What Impression Does Your Site Give Off?

The impression that your website gives off in the first five seconds to a visitor is critical. This is the amount of time that it takes for someone to decide if they will look through the rest of your site or not. For this reason, it is extremely important to have a visitor-oriented homepage. A visitor-oriented homepage means that the visitor can easily determine who you are, what you do, and why they should choose you within the first five seconds.

To best way to answer the question of who you are is to have your logo prominently displayed. This does not mean to stretch the size of it so that it is very large and takes up a lot of room on your page. Keep the logo formatted properly and displayed at the top of the page along with your company name. Near the top of the page, it is also a good idea to have a sentence or phrase that tells what it is that you do. This will easily answer the second question. The third question of why someone should choose you can also be fairly easy to answer. Perhaps it is important to put an icon of an award you won, maybe it is important to display a short testimonial on the first page, or perhaps displaying the number of years you have been in business could be important. Whatever that important element may be for your business, display it on the homepage in a way that can be recognized quickly as verification.

Colors can also help a visitor to determine if they will stay on the site. A nice background color can set the tone of the site and put the visitor in the correct frame of mind for viewing. Make sure that the colors you use give off the correct feeling and impression of your business. Be careful of how many colors you choose because using too many can be distracting.

The font is also an important element in creating a visitor-oriented homepage. Make sure that you are using only one font type throughout the page. Also try and make all of the text just one size and use bold to emphasize important points. Many websites make the mistake of using small text in one section and large text in another section of the page to grab attention. Mixing different sizes, italics, bold, and different font styles can be a disaster. The reason is that it causes the eye to jump around and it takes away from the natural flow of the text.

Remember, the goal of your homepage design is to give off a great first impression, answer the three basic questions quickly, and put the visitor in the correct frame of mind to want to view the rest of your site.