How many times have you visited a website only to instantly feel lost, confused and anxious? 90% of websites throw everything at you on the home page. They try to bombard you with everything you need to know to be sold on their product or service. People aren’t as stupid as most website creators think. We navigated our way to your website, what makes you think we can’t navigate through it?
Less is more, especially on first impressions. You’re far more likely to stay on a website if you feel intrigued to know more. A good website has more pages, less content, and it never over informs. Think of your website like a newspaper. You want your audience to start at the top, and finish at the bottom. This is called the ‘Inverted Pyramid Structure’ – because it looks like an upside down pyramid/triangle. So how do we decide what order to put everything in?
First and foremost is company logo. Your brand should be the first thing people see. Top left corner, because naturally that’s where we start reading.
Second you need a call to action. If you’re a consumer products company you want a popular product to be the next thing people see; middle of the screen, big picture, no text. We don’t want to read, we want you to shut up and take our money because your product is awesome!
But what if you offer a service, not a product? We need to trust you; we need to see the “face” of the business telling us why they love to do what they do. We can’t resist a video, so slap one right in front of us. Again, don’t over inform, be yourself, be transparent. Give us a taste, not the whole story…intrigue me, tease me.
Third, you want to start showing us what else you offer or what would interest us. You’ve taken us this far, now give us a little bit more. You might be hosting an event, or releasing a new product, or have a blog update. Again we want simple navigation (and to be teased). Leave all the detailed info for the page you’re linking us to. Give us a picture, and the very minimal key info to make us want to click to the next page and learn more.
Finally you want to provide information that is key to regular (or potential) clients or customers – Terms and Conditions, FAQ’s, Contact Us – that sort of thing.
One of the most important elements to achieving a successful design is simplicity. The aesthetics of your website will quickly win or lose a client before the call to action. Avoid busy backgrounds, make sure the colour scheme sets the right mood, and keep animations to a minimum.
You don’t need to provide additional instructions. Let your audience explore your whole website, not just the home page. Branding, content, navigation, and aesthetics – the ingredients to a successful website.