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Published by: Judy Cobb 10-23-2012  |  POSTED IN: Traffic Tuesdays

Words Blog 2: Keep It Simple

 
Keep it simple!
 
How many times, in how many situations have you heard that? It's almost a cliche, but certainly true for your website.
 
You know far more about your story and your business than anyone else, so it is hard to resist putting everything you know on your home page. Then you also have all the amazing options about what you can put on your web page to make it exciting, interesting and engaging: graphics, photos, videos, text, animation, flashing lights, sounds, and colors anywhere.
 
The Home Page is an introduction to your website and your business. Its main purpose is to engage a website visitor before he or she can decide to jump to another website, and leave yours behind. Think of the home page as a teaser or promise that they will learn something and benefit from spending a little more time with your company, on your website.
 
Think of the Home Page as a map to your website, as well as a "teaser" to entice them in. Everything that shows up there--lights, action, sound, words--should be part of the "story" you are telling. Anything that doesn't build the story has the potential to distract visitors and keep them from getting your message.
 
Several years ago, we were creating an internal website for a department of a major toy manufacturer. The website was designed to build communication among the worldwide subsidiaries of this company. The website programmer developed a cute animation with a toy car zipping across the bottom of the screen. It looked great! But, unless it was used well, the cute animation had the potential to distract from the main elements of the website.
 
The animation had to fit with the story of the Home Page: the communications that Corporate needed from their subsidiaries, the calendar for those communications and guidelines for preparing them. We linked the graphic to the message by having the animated car lead off to one of the major sections of the website.
 
What can you do to assure that your Home Page is both powerful and effective?
 
Here are some ideas.
 
  • 1. Be as clear as possible about the purpose of your website and the intended clients or customers you plan to attract. People in different demographics are engaged by different visual and organizational strategies.
  • 2. Communicate your understanding of your clients and your purpose clearly to your website designer. Ask how individual elements contribute to your story and work with the designer to get both the story and the look of your website right.
  • 3. Ask friends, colleagues and associates to look over the website while it is in development or when you plan to redesign your website. When we work on a big project like a website, over time, we see what we expect to see and can miss glaring issues or errors. Someone who has not invested that time and energy may quickly see something that you have missed.
  • 4. Your website has to tell your story in layers. The Home Page is the introduction and guide to the major "chapters" in your story: the major sections of your website.
  • 5. Give a lot of thought to how you organize the website, what the major links are and how each section tells a part of your story. Be sure the major sections of your website fit together and tell the whole story. It's easy to miss an important part of the story and then try to backpedal on later pages to make up for it.
 
Your Home Page is the window that allows people to see what your website offers them and take the first step in a path through the website. As such, it should be both exciting and engaging. Having a website that achieves both of these goals requires thought, creativity and clear communication among the people developing the website.
 
We want to assure that every blog post in this series provides you with tangible suggestions and ideas for building or improving your website. Please share your ideas, comments, questions and suggestions with us through the comments down below or email Judy directly at [email protected].
 
Judy Cobb is an independent writer and business writing coach whose clients have included Parsons Engineering, Mattel Toys, The Los Angeles Times and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She has specialized in developing training materials for instructor-led courses as well as interactive online courses and websites. She holds advanced degrees from Columbia University and Stanford as well as an MBA from UCLA's Anderson Graduate School of Management.
Thanks for reading. Jason.
P.S. Don't forget to subscribe below to this blog.
 
About Jason Ciment
Formerly an attorney and CPA, Jason has been working online since 1997. His columns on affiliate marketing can still be found on www.Clickz.com and his book on search engine optimization can be found at www.seotimetable.com.

This blog is published 4x per week and covers website design and SEO tips as well as a wide range of tips and advice for working and living online more efficiently and enjoyably.
 

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