Mile long pages with calls to action

[john4math]

Do these mile-long pages with a call to action at the bottom really produce more conversions? For example, see http://www.keywordelite.com/. Has anyone A/B tested this format vs. breaking up the content into tabs or some other format with multiple pages? Personally, these turn me off as they seem disorganized, they take forever to read, and they always sound like scams.

[john4math]

Thanks for the answers everyone!  It's still crazy to me that these pages actually work.

[RyanKent]

What a nice article. I LOVE case studies which are well presented like this one. Thanks for sharing!

[flowsimple]

Weird, I just sent this blog post link to another person with the same question.

Long scrolling narrow pages have always irked me. The design goes against every design sensibility and principal. It's the kind of feeling you know in your bones. But lots of A/B testing has shown that it works. And I couldn't find a designer that challenged this incumbent with a better design. Until NOW.

Check out 37Signal's post on their tests to see what performed BETTER:http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2991-behind-the-scenes-ab-testing-part-3-finaltheir previous posts part 2 and part go into more detail.But wow, do the results surprise you? They made me happy and relieved all at the same time.

[MarieHaynes]

When I first got interested in marketing online I read a lot of tutorials on how to best do affiliate marketing.  They all suggest a huge long page of copy like this.  The funny thing is, most of these pages that I see are selling books teaching other people how to do affiliate marketing!

These always look like spam to me.  I expect that when I go to leave the page I'm going to get javascript saying, "Do you really want to go?"

Personally I would never buy a product from a page like this.

[firstconversion]

They always look like spam to me but I have seen that viperchill uses them and I know he tests continuously

edit: Shoemoney does this same tactic with his videos.

[vishalkhialani]

me to. I still keep on getting  them

[AdeLewis]

Hi Christopher,

I suspect that there are a huge amount of these types of sites that aren't spam but the point that I was trying to make is that because a large proportion of them are spam, my perception is that I instantly don't trust the credibility of any site using the same format.

This is an observation on my perception of the sites and not a reflection on all of them.

[ChristopherGlaeser]

All that was needed was a compelling set of training DVDs and perhaps three or four years to accumulate the email addresses.  Then, to keep it going, put a new series of training DVDs.  The topic can be just about anything, but various types of sports training are quite common.  Most probably don't do much, but a few do really well.

Best,
Christopher

[RyanKent]

In that case, John and I can partner up and start opening up a dozen of these sites and quit our day jobs.

[ChristopherGlaeser]

I'm sure there are many that are spam, but the ones with which I am most familiar are not.  The DA is not great, but all the incoming links are legit.  They sell instructional DVDs and gross about $10K per month.  Most of the traffic is email driven.  There is zero Adsense and ad revenue.  The one web pages goes on for pages and pages of scrolling with one purpose--to sell the DVDs, or failing that, to get an email address so they can sell the DVDs next month.

Anyway, that format can work.  Sure are ugly, though.

Best,
Christopher

[AdeLewis]

In regards to the SEO world, the site owners that use these type of mile-long pages seem to be all part of a group with affiliate links to each others sites.

Somewhere along the line I have ended up on their mailing list and every couple of weeks I get an email from another miracle solution to driving relevant traffic towards your website. For me the common theme for all of these sites is that they are pretty much Black Hat and shady.

Based on the sites that I have seen using this one-page format, my perception is that any site I see with the same format is Spam. This of course may not be true but personally I wouldn't see any site using this format as credible.

[ChristopherGlaeser]

I can't cite any A/B studies so I wouldn't know if they generate more conversions, but I do know of several of these that do generate good income.  One conversion that is common with the ones I know include a freebie (maybe some type of report) in exchange for an email address.  Those large lists of opt-in email addresses are gold.

Best,
Christopher

[RyanKent]

I have never had a client with such a page, but they are very popular. I can understand how a percentage of people are continuously enticed by the presentation and read further down.

My best guess is it's like junk mail. If you can find a way to present it to enough people, a small percentage convert and profit margins are extremely high. This site sells a service for $97 and I would guess it is all profit.

With respect to other formats, the single page presentation forces readers into a funnel. Sure it will cause a lot of readers to bounce, but they probably achieve the best conversion rate by forcing readers into a single funnel (i.e. scroll down the page and not get lost on various site pages).

Yes, it seems like a complete scam, but people still fall for scams every single day, and they will 100 years from now too.