Hmm what to do, what to do?

Keep ugly layout w/ decent ranks, or redo layout and chance it?

[kstprod]

Hi guys,

Well I know it's still early, but I'm facing a bit of a dilemma. I have been picked up this update (whew) and am showing on www2 and www3, minus some important backlinks like Dmoz. While waiting for this update, I've realized the "look" of my site could be so much better. I've completely changed my layout and a few graphics, but have NOT uploaded the new changes yet. This will completely effect my ranks, as my content will be alot higher in the page, and file size will be alot smaller. Chances are that after the new layout my serps will suck for a while, until I play with them until they're decent. Is it worth messing up decent positions? Read below...

I've been so-so in results as far as serps go (in the big boys), because I'm having trouble grasping the concept of optimizing. However, over time (about 1-2 months) I am noticing that for the number of visitors I am getting, my sales conversion rate isn't too impressive. Of the last 2500 (5 days unique and repeat) visitors, 5 have turned into sales. Most of them stay for a good amount of time, and look through every page. But, I don't think my visitors like my layout very well, maybe it's sending the appearance of on-the-fence non-professional. While I realize I may screw up some decent serps results now, what good will it do if they don't turn into sales?

Bottom line is this. I really like the new layout *much* better than as it stands now, and I think it will be easier for me to make SE friendly. I think my visitors will like it too, but I am notorious for screwing myself and crying about it later....lol.. I'm scared to death that if I change it now, I'll never get back to page 1 in the serps, which is highly possible with my experience. This update is sure to get me a TON of new visitors, so I'm sure sales will improve, but could they be so much better if my site was more appealing?

Experienced advice welcome. Hence the title of this thread....

"What to do, what to do?"

Thanks guys,

Karen

[bateman_ap]

I can only talk from experience. I completly changed the look of my site, rewrote most of the copy and to be honest it didn't affect the rankings at all. I noticed the guy above me (i'm no 2, he is no1) did the same and his ranking remained the same. I can only guess that the text in backlinks is much more important.

[troels nybo nielsen]

It's of no use to have many visitors if your conversion rate is next to nothing. If you really have another design with the advantages that you mention I definitely think you should use it.

[QNetwork]

Karen:

Congratulation! I just saw your site got PR7 in this update. Good job. I could not find any external backlinks from other PR7 or higher site pointing to yours. Just a few low PR external backlinks. This makes me wondering how is Google calculating PR nowadays? Are you getting good traffic now from Google?

Regards

Qnetwork

PS: Congrats again on becoming DMOZ editor.

[buckworks]

<<and file size will be alot smaller. >>

This isn't quite the same, but I offer it for what it's worth: I've done some tweaking that didn't change the site's "look and feel" very much, but the changes in the source code were substantial (example: changing to CSS for layouts and formatting). In my experience, reducing code clutter while maintaining the same content has always been a good thing.

It adds new variables if you're adding or moving content on individual pages, but if you can figure out the things you're doing right and build on those rather than changing them, you'll probably be okay.

[kstprod]

Thanks! I know, my big backlinks aren't showing yet for same reason, but they must be counting. Yes, I'm getting pretty good traffic from Google now too, thankfully. :)

I did follow through with the layout changes and it has SO helped my conversion rate. It could be better, but I'm working on it. :)

The December update is going to be a big one for me, as I'll either stay where I am or fall off the face of the earth....lol...It's definately an update I am NOT looking forward to. I'm enjoying the excitement while it lasts! :)

Have a good day everyone!

Karen