What sells better simple design or fancy design?

[marcus]

would I be better off doing a crappy design myself or paying someone like $2k to do a design that's really glitzy with all bells and whistles?

does it even matter?

what works better for a paysite tour?

[Carrie]

Depends on your niche and your traffic.
Just because you do it doesn't mean it'll be crappy, especially if it's a good niche where you really know your stuff and a designer most likely wouldn't. You'd know what to highlight, just how to crop the pictures to get the best pull, and what the main things are that your niche surfer would want to see.

If it's a generic thing though like teens then I don't think it matters so much, as long as the "teen" theme is there with lots of cute girls who LOOK like teens (none of these 30yr olds in ponytails and schoolgirl skirts).

I once commented on some banners that a designer was showing off... one was a BBW banner using a girl that looked to be about 135 pounds. I *know* that wouldn't appeal to the BBW crowd and said so - and summarily got laid open for it by both the designer and the board regulars. Some people just don't know their niches... *shrugs*

Try it yourself first. It never hurts. If you feel it's not converting well enough and you know the traffic is good, go for a designer. But you just might surprise yourself with a tour that you've made.

[cj]

how long is a piece of string?!??!?!


the copy, photos & advertising methods you use to sell your members area content in your tour is more important than what the site looks like, and as a designer that hurts to say :rolleyes:

if you aren't very good at design, stick with a really simple page layout and lots of thumbnails with really good captions & lots of 'join now because ...' links throughout the page.

this is pretty ugly imo, but it sells well & its really simple to build - just a few table rows of pictures that are the same size ...

http://www.amateurnudies.com/tour.html

my suggestion would be to have a go yourself, send some traffic, change a few things, send some more traffic, and if you still can't get a few sales, maybe have a designer look at it. At least then you know what to ask for.

imo the most important thing you can do is make your site different to everyone else's standard porn site tour ... very few designers seem to know what they are selling well enough to think as they design, therefore you get a template copy of the same site they sold a week ago.

Feel free to post your design as you go and i'm sure there are plenty of people who can offer you advice on what to do differently ;-)

[Vick]

Oooooo I know, I know



But I'm not telling :blink:

[Candice]

a fancy design with nice content is better!! :okthumb:

[SykkBoy]

Surfers just want to see the pussy

the flashy design is to get affiliates to send traffic as they won't send to a "plain" looking site

[sarah_webinc]

sometimes a lot of work goes into making things look simple

[JohnV]

Keep the design clean with quality content....

[Mike AI]

KISS method always works!!

[TeenGodFather]

Fancy content is to get affiliates, not members. But what do I know.

[XXXPhoto]

Originally posted by Vick@Jan 14 2004, 05:56 PM
Oooooo I know, I know



But I'm not telling :blink:
Turn the image sideways, crop and put some antialias text on it... it'll pull...

:wnw:

"How's the magic biz going?" Mark asks sheepishly...

[cj]

Originally posted by Candice@Jan 15 2004, 09:26 PM
a fancy design with nice content is better!! :okthumb:
why?!?!?

do you know anything about paysites or are you just make a sweeping statement for the sake of getting that button displayed one more time?

[QuaShe]

Originally posted by cj+Jan 16 2004, 05:09 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (cj @ Jan 16 2004, 05:09 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteBegin--Candice@Jan 15 2004, 09:26 PM
a fancy design with nice content is better!! :okthumb:
why?!?!?

do you know anything about paysites or are you just make a sweeping statement for the sake of getting that button displayed one more time?[/b][/quote]
I was just wondering the same

[SykkBoy]

I was consulting with a company who's members areas are the typical generic niche content, a lot of it, but not much in the way of updates and their retention rates weren't that bad...their tours were fairly plain jane and yet their conversions were still good (mainly opt-in mailer traffic)

so, I told them to keep the fancy designs to impress affiliates to send traffic and then use the "regular" designs for their own traffic, mailers and SE's...

[ulfie]

Originally posted by Vick@Jan 14 2004, 08:56 PM
Oooooo I know, I know



But I'm not telling :blink:
Vick has always had the hottest designs on the net and they convert great. :P

PS: Laughing about the hot design part not the conversions.

[Vick]

Originally posted by XXXPhoto+Jan 16 2004, 07:41 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (XXXPhoto @ Jan 16 2004, 07:41 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteBegin--Vick@Jan 14 2004, 05:56 PM
Oooooo I know, I know



But I'm not telling :blink:
Turn the image sideways, crop and put some antialias text on it... it'll pull...

:wnw:

"How's the magic biz going?" Mark asks sheepishly...[/b][/quote]
He he he he :D

How the hell have ya been? I saw some pics of you from the show - sporting glasses - got a new look going - you're so sophisticated and cute

The Magic business did very well in December but we're closing up shop at the end of this month. Sales are down for and the rent is ridiculous
It was a take the money and run

we sold the stand at the airport - staffing was the biggest challenge

and now it even gets funnier - starting the end of this month I have paid performing gigs coming up

Who da thunk? Me a performing Magician/Emcee

[Vick]

Originally posted by ulfie+Jan 16 2004, 10:12 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (ulfie @ Jan 16 2004, 10:12 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteBegin--Vick@Jan 14 2004, 08:56 PM
Oooooo I know, I know



But I'm not telling :blink:
Vick has always had the hottest designs on the net and they convert great. :P

PS: Laughing about the hot design part not the conversions.[/b][/quote]
Ugly is as Ugly does and Sells

Surfers want pretty girls, the focus will always be on the models and not the site - oh shit I gave the answer up he he he

[XXXPhoto]

Originally posted by Vick+Jan 16 2004, 08:04 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Vick @ Jan 16 2004, 08:04 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Originally posted by -ulfie@Jan 16 2004, 10:12 PM
<!--QuoteBegin--Vick@Jan 14 2004, 08:56 PM
Oooooo I know, I know



But I'm not telling :blink:
Vick has always had the hottest designs on the net and they convert great. :P

PS: Laughing about the hot design part not the conversions.
Ugly is as Ugly does and Sells

Surfers want pretty girls, the focus will always be on the models and not the site - oh shit I gave the answer up he he he[/b][/quote]
Vick,

Not new look, just sick of contacts...lol... Hmmm maybe we should work on
a routine together, could take S&R's place at Mirage... Vick & Mark and their
sexy white sheep... think anyone would pay to see it? ...lol...

I agree with you on the focus Vick, nobody ever joined a paysite cause it
had a pretty button. :awinky:

[SykkBoy]

Originally posted by XXXPhoto@Jan 18 2004, 03:07 PM
I agree with you on the focus Vick, nobody ever joined a paysite cause it
had a pretty button.
yet, sadly every major program forgets this....or ignores it due to the fact affiliates demand it......

[TeenGodFather]

Originally posted by SykkBoy@Jan 18 2004, 07:10 PM
....or ignores it due to the fact affiliates demand it......
Bingo I'd say. Although, I don't think anyone ever decided not to join because the design is pretty.

[Gunni]

Simple designs with flasing text banners sell the best, in my experience that is. But as a lot of people say, affiliates want fansy stuff (or at least the ones that don't know any better :awinky: )

[TrafficFreak]

My opinion is that if you can get the surfer hot, horny and bothered then they will want to see what content you have inside of your site. With that being said, I honestly don't think that you necessarily have to have a fancy site in order to make surfers feel this way. Sometimes the simpler sites are better!!! Just my 2 cents ...

************************
The ONLY Search Engine tool you'll ever need:
http://www.trafficfreaks.com/?=sarah

[cj]

Originally posted by TeenGodFather@Jan 19 2004, 04:49 AM
Although, I don't think anyone ever decided not to join because the design is pretty.
really?!

are you *sure* about that?

[chodadog]

Flashy designs attract affiliates.

[cj]

Originally posted by chodadog@Jan 20 2004, 01:47 AM
Flashy designs attract affiliates.
but do they attract the affiliates with a large volume of traffic?

[chodadog]

Originally posted by cj+Jan 20 2004, 03:16 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (cj @ Jan 20 2004, 03:16 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteBegin--chodadog@Jan 20 2004, 01:47 AM
Flashy designs attract affiliates.
but do they attract the affiliates with a large volume of traffic?[/b][/quote]
I'd have to say yes. Just look at a few of the biggest affiliate programs around with the most affiliates. I think there are a lot of successful people in this business with huge amounts of traffic that are stuck with the glitzy eyecandy mentality. The old "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" adage is preventing a lot of people from maximizing the value of their traffic.

Of course, that's not to say there aren't plenty of others who have realised what's going on and are quietly making their fortune with simple sites.

[quiet]

fancy wins every time!