Person Visits Website Then Vanishes
Last night thousands of people surfing the internet for your products or services vanished without a trace. The reason? H.C.O.D. (Homepage Content Overdose). Okay so they didn’t really vanish; but they’re damn sure gone from those websites forever.
One of the biggest mistakes a website can make is confusing visitors with cluttered content. When a visitor comes to your site, the introduction begins. Call it a virtual ‘meet and greet’ with one chance to dance. If they don’t find exactly what they’re looking for (and fast)-they’ll succumb to the evil powers of H.C.O.D.
Are You Mistaking Educating with Inundating?
The trained eye can only take so much information at one time. There’s a very fine line between providing information and flooding the brain. Your primary goal is to create dialog, not inundate them so they become confused, don’t know where to go next and ultimately vanish (POOF).
7 Ways To Keep H.C.O.D. from Sabotaging Website Conversion
1. Keep it simple- Introducing your business to a visitor isn’t rocket science. Many people over think the process. How can you establish trust, value and a common ground with your visitors? Break it down in laments terms. What are the basics they need to know? What’s pertinent? What’s not? You can get into all of the other stuff later. Less is always more so don’t overkill the moment. It’s not necessary.
2. Create a Simple Sequence- Using a methodical order of steps goes a long way to help visitors understand the personality of your company thus further establishing value in your products/services. How can you narrow down the steps visitors should take to initiate contact with you?
3. Call To Actions- A call to action is anything that encourages a visitor to take the next step. Call to actions are part of showing visitors you don’t bite. They should always be in your header or above the first fold. Make them attractive but not over bearing. And whatever you do, keep the “HYPE” at a minimum. Stay away from the “IT’S TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE” approach. Thank you.
4. Easy with the Navigation Bar- Okay, you’re passionate about your business and want to share the great products and services you represent, as you should be. But you don’t need ten navigation bar buttons to prove your point. Everything you need to say can be narrowed down into five or six navigation buttons. Extra bells and whistles are not only unnecessary, they take away user friendliness and create subconscious confusion.
5. Extra Content, Extra SEO- If doing this were a crime, they’d lock me up and throw away the key. We’ve all added extra content to our homepage to make our SEO more attractive to the search engines. Haven’t we? So where do you draw the line? How do you know when it’s too much? Easy. If your home page looks flooded to you (and you know your biz inside and out) how do you think it looks to a person who knows nothing of your industry? Intimidating. Think beyond the norm. You don’t need loads of content for the On-Site SEO to standout. Try and be more efficient in how you optimize your keywords.
6. Don’t Think Like You- This is probably the biggest mistake you can make. Why is it people people assume everyone knows what they know? Put yourself in the shoes of your visitors. Pretend you know nothing about your products and services. What information would you want to know? Your services may seem self explanatory to you, but guess what? Its not to them. Get it?
7. Don’t Lose Who You Are- A lot of websites present themselves in a manner that’s a total opposite to their real personality. Don’t put on a front. This is YOUR BUSINESS. You’re the boss. Why not let your personality shine through? Don’t take yourself too seriously. Sprinkle some cleverness in your site. Make it different. People appreciate a punchline or two. Doesn’t mean you have to go overboard. I know some of you are saying “but my business is serious.” Good for you. Now figure out a way to take some of the seriousness out of it. Quote a famous movie line. If there’s a stereotype attached to your business (whether it’s deserved or not), exploit it. Make fun of it. Personality in your site goes a long way in standing out. More than you know.
And The Defense Rests…
The whole point is to keep it simple. If you’re your own worst critic (like me) it’s never going to be perfect. Conversions will grow exponentially so long as you keep those consumer walking shoes laced up and replenished. You’ll break free of H.C.O.D. Can I get an “AMEN?” Thanks and have a prosperous day!!
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