The second dwarf
- Previously: https://nv8v.com/the-bare-minimum-needed-to-extract-revenue-from-your-website/ we talked about the Seven Dwarfs of effective websites.
- Then https://nv8v.com/get-found-by-a-sufficiently-large-number-of-people-with-a-reasonable-likelihood-of-being-interested-in-doing-business/ we looked at the first of these dwarfs, finding qualified visitors.
The first second, as in all potential relationships is critical. We are designed to make huge decisions in under a second and that wont change any time soon. Not only that, the initial decision, however mislead it may be, can be very difficult to change once it has set itself in.
The worst possible first impression a website can make is that it is slow. The most thing most of us don’t have nowadays is time and we are jealous about it and very impatient. Well known and hugely popular platforms like WordPress are notorious for being very, painfully slow unless handled by the right people and almost any site handled badly can suffer from these issues. Don’t upset the visitor before she even reads a word, especially when you have no choice but spend to get him there in the first place.
Speaking of words, whatever words were in his mind or rather his impression of them is exactly what he is expecting to see when this super fast web page puts in an appearance. Anything else and he is likely to leave before the page has finished loading.
Bad breath
How can this issue be fixed? Simple, each page has a specific search term it caters for and although it is just about acceptable to be off a little with the headings as long as you are semantically correct, it is a lot safer to talk his language.
If I created a page and my market was half UK and half US, I’d want Hello on one and Howdy on the other. That’s how it must be if you are really serious about getting past the first second in your relationships. The wrong greeting is equivalent to bad breath. Don’t do it.
A fit body
The structure of your web page is paramount. All the nice heat maps are lovely when you present to the board, but they are not as important as you might think. The paragraph headings and sub headings and the CTA buttons tell the reader what the page is about and they are seen at a glance in a way that no heat map can even be aware of. Neither can the very best of AI begin to grasp how that first impression was formed. The results, though are clear as …
How many of your visitors stay beyond a second and how many view two pages or more? Does that vary depending on where they land? where they come form?
These questions are scratching the surface, do you know the answers?
If you are searching for information on a football match and you are greeted with a heading about the best dating site in the county, you leave instantly, plain and simple. Wrong type of “match”. Even the right type of match might quickly reveal that it is history about something in the past and you leave instantly.
The structure must say, “hey, I’m just what you were looking for”., Then you might be in with a chance.
A pleasant personality
There is something about the way you set out your stall that makes visitors feel comfortable, or makes them want to leave. It tells them about what you are like, your values and what they can expect. This impression can be wildly wrong, but it happens very quickly and has lasting consequences. You don’t know who they are and you don’t need the wrong one any more than they do, so stick with honesty, but presentation is everything.
Once again, there’s no AI that can tell you how this works, but the results will speak volumes. Remember Einstein’s theory of inanity and try something else.
For example, on one popular landing page, I felt like saying “no more day dreamers please”, but instead I wrote in the third major heading we can be hired for as little as £n00 per day. That way I was able to save everyone a lot of wasted effort and reduce the hours of phone time with people seeking free consulting. I enjoyed the phone sessions, but bills had to be paid.
The key is that it is important to know who you are and who you want to deal with and set out your stall clearly so people know where they stand. Naturally all these messages must not be in conflict with each other.
A bit of mischief is OK
If they are still talking to you after all that, don’t be afraid to suggest some hanky-panky, you won’t get slapped, at least not in an unpleasant way. We’ll deal with this another day.
If you would like some a free consultation to find out how we could help you achieve your goals or take some of the burden off your hands, please feel free to call Edward on 0844 8842310
email us at customers@nv8v.com or drop your email and well get in touch to organise a chat .
Alternatively you might prefer to ask for a free Website Audit