Web Design Sunshine Coast
has been writing a lot about website homepages lately - because this is so important. How many chances do you get to make a good first impression? Read more from an article, web design sunshine coast wrote back in December 2003 re your website homepage. These are sometimes referred to as landing pages.
A homepage is a website page that is created for one purpose - to persuade the site visitor to take a further action ie. convert into a customer by making a sale, completing a form (thereby becoming a qualified lead), signing up for a newsletter, etc.
Most importantly, consider that you have 5 to 8 seconds or less to
convince your visitor to act. If you haven't convincingly made
your case in this time then your visitor will move on and will
be lost, as the Internet has created the most fickle customer
in sales history.
WebPage Layout
Place your logo at the top left. This was covered in detail in web design eye movement. Visitors expect it there so display your branding where it counts.
- If the visitor came from a search engine keyword search, then place the keyword terms in bold at the top of the page. This reinforces to the visitor that they came to the right place.
- Always keep the Golden Triangle in mind. It is the most
important and scanned part of the page. It is the area of the
page that starts at the top left of the page moves to the top
right side of the page then down diagonally to the bottom left
of the page just above the fold.
The fold is the area of a web
page that the visitor sees without scrolling vertically. You
should never force a visitor to scroll horizontally. This means
that your landing pages should be able to be seen completely on
an 800 x 600 screen resolution. Place your UVP (Unique Value
Proposition) in the middle of the Golden Triangle.
- Contrast your Calls to Action with respect to the rest of the page - use contrasting colors, round vs. rectangular, straight vs. slanted, warm color vs. cold color, big vs. little. Make sure you can spot the Call to Action from 6 feet away.
- Place assurances, testimonials and guarantees in the far-right column
- Place logos to appropriate associations or online companies at the bottom of the page to show credibility - Verisign, BBB Online Reliability, certified by..., Alexa rank (if good), powerseller, live support, credit cards supported, open 24 hours a day, Hacker Safe, as seen in Entrepreneur Magazine, Chamber of Commerce, etc.
- Don't place external links on a landing page. Just allow them the option to proceed into completing the form and converting into a customer. More info on web design actions.
- Place privacy policies on the landing page. This instills confidence.
- Think of the Amazon.com website. Note their Call to Action is the hotspot at the top-right of all pages - add to cart, one click ordering, etc. This may also apply to you.
Writing Style and Content
- Spend time on your Unique Value Proposition (UVP) and place
it into the center of the Golden Triangle. A UVP is the core
differentiation of a company's product or service from those
of competitors. A complete UVP will describe the market and a
company's competitors and the key difference between
competitors and your own company.
- Ensure that you don't have big paragraphs. Visitors tend to
scan pages instead of reading all of the text on them.
- Write using headers above paragraphs that summarise the
following text. More on web design basics.
- Use bullets where possible as visitors can quickly scan them.
Search engines also prioritize bullets instead of long paragraph
text.
- If you want to add a picture ensure that it is going to
reinforce your message. You can easily lose significant sales
by having the wrong picture on the landing page.
- If the purpose of the landing page is to provide a white
paper or article then create an image for the paper with
enlarged text like the one below and place it on the page.
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