Have you ever arrived at a website to find lots of different boxes with various products, services, special offers, sale items or a range of different options that cover everything from signing up for the newsletter to downloading a report? Confusing, isn’t it?
Where do you start when there are so many options? The problem is most people don’t – they just hit the back button and leave.
You need ONE item that stands out and attracts attention and that gets your visitor started – it’s usually the headline, but there are some other devices that also work.
If you’re offered a choice of six colours isn’t it harder to make a decision than if you’ve just got a couple to decide upon? It’s the same principle, except that most web visitors just don’t bother, if it looks too hard, they’re off to find something ‘easier’.
If you want your home page to be sticky then you mustn’t frighten your visitor off at the first visit! Nice clear text, a visible menu that looks easy to use, not too many boxes and things in the places that they expect them to be. For instance, log in or sign up boxes tend to work best top right, under the masthead. Testimonials work well under that on the right, or in a defined box in an appropriate place in the text.
Visuals should contribute to the message not be pure decoration. Everything should work to get your message across and you’ll have a much better chance of hanging on to your visitor long enough to get them really interested.
