ugly theme = big money?

17 replies
  • SEO
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I've seen several adsense wsos and they all seem to have butt ugly website themes. I am hesitant to use such an unappealing theme on my sites but I'm confused as to why they supposedly work well. Do you guys really make these types of simple ugly sites? Thanks
#big #money #theme #ugly
  • Profile picture of the author parbat
    i also hate such single page websites with many fake testimonial . I really wonder why people are still buying those products.

    Not only theme is ugly, script and method are also ugly .
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    • Profile picture of the author ninon
      I always wondered that myself, really why?? )
      And some of them are really annoying, it seems that the website must to jump off the screen and GRAB THE READER'S ATTENTION! or smth.

      Or maybe layouts with the simple, clean, nice and professional style doesn't work in this niche?

      I always thought that the more professional the websites looks, the more seriously customers will take you, but maybe i'm wrong
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  • Profile picture of the author sndrsndv
    ugly sites work very well with made for adsense sites , but more then likely your visitor wont return and you will have to get quality links by yourself as no one will want to link to you.
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  • Profile picture of the author JR9982
    Originally Posted by ogremagi View Post

    I've seen several adsense wsos and they all seem to have butt ugly website themes. I am hesitant to use such an unappealing theme on my sites but I'm confused as to why they supposedly work well. Do you guys really make these types of simple ugly sites? Thanks

    It is not the "ugliness" that people like, it's the simplicity, they are less confusing. Think of Facebook vs Myspace. look at the home page. See how facebook has the most simple interface, and myspace has all the crazy images and links making it more confusing.

    Obviously there is more to Facebooks success but a simple clean page to capture leads, or for people to click on your adsense will always do better.

    and yes, there are ugly sites making money, but that doesnt mean you need to have an ugly site too. take what works from them, and leave the "ugly".

    Again, don't think ugly, think simple and clean, what stands out? If you have an adsense site, then make sure your adsense links stand out more than anything else.
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      Originally Posted by JR9982 View Post

      Again, don't think ugly, think simple and clean, what stands out? If you have an adsense site, then make sure your adsense links stand out more than anything else.
      LOL! I've been saying that for years here. The biggest, baddest sites
      are sure using some plain/ugly themes, aren't they?

      Paul
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  • Profile picture of the author Lucid
    Ugliness is in the eye of the beholder. Whether a site is pretty or ugly looking, if the selling message is compelling, and easy to follow, people will buy from it. As JR above points out, people like simple. Use the KISS principle. All the bells and whistles such as fancy graphics do little to close the sale.
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  • Ugly themes and ugly content leave the visitor looking for somewhere else to go, guess what they click more ads, go figure. The trick is getting the amount of search engine visitors to these sites. Any ideas?
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  • Profile picture of the author Natlex
    Ugly themes work in the short term to increase CTR but in the long run you are probably losing out on links, visitors and might possible be banned by google. Think of all those people using xfactor themes that got banned by google... Many claimed to have great content but navigation on those sites is poor and when a user lands on the page they see adds...
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  • The bottom line is that if you want people to click your ads you need your content to match the intentions of your visitors. Most crappy looking themes simply put the ads in front of the visitors.

    I am always amazed at how many people don't get this very simple concept. I see some excellent websites and the Google ads are "Buried". They are in the bottom or off in a side bar or below the fold.

    If you want to use Adsense as a Revenue source them put it front and center.
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  • Profile picture of the author DylanC
    Some ugly sites do well. Check out one of my post about incredibly successful ugly sites.

    3 Ugly But Incredibly Successful Sites | CashJournals of DylanC
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  • Profile picture of the author wackiin
    back when I was big into dating I tested quite a few really nice sites I spent 2/3k on against some of the ugliest designs I could come up with and the ugly out preformed the really nice every time.
    Dont know what it was they both where setup the same and promoted the same
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  • Profile picture of the author Xempes
    I think ugly themes are easier for people to navigate and that is why they make more money.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Why do so many people on this forum confuse simple with ugly?

    Craigslist isn't ugly, Craigslist is dirt simple, why should they bloat their pages full of crappy theme images when it serves no purpose for traffic (they don't & shouldn't)?

    Most IMers & new webmasters get caught up in pretty shiny objects (themes), which suck at conversion rates.


    [Read this!]
    Web traffic does not like to make decisions, keep it simple!
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  • Profile picture of the author jushuaburnham
    Because they put too much effort in it promoting their site perhaps thier niche or their keywords are very selling that is why they earn a lot regardless of the appearance of the theme.
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    • Profile picture of the author brienn
      As long as that theme is profitable, don't care if is ugly!
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  • Profile picture of the author rahmanpaidar
    Do you categorize Google.com homepage as ugly theme?

    That site still ranks number one in traffic and supposedly the
    number one in online revenue.
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  • Profile picture of the author chmae73
    ugly themes is also a trick so adsenss will be click by viewers
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