy (and that's putting it nicely) autograph signings.

I also witnessed a lot of things that aren't suitable for print in this forum, including a few felonies.

I walked away from the business, only returning sporadically to ring announce a special show, appear as a pro wrestling manager, or get assaulted by the Hardy Boys. I also spent some time in ECW, where I shared stories with Chris Jericho, rode through South Philly in the Insane Clown Posse's hoopty, and picked up Terry Funk in Sabu's Winnebago.

I later conceptualized and self-published the critically-acclaimed book Tributes: Remembering Some of the World's Greatest Wrestlers along with the help of Dave Meltzer and Ted Hobgood, before later selling the rights for the book to another publishing company.

At the height of wrestling's popularity in the mid-90's, I had the possibility of working alongside Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara as a WWE script writer. I declined even going to Stamford for an meeting. My dream of working in pro wrestling had long since passed.

Like many old-time fans, my love of wrestling was irreparably broken when WCW died. Vince McMahon's current WWE is a far cry from the believable style popularized in the Carolinas by Blackjack Mulligan, Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, and countless others.

Once in a while, I'll run across an old YouTube clip that reminds me of my former love and rekindles my memories in pro wrestling.

I have no Masters degree, but I have no regrets.

How to Get Vince McMahon to Clean Up the Drug Problem in WWE

How do we get Vince McMahon to clean up the drug problem in WWE? Give him a financial incentive to do so.

In the wake of the Chris Benoit tragedy, pro wrestling has received an unprecedented amount of mainstream media coverage. A full two weeks after the grisly double murder/suicide, Chris Benoit appears on the cover of People Magazine, and Larry King Live plans to devote an entire hour to drug use in pro wrestling. Everyone is seeking answers to explain this horrific act.

Two key talking points have emerged in the discussions: rampant drug use (particularly steroids) among pro wrestlers, and the lack of an “off-season” – or any scheduled vacation at all – to recuperate from the rigors of the pro wrestling lifestyle. Some are calling for Congressional intervention. Others are calling for WWE owner Vince McMahon to step down. But if history is any indication, this story will blow over and nothing will change.

Change Must Come From The Top Down

We can glean from past actions and interviews that McMahon is fascinated with the muscled-up bodybuilder look, and gets incredibly defensive when people start pointing fingers at him. Despite numerous tragedies, he has shown little or no interest in making changes that would benefit the well-being of the wrestlers. The current “Wellness Policy” – put in place after the untimely death of Eddie Guerrero – is by all accounts nothing more than a PR move to show that the WWE is “testing.” So how do we get McMahon to enact real changes to improve the health of wrestlers? We have to give him a financial incentive to do so.

The May 14 issue of the Wrestling Observer newsletter outlined the major business changes made when WWE lost two headliners within the same week due to injuries commonly associated with steroid use. WWE champion The Undertaker had to abandon his planned long-term title reign, and up-and-comer Ken Kennedy lost his intended year-long title chase schedule to culminate at Wrestlemania. Editor Dave Meltzer made a very astute observation about the WWE’s Wellness Policy: a key goal of the policy should actually be to keep the wrestlers healthy. This is how we can get WWE to initiate positive changes in the industry: show McMahon that it is good for the bottom line.

It's Cheaper to Retain Stars Than it is to Create New Ones

Other industries have regular studies on the actual monetary cost of retaining employees versus training new ones. This is nothing new, yet no one in the mainstream media has made the connection to the pro wrestling industry. Consider this Who’s Who list of inactive WWE superstars:

Wrestlers who died while working for WWE:
Eddie Guerrero, Brian Pillman, Chris Benoit (not counting the dozens of active wrestlers who passed while not employed by WWE)

Main eventers who quit WWE due to demands of the industry:
Bill Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, Rob Van Dam, Chris Jericho, Big Show

Current WWE Superstars on the sideline due to injuries:
Triple H, Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, Shawn Michaels, Ken Kennedy

Recent WWE headliners forced to retire early due to injuries:
Stone Cold Steve Austin, Mick Foley, JBL

That list makes for quite the potential PPV lineup.

Think about that for one second. What is the present value of having these wrestlers healthy and active? What is the future value? These are real bottom-line numbers that can be calculated. With these figures, we can put a dollar value on the case for making positives changes to WWE. We can calculate the value of giving wrestlers time off. We can calculate the value for enforcing a stricter drug policy and suspending or firing those who fail. We can make a case to Vince McMahon, WWE, and its shareholders in a language they all can agree on: the bottom line.

Healthy Wrestlers are Good for Business

I challenge prominent pro wrestling journalists and the mainstream media to make this case. Come up with the numbers and get them out into the open. Vince McMahon’s past actions have not shown that he truly cares about the well-being of his wrestlers. But he does care about business. Let’s show him that keeping wrestlers healthy is good business.