A little Paysite Tip
 

Well it's been quite awhile since I did one of these but since I'm back with www.guaranteeddesigns.com it seems fitting that I should do one again.

Paysite tip #117b revision F: :)

Nowadays with reality type tours being prevelant it's really the content more than anything that sells the site. All the fancy graphics and great text and to some extent the concept take a back seat to the content you portray on the tour. Most people get that at this point in the game.

That being a given, then when you are having problems with conversions not being where you want, then wouldn't it stand to reason that the first thing you change are your samples, not any design items? I'm getting people asking me what is wrong with their tour and should they change this graphic or that text... my answer is: "How many different sample photos have you tried from each scene?"

So before you go messing around with your tour, mess with your samples first. A majority of the time, it's the sample that gets a guy horny and inspires the credit card to come out.

A few rules on what works for samples:

1) Larger and crisper. See Duke's http://www.facialabuse.com/tour3/index.html. It converts like mad.

2) A HOT face always sells! Even if your site is hardcore based, if the girl has a gorgeous face, you are best showing that. Guys always want to see the prettiest girls get it on.

3) In the absence of a hot face ass shots seem to be the next best thing, then just look for whatever picture captures the moment and gives you the most wood.

4) If it's a video site like most are now, make sure people know how the size of the largest cap relates to the video. If you have a big crisp cap and the videos are too, let them know that!

5) Go the extra mile... clean up the pictures if you have to like removing blemishes and stuff. Just don't make them look airbrushed. The picture samples are the most important sales tool you have.

6) When all else fails and you are testing different caps, be methodical. Try one set of caps for the tour one week, then another and so on til you hit on the largest.

7) Be sneaky smart! Link the caps to the join page or a sample page or whatever but have each one go to a sep version of the join page (or put in a tracking code) so you can track which caps people are wanting to see the most of. Knowledge is power!

A picture is worth a thousand signups... if done right. =]

Excellent tips!

yup, content is a king!

Very good business thread on GFY!

Yay, happy useful thread. Thanks Mark! :thumbsup

content and knowledge is what is all about

Damn right! :)

Yeah it happens sometimes. =]

Nice tips Mark. Did you design Duke's site? It's fucking beautiful.

bookmarking this thread...great tips

#2 is the realest...good tips:thumbsup

That is a fantastic tip.

I concur

Sweet tips!

I should maybe put these thigns on a web page as I write them or something.

Didn't you do that back in the day?


Also, did you design that Duke site? I'm guessing you did but I would like to know for sure.

I never put them all online for use. Photoshop tips and such like I have now yeah.

Everything in the portfolio was either me or my #1 designer Andriy. All the Duke Dollars designs in the portfolio (DD program, Facial Abuse, Ghetto Gaggers) are me.

Good stuff Mark. Really clean.

Excellent tips.

I might also add that while you're selecting which sample thumbs to put on the preview page, give thought to the order in which you're placing them. I'd have a tendency to put the very best of the selections in the upper rows in case the surfer is too lazy to either scroll or scan down the page, or just in an extreme hurry. Have the best images hit the surfer at the optimum eye level on the screen.

If you're surfing other sites yourself, keep notes on what kind of visuals in the thumbs catch your own eye the most. Its subjective, of course...but if you consider yourself to be somewhat average in taste - possibly what catches your attention also catches the attention of the average surfer. So keep those notes in mind when selecting the order of the thumbs on the page.

Just my :2 cents:

Excellent point! I also playe withthe order of consoles on sites to compare conversions. Sometimes just shaking up the order every few months seems to help.

Very true, too. Sometimes just a minor tweak here and there can give the impression of freshness.

Another trick we've been utilizing lately is rollover thumbs. Adding a compact but colorful beveled frame to the duplicate thumbs that 'lights up' when you rollover with the cursor. Its mostly eye-candy, but it gives an impression of a little more interaction with the thumbs, almost like inviting or nudging the surfer to go ahead and click the thumb.

For example (roll over the thumbs).

Its a little more work of course, but I think it adds a nice attractive feature that might help entice visitors to click.

I like that. The argument there you go through is if it slows page load down is it worth it? The answer is you do a week with and a week without and compare conversion. That's always the answer when you don't know but you have to be careful that your sample times have no other variables like a big sponsor comes on with tons of low grade traffic from TGPs or something.

What I used to do and will be starting again shortly is a test bed site where I send a finite amount of traffic from a certain source group and it stays the same so when I want to try ideas and bring them into the fold for clients (and now for TiarraCash! =]), I have empirical data on what's working or not.

At the end of the day though it can be inexplicable and you just have to keep taking stabs at it. I'm just trying to minimize how wide of a net you have to cast.

Thanks for the tips Mark :)

good tips back to the top :)

Good point. We've just started tryin' out the rollovers with that site in particular. That one's not a paysite, though...so it wouldn't be the place to compare conversions.

You can still measure any ideas/changes against whatever your goal is with the site. I'm coining a new term... measured innovation. Yes... Trademark that so I can sue someone 2 years from now. =]

Content is King! :thumbsup

good tips :)

Ok, this makes me want to redesign my tour. :)

yep... great tip!

Bookmarked thread. :)

Thanks for sharing!