02.07.07
“How Do Web Visitors REALLY See Your Web Page…”
They don’t see what you see. When you create a Web page, you envision your reader reading the whole thing, carefully considering its content.
Not likely. People online typically don’t read. They skim or "scan" a Web page.
When the Web first came on the scene in the 90’s, many made the mistake of trying to apply rules of other mediums to Web pages. It didn’t work. Many of the "givens" for traditional publishing just didn’t translate to this new media.
The fundamental reason most people come to the Web are quite different from the reasons they read newspapers or magazines. When you take the time to read a magazine, you’re committing quite a bit of time. You’re looking for general information on a topic you enjoy.
When I pay for a magazine, I don’t feel I got my money’s worth out of it if I don’t read most of it. I feel obligated to at least glance through the whole thing. I don’t feel that way when I go online. Since I invested nothing besides my time, I feel no obligation whatsoever to read an entire article, much less explore the entire site.
That’s uncovers another major reason people don’t explore Web sites much online… there’s just too much to see. The Web puts so much information at your fingertips that you simply can’t begin to digest it all, no matter how focused the topic. Your Web site readers are bombarded daily with hundreds of marketing messages when they spend time online.
There are also basic assumptions about magazine readers that often don’t apply to the Web. First of all, I only subscribe to magazines about things I’m interested in. Why? I have to pay for them.
For this reason, a magazine’s readership is focused. Not so online. For example, I was very interested in woodworking several years. It got so bad that I was on a first-name basis with some of the Home Depot tool guys.
I subscribed to a few woodworking magazines. I paid attention to the advertisements in the magazine. I actually wanted to see what new tools and other innovations would be in the ads. However, when I’m online, I’m completely blind to banner ads. My mind simply blocks them out.
Your mind is well-trained too. Because of the tremendous amount of knowledge you’re exposed to on the Web, your mind gets very good at filtering out what it doesn’t need to know. It’s an information overload self-defense mechanism.
You simply can’t process it all. Your mind learns to quickly determine a few key things when you first arrive at a Web page from a search engine or link. The most important ones are:
- What’s this page about?
- What can I do on this page?
- What’s in it for me on this page?
Let’s get into the mind of your site visitor. As Steven R. Covey would say, let’s "begin with the end in mind." What do you want your best audience to do on your site? Purchase a product? Request more information? Learn about you, your products, and services? Now think about the service you offer.
Now consider what your target audience wants. They view why they are there in different terms than you do. They aren’t there to buy from you or to become a new lead for your business.
They arrive with a real or perceived need, greed, or fear of loss. These are the fundamental reasons people act in any way different from what they’ve done before, their "emotional triggers." When you activate one of them, they may act in a desirable way.
If they don’t see how the Web page they’re on will solve their problem, give them more of what they want, or help them secure what they now have, the back button is just a click away. If they came from a search engine, your site was just one of potentially millions of possible matches to the keywords they used to find your site.
Capturing Their Attention in Three Seconds or Less
Web studies have shown overwhelmingly that you’ve got 3 seconds to connect with your Web site visitor. The user’s eyes glance in an efficient zig-zag pattern to quickly capture headlines, pictures, and other clues to decide if they will stay or bail.
For most Web sites, the average visitor sees one page, then leaves. The home page is not only the page where most people enter the site. It’s also the top exit page in most cases. Why? Besides the fact that it gets more traffic than other pages, it’s also where a visitor decides if they are in the right place.
In those critical seconds, your site is summed up, evaluated, and accepted or rejected. It may rub you wrong to realize that so little consideration is given to all your hard work. But that’s the way it is. Neither of us will change it so long as people are pressed for time and have nearly endless options online.
Here’s the good news. Most Web sites out there are abysmal at speaking to their audience. You don’t have to be much better than average to get much better results than your competition. Most Web developers don’t understand your audience. They understand how to create an eye-pleasing site which works technically well. Just don’t leave the messaging to them, because they won’t know where to start. It’s not their fault. It’s just not what they were trained in.
So when you design your Web pages (especially the home page) so that it assures your visitor within three seconds that they are in the right place to solve their problems, you’re way ahead of the game.
For help in designing your Web site to quickly speak to the needs of your target audience, contact us at (801) 282-2778 or email us at seomarketer@gmail.com We’re here to help.