Clumsy & Ugly = Great Selling Website
A few days ago I was reading Dan Kennedy’s newsletter and he mentioned that ugly and clumsy websites almost always outperform sleek and pretty ones (he’s tested this many times).
This would explain why people like Matt Furey, who sells millions of dollars of products online, have such so-so sites. In fact, Matt’s just had his site revaamped — it was actually uglier before.
And take a look at Dan’s own website, it’s certainly not flashy or sleek. Dan and Matt can easily afford to pay something to build them any kind of website they want… yet they deliberately keep their sites shall we say “home-made.” You get a sense that there’s a real person behind the site rather than some cold and perfect entity.
This was a good lesson for me because in the past I’ve worried about having a “pretty” site and that doesn’t really make much of a difference online.
Take my site here for example, on two browsers the header doesn’t even line up to the top but I’ve left it that way becuase it’s working for me. People are signing up for my updates list and revisiting the site over and over again.
I may fix it at some point but it’s a good reminder not to spend time trying to perfect anything and instead spend time getting things done… things that make money.
So if you’re thinking about spending time or money giving your site a makeover, I would say concentrate on the structure of the site and the marketing and don’t worry too much about the little details.
There’s no such thing as perfection and you can always improve as you go along… if you wait to get it just right you may never get around to finishing!
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September 26th, 2007 at 10:34 am
Awesome post Mila, love it. I had a look at Matt’s site and I see what you mean. I’ve never had the desire to have a really sleek site but I had no idea it would actually be of benefit not to have one.
Angela
September 26th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
I’m loving your new site Angela, that’s a great mixture of professional yet still friendly and welcoming
September 28th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
That’s interesting, Mila. I’ve worried about my site looking too homemade. I wouldn’t have noticed about the top of your site if you hadn’t mentioned it!
What I do notice, though, is all the sales pitches by the gurus that need to be proofread. Extra words, words out of place, etc. I guess it doesn’t matter because they’re making the money!
Peg
http://cookinkids.com
September 29th, 2007 at 2:21 am
Hi Peg, that’s interesting about the proofreading. Again, I think some deliberately leave these mistakes in and/or don’t really worry about them becuase they know their main message is getting across.
Your site looks great!
October 1st, 2007 at 9:34 am
I’ve noticed the typos on various websites by the “biggies” as well. Now that you’ve explained things, Mila, I won’t get so bent out of shape over them. I guess it’s the English major in me, I just HATE to see them, especially when people should know better. lol
October 17th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
I never understand why some people get so bent out of shape over a typo or two here and there.