Athsteticly Pleasing VS Higher Conversions

Hi Guys,

I have a problem here, I've designed a new website in WordPress - It looks great very Web 2.0 and shiney everyone loves the look and ease of navigation - But it does not convert as well as a basic theme with no shineyness or web 2.0 looks.

The conversion rates are shocking, I did a small test -

Web 2.0 Theme = 1 conversion in 30 days
Basic Theme = 40+ conversions in 30 days

People all say they hate my website when its the basic theme but it converts so well, but does look like a made for adsense site, what should I do? Im thinking of switching to the basic theme but will google frown upon me?

Split test what parts of the site are specifically affecting conversions, whatever affects it, just remove. There are parts that can stay aesthetically pleasing and still pull the same amount if not more conversion ratings.

If one theme is converting 40x better than the other, then there is no decision. Money determines all!

Remember your sites are a for-profit exercise and you're designing for your customers (ie the people that actually convert and pay your bills), not for random passers by who just use your bandwidth.

Googlebot doesn't care about your site design, only your content - same with the Adsense team, if that is an issue.

It sounds like you're using radically different layouts for both designs. Maybe you could try using the same basic layout as the old template, but just update the design elements to look a bit more web 2.0.