How do you tell which page will convert better? Example included

Tom, this is a guessing game, not a realistic poll. And it's not a helpful one for you, because even if 70% of the people replying have the same opinion about one sales-page over the other, that still wouldn't mean that it'll convert your traffic better than the other one, anyway.

Conversion-rates are not some sort of immutable, absolute "function of the sales page": they depend mostly on the affiliate's pre-selling process.

(I can't compare these two meaningfully because, for me, they're both "non-qualifiers": I wouldn't be willing to promote either, because they both fail - in at least two places I can see at a glance - my own little 10-point checklist test for the "basic criteria of acceptability" for product selection, but that's personal opinion only, of course).

I am not a copywriter, as you can tell, so I cannot comment on that side of the conversion possibilities of these pages.

But as a graphic designer, I can sincerely say that the first one, lacks professionalism in presentation, and the second one is better, but is highly lacking in that area also.

One thing that alot of people for some reason just do not get in the IM field, is that graphic design is part of advertising and marketing. Visual communication and presentation has to be high quality if you are going to use graphics.

If graphic design was not important to sales, then I guess no one would ever have to use graphics to sell their product and could rely on copy alone.

Graphics do not sell the product but they do help communicate and can provide credibility and professionalism.

I understand that many new IM's do there best to save money on graphics and do their own graphics. Which is detrimental to their conversions. My suggestion is to do you own graphics. And if you are going to promote someone's product make sure that the product looks credible and professional.

Site 2 looks way more professional to me, it's more visually appealing I think - for whatever that's worth.

I completely agree with Steve Wells though

I like the look of the second one a little better, but both have really annoying exit pop ups and the second has too many of them.

Site two, hands down. The first one looks like a throwback to the 90s. One thing about site number two is you've gotta go through an exit popup minefield to get off the site. That pisses a lot of people off. One, maybe two is okay but four is too many. Good luck.

I agree that the second looks better. One complaint I have about these type of sites however is how much wasted space page there is. They could afford to add another 2" on each side of the margin. As a user I personally hate the "blandness" of scrolling through a wall of text with nothing to catch my eye. Use this forum page for example. It is wider and to me, more readable than the pages shown in your poll. Also, the forum has a gradient feel so my eyes don't feel like burning out of my head as I am scrolling down the page and reading the text. I hope I am conveying the message in a way that makes sense.

I always guess wrong. Not only that, but I watched a room full of top notch copywriters guessing which of two ads pulled better and they are no better at guessing than am I.

That's why testing is important.

I agree with a lot of you - I recently did a small, simple test article on one of my own websites about one of the affiliate products I am promoting.

As simple and to the point as it was, that article made me my first two sales on Clickbank. It really is making me think that the little bit of time it took for me to put together that article - I should do it for all the other affiliate products I am promoting as well. If it makes such a big difference, it is worth it!

Really, the only way to know is to test it - for what it's worth, the second site looked more professional, but I was annoyed by the many popups at the exit :/

Try one for a week, then switch to the other.
( Split test )
It's the only way to know for sure.


EDIT - OMG can someone lock this 6 month old thread? lol

As many people have said before me - the only way you'll know which converts better is to actually test them both.

You're only going to get preferences from warriors here - they are not your target market and neither am I, so honestly, we cannot comment on which will perform better.

Testing has, and will, continue to be the only way to answer this question.

Best of luck!

Either way should be fine! We Make Websites ConvertBetter http://www.convertbetter.com/