Conversations on Website Conversion discussion

The last sentence of chapter 2 leads straight into the content of this chapter: “If your audience is going to act like you’re designing billboards, then design great billboards.” Since people aren’t going to read your copy, you need to design a webpage that caters to their actual usage. The typical visitor will scan your page, so your new role is to make certain that the important elements on the page are going to stand out under that sort of scrutiny. Beginning with the most basic, a page must have a clear visual hierarchy. People are very good at perceiving order, and using this to get their bearings in an environment—physical or electronic. A page with a clear hierarchy lets people know where to look for information, just like looking at a newspaper. There are also some problems that are unique to the web medium. One particularly tricky one is making certain that links are obviously clickable. They need to stand out from what is just text. People should never have to hunt for links or wonder what they can and cannot click.

In the first book we read—Inbound Marketing by Halligan and Shah—we were warned against making a website that is merely a copy of the brochure. A brochure, however, would also follow a lot of the guidelines provided in this chapter, namely the ones regarding hierarchy and organization. What differences do you see between that sort of website and one that is designed as a billboard?

In "Inbound Marketing" they referred to a "brochure website" as static and one where it doesn't engage the visitor, not so much the design. Krug is so right, people really do look at sites as if were where whizzing by on the "internet highway." I click on so many sites in a day and the ones that I actually "slow my car down for" are the ones that have a simple layout, large/high quality photos and are engaging, easy-to-use, unique and I can figure out what differentiates them within 1-3 seconds of arriving, just like a billboard. I seriously am so impressed with the sites that "don't make me think" and find myself going back again and again.

It seems like lack of engagement (brochure site) is just as bad as over engagment, doesn't fit on the billboard. Once again there is a delicate balance that is needed. Give me just enough to maintain my interest while leading me down the logical, "no-brainer" path to conversion.