Below the fold was a common term in the newspaper world as the most important news was put at the top of the page or above the fold. This is why newspapers developed the “continued” portion of many articles so they could “tease” a number of lead stories up front. Getting people to read beyond the fold meant giving them a reason to continue. The same is true of websites as you need to get people to scroll all the way through the page. Many people try to get past this by just putting tons of options up top, but you can effectively get people to look at a whole page if you are smart about it. [Read more...]
Feb
14
2012
4 Tips for Getting Users to Scroll Below the Fold on Your Page
May
25
2011
11 Ways to Improve Your Business Website
Yesterday we explored 7 reasons why business websites are still important. Once you’ve decided that your business website is a vital part of your online strategy, how do you improve it to make it work better for your business? Let’s take a look at ways you can improve your business website. Please feel free to add your own tips in the comments. [Read more...]
Jan
13
2011
Using Social Media to Understand Your Customers
On the flip side of yesterday’s post, Why Understanding Your Customers is Vital to Your Social Media Strategy, social media can also be an extremely powerful tool for understanding your customers. Before the wide-spread use of social media, companies would have to spend thousands of dollars on having market research, surveys, studies, etc. done so they could understand what their customers wanted and were willing to pay for. This pretty much left any type of customer or market research in the hands of large companies who could afford to pay for the information. With social media you’re able to gather much of this information directly by finding, listening and asking your customers online.
[Read more...]
Oct
01
2010
What Does Your Website’s Design Say About Your Company?
Most companies have a website these days and most of these websites are gawdawful ugly — or just are. They have some text about the company that no one reads because it sounds like it was written for a brochure — which it probably was and no one reads those either. But if you do have a plain old website with some brochure-like text, what does that say about your company? Many potential clients will get their first taste of what you do and who you are from your website.
[Read more...]
Sep
28
2010
Driving Sales Away with A Splash Page
While mostly a thing of the past, I still see companies who insist on having a splash page (a page, usually with a video or some sort of “welcome” message that visitors have to view before they get to your real site). To a business owner a splash page may seem like an opportunity to “sell” to your captured audience. But to many visitors it’s a reason to leave.. and fast.
[Read more...]
Aug
06
2010
A Company’s Website Design and its Ability to do Business
This is a guest post from James Mowery, a computer geek who writes about technology and related topics on his blog, led tv.
The design and overall layout of a company’s website is of utmost importance when it comes to attracting customers and encouraging them to use that company’s services. One of the very first things many people notice about a company’s website is the aesthetic appeal and whether or not it is pleasing to the eyes. The customer will note whether or not the website is easy to use, navigate, and search. If a company’s website is completely disorganized, has clashing colors, or content that is generally just out of place with other aspects of the website, the customer may be turned off from the company.
[Read more...]
Mar
26
2010
Balancing Good Design with Needed Functionality
When designing a website or online service, companies often have a whole slew of great ideas for functionality. When is enough enough? Can a simple design suffice? How do you make choices about what features to incorporate?
Even the simplest of interfaces, Twitter, has begun to add more complexity with new retweet features, lists, trending topics, and more. Aesthetically, “good design” means design that is appealing to the eye, and is easily navigated visually. With this idea, it is important that complex interfaces are well designed so that the users who prefer simplicity do not feel overwhelmed. – Finding the Balance of Design and Functionality (ReadWriteStart)
Oct
08
2009
Why Don’t You Want Customers to Contact You?
Ever done a bunch of research, finally decided to get a product, gone to the website and found the only way to contact them is through a contact form? While eCommerce websites are usually pretty savvy about letting their customers contact them through multiple ways, normal businesses sometimes give off the “go away” vibe unintentionally.
Aug
26
2009
Navigation Isn’t a Feature of Your Website, It IS Your Website
Discussions about navigation on a website usually revolve around where to put them and what items should be in them. But without navigation on a website, there is no website, just the one page where a visitor entered your site.
Jul
13
2009
When They Can't Figure Out Your Site, People Turn to Search – Have One?
Usually when people come to a website, they’re looking for something. And they hope they can find it on the first page, but if not, most are willing to scan the page to see if there’s a link that may lead them there. This behavior really points out the importance both of properly organizing the information on your website, as well as having a navigation/menu system that people can quickly and easily understand.
Digital Marketing & Strategy
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