I've had my amateur pay site for 13 years now and I've never changed the design. The main reason why is because I am AFRAID to change it. The site does very well in terms of affiliate conversions, and it has been a FULL TIME income for me over the last 10 to 12 years. I've also had some VERY well known websites offer me a listing on their sites, if I changed my design. I just never have and I probably never will either. Besides, I really like the design of my site.
It's always the same thing too, and I'm not complaining because I appreciate the compliments, but it usually goes something like this ....your content ROCKS DUDE, but your design looks like it was created in 2003. Well guess what? That's because the design WAS created in 2003! But my question is always the same ... is it really the design or the affiliate conversions that matter? If you ask me, I'd rather have a simple design and continue receiving sales throughout the day and evening hours, instead of having a KICK ASS design with NO conversions. I also believe that the design should match the content residing in the members area.
The CONTENT is what really entices a potential customer to sign up. It's like going into the movie rental stores back in the day. I think that we can all relate to the fact that just because a movie has an AWESOME DVD cover, doesn't necessarily mean that the movie is going to be a great movie. Right?
So yeah, I completely agree with the OP of this thread. I mean, if you run a glamour modeling website, or something similar to that, then have a fancy looking and slick design created for you. You could even have the designer make animations, along with various shit bouncing around and shooting towards you on the screen ....but for me, I just don't think all of that is necessary when you're running an amateur site and shooting you own content that already converts well.
Anyway, that's just my
