some comments

> I have been told recently that the hyperlink structure at Cory’s sales
> letter site is causing his site to lose much of its effectiveness.

Dunno about the hyperlink structure. What other comments were made here?

> I have been told that the use of “pop-up” windows or “_blank” / “_new”
> windows in a hyperlink structure is not recommended and
> should be avoided to increase a web site’s conversion.

This is true. Have you ever gone to sites where you are hit by popups? Didn't you run screeching for a popup blocker? (in the past here there are folks who claimed they just loved them anyway... but I'm not sure if they were just saying that to lure US into seeing the popups that we were blocking on their sites or what.)

> I have been told that almost all versions of new browsers on the market
> have some form of “pop-up” blocking ability that limits or completely
> renders
> the links a person has on their site “un-accessible” unless the visitor
> specifically “allows” pop-ups from my/your site.

Quite true. The popup blocker WILL block pages using a javascript "popup." So we have to do a "turn it off" if we want to see a popup on your site. Most often this simply causes folks to dither about "how badly do I want this information?"

> I have been told that most visitors have no idea how to allow a specific
> site’s pop-ups to work.

I'd say this was also pretty true.

> I have been using the same idea as Cory does on his site.
> People must click on a hyperlink, and they will get a totally new page
> opening, while the original web page stays open in the background.
> Should I stop using all pop-ups this way?

Is there a reason you're doing this other than "Cory does it"?

> Am I losing tons of sales because I do this?

Probably not.

> Why would Cory still do this if it appears to be such a big mistake? Is he
> not also losing tons of sales? In fact, at Cory’s site, a person must click
> on a link to get to his order page. But, the order page is in a pop-up.
> Are many people not able to get to Cory’s order page because they have all
> pop-ups blocked?

There's a huge difference between your site and Cory's site... but I'm going to address that a bit later.

> At my site, I often want a new page to open simply because many times
> people will show up at my site,and want to click to read my extensive
> FAQ page I have.
> Nor did I want people to be able to click to the FAQ page, and then hit
> the “x” in the top right hand corner after
> finishing getting their questions asked……and leave my site forever.

That's not usually the way it works. If they're going to leave your site, they'll click down the FAQ and hit the back arrow button or make some other surfing command. It won't matter whether you've popped up Yet Another Window at them. If you put up Yet Another Window, they'll just close that and surf away.

There is no change in their behavior at the "no thanks" stage.

> Can anyone explain to me and this forum what I should consider doing,
> and why Cory keeps his high conversion sales letter the way he does?

Cory has a high conversion rate because of the TWO things you lack:
1) He wrote the course. His name is all over the place. If people are avoiding his affiliates, they still buy the original book from him (and Cory recommends that you develop your own product -- just like he did. And not a "me too" product.)
2) Cory is very very well known in the bizops circles. This means that he will often be recommended by people who have bought the course (but may not be reselling it) or people who have reviewed the course in some way. If they give a link, they'll give it to Cory's site and not to an affiliate site. Attention brings customers and customers bring money.