Depending on the article you read, or the statistics you subscribe to, on average you have about 20-30 seconds after someone finds your website homepage to show them something that speaks to their buying drivers enough that they want to push deeper into the site itself. No matter how you slice it, that just isn't much time at all.
Think about it, that's barely even time for a quick elevator speech! You have a maximum 30 seconds to tell a perfect stranger who you are, what you do and (perhaps most importantly) why they would want to do business with you over any competitor in your field. No small task that!
That challenge leads right into the first 3 Cs in effective web design:
Clear
Concise
Compelling
Through visuals, functionality and content you have a such a short period of time to convey your positioning and image that you must make the utmost effort to be clear, concise and compelling.
BE CLEAR
Think about your own surfing behaviors. Have you ever come upon a homepage that defies you to find a visual focal point with a slew of blinking banners, fill in forms, and hotlinks/buttons as far as the eye can see? How long do you stick around to try to slog through the murky navigation to simply find the pertinent information you were looking for? Take the time to think through the navigational structure of your site BEFORE you start designing it, and allow that road map to influence HOW you design it functionally. Any good marketing web firm will take the time to draw up a navigational flowchart and make sure it is agreed upon by the client, after running it through the filter of the mindset of your potential customer. Is your brand represented well? Does the message make sense? Is it obvious how the navigation works, and is laid out rationally and simply (this point will actually be fleshed out in greater detail later on in this series of posts)? Is your brand positioning so "creative" that it's abstract or incoherent to the user? If the user does indeed like what he/she sees, is there a logical next step in responding to you? When it comes to links, many times less really is more, so don't try to jam everything and the kitchen sink onto that home page! Be clear!
BE CONCISE
People look at large blocks of text with the glazed look of a deer in headlights, and the idea of a scroll bar that drops them repeatedly "below the fold" is a killer to the motivation of clicking deeper in. As proud as you may be of your company's history resist the temptation to tell your life story on your home page, unless you really feel it is intrinsic to your sustainable competitive advantage. The copy on your homepage needs to be sparing, and every word needs to count so weigh them heavily and carefully. Ultimately the main thing that the target market segment wants to read is how your goods and/or services will accomplish a goal for them that is foremost on their mind, and how it stacks up in regards to any other options. You want to give them just enough about your brand and positioning that they really want to flesh it out by reading more on further pages, so don't, in a manner of speaking "spill all of the candy at the door", you want them to want more. Be concise!
BE COMPELLING
The copy on your site doesn't have to be sterile, boring or just a laundry list of services. Without rambling (see the 2nd C above) the information can be presented creatively, humorously, pointedly, directly, emotionally and so on, but make it powerful! Web surfers are saturated with homepages, bombarded with offers and inundated with choices and they tend to expect certain things, both visually and in copy, on similar sites, so choose to make your home page a major pattern interrupt. Have something designed that makes the user stop short and say, "Whoa!". It could be imagery presented with branded copy in a way that makes them want to just sit and watch it work, it could be interactivity that makes them want to play with the buttons and click the icons, it may just be powerful words that talk directly to their needs.
A quick example is a fencing company that we have worked with. They were selling high end residential fencing, far more expensive than the 6 foot panels for sale at the DIY box stores, and even higher than other professional installation competitors. After some research, talking with their sales staff and understanding their sales process, it was determined that the woman of the house more often than not placed the first call to get a quote, and that there were three reasons that kept coming up over and over again when she talked to the sales rep. They were, in order of importance, 1.) Security 2.) Privacy and 3.) Beautification. As we putting their marketing together, we did a photo shoot for imagery and in the pictures the fence was not the focal point. It was there in the back ground, but there were many options to go get a privacy fence, including several cheaper. Showing photo after photo of fences was not very compelling, more like yawn inducing. The pictures showed a mother playing happy and carefree in her SAFE and SECURE backyard with happy children, or a family have a nice PRIVATE barbecue in their backyard with friends, and a couple relaxing in their flower garden with a BEAUTIFUL ornamental iron fence. Then we paired that this compelling copy that reinforced each picture that moved by with each picture. Those emotive words that touched the women's goals PRIVACY, SECURITY, BEAUTY and talked about this being more than an fence, it's an investment in your home, for your family. The campaign was a success, the client sold more residential privacy fence in 2 months than they had in the year prior, and never lowered their prices! Be compelling!
We'll cover the next 2 Cs soon, until then...
Doug
